Standing There By You

Ch. 9- Marauder Mayhem

Disclaimer: Let it be known... I hearby declare that by legal binding matters, any recognizable material belongs to the infamous J.K.Rowling.

a.k.a- it's not mine.

Over the next couple of weeks, several more pranks were performed, each corresponding with an inventive new name. So far Sirius had gone through the Strudels, the Sporks and the Emus, all of which were banned in an instant. Sirius was quite upset that none of his fellow comrades liked his names, and therefore became sulkier with each new shut-down. He currently sat in Transfiguration concentrating very hard, not on the actual lesson, of course, but on the next name. He was jerked back to reality with James's elbow jabbing him in the side. Sirius twisted around to glare at his friend angrily, when James nodded towards the head of the class. Turning towards where James was indicating, Sirius was met with a fuming Professor.

"Well," said Professor McGonagall, tapping her foot, "we're waiting."

"For what?"

"You're answer!" the exasperated Professor barked.

Sirius cringed. "Um..." he looked desperately around the room for an answer. Having no such luck, he decided he'd better guess than say nothing at all. "25."

Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow. "25?"

"Er... yes." Sirius nodded enthusiastically.

"Sirius Black the question was what type of incantation shall be used to perform a Counter Clock-Wise spell!" Professor McGonagall shrill voice rang furiously. "I am sick and tired-"

"Er- you see, Professor," James cut in, "what he meant was that the incantation can be found on page 25."

"Mister Potter, we are past-"

"The basis of the incantation, the basis. Remember, professor, how you always say, 'You must complete the basics before beginning.'? Great quote, that is, by the way. Anyways, this dear fellow here was just explaining, and further suggesting that the only way to get the Counter Clock-Wise spell complete and as accurate as possible, you must first acknowledge the basics."'

Professor seemed a bit taken back by this far stretch, but decided upon letting it go and moving on to the rest of the lecture. Sirius breathed a sigh of relief, giving James a look of thanks when McGonagall wasn't watching. The rest of the class dragged on, and a very tedious hour later the students were finally released. James and Sirius quickly grabbed their things, and made to head out the door, when McGonagall strided over to them.

"There will be no more of this maraudering in my class, understand?" Both boys nodded, and after one more stern look, she turned around and headed back towards her desk.

They walked out of class, catching up with Remus and Peter. Remus began talking about their up-coming Potions lesson, when suddenly Sirius's eyes lit up. "Marauders!"

"What?" Remus asked, surprised at Sirius's sudden outburst.

"Marauders, that should be our name!" He responded excitedly.

His three friends nodded their approval, and a huge grin spread across his face. "See," said Sirius, "see, I told you I'd come up with a good one."

"You didn't come up with it," said James, bursting Sirius's bubble, "McGonagall did."

Sirius furrowed his brow. "Not-uh."

"Uh-huh. She just told us to stop the maraudering in her class."

"I completely forgot about that," Sirius said indignantly, "She had nothing to do with my stroke of brilliance."

"Ok," James sighed, "Good job Sirius."

"Thank you," Sirius said, his wide grin back in place. "thank you very much."

*******

That night a large pile of books surrounded Lily, Grace and Julie as they finished off the last of their homework. "You know what I'm going to do tomorrow?" Julie asked wearily, referring to up-coming weekend.

"What?" Lily asked, not looking up from her book.

"Sleep," said Julie, resting her head on the table. "Oh, blissful slumber, how I miss thee."

"Sounds good to me." Grace said, stifling a yawn.

"What do you mean? You're not going to study for the Potions test?" Lily asked, shocked.

Grace rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on Lily. We've been studying for days, we know it all already."

"Hmm..." Lily said, looking back down at her book. "Okay then."

Grace and Julie shook their heads at their over-achieving friend.

"Lily, Lily, Lily Come on, put the book down..." Grace reached for the book but Lily quickly slapped her hand away.

"Ow!" Grace cried, rubbing her wrist pitifully.

"Let's go upstairs." Julie said quickly, to avoid any further wrist-slapping. "It's getting late, anyways."

"You guys go ahead, I'll be right up," Lily muttered, once again engrossed in her book.

Julie sighed. "Okay, but don't work too hard."

"I won't." The two girls went up their staircase to the dormitory, leaving Lily by herself in the Common Room.

*****

"I'm boooored," Sirius sang, swinging his legs back and forth.

"Wanna checkout that one passageway by the Orienious statue?" James suggested, referring to their latest discovery, "I'm almost positive it leads farther then we went last time, perhaps if we took a left turn at the entrance instead of a right?"

"Alright," said Sirius, hopping off the bed. "C'mon then." He gestured for Remus and Peter to follow him, as he headed towards the door. James grabbed his Invisibility cloak and stuffed it into his robe pocket, as the four boys bounded down the stairs.

"Where are you going?"

The four boys jumped at the sudden demand, and turned wearily around, their wands ready. Seeing Lily, James gave a sigh of relief and lowered his wand.

"None of your business, Evans." James replied airily.

"It is my business," Lily strided over to where the boys were standing. "Now, what are you doing?"

"Nothing," James began to walk away from her, and towards the Portrait Hole.

Lily rushed in front of him and raised her wand. "You won't go."

"Move out of the way!" James exclaimed, and made to push past her.

"Loco-" Lily started, but Sirius quickly raised his wand to block hers.

James and Sirius glared at Lily and she glared right back.

"Why do you care so much, Evans?"

"I care because you're probably off to play another heartless prank," Sirius opened his mouth to protest, but she continued on, cutting him off, "and even if you're not, you have no right to go out past curfew and perhaps lose points for Gryffindor."

"We won't lose points, Lily," Sirius reasoned, as if talking to a child. "Don't worry about it."

"You won't go, or I'll tell." Lily informed them coolly.

"You wouldn't," James growled.

"Oh, I would," Lily replied, noplussed by James's threatening expression. "Care to find out?"

James stared at her a second longer before finally lowering his wand and stuffing it back in his pocket.

"Fine. But you better watch out, Evans," James warned, "Nobody messes with the Marauders." With that he stormed back up the boys' staircase, Sirius, Remus and Peter at his heels.

"Ohhh, I'm really scared now, Potter," Lily shot back at him.

James froze. "Good," he said, flashing her an unnerving smile. "You should be."

Suji- Glad you liked it! by the way, i checked out "From Friends to Enemies in the Blink of an Eye", it was great! (Recommended to all)

RavenSiriusBlack- No.. I don't have a Live Journal, i don't know how to get one or anything. anyhoo... did you enjoy my bio : ) i couldn't contain myself from adding a little bit about Sirius in there~

Oksana- Yay, I'm glad I could please Mr. Zasa : ) thanks for the review!

Me (that was the sign-in name) fla·min·go ( P )
n. pl. fla·min·gos or fla·min·goes...

boo. yah. : )

Aerandir- Muy glad you liked it... yay : ) (i don't know what else to say!)