Help From Hagrid

The first week of term passed in a blur of homework, flirting, and lessons. It was obvious that this was to be their last year at the school, and if the scared looks they received from first years wasn't enough to remind them then the gruelling talks that the teachers gave them about the approaching NEWT examinations was definitely a sturdy reminder.

"Finally! A day of freedom!" said Dani when they came down to breakfast on Saturday morning, taking her seat across from James and Sirius.

"What are you talking about Doyle? We've only just gotten back!" teased Sirius.

"Shut up Mr Black, I know that's what you were thinking!" she quipped.

"Oh what, are you a master legilimens now are you? We haven't done that much work this week, no matter how much you complain."

Dani had opened her mouth to say something else here, but Lily cut her off, saying the first thing that popped into her head, just to stop the morning ritual of Dani and Sirius arguing.

"So what's the plan for today?" she asked, looking at James, yet speaking loudly.

"Sleeping." Said Sirius.
"Sounds like fun," said Lupin, sitting down next to James and picking up the jug of orange juice.

"Seriously?" Lily asked, giving the boys a sceptical look.

"No, Remusly!" Sirius laughed. The girls looked blank.

"What? You can use my name but I cant use his?" no one else found this remotely funny, so he continued with an awkward comment.

"Yeah, I'm tired, why, what are you girls going to do?" he asked.

"I dunno," Ella begun, " Do you two want to go swim in the lake? Hang round the grounds? It's such a pretty day…"

"Swim?" said Sirius excitedly, "Like, in bikinis? Count me in!"

Dani scoffed.

"Why Sirius? Do you want to wear your favourite pink one?"

"Why no Doyle m'dear, I want YOU to wear my favourite pink one!" he said Dani shot him a look to kill.

"Um, that's sounds like fun." Said Lupin loudly over the table, cutting off the other two, who were trying desperately to match wits again. James nodded in agreement. He, however, was not looking at the pair squabbling over the marmalade. His eyes were on Lily. All week there had been moments where he thought that she might actually like him, but as soon as she caught herself being nice to James Potter she had stopped immediately.

James was trying his best to win her over though. He had restrained from hexing Snape just yesterday, and though this didn't win him any recognition from Lily, he knew that if he had it would have registered.

The friends headed back to their dormitories to get changed for a day in the sun, and met back down under a huge beech tree that sat near the lake. Dani plonked herself down on the grass, and rested her head against the tree, however, Sirius had other plans. He seized her around the waist and carried her to the water.

"Say you love me Doyle!" he teased, holding her over the water.

"Never!" Dani screamed in panic. Lily rolled her eyes. Why did she have to play hard to get?

"Say I'm good-looking then!" he tried

"Why would I lie to you Black?" she cried back.

"That's it, you're going in!" Sirius announced, and he dropped her into the lake. Dani surfaced a moment later, to find her friends laughing at her bobbing head.

"Thanks a lot Sirius! I was in my clothes and everything!" she screamed.

"Oh, I'm sorry, would you have preferred it if I had taken you out of your clothes?" he cried back.

Even Dani managed to laugh at this, and Sirius jumped into the lake after her a moment later after being splashed.

Lupin looked at Ella and Lily. Ella nodded, and they ran off into the water to join their friends.

"You not going in Evans?" James asked Lily, as they lay under the shade of the beech tree, smiling as they watched their friends play around in the water.

"I don't know, I'm so comfortable here." She said lazily.

"So, what do you think about our friends hey? We have to practically hold them off each other." He laughed quietly.

"I can see where this conversation is going James, don't go there." She said wearily.

"Well at least I know that I am making some progress." He said proudly.

"And why would you think that?" Lily asked, scared.

"You just called me by my first name! No more arrogant Potter for me!" he exclaimed. Lily laughed.

"Oh, but I always thought that that name suited you so much better." She teased.

"James is just fine." He said, smiling. Lily found herself smiling too, though she didn't know why she was letting it happen.

"No, but seriously, what do you think about Dani and Sirius? Are they going to get together?" he asked.

"They will when Dani realises that he likes her too. For now she's enjoying playing hard to get." She told James.

"But she likes Padfoot?" he said. Lily nodded. James let out a triumphant whoop, and Lily grinned.

"Shhhh, lets let them work it out for themselves, it's much more fun for us this way." She told him quietly.

"Yeah, we still get to hang out." James said.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked.

"Well, when they break up then we will be banned from seeing each other ever again! It's law Lily." He said very matter of factly.

"Yeah, I guess, but think about it, it's our seventh year. Maybe people who get together this year wont break up." Said Lily. James looked at her.

"Yeah, I guess so. Wow, when did we get so old?" he said, sighing and looking up at the castle. " I really don't want to leave this place."

"At least you have somewhere to go from here." Lily told him. Inside she cringed. Here she was, under the same beech tree she'd yelled at him, spilling her heart out to James Potter.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean, you're a wizard. If I don't figure out what I want to do before the end of school, and get a house straight out of Hogwarts, then I'm going to have to go back to living with the muggles. I love mum and dad, but I don't think I could bare leaving magic behind for long. Every summer I need to keep my wand in my pocket, just to remind me that it wasn't all a dream." She smiled sadly, and James felt like reaching out and hugging her, though he thought that that might be pushing their newfound friendship a little too far.

"I won't let you forget it. Wont you, I don't know, get a place with your friends? That's what Sirius and Lupin and I want to do, unless we're with someone. We made that pact when we were 12. Get a little bachelor pad, right in London." He said excitedly, but fell silent at the sight of his friends in the water.

"Or, I might be the only one left." He finished with a laugh.

"What about Peter?" Lily asked with a slight chuckle in her voice. James laughed.

"Ahh, poor Peter," he said. "We do tend to leave him out, don't we? No, he doesn't seem to mind, does his own thing."

"Well Evans, just know, even if we are the only two left, I wont let you forget that you're a witch." For a moment their eyes locked, hers a startling emerald green that seemed to dance under the leaves from the beech tree, and his deep brown under his glasses, which seemed to continue forever. Lily was just about to say something, when-

"LILY'S TURN FOR A SWIM!" cried Sirius, throwing her over his shoulder and running to the water. James chased after him with a roar, which the others suspected was to be heroic, and that he was merely showing his anger that Sirius was tormenting Lily, but she smiled at Sirius's back, for she knew he was cursing his friend for ruining the moment he had just interrupted.

"Black!" he cried, diving into the water after them, and jumped on Sirius's back, rumpling his hair and ducking him under the water.

Lily, Sirius and James were now all in the water, splashing about and laughing. They had such a good time that they stayed there until the sun went down, and they only then returned inside for fear of giant squid. They emerged from the water, where the moon was reflected on the black, steely surface, and The large trees that surrounded it were beginning to look mystical, the almost full moon dancing on their branches.

"What time is it?" asked Lily, when they were out of the water, shivering.

"I think it must be around eleven! We missed dinner!" said James, through chattering teeth.

"We could go to the kitchens?" suggested Sirius. The maunders murmured with assent, however, the girls looked confused.

"How would we get to the kitchens?" asked Ella. Lupin grinned at her.

"You're forgetting who you're talking to El." He said, and they explained to her how they had found the marvellous place their first term at the school.

They now had towels wrapped tightly around them, which James had conjured up, and they all walked up to the great double doors, which led into the school.

James tried the door, and they gasped as they found their first problem. Filch had locked the doors.

"Alohamora!' said Lupin, However, the doors wouldn't budge.

"Do you know any passageways?" Lily asked the marauders. They turned white.

"None that Filch doesn't know about. The nearest one leads to Hogsmeade and we cant get there without going through the gates and all…"

James looked at Lupin. He seemed to be pleading him with his eyes. Only Lily noticed.

"No Prongs." Said Lupin shortly.

"Moony! Please! What else are we going to do? It's perfect!" James whined, under the noise of Sirius and Dani arguing the best means on how to enter the school.

"No, no it's not perfect James! How will we explain the state that it's in? Do you realise what would happen if they did find out?"

"They wouldn't find out! We could say it was-"

"Ghosts don't do that James!"

Curious though she was, Lily could see that Lupin was desperate not to give in to James, and she wanted to help him.

"Hagrid's!" she said loudly, looking at the pair. Lupin gave her a gracious look, and James looked defeated. "We can sleep at Hagrid's!"

Quiet pleased with herself as they trudged across the grounds towards their friends cabin by the edge of the forest, Lily walked ahead and left Remus and James to argue in peace.

"It would have been perfect." James continued.

"You only like it cause it has a double bed for you and Lily." Remus retorted.

"No I don't! It would have been more exciting then staying at Hagrid's though. And by the way, I don't think that you would have complained, so long as you got to share one with Ella!" Even in the dim light coming from the moon, James could see that his friend was blushing fiercely.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He insisted.

"Sure Moony, sure. Whatever you say." And with that, he headed forward to join the rest of the group, Lupin following him and shooting him looks which wished him nothing but a painful death. It wasn't long, however, until they had both gotten over their argument, and were joining in with the jokes about what they all suspected Hagrid's reaction would be when they turned up on his doorstep at this time of night.

"It's not like we haven't done it before!" said Sirius truthfully. The girls shot him confused looks.

"By we, I meant, WE." He pointed to James, Remus, and himself, and the girls looked more relaxed.

"I was going to say Black, I don't recall ever doing this before, and I don't plan on doing it again." Said Dani.

"Oh, last name Padfoot, we know what that means, don't we Lily?" said James, teasing.

"Yeah, she's mad at you Sirius, not good, seeing as Hagrid's is quite a small place once you fit Hagrid in." Lily laughed. They had reached the door.

Luckily for them the lights were still on in the little hut, and when they knocked on the door, it opened almost immediately, Hagrid standing in the doorway with his bed things on, grinning down at the students.

"What the ruddy hell had you gotten yourselves into now Pott- girls! What are you three doing here!" he laughed as he let them inside, the group explaining their predicament as the entered. Hagrid laughed.

"Seems like this is gonna be an interestin' year." He laughed, and offered them patches of floor, and got out blankets and pillows for them all.

"Now, I only got three." He told them. "Three o' everythin', though mind yer, it's my size o' everythin', so yer'ell be fine once yer work out whos with who." He laughed. "Looks like one o' you boys is gona have a good nights sleep! James, I'm gonna pull the curtain round me bed, yer might want ter' put that charm round me so yer cant hear me snore." And Hagrid went to bed, James casting the imperturbable charm around Hagrid's bed. The six of them just stood there and stared at the bedclothes.

"Well, two of us girls can share." Said Lily, picking up one blanket, which was made off heavy brown wool and looked as though Hagrid may have knitted it himself.

"Sirius and I can share," said James.

"But that leaves Lupin with one of us…" said Dani. "Shot gun not with Ella, she snores! I wont be able to sleep with her in my ear!"

"Well then I guess you can't sleep with Lupin either, he snores something horrid!" said James. Lupin and Ella looked at each other.

"You wanna?" he asked. James snorted at the irony, and Remus shot him a look.

"Sure." Said Ella.

"So that leaves us four." Said Sirius.

"I think we know where we're sleeping then." Said Dani, and she began to climb in with Lily, who had already gotten settled in, on the floor, under the knitted blanket.

"Yes Dani, I think we do!" said James, jumping in before her. Dani looked confused. Lily rolled her eyes, even though she didn't really mind anymore.

"Now we can watch…" he whispered into Lily's ear. And she realised what he had done. Dani and Sirius stood there, looking at each other with their mouths open. With James and Lily in the same bed, Dani and Sirius had only one option…

"Ok Black, you cross this line here, you are dead, you understand me?" Dani said firmly.

"Whatever my love." Sirius said sweetly. Dani scoffed, and rolled onto her back. Sirius gave James and Lily a thumbs-up, making them both laugh.

When the sound of Lupin and Ella's snores had filled the cabin and Sirius safely had his arm around Dani, without her whacking it back off, Lily rolled over to find James wide awake, and staring at the back of her head.

"I thought you were asleep." She breathed.

" I thought you were. This is pretty funny Evans, you have to admit." He whispered back. She chuckled quietly.

"What did I do wrong?" she said, "You called me Evans?"

James laughed.
"Nothing." He grinned, "I guess we're friends now though, aren't we?"

Lily smirked, "I could never be friends with you James Potter. I have more respect for myself." He gave her a mock hurt look, and she laughed.

"Nah, you're not so bad."

"The will you-"

"No Potter!" she cut him off, giggling.

"Didn't think so," he said, "But it was worth a try."

"What were you talking about before?" Lily asked James.

"What do you mean?" he asked, though he thought that he knew, and dreaded having to answer.

"With Remus." She said, making James heart sink.

"I can't say." He said, and saw her face fall. "It's not that I don't want to. I really do, it's just, it's not mine to tell…"

"It's Remus's to tell…" she said quietly, and James cursed their foolishness.

"I've already said too much." James said sadly. He so badly wanted to tell Lily what they got up to every month; however, it was much too dangerous, for her and Remus.

"I'm really sorry." He said.

"It's fine, I understand." She said back, the shivered.

"Are you cold?" James asked her. Lily shook her head.

"Lily?"

She nodded her head, and James drew closer, and hugged her. They were very close now.

"Don't worry Evan's," he said, as they went to sleep. "I wont tell anyone that we're friends."

"Well fancy that." Said Hagrid when James opened his eyes. He had his arms wrapped tightly around Lily, in exactly the same position that he had fallen asleep in.

"Morning Hagrid." James said quietly.

"Mornin' Potter. I would ask if you slept well, but it seems almos' foolish to-"

"Shut up Hagrid. She was cold." He smirked.

"Sure Potter that's what she told you…Lily Evans and James Potter…I never would have thought…" Hagrid trailed off, and continued to sip his tea. It seemed that they were the only two awake, and James sat up at the table and joined Hagrid, pouring himself a mug of coffee.

"For you maybe Hagrid. I've given it quite a bit of thought." James said, as he watched her sleep. Hagrid grinned.

"Well I don't dislike it, I can tell yer that. You'll take care o' her yer will." He said. "Yer good kids, really."

"Thanks Hagrid, " said James with a grin. "You're not too bad yourself."

They watched as Danielle stirred, and awoke to find her arm was wrapped around Sirius, who had his back facing her. She opened her eyes quickly, and sat bolt upright, glaring at Hagrid and James, who were laughing uncontrollably.

"If you two say one word…" she threatened. The others woke up, and by the end of the hour all seven of them were sitting around the room with puffy eyes and cups of coffee.

"How are we going to get back to the dormitories?" Ella asked.

"Just what I was thinking, "said James. Remus and Sirius looked at him.

"Yeah, but six of us? I don't think that it'll work." James said, thinking of the invisibility cloak that lay in the bottom of his bag.

"I'll take the girls up, and then come back for you two." James said, and the three girls gasped as he retrieved the cloak from his bag.