Come on, you guys! I know you're reading this, but I only have two reviews. TWO! Now that's just depressing. You all make me sad…
So yeah, I'm home sick right now. My entire family came down with the stomach flu and it looks like I'm next in line! Here's the third chapter.
Chapter 3: The End?
The next morning, classes began. During Potions, Professor Slughorn rambled on and on about his connections with important people and everyone was getting bored.
James was rocking back and forth on the hind legs of his chair and staring at the ceiling; Remus buried his face in his arms as he slept on top of his books; and Peter was watching the birds fly past the window in the bright morning sky. Lily was scribbling chicken-scratch on her spare piece of parchment.
Sirius, on the other hand, was having a fantastic time.
He had an entire stock of paper footballs lying next to his quill as he lined up the shot, and flicked the wad of paper towards the back of Snape's head. Snape had the misfortune of sitting directly in front of the Marauder's table.
That morning, Gryffindor and Slytherin had Double Potions and Sirius took the opportunity to bother the crap out of Snape.
He cackled silently as the paper smacked Snape in the back of the head and rebounded onto the floor.
Of course, Professor Slughorn paid no heed to Sirius's form of entertainment and continued to drone on and on about Mafilda the Wild, the Keeper for the famous Quidditch team, the Wimbourne Wasps, who was once a student of his.
Snape tried to ignore Sirius but to no avail. His quill hand was shaking so violently it appeared he had low blood sugar.
Soon, Sirius ran out of paper footballs and began crumpling up pieces of parchment and laid each on the palm of his hand. He flicked it at Snape but missed. "Oh,…" Sirius muttered, disappointed in his poor aim.
Suddenly, the bell rang and everyone scrambled to get out of class. James piled his books on top of each other and shoved them in his bag. Swinging it over his shoulder, he made his way into the queue of people exiting the classroom.
Once into the hallway, James noticed that someone was missing. "Hey, where's Lily?"
Sirius, Remus and Peter shrugged, but at that second, Lily emerged from the Potions classroom tucking a slip of paper into her bag. "Sorry. I had to stay behind for a second."
"Oh, alright," James said. "Well, we're lucky that Slughorn didn't stop long enough to realize that he didn't assign us any homework. Do you want to come out and watch the team practice for a bit after dinner?"
He was referring to Gryffindor's Quidditch team which he was Chaser for.
"Actually, I've got other plans after dinner tonight. Is it alright if I catch up with you later?" Lily said, looking guilty.
"Yeah… sure," James said, feeling slightly disappointed. "Do you mind me asking what you're doing?"
"I'm going to get tutored for Potions. It's not a big deal. I just want some help with the assignments," Lily said shrugging.
"Oh. Right," James said.
The couple made their way up to Gryffindor Tower silently, while Sirius bullied Peter into telling him what his girlfriend looked like.
"C'mon mate! You've got to know what she looks like!" He said, replying to Peter's excuses of "I dunno."
"Speaking of which, Sirius. Don't you have a date with a certain bench buddy?" asked Remus.
"Dah! I nearly forgot! I'll see you guys at dinner, alright?" Sirius said quickly, dumping his bag on James's shoulder. "Later!"
And Sirius ran in the opposite direction, leaping down the flights of stairs.
The rest of the troupe made it to Gryffindor Tower in one piece, accounting for the fact that Peeves attempted to dump a large cabinet on top of Peter. Watching Lily go up the stairs to her dormitory, Remus came up behind James and said, "Is it just me, or are you two growing more distant each time you try to get together?"
James sighed and walked away to put his and Sirius's bag in their room.
"Ouch," said Remus, "And I thought I was the one being moody lately."
"I don't think it's you. I think it's just our last year. He's probably worried he'll never see Lily again if it comes down to it," Peter said, sitting on the couch.
"Yeah, you're probably right," said Remus. He sat down on the arm of the chair and looked into the empty fire pit.
Suddenly, a red hot pain seared across Remus's abdomen. He winced and clutched his stomach as the pain throbbed, then slowly subsided.
"Hey. You alright?" Peter asked, sitting up.
"Yeah. It's just nearing the full moon, that's all." Remus said.
James appeared down the stairs and stepped onto the main floor, "Right. Let's head off. I'm starving."
The food was good as usual; James and Remus started talking about the standings for this year's national Quidditch Cup final.
"Clearly, it'll be Falmouth Falcons this year," said Remus.
"No way. It's got to be America's Fitchburg Finches. No doubt about it," James argued back. "Of course, they've got Maximus Brankovitch III. He might just be starting his career but I'll think he'll take them far."
Suddenly, Sirius came into the Great Hall looking smug and had a droopy expression in his eyes. His hair was tousled and his shirt collar had one tucked in and one flopped out. He also had what appeared to be lip stick smudged on his lips.
"Here comes James Bond," said Remus.
"Who?" asked James.
"He's a character in a Muggle movie." Remus took another breath to try and explain it but thought better, "Never mind."
James called Sirius over with an "Oy!" and Sirius came over to them.
He sat down at the table and happily scooped turkey onto his plate and began filling the rest of his plate with other foods.
"Have a good time?" James asked, smirking.
"Yeah," said Sirius dreamily.
"You've got lipstick on you," Peter said, pointing.
"Eh? Oh," Sirius looked at his reflection in his goblet and wiped it off.
"Do you even know this girl's name?" asked Remus.
"Nope," said Sirius, taking a swig from his goblet.
Remus looked horrified and Sirius quickly said, "Don't worry. I didn't shag her. I'm not shallow— well, not that shallow."
James smiled and shook his head while Peter looked on in wonder. He'd always looked up to Sirius and James for their habit of rule-breaking. Remus smacked himself in the forehead with his palm.
"You didn't happen to see Lily on your way back, Sirius?" asked James, suddenly remembering why she wasn't there.
"Aren't you being a bit obsessive right now? She's just getting tutored," said Remus.
"I just want to know! That's all!" James retorted.
"Well, for the record, no I didn't," said Sirius. "I came straight here after I was done."
"But this is Lily we're talking about! Lily! The perfect student any teacher could hope for! Why would she need tutoring?" James sighed, giving up.
"This is going to turn out unhealthy for you," warned Remus.
"Forget it. I'm going upstairs to fetch my broomstick. I'm going to go practice for a bit," James said, pushing his plate forward and getting up.
He left the Great Hall and went up the marble staircase once again to the Gryffindor Tower.
Once he retrieved his Nimbus 1000, and went back down the stairs to the grounds he took a deep breath of cold, brisk air. It was getting darker by the minute and James took off into the air once he touched the grass.
(Author's Note: Cue "One More Sad Song" by The All-American Rejects. Hee hee.)
He was in a foul mood, scowling even though he should have been relieved to get on a broomstick once again.
But he couldn't stop thinking about Lily. He felt suspicious about her furtive actions and didn't want to be left in the dark.
He chewed pensively on the inside of his cheek, pondering what was happening between the two of them. First, he couldn't find time to call Lily over the summer, now they couldn't find time to spend with each other after classes.
Was it the end of their relationship?
James's stomach twisted uncomfortably as that thought struck him.
Wow… That was a pretty good fluff filled chapter. I mean, for me it is. I'm usually an action-freak where I need at least one thing to blow up. I can't believe I made a chapter full of angst. Kudos to me for effort! Not my best work, but I'm getting there.