Author's Note: Hey…isn't this amazing? I'm updating in only a little over a WEEK! I'm surprised at myself, actually. Well, anyhow…I thought this was a good chapter, so perhaps that's why I was able to write it so fast. Also because I have no school or homework (YES!). Anyway, I've been reading my other fanfic--my really old one about Lily and James, which, on the bright side, was much funnier than this one, but also much more immature in many ways. It's weird to see how different my writing is. And I was also reading this one, realizing how much stuff I've written that I completely forgot I wrote. Including the fact that Petunia is getting married, and thanks mucho to PsychoLeopard for pointing out that Sirius also was in the loop about the whole Lily-knowing-about-Remus thing. Okay, I'm blabbing again.
Merci beaucoup to: PsychoLeopard (triple thanks…yes, the Sims 2 is addicting. I agree with the not perfect assessment, there are things I wouldn't have done in this story too…and the character development is slow because they're all basically as developed as they're going to get!), angelic little flower (thanks…Lily doesn't have too many good friends, other than Anna and James…there are some acquaintances, but they'd just clutter up the story!), Windowseat Wonderer, Mei1105, katmiester (well, I can't speak for everyone on AP Euro…because my teacher was TERRIBLE! However, if you buy the REA Test Prep book and study from that, it should be fine…that's what I did and I'm pretty sure I passed the test. But I've never taken AP Bio, and what a coincidence, my Biology teacher was awful too!), Jersey Princess, spix (good suggestion…although for once I've actually updated in a reasonable amount of time, so I hope I didn't need to do that this time!)
Whew…that was a long thanks! Now onto the reading!
Chapter Twenty
When Remus returned after full moon, he was slightly puzzled to why his friends had never shown up for their monthly roaming of the grounds. Though he tried to mask the offense he'd taken at this, when he heard that Lily had been why they'd been prevented, he'd been confused.
"But I've already told her I'm a werewolf," Remus said to James in their dormitory. "Didn't you tell her about the Animagi stuff?"
James was slightly surprised that Lily had known without him knowing. He was even more surprised to hear that Sirius knew that Lily had been told all about it. However, for some reason, he still put off telling her about being an Animagus. He felt bad about betraying Dumbledore, though he'd never mentioned it to anyone, and he didn't think he could handle feeling bad about hiding it from Lily either. Therefore, he pushed it to the back of his mind.
March was a relatively boring month at Hogwarts. James and Lily managed to make it through an entire month without any type of confrontation or problem. Everything went back to status quo, and the Hogwarts castle felt tense, as if everyone were waiting for spring to come and let them outside.
April arrived, and everyone in seventh year was in agreement that it was one of the worst times they'd ever spent at Hogwarts. By the middle of the month, three people had fainted in various Potions classes, four had transfigured parts of their own or others' bodies horribly wrong, and six more had suffered some form of a nervous breakdown. NEWTs were arriving quickly, and the pressure was becoming overwhelming.
Everyone seemed to have been infected with a studying plague, stemming from the teachers--their lectures, which they may have intended to be "inspirational", sounded ominous and extremely dire to all the students. Every night, the library had more people in it, studying later and later. The Common Rooms were filled with seventh years flipping through textbooks and scribbling down notes.
On the brighter side of things, they all realized that after this year, they were free to go and do what ever they wanted to. To some, such as James and Sirius, this was an intriguing opportunity, while to some others, it seemed intimidating.
Finally, May came, bringing the first hints of summer, more and more schoolwork, and a little more light at the end of the tunnel.
On a Tuesday morning, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were all sitting eating breakfast in the Great Hall, discussing the soon-approaching Quidditch match (Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff). Hints of sunlight peeked out over the grounds, and they all remarked that it might be at least mild weather for the match. The Gryffindor team was, as always, the favorite for the Quidditch Cup.
As they continued to discuss Quidditch, they moved on to talking about the Quidditch World Cup that would be occurring over the summer, and how they all wished they could somehow get tickets. Peter was sure he wasn't going to be able to go because he was dead broke (as usual), Remus remarked that even if he did manage to scrounge money together for a ticket, by the time he did it would have already been sold out, and Sirius said it was amusing to even think that his parents would actually do something nice for him. While James nodded with them and expressed with fervor his desire to go, he secretly thought his father might have managed to get him a ticket through Ministry connections--he didn't want to mention it to his friends because although he had asked his father for extra tickets, he wasn't sure if they'd be able to go.
The morning post arrived with a flurry of owls, and, to his surprise, James found an envelope being dropped in front of him. He looked at the sender's address, and was even more surprised to see it was sent by his parents. He picked it up, Sirius, Remus, and Peter all watching him, and opened it. It was written by his father.
Dear James,
How are you? I'm sure this letter will bring you and your friends much excitement, and I will feel extremely relieved, as you've been hounding me for months about this. I finally got ahold of the Department of Magical Games and Sports (after they ignored my owls for a month and a half), and they gave me six tickets to the Quidditch World Cup this summer. I certainly hope this is enough to bring all of your friends, because I really can't get any more. I'm keeping the tickets at home, so they won't get stolen by anyone or "lost" by you. I know you think you are extremely responsible, but I'd never live it down if I had to write them back and explain I needed more tickets.
Your mother says to tell you that she hopes you're buckling down and studying very hard, and also to tell Sirius that if he wants to come visit again this summer, he's welcome to. And also that while she is wary about you inviting your girlfriend to the World Cup, she won't forbid you to. And also that she wants you to come home for at least a week at the beginning of the summer. And--well, never mind, I could be here for an hour if I keep adding things on. Good luck in your exams, and we'll see you when school lets out.
Love, Dad
James sat in shock. Sirius, Remus, and Peter had restarted conversation again, this time talking about how much homework they had. Only after two minutes had passed with James rereading the letter over and over again, did Sirius look at him.
"What's wrong with you, mate?" He asked, rather thickly, as he'd just shoved a piece of toast in his mouth.
"I…er…" James began, but cleared his throat, "I wouldn't be so sure about us not going to the World Cup this summer."
"What are you talking about? Between the four of us, the only way we'd get in is on sympathy," Sirius said. Peter nodded glumly.
"Unless someone else got us tickets," said James. "Someone like my dad."
"Yes, yes, in a lovely, theoretical world, I suppose that would be another solution," Sirius said, picking up a piece of bacon. James paused, partly for dramatic purposes, but also because he'd never heard Sirius say a word with so many syllables as theoretical.
"Well, welcome to the theoretical world," James said, grinning. "Because someone's got six tickets to the World Cup, and that someone is me."
The response was somewhat comical. Sirius started coughing because he'd choked on his piece of bacon, Peter tipped his plate and it fell into his lap, Remus' mouth dropped open and he stared at James.
"You've got tickets?" Remus asked. "How?"
"Well, my dad has them, technically, but he got them from the Ministry for me," James replied. "For us." He handed the three of them the letter, and he watched their expressions of shock as they read it. Sirius was the first one to look up, grinning from ear to ear.
"Bloody hell," He said. "This is fantastic! I can't believe your dad managed to do this!"
"I never thought I'd go to a World Cup!" Peter squeaked at James.
As they collected their things and headed towards Charms class, Sirius and Peter walked ahead of Remus and James, talking animatedly about how amazing the game was going to be and how they hoped they'd get good seats. Remus smirked at James.
"So, you're going to invite Lily, then?" He asked, in a would-be casual voice. James reddened slightly.
"Well, I don't know…I mean, we do have extra tickets, and I wouldn't want them to go to waste…" James replied; though he knew Remus was too smart to be fooled by that.
"I'm not saying you shouldn't," Remus said, shrugging. "Only, I'd try and make sure Sirius doesn't know about it, because we both know he's going to make fun of you for weeks."
All during Charms, James contemplated this. Yes, Sirius would definitely make fun of James, if only because James and Lily would probably be sleeping within a relatively short distance of one another. He assumed this must be the reason that his mother was "wary" about him inviting Lily as well.
And, in truth, James thought, it would be a little weird to be staying in the same space as Lily. Not that he wouldn't like to spend time with her, but it would be somewhat uncomfortable…almost like living with her. Not to mention the fact that his friends (Sirius in particular) would be watching the two of them like hawks.
He wondered, in fact, if Lily would even come. Would she think that this was his way of taking their relationship further? Would the whole idea of it freak her out? True, they would be going to Italy, so perhaps she'd misunderstand his intentions because of the romantic setting. James explored the idea of them being alone together…so many things could happen…
"James! JAMES!" Sirius yelled, making James start.
"Oh, sorry," James said. Sirius raised an eyebrow at him.
"You should have seen yourself…you had this stupid smile on your face. I thought Wormtail might've aimed the wrong way with his Cheering Charm again," Sirius said. "Anyway, Flitwick's coming this way, you'd better at least look like you're doing something."
James picked up his wand and turned his book to the page on Cheering Charms, though his head was back to the situation with Lily. He realized that even though he might be open to advancing things in their relationship, Lily probably wouldn't feel the same way. And he knew that things could end up a disaster if he didn't respect that.
Looks like he was going to have to exercise some self-control, something James knew from experience was not his strong point.
Lily was sitting beside James in Potions in a haze of fumes from the Strengthening Solution they were reviewing. She could tell something was up with James, and it wasn't a fume headache, that was for sure. Why does there always have to be something bothering him? She wondered to herself.
"Are you okay?" She muttered to him, as quietly as possible. The last thing either of them needed was any of the Slytherins joining their conversation.
"Well…er…I'll talk to you about it after class," He said, looking furtive. Lily sighed, knowing that more often than not the path of least resistance was easiest with her boyfriend. They spent another half-hour in the sweltering dungeon classroom until the bell rang, and then walked out of class together, towards the Great Hall for lunch.
"Sooo…" Lily said in response to James' silence, "What's up?"
"What are you doing this summer?" James asked her suddenly. She was puzzled by the question, but answered any way, hoping her answer would help him somehow get to what was really bothering him.
"Mostly trying to figure out what I'm doing with the rest of my life," Lily said airily. "But visiting my parents, I suppose. And hopefully spending some time with you."
James smiled weakly. "Funny you should mention that, actually," He said. "Because my dad--"
"Lily! James!" Both James and Lily looked behind them to see Anna trying to catch up with them.
"Lily, what I was going to say was--" James said, but Anna had reached them, and she had started talking.
"We're going up to North Tower," She stated, and wasting no time, began walking. "Sirius told me this morning he was going to have some sort of idiotic…what did he say…oh, it doesn't matter, it was something like 'duel to the death' with Snape. Anyway, the point is, he's going to get either blasted into oblivion by a gang of Slytherins, or if he manages to escape that, McGonagall's going to slaughter him."
Lily and James, who had been following Anna in some trepidation, were not too happy about this. James swore and started walking faster, so Lily and Anna were nearly running to keep up his pace.
By the time they reached North Tower, they could see Snape and a group of five or six Slytherins facing Sirius and Peter at the end of a corridor. Peter looked terrified, as he always did in confrontation, and Sirius seemed to be trying desperately to look intimidating when he was clearly outnumbered. Both Sirius and Snape had their wands drawn.
Everyone seemed to notice Lily, Anna, and James coming down the hallway. Snape had a satisfied sneer on his face, and Sirius looked slightly relieved (though nothing in comparison to Peter's relief at having three more people on their side).
"What the hell d'you think you're doing?" James said angrily. Lily could tell he was directing this more at Sirius than Snape, but Sirius didn't notice it.
"Oh look, it's Hogwarts's cutest couple come to the rescue," Snape snapped.
"Listen, Snape, I don't know what's going on here, but if you don't get out of here right now, Dumbledore's going to hear about this," James replied, with similar tones of irritation.
"Funny, Potter," Snape replied, "I never took you to be the type of person who went running scared." Lily saw James redden.
"Snape, take your friends and get lost," Lily said bossily, not knowing whether she was being brave or simply stupid. Snape turned his head towards her, then back to James.
"I also never took you to be the type of person who bestowed sympathy on other people. Especially," He said to James, with a gleam in his eye, "filthy mudbloods like her."
"You say that one more time, you're going to have a lot more to worry about than a detention, Snivellus," James snapped, looking livid. He'd drawn his wand.
"James, don't," Lily said; though she was slightly mollified by his anger on her behalf. However, she knew that this situation could definitely escalate to something disastrous.
"We're not kidding Snape, get out of here. I hardly doubt if Dumbledore hears about this he'll be so kind to let you off with just a detention," Anna said, finally joining the conversation.
Snape smirked. "How right you are," He replied. "Wouldn't want to get in too much trouble…then I might not get another chance to kill Black."
"Oh, don't kid yourself, Snivellus. You never had a chance at that," Sirius called at him. Snape kept the smirk on his face.
"Maybe not yet," He said, then beckoned to his cronies. As they slunk off, everyone breathed a collective sigh. James, however, rounded on Sirius.
"Sirius, what did you think you were doing?" He said aggressively. Sirius shrugged, looking like the whole thing was of no concern. "I'm not joking around, Sirius! You could have got yourself and Peter killed!"
"Oh, right. Like Snape ever would have been able to kill us," Sirius said sarcastically.
"Sirius, you know just as well as I do that he's perfectly capable of killing someone," James said. "He's up to his eyes in the Dark Arts, he hates you, and he's basically insane. I can't believe you'd think that you could actually take a group of Slytherins on!"
"Peter would have helped me," Sirius said nonchalantly.
"Sirius, don't be ridiculous! You two would have been taken out before you could even raise your wands!" James said. He was yelling now. "And where the hell is Remus?"
"Library," Sirius said.
"I'm guessing you didn't tell him about this little escapade?" James said. Sirius shook his head and let out a bark of laughter.
"That would have gone over well. He would never have let us come up here," Sirius said.
"Well, it's about time someone tried to control you! If I could count all the idiotic, immature things you've done…" James said. Sirius looked affronted, and when he next spoke, he didn't sound so casual about the whole thing.
"Hey, that's me, your best friend, who you're calling idiotic and immature," He said. "And might I remind you that most of those things were done alongside you."
"Sirius, get this through your head: you are too old to be running around the castle hexing people because they looked at you the wrong way," James said. Sirius looked as angry as James now.
"And what, you think you're so mature?" He shot back at him.
"Well, for one, I'm not the one who's picking fights I can't win!" James yelled back.
"James, don't think you're so much better than me. Your girlfriend hated you for six years because you had such a bad superiority complex," Sirius said. Lily didn't like the fact that she was being brought into this argument, but before she could protest, James had started in on Sirius again.
"Well, if it's going to take you six years for you to mature, I'll see you then!" James said. He turned around and stormed away from the group, disappearing around a corner.
Dead silence fell in the corridor. Sirius looked somewhat strangled, Peter was wide-eyed, and Anna looked slightly puzzled. She looked at Lily, and, as they had many times before, they understood each other immediately: Lily was going to go after James and try and repair the situation, while Anna would stay with Sirius and Peter and do more of the same.
As Lily went after James, who seemed to be walking very fast, she was still in a mild state of shock. She had never, ever seen James and Sirius fight about even the smallest thing, and now they were furious with each other. In addition, she was surprised to see James admonishing Sirius for something like goading Snape, when he himself had done the same thing many times before.
She reached the Fat Lady's portrait just in time to see James climbing out of the portrait hole, Invisibility Cloak in hand.
James and Lily were sitting across from each other on the floor of the Astronomy Tower. They had just walked up there, and neither of them had addressed each other.
"Well…er…are you all right?" Lily asked, clearly concerned. James couldn't blame her. Even now, when he thought about the fight that he and Sirius had had, he felt ashamed. When he didn't reply, she tried again. "I didn't know when I woke up this morning that I would be witnessing World War III."
James smiled weakly, but honestly didn't think it was very funny. He'd never fought with Sirius. Ever. They'd always been united against everything that came their way, and it was disconcerting to be on opposite sides of something.
"I'm such an idiot," He muttered. He heard Lily sigh, but he eyes were fixed on the ground.
"Not so much an idiot. You were really angry," Lily said quietly. "I'm just confused as to what made you go ballistic like that."
James knew why he had gotten so upset, why his temper had flared like that, but he wasn't sure he wanted to admit it. However, he figured that if Lily was going to be his only friend in this, he might as well tell her.
"It was…it's kind of hard to explain," He stated, somewhat lamely. "There were a lot of different reasons. The first reason I was mad at him was kind of more about me than him, actually. Sometimes, it makes me feel really…ashamed, I suppose, when I realize that I used to do that sort of stuff. I don't like it being shoved in my face how reckless I used to be. Not that I'm that different, really, because I know I'm no paragon of maturity or anything, but still…"
"James, you are different than you used to be," Lily said in a reassuring voice. "I think Sirius just doesn't want to lose those good times the two of you used to have together."
"The big reason, though, was that…" James trailed off, looking for words. He had chosen to ignore what Lily had said, because it only made him feel guiltier. "When I saw Snape…it was like I was seeing him in this completely different way. And to be honest, it kind of scared me."
"James, I hate to admit it, but Sirius was partly right--while Snape is undoubtedly evil in many ways, I highly doubt he would go so far as to kill someone," Lily interjected.
"I know he wouldn't now, but what about later? Soon enough, we're not going to be inside these walls, Dumbledore's not going to be there to protect us. We're going to step into a world where people are getting killed every other day," James said. "And you can't tell me that you don't think that Snape is right in with Voldemort."
"I know you hate Snape, James, but that's taking it a little far--"
"No, it's not! Personally, I don't see why Dumbledore doesn't chuck all the Slytherins out of the school," James said. Lily sighed again, this time more in exasperation.
"You know, it's that kind of close-minded thinking that causes problems initially," Lily said. When James tried to respond, she went on, "Listen, let's not fight--we've both had enough of that lately, no doubt. We're getting off the subject."
"Well…alright. Anyway, I was mostly mad because it really freaked me out to see Sirius pushing Snape along like that. Making him more angry, and more liable to come after us later on," James said. There was a sharp intake of breath from Lily. "I know that sounds morbid. But it's the truth. We're not going out into an easy place at the end of the school year, Lily. And having stupid grudges like these are only going to make things worse, especially if we're fighting with people on the dark side."
To his surprise, Lily laughed. For the first time, he looked up at her, and was slightly frustrated that she was laughing at something so serious. When she saw his expression, she stopped. "Oh, sorry," She said, still smiling. "It's just, you sounded like this one movie, Star Wars."
James, however, had no idea what Star Wars was and was concentrating on other things. Lily reached across and took his hand in hers.
"I know it's scary," She said, and he was glad that all the mirth was gone from her voice. "But personally, I think that fighting with people you truly care about has much more serious repercussions than fighting with people who would be against you no matter what. You can't change who Snape is, or who he's going to be, but I know that keeping Sirius as a friend is much more important than worrying about things you have no control over."
James looked up at her, amazed at the ability she had to change his whole perspective in a few sentences. He saw her sitting there, smiling, and wondered at her: Lily, so practical, so smart, so optimistic and determined--and so different from him in so many ways. Yet she loved him, despite all their differences, and stood by him in almost everything.
"You're right," He said, squeezing her hand and leaning over to kiss her on her forehead. "Now, I have something I've been meaning to ask you. How would you like to go to the Quidditch World Cup with me this summer?"
Lily beamed, though she looked slightly incredulous. "You're kidding!" She exclaimed. He shook his head.
"Nope, not kidding. Although I will warn you, if you go, you'll probably have to be exposed to my friends for days on end, and, I know from experience--it's not easy to deal with," James said in mock warning. Lily smiled.
"I think I can handle it," She said, nodding. "I'd love to go."
They began walking back to Gryffindor Tower, hand in hand. "What was with the whole…what was it, Starry Wars, or something like that?" James asked her. Lily laughed.
"Well, it's this film about the future…" Lily explained to him, and wasn't surprised that even when she told him what it was about, he still didn't understand.
Sirius looked down at the Marauder's Map. He looked at the dot labeled "Severus Snape", which was moving in the dark hallway towards him. When he was sure Snape was coming this way, he pulled the small, folded piece of parchment out of his pocket and threw in the middle of the hall, before whisking away back to Gryffindor Tower.
If he had thought Snape was his enemy before, Sirius knew it was nothing compared to the hate and loathing he felt for him now. Not only had he made Sirius look like a complete fool by cornering him with a group of his friends when Sirius only had Peter, he had been the cause of his only fight with James. He was going to make him pay for this--the only trouble had been figuring out how to do it so it looked like Snape's fault and not Sirius'. Yes, Severus Snape was going to be sorry he ever crossed paths with Sirius Black…
As Snape walked down the hall, keeping an eye out for teachers and prefects, he noticed the piece of parchment in front of him, and stooped to pick it up. He opened it and read the scrawled writing.
I know you're suspicious about Remus Lupin--if you want to figure out if your suspicions are right or not, I suggest you try the Whomping Willow at the next full moon. If you touch the knot on the tree, it gets immobilized. What better way to get back at Potter and his friends?
Snape smiled, satisfied. It seemed he'd be making an outing next full moon.
Author's Note: Evil laughter. So begins the story we all know and love…well, sort of, I guess. I'm sure you all have a rough idea of what's going to happen next, so I hope this wasn't too bad of a cliffhanger. Ha, this chapter was interesting: I started it out as a total fluff chapter, what with the whole Quidditch Cup thing, and then saw a perfect opportunity to begin a whole new part of the story!
So, here are my plans for this story. I should be leaving on my summer trip between July 15th-21st, which means that I will be AWOL in terms of this story for at least a month. In a perfect world, the next update after I leave would be around beginning of September. But, as we all know very well, I am a horrible procrastinator, and since I'll be adjusting to a new school and city (and country!), it might be longer. Hmmm…maybe I'll post a really short chapter, just so it's not too long. I don't know.
Anyway, I'm going to try and shoot out as many new chapters before I leave as I can. It could conceivably be as many as five or six, or as little as two or three. Maybe more. Who knows?
Of course, it will help me write if you review! (Especially all you 55 people who have this listed as one of their favorite stories…)
