Lily Evans didn't know she'd actually end up looking forward to the Hogsmeade trip but after an unusually, wonderful chain of events Lily was quite excited to go. You see, she had a date. It happened last night, Andrew had snagged her in the corridor outside of the library.
"Well, spit it out then," Lily said looking at him expectantly. She didn't much care for waiting games.
"Would you – did you want to go to Hogsmeade? With me, that is?" it came out in a rush and almost turned into a jumble but Lily had heard every single word perfectly as though he'd said them slowly and clearly. Andrew ran a hand through his short curls as he waited for Lily's reply.
"I'd love to," Lily had smiled warmly, she'd been anticipating that he would ask her out. It was more a question of 'when' rather than 'if'. Andrew grinned ear-to-ear and kissed her on the cheek before going back into the library. Lily touched where his lips had been and smiled.
Lily's plans to not go to Hogwarts abruptly changed and the next morning she woke up a little early to shower and get ready. Lily always fought the battle of muggle clothing versus witch robes for Hogsmeade trips and she fought that very same battle today. She liked to wear muggle clothes when she could — they were much more stylish than robes — but Andrew was pure-blood. Maybe he liked witches in robes. But some pure-bloods like muggle clothes. James did. She sighed, she knew what she should do. If Andrew couldn't accept the fact that she liked to wear muggle clothes, she was dating the wrong person. She tugged on a pair of jeans and slipped on a cream sweater before applying make-up to her face. Just a little bit.
"Why're you putting on make up for?" Adaline asked.
"Is it a crime to put a bit of make up now?" Lily asked as she finished stroking her lashes with the mascara brush.
"Well, its not the make up, Lily," Ella relented, "It's the sudden change of mind. Last we knew you were staying in the castle to finish Professor Slughorn's homework."
"I finished it last night," Lily lied however Marlene held up a piece of parchment which only had a few paragraphs on it.
"You mean this? 'The Downfalls of Making Polyjuice Potion' which only has two paragraphs under it?" Marlene passed the parchment to Alice who also inspected it. "This doesn't seem so finished to me, does it Alice?"
"Hmm, I don't think so, if it is it's very short and very unfinished 'Therefore the downfalls of polyjuice potion are caused by' and it just finishes there!"
"I think Slughorn would give even you a 'T' on that, Lily. It's such a poor way to finish an essay especially considering it's a very short essay too," Ella said also ganging up on Lily.
"Are you just all going to gang up on me?" Lily questioned as she pulled on her emerald cloak.
The four friends looked at each other and chorused, "Yes."
Lily checked her watch and saw that it was ten minutes to ten. Andrew and Lily had agreed to meet at ten in the Entrance Hall. Lily pulled on a pair of black boots and shrugged on a black trench coat.
"Then I must be going," Lily said, trying to push past the girls but Adaline stood in front of the doorway.
"Not so fast," Adaline said, holding a hand up. "There's something…suspicious. Your hair is nice and you've put on make-up and your wearing your nice coat, the one your mum got you for your birthday last year. You're going on a date!" she said brightly and Lily winced. "Lily Evans is going on a date and you didn't even tell your friends! Shame on you, Evans!"
"You might as well tell us who it's with," Marlene told her, lazily.
"I've got to go," Lily tried to avoid telling them and get past Adaline but Adaline was quite a hard person to get past.
"Come on," Alice urged, "Spill the beans. Is it Potter?"
Lily was quite shocked at that suggestion, they'd both been avoiding each other and their conversations were like ice. "Don't be ridiculous! Did you forget that he left me glued to a train?"
"Well," Ella said, "There's always a chance."
Lily snorted, "Yeah, maybe if he was the last man on Earth and I was forced to reproduce with him just so I'd have other company, other than Potter."
"Oh hush, Lily, stop dramatising. He's not that bad," Marlene said. Lily begged to differ. "So if it isn't Potter, who is it then?"
"Don't make a fuss," Lily warned. "It's Andrew Fortescue."
"Fortescue? As in the extremely talented not to mention sexy, Hufflepuff, Quidditch Captain not to mention prefect, Andrew Fortescue? Did I mention he'd probably have the Fortescue ice cream family recipe?"
"That's the one," Lily checked her watch again, "And I really must be going. I don't want to keep him waiting."
"Fine but we want to know if you're going to become the next Mrs Fortescue," Alice said shrugging.
"It'd be a real shame if you ended up becoming Mrs Fortescue, the lady who serves ice cream in Diagon Alley," Ella commented and then under the gaze of her friends, Ella shrugged, "It would be. Lily has more brains than serving ice cream."
"I think you're jumping the gun," Lily muttered and Alice and Adaline were completely confused about the phrase. "Oh never mind," Lily snapped, rolling her eyes. "I'll let you know how it goes and please don't crash my date."
"We'll try not to," Adaline said cheerily, "Can't promise anything though. Have fun on your date, Lily Poo!"
"Don't call me that!" Lily shrieked as she walked out of the dormitory, she heard the other girls laugh.
Lily was a couple of minutes late to the Entrance Hall and she found Andrew inspecting the house points on the left hand side of the hall. Gryffindor was winning today, the ruby jewels told them that they were on a hundred and ninety seven points. Ravenclaw wasn't far behind on a hundred and ninety points.
"Hello," Lily said and Andrew turned around startled. He was wearing a black cloak and black gloves. A yellow, Hufflepuff scarf was tied around his neck and Lily suddenly Lily felt self-conscious about her outfit. She fidgeted with the belt of her coat until Andrew gushed, "You look pretty."
Lily smiled, letting go of the end of her belt and said, "Thank you."
Lily couldn't help but look at his eyes. She'd never noticed how blue they were but they weren't like Dumbledore's or even Petunia's. Andrew's eyes were almost transparent and Lily thought she could look at them for days.
"Shall we get going then?" he asked and Lily nodded, snapping her gaze away from his eyes.
They started talking about normal things and the first normal thing that seemed to be on the agenda was school. They talked about the homework they had yet to complete for Monday and they talked of how sad it would be to leave Hogwarts for good.
"Where shall we go then? The Three Broomsticks?" Andrew asked and Lily nodded gratefully. She never quite liked Madam Pudifoot's tea but she did enjoy a bottle of Butterbeer.
Andrew held the door open for Lily as the sign above them swayed slightly from the strong breeze passing through the town. Lily wondered when the first snow would fall but knew it would still be another couple of months from now. She hoped it was before Christmas though, Lily would hate to have to leave without seeing the first snow fall. She loved when it happened on a weekend during the day. Lily would sit at a window — any window, in her dormitory, in the common room, library, corridor — and just watch as everything slowly became dazzling white.
"Did you want anything to eat?" Andrew asked and Lily shook her head. She had her fill of food at breakfast, the house elves really outdid themselves, she'd had an excellent egg and bacon roll.
"Just a Butterbeer please," she said and he nodded. Lily sat down at a table and Andrew went to order.
She quite enjoyed Andrew's company. He was easy to talk to and Lily enjoyed that. He made her laugh and he made her forget about the war that was raging on outside the Hogwarts bubble. Made her forget that the war was slipping in through the bubble. Made her forget that she should be cautious in the castle. Lily wondered what his opinion on the war was but she didn't want to ruin the comfortable talk they were having. The war was always an uncomfortable topic to talk about. Besides no one wanted to talk politics on a date.
Andrew came back with the drinks and set Lily's down in front of her.
"So, Lily Evans, I want to know more about you," Andrew said and Lily giggled.
"What would you like to know, Mr Fortescue?" Lily asked mysteriously but Andrew cringed.
"Call me anything but, Mr Fortescue. Mr Fortescue is my grandad."
"But then what can I call you?" Lily asked with a frown.
"You can call me Andrew," he suggested and Lily frowned further.
"I'm going to need a nickname though," Lily said and he laughed.
"No, but seriously, I would like to know more about you," he said.
"Ask away, I have no secrets."
"Okay then, what's your favourite colour?"
"Woah, that is just way to personal," Lily joked and Andrew cracked a smile, "I can't tell you that," Lily paused for a moment for the joke to pass and then answered seriously, "It's green and I kind of hate that it's green because it's a Slytherin colour but there you go. What's yours?"
"Patronus blue," he said thoughtfully, "You know that blue tinge that comes, I've never seen anything like it. It's not blue like the sky nor is it blue like the ocean. It just reminds me of peace."
"Well now I feel bad with my mediocre answer of green. I'll have you know it's the emerald green that I like, not any shade will do. It has to be emerald green."
"Well then you're completely forgiven of your mediocre answer," Andrew said and Lily laughed. "How did your family react when they found out you're a witch?"
"My parents took it well, sister not so much but it's okay. I deal with it. What's it like growing up with wizard and witch parents?"
"Pretty ordinary," he said shrugging.
"Really?" Lily asked disappointed. She'd hoped for something cool like dishes washing themselves and beds being made with the flick of a wand or flying on a broomstick when you were little.
"Yeah," he said shrugging. "Though one time my great-grandma did set the ice cream grandad had made at Christmas on fire during a debate. Dad was furious, it was his favourite flavour and he turned poor great-grandma's clothes pink which infuriated my mother because apparently pink isn't a proper wizarding colour. She's very old and traditional you see."
Lily laughed, "That's pretty cool. Nothing like that ever happened at my house."
The rest of the date went rather well at least until James Potter gate-crashed.
—
Adaline waited in the Entrance Hall for Thomas. She'd taken Marlene's advice and decided to give Thomas another chance. Their first date was pretty good as far as dates could go and Thomas was nice. The kind of guy that held the door open and pulled the chair out. She could do worse than Thomas Plunkett. That she knew and the conversation wasn't all that bad. He was nice to talk to.
"Hey, sorry I'm late," he said breathlessly.
Adaline checked her watch. He was a few minutes late but Adaline shrugged. "Ready to go?"
"Yeah," he smiled and kissed her awkwardly on the cheek. Adaline blushed remembering the awkward peck at the end of their last date. They started walking down the path to the gates. "So I've got a whole itinerary for us."
"Oh?"
"Yep," he grinned. "So first up is-"
"No, don't tell me," Adaline smiled, "Surprise me."
He grinned again, his dimples showing. "All right then. Some girls don't like being surprised."
"You seem to think you know a lot about girls."
"Maybe I do," he shrugged. "Or maybe I don't."
Adaline smiled, "Have you finished Slughorn's assignment yet?"
"Almost, you?"
"Almost."
They talked about the Potions assignment until they ended up in front of Madam Pudifoot's. Turned out Thomas had reserved a table on the street — which was exceptionally hard to do — and they sat out and had ordered a pot of tea and a chocolate chipped muffin with strawberries. They sat out in the sun drinking their tea and sharing the muffin and talked about anything that occurred to them and placed bets on which couples were on dates and how long they'd been dating for.
"Them two," Thomas pointed out and Adaline followed his line of vision and her mouth dropped open.
Nate was walking down High Street with Mia Scott — a fifth year. Excitement bubbled up in her and her gossiping tendencies tingled. She needed to find Marlene because Marlene would freak.
"Definitely a first date," Adaline concluded.
"Nah, they look to comfortable with each other."
Adaline considered, watching the couple. They held hands and Mia wasn't afraid to lean on him. "First date in Hogsmeade," Adaline allowed. "They may have snogged in a broom closet once or twice."
Thomas laughed. "I'd say so."
"Marlene's going to freak," Adaline chuckled.
"Does she have a crush on him?"
"What? No. They're like siblings."
"Siblings who flirt."
"They've always been like that," Adaline insisted, "They grew up together and it is strictly platonic."
"Whatever you say — oh, what about them two?" Thomas pointed out another couple. They were young, definitely fourth years.
"Puppy love. May last the year but they'll break up eventually and there will be tears."
—
The Marauders entered Hogsmeade with a rather loud and cheerful attitude. Sirius had a bet with Remus on whether Madam Rosemerta would give Sirius a free Butterbeer if he flirted with her. James put a few galleons in supporting Remus on the grounds that, "Madam Rosemerta only likes it when I flirt with her."
"You're such a git, Prongs, not to mention delusional. We all know I'm the better looking one in the duo. Wouldn't you agree, Wormtail?"
"I'd rather not be brought into this," Peter said wearily.
"That's because he knows I'm the better looking one," James said knowingly and Sirius snorted.
"You know St Mungo's owled me the other day, they weren't sure if you needed a bed or to be set back into the wild."
Remus and Peter laughed and James bit back, "Well I got a call from a muggle vet asking if I'd seen a stray, black dog. Apparently it's got rabies. I told them there was a black dog with rabies sleeping in the bed next to me."
Sirius and James both laughed as they walked into the Three Broomsticks and it was at that moment James's mood went completely foul.
"What do you want, James? A Butterbeer?" Peter asked.
"What the bloody hell do you think, Wormtail?" he snapped before going to sit at a table.
She was on a date. A date. But why should he care? Right, he shouldn't. She'd made it clear that she wasn't interested in anything with him but really? Andrew sodding Fortescue? She sat opposite him, their hands mere millimetres away from each other and she smiled at Fortescue like she used to smile at James. James looked away but that didn't help much, her pretty laugh could be heard from across the room and the more he heard it the more he wanted to punch Fortescue right in his pretty face because it should be James sitting opposite Lily making her laugh. James had her first.
"Prongs!" Sirius clicked his fingers in front of James's face before the feeling of doom over losing a woman like Lily Evans could fully set in. "You okay? You seem off."
"I'm fine." I want to hex something, James thought. "Can I hex you?"
Sirius looked offended before saying, "Not unless you want to end up in the hospital wing."
"Right," James scoffed, "I'm so scared. You couldn't even beat me in a duel in Defence Against the Dark Arts."
"I thought we were over that."
"I'm just saying, I'm a better dueller than you."
"I let you win," Sirius gruffed before saying cheerily, "So I could watch Evans kick your butt."
The mention of Lily Evans put James in an even fouler mood as the feeling of doom started to creep in.
"Aren't you meant to be flirting with Rosemerta?"
"Eager to be proven wrong?"
"Oh sod off. If you get a free Butterbeer I'll vanish Wormtail's eyebrow off."
"Hey!" Peter said offended.
"Oh relax, Wormtail. Sirius couldn't get a free Butterbeer even if he paid for it."
Remus returned with three Butterbeers and Sirius took that as his cue to go chat Rosemerta up.
"Have you finished the Potions essay, James?"
"Finished it this morning. Quidditch trials are this afternoon."
"Glad to see you've finally started doing schoolwork."
"My dad said that if I don't get top marks in all my subjects he'll blow up my Nimbus."
Peter and Remus sniggered. "I can't get the essay long enough," Peter sighed.
"I'll read over it," Remus said and Peter smiled gratefully.
Sirius came back without a Butterbeer and James and Remus split the money. They all started talking about the next full moon but James wasn't feeling it. It had been an hour when James's knuckles went white as paper as he heard her laughter drift out again. He decided to do something about it despite every voice in his head telling him not to.
He stood up and ignored Peter and Remus's questions and went to Lily's table. He pulled up a chair and sat down next to Lily, smiling cheerfully.
"Potter," Lily said through gritted teeth, "What are you doing?"
"Oh, I came to see what was so funny," he replied innocently. "You've been laughing your head off all day."
"Trying to get tips, are you Potter?" Andrew asked and James's fist went white again, the urge to punch Fortescue's pretty face, ever growing.
"Andrew!" Lily scowled at him before turning to James. "Don't you have other toilets to blow up or something?"
"I told you I didn't blow up the bloody toilets," James exclaimed exasperatedly.
"Prongs!" Sirius called out, "Wormtail is going to try and still some firewhisky from the storeroom, we've got to go and distract Rosemerta!"
"Go on," Lily dared though her eyes were narrow. This had been the behaviour Lily had warned James not to partake in, the behaviour James had agreed to take a step back from for the sake of being Head Boy and having to set a better example.
James considered before saying, "I'm going back up to the castle," James said to Sirius. "Set up the Quidditch pitch for trials. Meet you there!"
With that James left a bewildered Sirius to charm Rosemerta all on his own along with Lily who was surprised James had taken the responsible route and he walked back up to the castle all on his own, the desire to punch something — Fortescue's face — still there.
—
Marlene, Ella and Alice walked along the High Street passing several shops, trying to decide what to do.
"Is this all you guys do when you come to Hogsmeade?" Alice complained.
"Pretty much," Ella shrugged.
"Having Frank withdrawal symptoms are you?" Marlene asked.
"I will not snog you in a deserted ally way," Ella said sternly and then winked, "Unless you're into that sort of thing."
"Ella," Alice complained.
Marlene wrapped an arm around Ella's arm, "Don't worry, Ella, I'll hook up with you in a deserted alley way."
"Who knew McKinnon was such a kinky girl?" Black joined their conversation, coming from nowhere.
"Padfoot, leave them alone," Remus said. "Sorry, ladies, he's just upset that James didn't want to snog him in a deserted alley way."
"What are you lovely ladies up to today?"
"Nothing," Alice shrugged.
"Care to join us in a game of forty-four homes?"
"Hey, that's a muggle game!" Marlene explained.
"We weren't going to play a game," Peter whispered to Remus.
"Hush, Wormtail. We will if the ladies will join us." Sirius looked back at the girls, a smile on his face. "So what do you say?"
Ella shrugged and glanced at both Marlene and Alice who also shrugged. "Why not? Though you will have to explain the game to us."
Sirius tusked, "McKinnon, what are you and Lily teaching these inbreds?"
"I am not an inbred!" Alice shouted indignantly.
Ella considered, "Eh, we kind of are."
"It's okay," Sirius told her solemnly, "I'm an inbred too."
Alice rolled her eyes. "How do we play the game, Black?"
Sirius explained with the help of Marlene how Forty-Four Homes was played. A landmark of sorts was elected home-base, they had chosen the lamp post in the centre of the town, and the person who was 'in' had to guard the post. The person who was 'in' had to close their eyes and count to forty-four whilst the others hid once the forty-four seconds was up, they had to tag someone. If they managed to tag someone before everyone reached the home-base, that person was in.
"So where can we hide?" Ella asked.
"Anywhere in Hogsmeade. No magic," Sirius deduced. "In fact, to make sure no cheating occurs I say we hand our wands to Madam Rosmerta and she'll return them to us when we go to collect them."
Everyone decided that was fair and after a quick trip to The Three Broomsticks where Madam Rosmerta stored their wands under the counter, they quickly elected Alice as the person who was 'in' and she closed her eyes and started counting as everyone else scattered.
The game lasted five turn-overs, Sirius and Ella both managing to not be 'in' a single time and Peter managing to get tagged twice, when Sirius had to leave for Quidditch try-outs. The girls being hot and sweaty from the game, decided a cold butterbeer was just what they needed when Marlene stopped in her tracks.
"The thing you insisted wasn't a thing, is a thing." Marlene hit Ella's arm before pointing and when Ella saw it, she burst out laughing.
"I feel like I am missing something," Alice said.
Ella stopped laughing, "Yeah, Nate going out with a fifth year," she managed to get out before bursting into laughter again.
"So why does that constitute a thing?"
"Because Marly's being weird about it."
"I am not!" Marlene insisted. "I'm not. It's just he wouldn't tell me who he was dating. Mia Scott of all people."
"Isn't she supposed to be in the Hospital Wing?" Alice asked. "She did only get attacked the other day."
"Alice," Ella said, "She had a date to get to. Nearly dying wasn't going to keep her from the date." Marlene frowned and Ella rolled her eyes. "Oh so he's dating someone younger, Marls. Who cares? Alice is dating an older guy."
"Nothing wrong with it at all," Alice agreed.
"She's a fifth year," Marlene wrinkled up her nose. "What if they get married and have kids? I'm going to have to deal with a fifth year for the rest of my life and will she be at Felicia's wedding? That would be so awkward because Nate and I are partners in the bridal party and I don't even know Scott because she's a fifth year. Why is he doing this to me?"
"Woah! Slow down," Alice said, "You're jumping the wand. They aren't getting married. They've gone on a date."
"Considering that PDA I'd say they've gone on multiple dates."
Marlene looked at the couple, who were facing each other, holding hands and giving each other eskimo kisses. Mia Scott was pretty, Marlene decided. She had short, black, wavy hair and big golden eyes. She was skinny and had long legs (which her leather skirt was showing off spectacularly) but she wasn't too tall. She passed all the markers for prettiness. She groaned. "This is the worse thing ever."
"Marls, you're making it a thing," Ella sighed.
"Because it is a thing!"
"It's really not," Alice said sadly. "Come on, let's go get those butterbeers and then we can head up to the castle and harass Lily and Della to tell us all about their dates."
—
Quidditch trials had been absolutely tedious. Forty people had shown up for the three positions and it took James twenty minutes to realise how incompetent half of them were — James' mother flew a broom better than most of them and that was saying something. Euphemia Potter was not a natural flyer. James dismissed half the group before thirty minutes had even passed.
James drilled the rest of them into the ground and three hours later James had narrowed down the two beaters to Liz Bell from fifth year and Dean Roberts from fourth year. His only real problem now was the keeper. No one had quite saved every pass however the two strongest players out of the lot was a stocky third year, Thomas Karev and a small, but fast sixth year named Lottie Podmore. It was hard because both players had their ups and downs. Karev was bigger and would be harder to be knocked off a broom but Podmore was so fast that she either caught or doged everything that came her way so it didn't matter if someone sent a bludger her way.
"Podmore! Get out of the hoops for a minute! I want to try something!" Potter shouted before he flew over to Nicolea Flawley. She was the seeker on the team but James wanted to see if this would work. You see Flawley was the perfect build for a keeper but she played seeker and Podmore was the perfect build for a seeker and years of family matches had told James that Flawley was a decent Keeper.
"I want you to try out for keeper," James told Nicolea and her mouth dropped.
"But I'm seeker! You can't just change my position!"
"Come on, Nikki! I remember when you first tried out, you tried out for the keeper position but Kurk got it instead but he's gone now and you've seen him play for four years! I know you can do this."
"I don't know, James," she said unsurely.
"Come on, Nikki, look at Podmore! She's the perfect build for a seeker and you're the perfect build for keeper! Just give it a shot. You know if you're rubbish at it I'll keep you seeker but I've got to know!"
"Oh all right!" she sighed defeated. She flew over to the hoops and James, Sirius and Adaline all took turns at trying to get the quaffle through the hoops. Not one of them scored.
"I think we've found our keeper," James said and tears almost came to his eyes.
"Podmore, how good are you at catching small, little golden balls that fly?" James asked her.
Lottie Podmore shrugged, "I think I'd be okay, my dad always marvels at how I always catch the peas he throws at me."
"Okay. Sirius and I are going to throw golf balls into the air and you have to catch them."
James and Sirius threw ten golf balls in all different directions and she managed to catch them all before they hit the ground.
"It's settled then! The new team members are: Lottie Podmore, Liz Bell and Dean Roberts! Thank you everyone for trying out and to the new members, our first practice is tomorrow night! It starts at seven thirty and lasts as long as I see fit. If you're late I will make you run around the pitch five times."
"He will," Sirius muttered, "He even made me do it once."
"Shut it, Padfoot," James muttered back.
—
Adaline felt that her date had ended on a much better note than it had the first time. For one, they ended their date snogging in the alley behind the Three Broomsticks and whilst Adaline wasn't completely sure yet, she also knew that Marlene had been right. She'd been judging guys too quickly, dismissing them too soon to actually feel anything for them. So she vowed that she'd give Thomas another three dates before she made an executive decision. She should know after five dates whether or not he was someone she could be with in the long run.
They walked up to the school together hand-in-hand, looking like some of the other couples they'd seen earlier in the day and again, Thomas walked Adaline right up to the portrait of the Fat Lady and he kissed her lips again, more confidently after their rendezvous in the alley and they parted ways. Adaline waited until he was out of earshot to say the password and stepped into the common room, scanning it for her friends.
She found Lily sitting by the window, the infamous Potions essay out in front of her and Adaline didn't hesitate to sit opposite her.
"Trade date details?" Lily suggested, putting her quill down. Adaline nodded eagerly. "You first."
"Started out at Madam Pudifoot's, he had a table reserved on the street!"
"Oh, that's so hard to do. Props to Plunkett."
"I know, then we strolled up to the cemetery-" "Morbid" "And we wondered around — you know there are people in there from the fifteen hundreds?"
"No, I didn't know that because I don't have dates in the cemetery."
"Right, well it was fun. Then we were walking back and we snogged in the alley way behind the Three Broomsticks and then we came up to the castle. Your turn."
"Three Broomsticks. Potter crashed it. No kisses for me."
"Potter crashed your date. Why?"
"Because he likes to be insufferable," Lily muttered darkly.
"What about Fortescue?"
"He was great, actually. We get along really well," Lily shrugged, "He asked me out again."
Adaline nodded, "Thomas asked me out again too."
"Del, I'm surprised at you. You must really like Plunkett. You never go on three dates with the same guy!"
"Er," Adaline hesitated, "Well, I'm not over the moon about him. But Marly suggested that I dismiss guys too quickly and so I decided to go on the second date to prove her wrong but I may have proved her right. So, I've decided that, should things keep going well, I will go on five dates with him before I decide to ditch him."
"Optimistic," Lily noted.
Adaline laughed, "Yes well, I'm not feeling the sparks yet so we'll see. He's a great snog though."
Lily laughed this time. "Worse comes to worse, drag it out a few extra dates just for the snogging. I did that with Warren last year after Tobias and I broke up."
"Sneaky."
Lily shrugged, "Had to get over Tobias somehow. Snogging other people is a good step. Maybe a little slutty but still very effective."
—
Sirius and James were the last to leave the field. James was completely buggered and just wanted to get to their dormitory but Sirius was hungry so they stopped by the kitchens to grab some pastries and somehow this made James's good mood from Quidditch turn foul again.
"Do we really have to?" James whined, "I'm tired."
"And I'm hungry! We'll only be ten minutes."
So they trekked down to the kitchens and Sirius and James stuffed their pockets with pastries and chocolate before leaving however there was someone waiting for them at the stairwell that led out of the basements.
Andrew Fortescue was leaning against the stone wall wearing the same clothes from the Three Broomsticks. James thought he looked quite morbid in all that black. Morbid or suspicious, he couldn't tell which.
"Potter, could I have a word?"
"I'd rather not," James said curtly.
"Look, I know you fancy Lily Evans-"
"You really don't want to have this conversation," Sirius warned him. The Marauders knew that unless they wanted to be hexed they were not to mention James' infatuation with Lily Evans. She was a taboo subject.
"I think I do," Andrew demanded and Sirius muttered, "Your funeral."
"I know you fancy Lily Evans," Andrew pressed on and James wasn't all that surprised to find that his urge to punch Fortescue in the face had returned. "But well, we've started something and I'd appreciate it if you stayed away and didn't gate crash our dates. It's really quite pathetic and —"
Crunch! James's fist had snapped forward straight into Andrew's nose but James must've done it wrong because his fingers were burning with pain. Blood was gushing out of Andrew's nose and was groaning and moaning in pain which of course attracted the attention of the prefects on patrol.
"What do we have here?" a slow, snide voice questioned and James and Sirius both stiffened. The worst people to be on patrol, were on patrol. The Slytherins — how could James forget he liked to give them the weekend nights?
"A Hufflepuff and a Gryffindor fighting," Peyton Aitken tsked. "That won't do. Both prefects too. What do you say Severus? Twenty points each?"
"Perhaps thirty for Gryffindor seeing as there are two Gryffindors out of bed after curfew?"
"I couldn't agree more. Thirty points from Gryffindor and twenty points from Hufflepuff. And what kind of prefects would we be if we didn't escort you three to the hospital wing?"
"Very bad ones, I imagine," Sirius said, "Now move or I'll hex you."
"Threatening a prefect? Ten points from Gryffindor. Hospital wing now," Snape said lividly.
With no other choice, Sirius, James and Andrew grudgingly followed Aitkens and Snape to the Hospital wing.
Madam Pomfrey sat James on a bed next to a partitioned off section and Sirius asked the question James had been thinking.
"Do you think it's the muggle-born who was attacked in there?"
James shrugged, "I'm willing to bet mum's painting of that ugly goblin."
"You hate that thing."
"That's why I'm willing to bet on it. Push the curtain open."
"Madam Pomfrey is right there," Sirius hissed.
"Oh stop being a wuss, my hand is mangled up just do it before she gets back from her office!"
Sirius sighed and casually walked over and peeked inside the partitions and then pushed it open so James could see.
"Hex me!" James hissed. "Something that would cause me to stay in the hospital wing over night."
"All right, should I make the bones in your hand disappear?"
"You know how to do that?"
"No, but my dad used this one hex one time and it was pretty brutal…"
"Just do it," James demanded.
Sirius pointed his wand at James and muttered "Vox pergamentum". James's voice turned into nothing. If James tried to speak it came out a garbled mess as though the part of the brain that controlled speech had been messed around with. James was completely unable to communicate using his voice.
"Dad used it on mum when she wouldn't shut up about something, it's a wonder they're still married. Only the counter-course can get rid of it but my dad made that spell and its counter-course so Madam Pomfrey shouldn't know about it. When Madam Pomfrey is gone, point your wand to your neck and think 'Vox patet.' That's the counter curse. It should keep you here overnight as long as she can't get you to speak properly."
James nodded and gestured for Sirius to leave before Madam Pomfrey came back. Maybe tonight would be interesting after all.
Madam Pomfrey was completely dumbstruck at James' total loss of speech. Everything she tried hadn't helped in the slightest and she sighed dejectedly and told James he would have to stay overnight until she could figure out how to make his speech return. She made James drink a potion that tasted like how James imagined slug repellent tasted like and Madam Pomfrey was frustrated when that potion didn't work either. She finally left James to sleep after he almost vomited the potion and James waited until past midnight to creep out of bed. He pointed his wand at his throat and thought the counter-curse and felt his vocal cords become normal again. He hadn't realised it but his vocal cords had felt like they'd been tied up and now they felt untangled.
He quietly slipped inside of Mia Scott's partitioned off room and before he could even sit down her eyes popped open and she shouted, "Who are you?!"
"Shh! Shh! Shh!" James hushed her hastily and felt some relief at being able to speak normally again, "I just want to talk to you."
Mia didn't seem to believe him so James relented. "Look I'll leave my wand here," James left his wand on the table next to the bed and went to sit down in the chair, "and I'll tell you who I am. I'm James Potter and I just wanted to ask you if you know who attacked you? I know you've told the teachers you don't know but I thought maybe you might be scared. But you shouldn't be. You know if we catch this person you have nothing to fear. So do you know who attacked you?"
"Yes," she whispered.
James sat up straighter and the next few words that came out of her mouth had James so shocked he could barely speak for five minutes. Then Madam Pomfrey walked back in and all hell broke loose.
—
Sirius spent the morning asking several people if they'd seen James. James was supposed to meet the Marauders for breakfast — that was the plan — but James hadn't showed and whilst Sirius wasn't worried, he was thoroughly annoyed.
"I mean, Moony, how hard is it to follow a simple plan? Get information out of Scott, meet us for breakfast so we can gossip about it. It's not bloody transfiguration theory."
"But you get O's in transfiguration theory," Peter frowned.
"It's an expression, Pete," Sirius snapped.
Remus considered, "Maybe Pomfrey's kept him for observation."
"Nah, Prongs would've done the anti-jinx by now. His voice would be back."
"Maybe he didn't do the anti-jinx?" Peter suggested.
Sirius was about to scoff but then exclaimed, "Bloody brilliant, Pete. If Scott was talking to him, maybe he wanted to stay longer to see if she'd tell him more!"
"Can we go to Transfiguration now? We're going to be late."
Sirius rolled his eyes, "You would care, Moons."
—
James sat in Professor McGonagall's office and his leg was shaking. He couldn't understand why Mia Scott would say that. It was quite absurd and anyone who knew James knew that it was completely ridiculous. James didn't mind a good prank or two but he'd never fatally or seriously harm someone. Anyone who knew James knew that.
"Potter, you have some serious explaining to do!" Professor McGonagall was looking down at James more fiercely than she had ever looked at James and it took all James had not to cower under the fiery gaze.
"Professor, I don't know why she said that, I really don't but please! I didn't do it! You can't get me in trouble for something I didn't do!"
"Potter, the evidence is piled up against you," Professor McGonagall accused. "You were not in class that morning and the victim has identified you as her attacker. Unless you can tell me where you were that morning and someone or something that can give you an alibi then I'm sorry, Potter but the matter will go out of my hands and up to Professor Dumbledore's and I'll tell you now, he'll have to take the Head Boy badge off you and your Quidditch privileges may be fully revoked, as currently you are suspended from any extracurricular activities."
"Professor, you can't!"
"Don't tell me what I can and can't do, Potter," she warned severely, "These are serious accusations! Two students were severely attacked within the last four days! They almost died! If that is all the consequences you would face, you should count yourself lucky! The board will be urging for an expulsion!"
James searched around his mind, he couldn't tell Professor McGonagall why he wasn't in class because the truth is he didn't go to class because he'd left the Marauders' Map in the Shrieking Shack and had to go get it. By the time he'd gotten back, he'd been too tired to go to class and had gone for a lie down in his dormitory. Remus had beat him up pretty bad the night before. But he couldn't tell Professor McGonagall he knew about Remus and the Shack — let alone that he was out with Remus last night. It had been one of Dumbledore's rules on allowing Remus to attend Hogwarts; no one could know.
"Can't - can't someone look through my mind?" James asked, grasping at straws. It wouldn't be so bad if it was Sirius or Remus.
Professor McGonagall looked at James thoughtfully.
"Looking through memories is a very evasive process and requires parent permission. Your parents are in Australia. An owl could take days."
"I'm of age. I don't need parent permission for something like that."
"But still, Potter. It is a very evasive process, someone will have to sift through your memories until they find sufficient enough proof that you did not commit the crime. Things you may not want people to know may be revealed and anything found can be used against you. I advise against it, Potter."
"If I do it, who can look through my memories? Who'll do it?"
"Either a teacher or-"
"I won't do it if it's a teacher. What if a prefect did it? Like Remus Lupin?"
"I'm afraid that wouldn't do, you see his judgement could be biased or he could lie for you. Everyone knows you are friends … Plus his other affliction."
"Can I go now?" James asked.
Professor McGonagall sat down behind her desk and clasped her hands together, studying James as though he were an animal in Magical Menagerie. "Very well, you can go. You must stay in your common room. You are only allowed to leave for classes and meals."
"What about Head Boy duties and Quidditch?"
"Like I said, classes and meals only, Potter."
James squawked but Professor McGonagall didn't budge on her decision. James got up angrily and left Professor McGonagall's office wandering aimlessly in the corridors.
"Oi! Potter!" someone shouted and James froze for a moment, he knew the voice and he wasn't in the mood so he kept walking. "Potter!" she grabbed his arm and turned him around.
"What?" he snapped savagely and she took a slight step back and released his arm.
"You punched Andrew," she stated.
"So?"
"So?" Lily echoed, "That's it?"
"I am not in the mood right now, Evans. Why don't you go nurse your boyfriend's nose?"
"Because I am in the mood!" she exclaimed and James' fists clamped tighter.
"Well then, you're just all out of luck."
James was pushed into a wall, his head hitting the stone with a crack, his glasses askew. George Scott had James pressed against the wall, his wand pointed at James' throat.
"Woah!" Lily shouted, "Scott! Get off of him!" she demanded but Scott didn't seem to hear her, either that or he simply didn't care.
"I should just slit your throat open right now," Scott threatened James.
"I didn't," James pleaded, "Scott-"
"You tried to kill my baby sister!" he shouted for the entire corridor to hear and James froze as everyone turned to look.
"No!" James denied, "I promise, I didn't!"
"She told me that it was you! She told me!"
"I'm being framed! I don't know why she's saying that-"
"You calling my baby sister a liar!?"
For fucks sake. "No! Of course not — I just think the attacker is trying to frame me, maybe he confunded her or something! I don't know but I swear on my mum's life, it wasn't me! I don't even know your sister, why would I want to hurt her?"
"What is all this — Mr Scott, step away from Mr Potter at once!" Professor McGonagall demanded as she strode out of her office. Scott glared at James for another moment before he stepped back. "Everyone to your classes. Now! Mr Potter, common room as I believe you have a free period at the moment."
James shrugged his robes on and stormed down the corridor.
"James!" Lily called. "James!"
But he ignored her and kept walking. He wasn't in the mood.
Author's Note:
Hey guys,
Thanks for reading and for those that reviewed thank you so much, it means a lot to me :)
-Natalie