Well, here is the fourth chapter! I hope you like it! You have no idea how much I'm enjoying writing it…
Ch. 4. A First Time for Everything
"Oh, James- you're so talented at Transfiguration!" gushed Marlene, batting her eyelashes as if there were no tomorrow.
"I'm talented at a lot of things besides Transfiguration," he responded in a deeper, debonair voice that Marlene seemed to find charming, since she giggled.
"Like what?" she asked obsequiously.
"Oh- like Transfiguration, Quidditch, making people's day, school in general, making friends, and pulling pranks," he bragged, adding the last thing with a roguish smile.
"You're certainly making my day," she simpered.
"And you're certainly making me sick," said Lily, who had been suffering through this disgusting display long enough. "Here I am, actually trying to finish my Potions essay, and all you two—" she broke off waving her hands around in frustration, "I thought you had a little more sense than that, Marlene. And you, Potter, are only getting worse every minute. So I'll just leave and go somewhere where I don't want to throw up." With that, she gathered her books.
"Afraid it's catching, Evans?" called back James, with a self-satisfied smile on his face.
"What's catching, Potter? Your incredibly swollen head? Or your over-inflated ego?" retorted Lily bitingly.
She bounded out of the room, nearly giving Emmeline a concussion as she exited the portrait hole.
"What's your hurry, Lils? It's Sunday- we don't have to go to classes," said a breathless Emmeline.
"Don't even go in there, those two are repulsive: Potter and Marlene," Lily said darkly. "Basically, all they talk about is Potter. Marlene just smiles and bats her eyelashes at anything that comes out of his mouth. I think I actually saw her giggle when he yawned. Absolutely nauseating."
"Oh, you poor thing," said Emmeline, with a trace of a smile, but patting her friend on the back just the same, "We'll go to the library where you won't feel the need to vomit."
Oh, you have no idea, Em! That conversation had been going on for a solid fifteen minutes. The first ten I endured, but the last five were just too much."
"Where's Alice?" asked Emmeline suddenly. "I haven't seen her all morning."
"You know how she is; she gets up at a ghastly hour in the morning, and goes off to the library, where she sits with Frank and Ted Tonks."
"Maybe we should go sit with them," suggested Emmeline, her gray eyes twinkling impishly.
"And help them with Charms?" jibed Lily, playing along.
"Definitely," agreed Emmeline, and the two friends strolled towards the library, laughing the whole way.
Meanwhile, James had lost interest in Marlene as soon as his audience had departed, and made excuses about five minutes later that he needed to practice Quidditch for the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw game tomorrow.
James climbed up the stairs to the fifth year boys' dormitory, to find Sirius and Remus talking quietly in a corner of the room. It appeared that they didn't want James to know what they were discussing, since they had abruptly stopped speaking when James arrived.
"What's up?" inquired James suspiciously, "Are you all not including me in a prank you're planning?"
"No- we were actually discussing something fairly intelligent," replied Sirius, with a gleam in his warm, brown eyes.
"Intelligent?" snorted Remus. "You call James's denial of liking Lily intelligent. I would call it a lot of things, but intelligent isn't exactly something that comes to mind, Sirius."
"It's intelligent not to want to like Lily Evans," said Sirius swiftly, "especially James, since she can hardly stand being in the same room he's in."
"How did you know she just stalked out of the common room?" asked James incredulously.
"We were THERE, James," responded Remus. "Apparently, you were too busy watching Lily's reaction to what you were saying to Marlene to notice that TWO of your best mates were in the same room as you were! We left a minute after Lily did."
"What Look! I don't like Evans- alright? I don't. We don't get along! We never have, and NEVER will. I just like getting a rise out of her! That's all!" protested James, whose voice steadily grew in volume as he spoke.
"How long did you talk to Marlene after Evans left, Jamesie?" asked Sirius, with a gleeful expression.
"Uh, like five minutes. I really do need to go practice Quidditch, though. I don't feel that we practiced enough earlier with the rest of the team," James explained, seeing their raised eyebrows.
"That proves our point. You were only there to show off for Evans!" declared Sirius victoriously.
"You're in denial, James. You like Lily. Think about it," said Remus, as he left the dorm, shutting the door, "I'm going to go find Peter."
"Right, mate. You said something about practicing Quidditch?" asked Sirius, who knew James well enough to realize James had to mull over what he had just heard. James learned by arguing; and when he lost an argument, he had to re-gather his thoughts and try to understand the final result.
"Yeah," murmured James, "Let's go." They grabbed their brooms and headed for the Quidditch pitch.
While James had been in his dormitory, Lily and Emmeline had been annoying Alice.
"How's the study session going, Alice?" asked Lily innocently.
"I think we're seeing some improvement," replied Alice sweetly, but when Frank was looking away, she narrowed her eyes at her two friends.
"We'll sit with you," offered Emmeline, who looked like she was going to go into convulsions.
"I could definitely use some help in Charms," stated Lily, who couldn't help herself, and started giggling rather loudly.
"Could you two ladies please leave," hissed the librarian, "There are people trying to work in here!"
Alice stuck her tongue out at them, as her two friends walked out of the library.
After they had departed, Lily said, "You know- I still need to do this bloody Potions essay."
"Hm- well, I guess we could go back to the common room," replied Emmeline.
"Yeah- maybe Potter's gone by now," agreed Lily, as they walked toward the portrait of the fat lady.
"Parsnip," said Emmeline, and they entered the common room to discover that Lily's nemesis had indeed gone. "Well, what are you waiting for? Nose to the grindstone!"
"Aye, aye, Captain!" returned Lily, who began scribbling in small letters something about the multiple uses of dragons' blood.
It was a crisp, fall day, just fading into dusk. James and Sirius had both decided to practice flying, since James was a chaser and Sirius was a beater.
James took off into the air, his hair rippling behind him in the brisk, autumn wind. Quidditch always made him feel free and complete- until he remembered what his friends had said about him being in denial. About being in denial about Evans. Fiery Lily Evans. Lily Evans who always managed to do the impossible: remain his equal in wittiness and comebacks. Evans- whose green eyes flashed at him whenever she was angry or sarcastic. Evans…why hadn't he realized it before? She was the girl he thought of every day! Every morning he got up, planning on how to irritate her that day. Every night, dwelling on her reaction…And he had always thought she was beautiful—although he would never have admitted as much. He also loved how funny she was- how in first year she had come up with the nickname Spikey! And he also loved how clever she was. She had managed to find the counter-curse too many spells he had placed on her things; one way had been to pretend to be impressed with his handiwork, he recalled with a sheepish smile.
Yes, the unthinkable had occurred. He had fallen for her. Speaking of which, hadn't he always teased her about how the only thing she would fall for was him? He had been in denial all these years! The question was, did she realize what an honor had been bestowed upon her? Probably not. Not in her wildest dreams had she ever imagined being favored with the affection of such a brilliant, attractive, talented guy as himself. At this thought, he spiraled in the air, and dived down towards earth again.
"You certainly were up there for awhile, mate," commented Sirius observantly, who had apparently been cooling his heels for several minutes.
"Just doing some thinking. You know—Evans is a very lucky chick to be admired by yours truly," James declared with a smug grin. The two boys proceeded back to the castle, carrying the brooms casually slung over their shoulders.
"Yeah- I guess she is. Any girl favored by a Marauder is most blessed," acquiesced Sirius with a smirk appearing on the corners of his mouth. "When are you going to pop the question?"
"Well, the next Hogsmeade trip is in about a week and a half- right before Halloween," responded James, "I'll ask her if she wants to go with me- ah- let's say- tomorrow. After the Quidditch match we're bound to win. She'll be all over me, since everyone knows I'm the most valuable player on the Gryffindor team. For that matter, all of the teams."
"No. I am. Are you sure she won't be hanging all over me? The ladies adore me," boasted Sirius with an arrogant smile.
"In your dreams, Sirius," replied James, his hazel eyes glittering playfully.
"Yes- but are dreams real? Is reality just a dream?" demanded Sirius, in a pretend-philosophical tone.
The two boys had just made their entrance into the castle, when they were met by Peter and Remus.
"Have you all decided when you're going to practice transforming?" asked Remus, "Don't you have all the information you need?"
"Are you all sure this is a good idea?" piped up Peter nervously, "We could get expelled!"
"We could be sent to Azkaban," added Sirius nonchalantly, "But Remus needs a pack. And who could better fulfill that position than the Marauders?"
"And it's not like Sirius and I haven't researched everything thoroughly," agreed James authoritatively. "I can't wait to find out what kind of animal I am!"
"You're probably an ass," joked Sirius, punching James in the arm affectionately.
"You're probably a baboon," retorted James, hitting him back.
"I wonder what I will be?" wondered Peter out loud, biting his nails anxiously.
"Anyone want to guess what I am?" asked Remus, smiling grimly. They all looked at Remus sympathetically.
"Well, it won't be as bad with us there, Remus," James said, "That's what these three and a half years of research were for: to make being a wolf easier."
"But when are we practicing?" Peter demanded, repeating Remus' question to begin with.
"Ah, how about tonight?" asked Sirius.
"Yeah- tonight's good for me," consented James, "I wish we could tell people we are Animagi- I would LOVE to see Evans' face!"
"Ahem," coughed Sirius, "If you like her, you're not going to annoy her. She doesn't like that."
"Isn't that kind of obvious, James?" asked Remus, giving James a look.
"Wouldn't she be impressed?" asked Peter stupidly.
"Probably," smirked James, "But she never seems to like the idea that I can do something that she can't."
"But we aren't talking about Lily right now!" exclaimed Remus. "We're talking about what time to meet and where."
"How about we set off a round of dungbombs in the common room," suggested Sirius, grinning in delight at the idea.
"Brilliant!" said James, "But you, Remus, will have to watch all the entries and exits to make sure no one is coming."
"Definitely," Remus agreed.
"I think it's dinner time," offered Peter, who had been looking up at the clock for the past few minutes.
"Did you finish your essay, Evans?" asked James in what he considered a more pleasant, more mature voice.
"Yes, Potter. But no thanks to you," she glared at him, as she attempted to end their conversation by turning to Alice. Sirius gave James a pitying glance as he served himself a large piece of roast beef.
"Potions essay, wasn't it?" asked James innocently, "I could have helped you."
"I don't desire or need your help, Potter. Your help makes me sick," she added icily.
"Are you still mad about this morning? Just because I have the opposite sex hanging all over me doesn't mean you have to be sore, Evans," he remarked, a smirk appearing on his face.
"Oh, that wasn't what I was sore about," she replied silkily, "What I was sore about is the fact that you're a repulsive, arrogant toadstool!"
"Well I can't help it if I'm better at Transfiguration than you are," he responded pointedly, thinking he understood what she was angry about.
"Transfiguration has nothing to do with it! See! All you think about is yourself! I bet you're just leading Marlene on until after Hogsmeade! Then, you're going to drop her like you do all the other girls you flatter with your attentions!" cried Lily, who didn't like to see anyone she knew hurt.
"Well, how about if I drop her now, and ask you to Hogsmeade?" James asked, ruffling his already-messy hair in the way Lily absolutely despised.
"What?" Lily sputtered, not believing what she had just heard. "Repeat that? I think I misunderstood what you just said."
"Go with me to Hogsmeade?" he repeated, with his "charming" smile and extra-deep voice.
"Are you sick? Because I think you've caught something, Potter." Lily had never, even in her worst nightmares, ever devised that Potter, her arch-enemy, would ask her out.
"I'm serious!" he said, starting to get a little irritated with her lack of enthusiasm.
"No, I am!" laughed Sirius, hoping to lighten up the mood. But neither of the two looked at him.
"You actually thought that I would want to spend my time in Hogsmeade with you? The one who constantly tries to make my life miserable?"
"Well- um, I thought—"
"YOU THOUGHT? The very idea of you thinking is hilarious. You didn't think at all. You simply assumed that I would say yes because every other girl has."
"But—"
"Well, I've got news for you Potter! I am going to be the one girl who will NEVER go out with you." And with that, she pushed back her chair, and dashed out of the Great Hall.
"We better go make sure she's okay," said Alice, as she and Emmeline exchanged worried glances.
"Let's go," sighed Emmeline, glowering at James who always seemed to wreak havoc in their lives. To think that kind, sweet, funny, clever Lily, who hardly ever lost her temper with most, would get so angry with this irrepressible boy.
They found Lily striding furiously toward the portrait-hole, hissing the password to a very offended Fat Lady.
"LILY!" shouted Emmeline, as she and Alice hurried behind their livid Lily.
As they joined Lily in their dormitory, they saw that she had begun punching her pillow, something she hardly ever did—except for when she was especially irate.
"Lily," puffed Alice, out of breath, "We—"
"I can't BELIEVE the nerve of that INSOLENT, PIG-HEADED TOE-RAG!"screamed Lily lividly. "He thinks that after all the arrogant things he's done to me and others that I would go out with him! And since when does he want to go out with me? I'LL BET HE JUST WANTS TO BE ABLE TO SAY THAT HE WAS ABLE TO GET ME TO GO OUT WITH HIM EVEN THOUGH HE'S JERK, SCUM, ugh—" she keeled back onto her bed exhaustedly.
"I know, I know," soothed Alice, stroking Lily's hair in a motherly fashion, "But you know boys; they always want what they can't have."
"Which is why you shouldn't have said anything to him," stated Emmeline, "You should have just given him a slap in the face at ever considering asking you out after all the pranks he's played on you!"
"It doesn't make sense," Lily said wearily, "He's not supposed to like me. Or else he's had a funny way of showing it."
"Well, I've always thought he liked you in his own demented way," recalled Emmeline, "Remember? He always teased you about your hair first year."
"And then, he got steadily more swollen-headed and preferred to show off and annoy you," added Alice, "From second year on."
"He's such a prat," proclaimed Lily vehemently.
"Better luck next time, James," said Remus, patting his friend on the back.
"She was probably just overcome by your charm," reassured Sirius, who was intensely loyal to and somewhat blind to his friends, as well as their faults.
"She probably doesn't believe that the great James Potter really likes her," added Peter flatteringly.
"Yeah," said James, brightening up considerably, "I'll ask her after the Quidditch game- like I was planning to originally.
"Yeah, I was wondering about that," remarked Sirius, "You had said you were asking her out after the Quidditch game tomorrow before."
"Oh, so you had a plan?" asked Remus, smiling at James' stubbornness to admit that he liked Lily. "Since when did you actually publicly, meaning to us Marauders, ADMITTED you like Lily?"
"I thought it was understood," James shrugged carelessly, "I thought about what you and Sirius said earlier, and decided you were right; 'nough said."
Sirius cackled gleefully, "Yes, let's get that on record now! Remus and Sirius were- what did you say, Jamesie?"
"Right," James muttered irritably.
"A little louder, James. We couldn't hear you," said Remus with a smile.
"RIGHT! Let's get on with transforming. Got the dungbombs, Peter?"
"Right now?" Peter whimpered.
"Yes," barked Sirius, "It's time. You've made us procrastinate long enough."
"Okay," said Peter whined, as he reached for the desired objects.
"Sirius, would you like to do the honors?' asked James in a mock-polite voice.
"I would be dee- lighted to, James," Sirius responded, stretching his arm out toward Peter, who complied by handing over the dungbombs.
"Hurry!" hissed Remus, "They might see us!"
Without any more words, Sirius set off the dungbombs, from which everyone who had been residing in the common room fled, highly irritated to be interrupted.
When everyone had cleared out, James said, "Alright. This is the big moment we've all been waiting for. We've practiced wandless and soundless magic for three and a half years. Now, all we have to do, according to our research, is say in our heads the spell 'Animagus Factus.' To transform back into our human form, the incantation is 'Homino Facto.'"
"Alright," replied Sirius, "I'll go first. And something happens to me- well, just remember how much personality and fame I gave to Hogwarts. He winked, and silently thought the two words that would allow him to change form. Suddenly, the other three Marauders weren't looking at Sirius's familiar, tall, broad-shouldered form. What they saw was a large, black dog, who immediately began barking excitedly, and licking them happily.
"We'd better put a silencing spell on the common room," Remus said to James, as he waved his wand at each wall mouthing, "Silencio."
"Alright, Sirius," James said to the black, hairy dog, who was behaving like an over-grown puppy. "Change back so you can tell us what it's like."
Sirius whimpered, but grudgingly, or so it appeared (they weren't completely sure since Sirius was in dog-form), Sirius became a human again. "Blimey! That was the most exhilarating thing I've ever experienced. Did you know dogs have this really great sense of hearing and smelling? And did you see my padded feet? They were so nice and velvety."
"Okay, 'Mighty One with Padded Feet," chuckled Lupin, "We're glad you liked being a dog."
"Isn't it ironic that he and his constellation are part of the same species?" pointed out James, who found this terribly amusing, judging by his laughing.
"Well—" said a slightly affronted Sirius, "Let's see what kind of animal you are."
Without a word, James suddenly morphed into a majestic animal: a stag. However, James didn't realize he was a stag. He looked up at his friends questioningly; his hazel eyes had grown larger, giving him an almost-innocent look. But there was still a mischievous spark. He lifted one of his hoofs and playfully kicked Sirius, who had said he would be a donkey, which he could tell he was not since his legs were much more slender than a donkey's. He decided to transform back into a human, since he wasn't exactly sure what he was. "What was I?"
"Well, let's put it this way, James. You had antlers," Remus replied, smiling wryly.
"So I was a stag?" he asked incredulously. "A noble beast. Just like me." He grinned like a three year old in a candy store.
"Alright, Peter. It's your turn," said Sirius, grinning at Peter, who was turning a little green.
"R-r-r-right. I'll try." He shut his eyes tightly, his brows drawn rigidly together. Then, suddenly, he was shrinking. Soon, he was nothing more than plump, gray rat, with small beady eyes that had looked up immediately to see that everything had grown quite a bit larger. Peter wanted to be human again, so he transformed back more quickly than James and Sirius.
"I'M A RAT!" he shouted, and James noticed that his eyes seemed a little beadier than they had been before he transformed, but, he decided not to mention this to Peter, who was hyper-ventilating as it was.
"You're the perfect size to press the knot on the Whomping Willow," responded Remus, hoping to cheer him up.
"Yeah—it was lucky that one of us was small enough. Otherwise, that blasted tree could have decapitated one of us," added Sirius, catching on to what Remus was trying to do.
"You know," began James thoughtfully, running his hand through his hair, "We four are the Marauders. And now, we are all Animagi—except Remus, of course," he added apologetically.
"So what's your point?" asked Sirius, always impatient to get to the point of James' long rambles that usually ended in mischief of some sort.
"We should have nicknames. Nicknames no one else knows or uses," James answered, his hazel eyes twinkling merrily, "And they'll never know why we call each other the nicknames, because the nicknames will come from our Animagi forms!"
"What a great prank!" agreed Sirius, a wide grin etched on his face, "It's a prank because everyone will be dying to know why we call each other that!"
"Fine with me," shrugged Remus, smiling at his two friends' enthusiasm. "What do you think, Peter?"
"Sounds wicked," Peter said agreeably.
"Well, I think my nick name should be King," suggested Sirius with his nose in the air.
"No," laughed Remus, "You're padded feet."
"Well, I LIKE my feet!" Sirius retorted defensively. "But that actually sounds dumb. How about…um…Padfeet?"
"Padfoot," corrected James. "You'll be Padfoot. The question is- what will mine be?"
"Um," began Remus, "Something to do with your antlers. Because your antlers are what make you distinctive."
"His antlers look like cooking prongs," offered Peter.
"Heh—we could call him Prongs," barked Sirius. "Actually, that's not so bad. Good idea, Peter."
"Prongs?" inquired James doubtfully, "Well, it sounds masculine, and it sounds important. I guess it works."
"So what will I be?" squeaked Peter.
"Well, what differentiates you from other rodents is your tail. So, what does your tail look like?" wondered Remus aloud.
"Looks like a worm," commented Sirius, "A tail that looks like a worm. A worm that looks like a tail."
"Wormtail?" suggested James, hardly noticing Peter's dubious expression.
"Yeah, it fits," agreed Remus. "Well, what about me? I'm a werewolf. We hardly need go into what makes a werewolf different from other wolves."
"The moon," remarked James softly.
"Moony," stated Sirius decidedly. "You're Moony."
"So begin the adventures of Prongs, Padfoot, Moony, and Wormtail," declared James, a smile creeping across his face.
"What mischief we shall manage," Sirius said gleefully.
"Yes," agreed Remus, "But right now, I really want to go to sleep."
"School tomorrow," groaned Peter.
"Kill-joys," muttered Sirius under his breath.
"Right. Let's go," said James leading the way.
But that night, it wasn't about being an illegal Animagus that James was thinking about—it was a certain redhead who had turned him down: his first time to be ever turned down. But he would convince her to go out with him, if it was the last thing he did.
Read and review! I want to know your reaction to James' discovery that he likes Lily.