Chapter XIX

Marauders Don't Bite (When They're Human)

((James's POV))

I was a little bruised the next morning, as always, and Lily freaked.

The minute I walked into the Gryffindor common room, where she was reading, she saw the small cut on my cheek and jumped up with a gasp.

"What happened? Did Remus hurt you?"

"Not so loud, Lily," I said lowly, walking closer to her and kissing her. "You haven't noticed that I get a little cut up from trying to calm Moony down? It's fine. I have a potion for it."

"Lils is getting a little scared, eh?" Sirius said, sauntering in. He sported a couple of bruises, nothing more.

"I'm not scared, Black," she snapped, fussing over the cut.

He smirked as Peter walked in and flopped down on the couch. "That was tiring."

"You're a rat, Wormtail. You don't do anything except hang out on Prongs's antlers the whole time," Sirius laughed, receiving a glare from the smaller boy. "Lils, if you're getting worried about a little cut, I'd say that the job of an Auror is not for you."

"I'm not worried about it," she said, clasping her hands and abstaining from bothering me further. "And I know I'll have to get used to it, because when James and I come home from work together, we may have a couple cuts to attend to."

Her last statement surprised me. When James and I come home from work together… I hadn't really thought about marrying Lily. It was a big step, and I was only eighteen. And she was seventeen! But, when I thought about it, I liked the idea of marrying her. In fact, I knew right then that I was going to.

Sirius laughed. "Can I be the Best Man at your wedding, then, Prongs?"

I smiled, putting my arm around Lily's waist and looking at her happily. "Sure. Just don't tell Moony."

"What about me?" Peter asked indignantly. Everyone ignored him.

"Where is Remus, by the way?" Lily asked.

Sirius answered, "Hospital Wing. Of course we can't go in there expecting treatment because we'd have to tell her where we'd been. We'll visit him later."

So all of us trooped down to the Hospital Wing that afternoon, Lily protesting that we all needed rest. Remus was awake and happy to see all of us, though, so Lily stopped her bothering. Rose decided to join us; she too knew that Remus was a werewolf.

"Oh, by the way Moony," Sirius said randomly in the middle of the conversation, "Prongs here says that I get to be the best man at his and Lily's wedding."

"That's not fair," the werewolf said.

I raised my eyebrows. "You don't seem very surprised at the fact that we might be getting married."

He smiled. "Like it wasn't coming."

At that time, Snape and some of his Voldemort-lickers walked in to visit a friend on the Slytherin Quidditch team that was hurt from the match between Slytherin and Hufflepuff the week before. Although they had won by seventy points, she, as the Seeker, had taken a Bludger to the head right after she caught the Snitch. Her name was Heather Falker, and she was currently dating Nott, one of the group.

"Hey there, Snivellus," Sirius called over.

"Not here," I heard Lily mutter. "Not now."

"Hey, Black," he sneered back. "Haven't been trying to kill any innocent people lately, have you?"

"I think innocent is a bit of an understatement," Sirius replied. "And you haven't been shamed forever by having your buttocks saved by your enemy lately, have you?"

"Hey, Evans, do you think you could make me a pair of Slytherin knickers for me to give to Heather?" Nott called. "We'd both definitely enjoy them."

"Why don't you shut your mouth before she curses you in twelve different ways?" Sirius called. "Or I could turn you into a grindylow. That way your love with Falker wouldn't be bi-species anymore."

Nott drew his wand, but Madam Pomfrey came out and broke up the argument, taking five points from both Houses.

"You know, I sort of like the Marauders," Lily admitted to me as we walked out onto the grounds to study. I smiled.

We sat down, Lily in between my legs with my arms around her as she quizzed me.

"You know, my arms sort of hurt from last night," Sirius admitted.

"Your arms?" I asked. "It was my turn to fight with Moony."

"You're just a whimp," Sirius said.

Lily nodded. "Yeah, James, why are you even in Gryffindor?"

"Oh, no," I said. "You two can't gang up on me. You hate each other."

They exchanged glances and smiled. "Wormtail's here! He'll be your friend," Sirius suggested.

We all snorted as Peter looked up questioningly as his nickname was used.

"You all have nicknames for one another," Lily complained. "Prongs, Moony, Padfoot, and Wormtail. I don't have a nickname."

Sirius lay back in the grass, considering a name to give her. "Well, we could call you Smartass. Nah. Mm…what about Carrot?"

"Carrot?"

Sirius sat up and nodded. "You know. Carrots are red with green leaves. You have red hair. And you have green eyes. So really, you resemble a carrot. Plus, you're very down-to-earth, and carrots are roots, so it all matches up."

I laughed. "You put a lot of thinking into that."

"I try. What about it, Carrot?"

Lily shrugged. "Whatever you want. Anything is better than 'Lils'."

And so she was called "Carrot" by Sirius from then on. And she liked it.

A/N: Did someone ask for more Marauders?

Sorry, I know you may think this chapter is pointless. But it's not. Lily never liked the Marauders much before, did she?Or, at least, she didn't like Sirius. And since she discovered that she would probably be around them for the rest of her life, she allowed Sirius to grow on her. So there is a point!

Also sorry if this chapter wasn't as funny as you expected. I'm not a proud owner of humor today.

I know the chapter name in the chapter selection box is only "Marauders Don't Bite", but when I tried putting the whole title in the box when I made the chapter, it wouldn't allow the last parentheses. So there.

Last thing I ate: York Peppermint Pattie.