A Legacy of Love
Chapter 3: Coming Together
What with increasingly difficult lessons, huge piles of homework, Head duties, security, Quidditch practices (in James's case), and huge, splitting headaches that came along, days sped past very quickly for James and Lily. It was a relief to both that they didn't have to huge fights when their jobs were concerned. Frankly, the Marauders (and the rest of the students who cared, mostly the bimbos of Hogwarts who adored James) were astonished that Lily didn't blame James for snagging the Head Boy position. They were even more surprised that James and Lily did not get into an argument for the whole of September. Usually, either one of them will have ended up in each other's bad graces (most of the time James would be in Lily's), but after a month of working together, the both of them were still alive, an achievement the Marauders were mystified over.
The subjects in question, however, didn't have time for all the rumours flying around them as the castle's security was getting tighter and tighter. As a result of the increase in patrols, which some of the Prefects complained bitterly about, their remaining time was used to finish up whatever homework they had left. Seventh year had barely started and teachers were already stacking up piles and piles of work for the N.E.W.T. students to complete. This irritated the seventh years to no end, but no one showed the pressure more than James and Lily, as they were shouldering extra responsibilities the Headmaster saw fit to delegate to them.
Lily was now spending more time than ever with the Marauders, completing her homework, doing extra studying, attending Prefects and Heads meetings, and patrolling the school after curfew hours with James. The Marauders, true to James's word, had not pranked anyone since the start of term, which struck some people, teachers in general, as very fishy. In fact, Hogwarts was surprised that the Marauders were laying low at the moment. Lily, however, was unperturbed by this lack of action as she continued developing this newfound friendship with the most sought-after boys in Hogwarts. Before this, she never had a close friend to confide in, not even the girls in her dormitory, as they were all silly and ignorant. Friends they may be, but best friends they were not. So Lily was a loner until fifth year, when she met Remus as co-Prefect, and now she had acquired friendship with the three other Marauders. Admittedly, she was on best terms with Remus, who, besides having served as Prefect alongside her for two years, was a little more rule-abiding than the rest of the Marauders, like her. Sirius and Peter weren't so bad when Lily got to know them. Underneath that pranking exterior laid very brave and loyal hearts. And James… James was finally showing his matured, responsible and dependable side, although the Marauder part of him never disappeared completely.
Which was why, on the morning of the first Friday in October, Lily found the four Marauders up early at the Great Hall. That in itself was weird, as they generally didn't reached the Great Hall earlier than Lily. She was very anal about time and usually rose earlier than anyone in Gryffindor. Then, there was the fact that they were looking as though they hadn't slept all night. Peter was actually snoring at the table. Yet the remaining three who were awake wore an extremely smug (though tired) look on their faces. In all her six years of experience with the Marauders, they reserved that smirk when they either succeeded in whatever prank they played or were waiting for their handiwork to show up. Were they pranking the Slytherins, whom they hated with a passion, again? On second thought, they weren't stealing glances at the Slytherin table, but up at the staff's table! Sweet Merlin, they weren't planning to prank the teachers, were they?
Lily hastened to catch up with the Marauders. Surely they weren't that stupid? McGonagall would be livid. They'd serve detention for two months at the very least. Didn't they have enough on their plates already with all the security plans and ever-growing pile of homework?
"What are you doing?" She hissed at James once she reached them. "Surely you won't be stupid enough to prank the teachers? For Merlin's sake, I thought you actually had a brain!" Her hissing was so venomous that Peter actually awoke with a yelp and squeaked, "Is the gas leaking?"
"No, Peter. Go back to sleep." Before Sirius even finished the sentence Peter's head drooped and he was snoring once again. "For the record, Lily, yes we do. We just use them for a better cause," replied James smoothly, not missing a beat.
"Oh, really? And what might that be? Disrupting breakfast so that you can have a good laugh to start your day? Better cause, my ass. In your opinion, maybe. Hell, your prank better not be dangerous. If the teachers go off sick, so God help me I'll pummel all four of you into pulp before the day is over," Lily said in one breath. Peter woke up with a squeak again.
"You're not really going to do that, are you Lily?" He pleaded pitifully. Lily glared.
"ARE YOU TRYING TO TELL ME THAT IT IS DANGEROUS?" she bellowed. Peter squeaked again and toppled out of sight at his haste to hide behind Remus. Several first years who just appeared to be in a good mood for breakfast was so terrified at the sight of the towering, raging Head Girl that they promptly ran out of the Hall again. Quick as lightning, James pulled Lily down onto the bench and covered her mouth with his hand, saying, "Shhh! Not so loud. Please Lily. You can lecture me all you want, but just keep it down. Please?"
Lily looked at his earnest, pleading face and nodded. James removed his hand. She took a deep breath, steadying herself before questioning, "So what is it that you have done?"
The Marauders looked at each other sheepishly, then all of a sudden busied themselves by buttering their toasts or putting sugar in their porridge. Lily, taking this as a sign that none of them would talk, prodded, "Well? Aren't you going to tell me?"
Sirius answered with his mouth full, "Nope. Not yet anyway. And just so you know…"
"…take a good, long breakfast. It's going to be fun. We guarantee that," Remus finished.
"But, we would swear a Marauder's oath that our pranks aren't dangerous. Never was, never will be. We don't prank to harm, Lily. I thought you'd know that by now. We just do it occasionally for a bit of fun," James added.
"Oh, right, like how you used to hex the first years? That wasn't harm, was it? Oh, no, it was just a bit of fun!" Lily countered sarcastically. James scowled. The rest of the Marauders inched away from the duo with their breakfasts in their mouths. Experience taught them never to be within five feet of a battling Lily and James.
"Lily, it seemed to me that, for all you said that you don't hate me, you still do, don't you?" James said, his face darkening. "Why don't you try to accept me as what I am now, instead of harping on what I did? I was young and thoughtless then! I was a bit of an idiot! I never think twice and I am sorry for that. But I never, never would harm anyone on purpose. I'm not evil. I was just a bit playful and eager to test my limits. Have I ever used Dark magic or illegal curses, even on Snape? Why don't you give me a chance to prove to you that I've really grown up?"
Lily opened her mouth to retort, but found that she had nothing to say and closed them again. What James said was true. She had been too haunted by his past misdeeds to truly give him a chance of redeeming himself in her eyes. She had been unfair to him. She looked at his glowering face and felt guilty. He was only asking for her to give him a chance at forming a new opinion of him. Was that so hard to give? And, looking back, she saw that James was right. He had always hated the Dark Arts and, for all his and Sirius's pure-bloodedness, had never been seduced by its lure of power.
"I'm sorry, James. I shouldn't have reacted so quickly just now. I… I guess I wasn't thinking twice either. I just reacted on my instinct to retort," Lily apologised sincerely, bowing her head in shame. James's darkening hazel eyes immediately softened.
"It's all right, Lily. And thank you for giving me that second chance. I really appreciate it. I know I've been a bit of a prat, making it so hard for you to believe that I've changed. But I will prove to you that I've changed, I promise," James said solemnly, tilting her head up to meet his eyes, proving that he, too, was honest about his promise. His hand on her chin somehow caused a slight tingle to race down Lily's spine, but she ignored it. They smiled at each other, then sat side by side to continue breakfasting.
Down the table some distance away, the other three Marauders cast nervous glances at the fighting couple. They were so shocked that the fight was solved within five minutes, but even more so when the fight didn't end with jinxes which involved one person in the hospital wing, but rather, with a smile they both shared.
"Is it over already?" Sirius asked uncertainly. He was afraid that the smile was merely a cover that the volcano was only sleeping and would erupt again anytime soon with the slightest prod.
"I highly doubt it. They were never the best of pals," Peter said nervously. He had always been intimidated by Lily, especially when she was in a towering temper.
"Yes, but even so…" Remus smiled a secret, knowing, smile. Being more perceptive than most boys, he could sense a calm-after-storm between the two. "Come on, it's safe now, let's rejoin them. We don't want to miss the fun. The best seats are in the middle of the table after all. We'll get to catch the action right on target."
"NO! I don't want to be beaten up like a pulp!" squeaked Peter, terrified. He seemed the only one thick enough to take Lily's threats to heart.
"Relax, Peter. Lily won't dare beat you up in front of the teachers, and we're here to protect you if she does," Sirius said absentmindedly, his mind still on the couple's mysterious behaviour.
"But she might still ambush us somewhere! In the common room, between classes, even drag us under the table to beat the crap out of us..." Peter looked horrified at his own wild imagination. Sirius, looking at him exasperatedly, cajoled, "Well, if you're so afraid, why don't we ask her?" Peter immediately shrieked, "NO! Sirius, please don't remind her! She might have forgotten!" he pleaded. Ignoring him, Sirius advanced towards the Heads.
"O Lily!" Sirius called in a singsong voice, disregarding Peter's entreaties of "No, Sirius, no! Please!" James and Lily raised their heads and watched as the rest of the Marauders rejoined them. "Would you beat us into pulp like you promised?" Sirius asked Lily half-seriously.
Lily stared from Sirius's angelic look to Peter's ashen face and Remus's amused expression. Catching on, she pulled a straight face and intoned, "I won't beat you into a pulp, never fear." Peter relaxed visibly, while Sirius looked crestfallen. Lily took the opportunity to continue, "I'll cut you up, chop you into pieces, burn, barbecue, marinate, boil, bake and fry you before dipping those pieces into ice cold water and feeding it to the giant squid!" Poor Peter actually made to run from the Great Hall before realising a split second later that everyone was roaring with laughter at his comical facial expression.
"Peter! I was only joking! I'm sorry!" Lily managed to choke out between laughs. Peter's eyes turned round and he went scarlet. Sirius was, by far, laughing the hardest of all. "Peter won't recognise a joke even if it's dancing in front of him naked," James said amusedly. "Never knew you had that in you, Lily."
Lily made a little bow, chuckling. "Seems like the Marauders get pranked too." Sirius immediately disagreed, "Hey! That's only Peter." "Well, I seem to remember you looking taken down when I apparently didn't catch on," Lily countered. Conceding defeat, Sirius raised his hands in mock surrender.
Remus checked his wristwatch and said, "Five to eight, everyone." At that, the Marauders abandoned their attempt at breakfast and watched the staff table intently. A little too intently, in Lily's opinion. She was just about to ask them about the prank again when something curious happened.
All along the staff table, the teachers were looking uncomfortable, as if they were about to throw up. Some looked as if they were struggling hard to remain in their seats, to no avail. Then, suddenly, with a smiling Albus Dumbledore in lead, the teachers descended from the staff table and began dancing in the middle of the Great Hall!
All the students stared at the teachers' peculiar behaviour. A nervous ripple of tittering started up, with the Marauders shouting with laughter. Lily giggled appreciatively. McGonagall was doing a funny kind of jig, and Slughorn was actually waltzing with Sprout!
With one flick of Remus's wand, a Wireless appeared out of nowhere and music started blaring from it. The Marauders stood up, still laughing, and started dancing to the beat of the funky music with the teachers. Sirius roared to the mouth-slightly-opened students, "Come on! Join in the fun!" Within minutes, this impromptu 'ball' was in full swing as students from various houses (even the Slytherins, which was surprising) joined the 'dance floor' and the teachers, who found out that they couldn't stop dancing, strutted their embarrassing stuff. Some of the students who didn't participate in the dancing were laughing so hard they had to hold their hands over their stomachs, as they watched the teachers doing all sorts of weird manoeuvres that they've never seen before. James suddenly appeared in front of Lily and, tugging her hand, cried, "Come on, Lily! Dance with me! Relax a little once in a while!" Lily surprised even herself when she laughed and joined James in the middle of the 'dance floor', where they'd danced so ferociously that people edged away, giving the couple a wider space. Lily couldn't believe that she could dance so perfectly in sync with James as he twirled her around, laughing merrily. She was having the time of her life.
Half an hour later, when the spell on the teachers started to wear off, Dumbledore laughed and put his hands together. Most students whooped, clapped and cheered the Marauders as some teachers, McGonagall among them, panted slightly as they resumed their seats at the staff table. The Marauders were bowing at their supporters as they made their way back to the Gryffindor table, Remus vanishing the Wireless with a flourish. Lily was laughing with the Marauders, having never felt so refreshing since the year started.
"Bravo, bravo. Let's give a standing ovation to the group who dubbed themselves as the Marauders!" Dumbledore was beaming at them. Lily was surprised that none of the teachers were giving them detention. Then again, they seemed as if they weren't likely to catch their breaths anytime soon, and the Headmaster, who was the only teacher still on his feet, was clapping and cheering along with most of the school. McGonagall, finally able to catch her breath, felt it her duty to put a stop to all this, as Deputy Headmistress. She called out, "Misters Potter, Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew! My –"
"Minerva, may I have a word please?" Dumbledore interrupted pleasantly.
"But they… I… oh… all right!" McGonagall joined Dumbledore exasperatedly in an ante-chamber off the Great Hall.
Lily took this opportunity to turn on the boys. "That was bloody brilliant! Did you see McGonagall's face? It was priceless! How'd you pull that off?" she cried enthusiastically. The Marauders looked flattered at this extravagance praise from Lily, the Miss-Two-Goody-Shoes Head Girl they'd always thought she was.
"Well, let's just put it this way," Remus began. "The House-Elves at Hogwarts love us."
"We've been visiting the kitchens ever since second year for an extra bite," Sirius put in. "And sometimes, for something more, if you catch my drift." He winked roguishly.
"They're dead helpful. I suppose it's partly because of the enchantments of their kind, but other than that they still simply love serving us. Maybe it's because of our darn good looks," James added jokingly, then turned to Peter. "Wormtail, do that House-Elf imitation."
"Anything, sir! Anything you noble sirs want, we the House-Elves at Hogwarts would do for you," Peter put on a high voice as he did as James told. The group exploded into laughter again.
"I always love it when Peter does it!" Sirius said, wiping his eyes. "He reminds me so much of them! After all, Wormtail is best at imitating people." He clapped his hands on Peter's shoulders. Peter smiled sheepishly at Lily, who smiled back at him. He steered himself to ask, his voice quivering, "You won't beat us into a pulp, now, would you Lily?" "Of course not! It wasn't dangerous at all. It was fun!" Lily replied sincerely. The Marauders all beamed at her.
Just then, Dumbledore and McGonagall returned to the Great Hall. McGonagall's expression was unreadable as she clinked her glass, a sign that the Headmaster was about to speak. Dumbledore cleared his throat and the Great Hall, which was jammed pack like the Welcoming Feast, an unusual feat except during school gatherings and feasts, as students usually breakfasted at different times, fell silent. Dumbledore smiled. The Marauders relaxed.
"After the excitement the school experienced this morning, I felt complied to cancel all morning classes as a token of appreciation for lifting the school's morale." The students broke into applause. "Lessons will therefore resume after lunch." He sat down again. The buzz in the Great Hall soon started again as students discussed what they'd like to do during the rest of the morning.
Lily was secretly a little surprised that no punishments were handed out. "I wonder why McGonagall didn't insist on handing out detentions to you four." James, who heard this, objected. "Hey! We were uplifting the school's morale! Why should we get detention? Haven't you noticed that more and more students are receiving the notice of their relatives' deaths? We're just reminding them that this is still very much Hogwarts with the ever-surprising Marauders. Besides, I mean, sure, Dumbledore goes off his rocker sometimes, but deep down he's a very intelligent wizard." Lily acknowledged this with a nod.
Remus whistled. "How cool is that? Lessons are cancelled and there will be less homework today. Good. I haven't even started on that essay for Flitwick. What a nightmare!" He mimed fainting as dramatically as he could. Sirius nodded in agreement and began eating again. Lily was appalled. "Sirius? Aren't you done with breakfast?" Sirius shook his head and said, "Nope, and neither is Jamesie-boy." He gestured at James, who, to her utter astonishment, was also digging in. He merely paused and said, "Hey, I resent being called that, Padfoot! You know that!" before he continued shoving food down his throat. She stared at them incredulously. They looked up at her. James, seeing the look on her face, answered, "We're both growing boys who needs plenty of nourishment."
"Yeah, especially after that dance. It was well worth it," Remus pondered, before joining in the breakfasting. Peter followed suit. A loud grumble from somewhere down Lily's middle told her that she, too, was still hungry. She reminded herself that she'd been dancing with James very energetically a moment ago. Perhaps that was why she had used up all her glucose. Shrugging, she joined the Marauders for their second breakfast. It tasted more wonderful than any breakfast she ever had at Hogwarts.
– To Be Continued –