Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize. All characters belong to a woman with a great imagination and determination, capable of creating this world that is the center of so many stories.
Chapter 15 – A Friend In Need"I won!" she said happily. James smiled.
"Yes you did. Good job. I also found your necklace this morning, I just forgot about it when you mentioned it," James said and cautiously handed her the necklace, trying not to surface any memories of Snape holding it. Lily smiled at him and took it, putting it on.
"Thanks! I have to get going, though. I have to study."
James waved goodbye as she left and took his seat next to Remus, who turned to face him.
"She seems in an awfully cheery mood today."
"Yeah, about that," Sirius started, looking somewhat guilty. "I only put the charm on her so she'll be happy…I didn't realize it would send her overboard."
"You put a charm on her?"
"It…helped her forget."
"Sirius, she didn't remember anything to begin with!"
"And what if she had, huh? Then you would have been mighty happy with the cheering charm I put on her. And besides, it'll wear off in another three hours."
"I can't believe you didn't tell anyone," Remus hissed. "You put a charm on the Head Girl without her knowing!"
Sirius threw his fork in his plate, making a loud clatter. "Oh yes! The one time I go and be all nice to Evans and you all bloody scold me as if I'm three!"
"Sirius, lower your voice," James whispered hurriedly. Sirius glared at the onlookers and they turned back to eating hurriedly. "Look, it may have been nice in your mind, but if she ever find out-"
"If she ever find out why I put it on her in the first place, she'd thank me!" Sirius whispered hurriedly. James leaned back and, at a loss for what to say, decided to bite into another piece of bread. Remus eyed his two friends with curiosity.
"I seem to be missing something," he observed. James glared at him and Sirius stabbed his chicken with the fork. He turned to Peter, who shrugged.
"Don't shrug, Wormtail!" James suddenly spoke up, and, although he said it with normal tones, it sounded as if it was a scream. The little boy turned his scared eyes on him. Remus turned sharply to Sirius, who had paused with the fork halfway to his mouth and was looking at James with a mask of incomprehension.
"James?" Remus asked, noticing Wormtail wasn't about to speak until he knew what was bothering James.
"You were there, Peter, weren't you?" James spat with such sudden venom that Wormtail shrunk in his seat. "Oh, yes, I saw you appear at the end of the corridor. You must have heard me, Peter. I screamed your name to high heaven in the hope you'd hear me."
Peter shook his head. "What are you talking about?" he asked, his voice quivering.
James stood up, fuming. Remus forced a trembling Wormtail to stand as well. "Just follow me. I can't say anything here."
Sirius got up and pushed Wormtail as James cautiously led them to the Room of Requirement. As they entered there were four seats, facing each other and forming a square. They each took one.
"What is this about, Prongs?" Remus asked for the second time. James glared at him as Sirius got up and indifferently inspected the books on the shelf. Oddly enough, all of them were for healing spells.
"Look, I know you were there, Peter," James said, leaning towards him. "I saw you. You looked straight at me."
"What?" Peter asked again, barely heard.
"Last night, Wormtail! When I thought you'd gone to keep Remus company!"
Remus shook his head. "He came, Prongs. He came after midnight."
"Well, the fun was over before midnight. Isn't that right, Peter?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't you?" James yelled, springing from his seat. He pointed at a wall in the direction of the corridor he'd avoid for the rest of his life. "You didn't know what was going on over there? You didn't know why I screamed your name, Peter? You didn't see me on my knees, begging for them to stop, Wormtail? Didn't you see the great James Potter cry in front of those bloody Slytherins?"
Wormtail had curled up into a ball, his eyes wide and fearful. Remus turned to Sirius, who seemed to be reading a book without moving his eyes.
"You saw me, Wormtail! And I know you bloody heard me! Was it just a coincidence, then, when that bloody Bellatrix Lesterange asked if it was you at the end and her husband nodded? Was it a fucking coincidence that as soon as they saw you they knew something was wrong? Was is a bloody coincidence that they acted as if you were a warning, Wormtail?"
"James, that's enough!" Remus declared. James turned a face in rage at him.
"Stay out of this, Lupin!" he yelled and pushed him back into his seat. "I even believed you were with Sirius, on a mission to help me. Oh, how stupid could I bloody be! You weren't on a rescue mission, were you? Is that where you've been sneaking? All those times you just disappeared?"
Peter had steams of tears on his face now, trembling under the pure rage of James. Remus looked to Sirius for help, but he still had the book open, only now his eyes were closed and he was mumbling, as he does when he's trying to work out a problem.
"Tell me something, mate," James said, saying the last word with such sarcasm it became an insult. "Why did you let Snivellus do it, huh? Why didn't you show your true loyalty? Why weren't you the one ripping Evans's clothes off, huh, Wormtail?" James yelled. "I know you've been wanting to do it! I know I'm the only thing stopping you! It's funny, isn't it? Even when you turn into an animal, you're still the same double-crossing rat you always are!"
"Prongs," Peter said, controlling the stream of scared tears down his face and reaching towards his friend. "I didn't do it, Prongs! I'd never do that! We took the oath!"
"And I'm supposed to believe that oath means a damn to someone like you, am I?" James said, slapping Peter's hand away from him. Peter curled in a ball once again, rocking while grabbing hold of his hand. Sirius slammed his book shut.
"That's enough James!" he said firmly, looking at the scene for the first time since entering the room.
"You swore to be loyal, Peter! You swore to die for us as we will for you! What happened to that?" James yelled.
"I said that's enough, James!" Sirius said again, a bit louder. James stopped to look at him.
"Do you realize what he's done, Padfoot?" James said, all traces of anger being wiped away by and enormous aura of pain. James Potter was ready to break. "Do you realize what he's bloody done? Do you have an idea of what he could do?" James said, trembling not with rage, but with dread.
"James, you're jumping to conclusions. You don't know if that was Wormtail down there. And besides, I had asked him if he could help me. He had said no but maybe he changed his mind."
James shook his head as his eyes flashed anger again upon looking at Peter. "The deepest circle in hell is reserved for traitors, Wormtail. I hear they're warming up your spot right now."
James walked out of the room and slammed the door so that the walls shook. Remus finally caught his breath again and fixed his glasses, thrown askew by James's shove. Sirius sat down next to Peter, who was still trembling.
"He's just mad, mate. He rushed to conclusions. He'll calm down. We all know you'd never do something so unfaithful to us as that."