Disclaimer: None of this is mine...I swear!
A/N: Thank you for all of the reviews! They motivate me so much! Thanks to Lils, HaloAngel, E Patronum, Totally Raven, kluvhp, Hikari Annie, lady jennevere, and Sam's Firefly. You guys are amazing!
So, as my new school year is about to start, it may take longer for me to update, but I'll continue to try to update as much as possible. I'm actually only expecting this story to be a few chapters longer. Well, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Obviously, my description of the effects of the Felix Felicis won't be nearly as good as J.K. Rowling's, but I did my best. And I'm so glad you all like the Remus' character; I've had fun writing him.
Well, here's chapter 4! Enjoy!
OOO
Chapter 4: Just His Luck
James looked up at the clock as their potions teacher, Professor Slughorn, continued making his usual rounds around the classroom, examining each student's potion. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the potions master lean over Lily's potion. The silver glow of the liquid reflected off of Slughorn's fat, bald head. The teacher grinned fondly at Lily, popping a crystallized pineapple into his mouth, rubbing his bulging stomach.
"Look here, Class, Miss Evans has perfectly concocted the Burning Solution. Note the clear, silver color of her potion. Very well done, Miss Evans." James could see Lily's cheeks burning proudly. "Twenty points to Gryffindor. Now, Mister Black, what do you have to show to me?"
James glanced at Sirius and the two tried hard not to burst out laughing. Their professor walked his way over to their table and peered cautiously over Sirius' potion; less than a second later, Slughorn pulled his head back, a sick look on his face. "Uh, I'm sure you did your best, Mister Black."
Sirius nodded, trying to keep a straight face. Truth be told, Sirius and James had spent the whole lesson revising their plan that would take place after this period. At the last minute, Sirius and James had both threw random ingredients, that conveniently were close by, into their separate cauldrons, including Remus' quill by mistake. The smell emitting from the two boys' cauldrons was a mixture of burning rubber and extremely rotten eggs.
"I'm not completely sure throwing in Moony's quill was such a good idea," James stated, looking into his friend's potion, which was a thick, snot-green color.
"I concur," said Remus who was gathering his stuff and packing up his school bag, "that was my last one! All of my other one's have been used as chew toys."
Sirius grinned. "Well, to a dog they taste pretty good."
Remus shook his head in an amused way as the bell rang, signaling the end of class. "Remember that your essay on the Draught of Dreamless Sleeps is due next lesson. Miss Evans, excellent job today. Slug meeting tomorrow night," Professor Slughorn reminded his class as they all scuttled out of the hot room. James could see Lily cringe as she forced a polite smile.
"Okay," James said, looking around the classroom to make sure everyone was out, "Let's do this."
Remus nodded, swinging his bag over his shoulder. "You and Sirius stall him; I'll go get Peter and be back here as quick as possible."
"Good luck mate," Sirius said as he clasped Remus on the shoulder, who immediately left Slughorn's room.
"Do you two boys need anything?"
James and Sirius grinned to each other evilly, before turning around and facing their Professor. "Well, actually, Sir," Sirius began, walking up closer to the desk. "I just wanted to apologize for my lack of potions skill."
Nodding seriously, James added, "He's quite pathetic at it actually." He quickly glanced at the private storage cupboard behind Slughorn's desk and smiled when a small vial of pure gold caught his eye. So far so good.
Slughorn clapped his hands together jovially, throwing an arm around Sirius' neck. "No need to worry, son. I'm sure you do try your best," he exclaimed with large hand gestures.
Son? James mouthed. Sirius pulled a revolted looking face, which Professor Slughorn caught, apparently thinking Sirius was on the verge of tears. "Now, now, Mister Black, don't fret. I'll let you redo the assignment. Here, have a crystallized pineapple," he urged kindly, passing Sirius a small silver ton full to the top with little candies.
"Thank you, Sir, so much," Sirius sniffed, wiping away an imaginary tear. "You are such a great teacher."
Slughorn looked abashed as he waved the compliment off as if it were no big deal. "Yes, Professor, we only hope to grow up and achieve half of what you have," James added. Right at that moment he saw Remus peer his head around the door of the classroom. James smiled.
"Oh, thank you, boys. You know I am rather well connected. Why, just the other day I—is that a rat?" Slughorn exclaimed as a plump, large rat scuttled across the floor, making obnoxious squeaking noises. James caught Sirius' attention and both boys smiled knowingly.
The rat ran under Slughorn's desk, who was attempting to catch it, and up into the storage cabinet. "Oh, dear, I can't have a rat contaminating my supplies. Uh, boys would you mind and try to help me catch this creature."
"Sure thing," Sirius said, grinning mischievously. Poking its head out from the open cabinet door, the rat quickly emerged fully and ran back towards the classroom door, pushing something with it. With its nose, the rat was pushing a small glass vile of gold liquid. James made an exaggerated move at an attempt to try to catch the rat, but purposefully fell across Slughorn's desk, sending papers everywhere in order to add to the chaos. Sirius waved his arms dramatically, knocking their teachers wand from his hand right as Slughorn was about to hex the small animal.
With a whip of its tail, the rat and the vile disappeared around the corner of the classroom door. "What a bother," stated Slughorn, readjusting the papers on his desk. "That was my last stock of Felix Felicis."
"Pity," James and Sirius said in unison, trying hard to suppress their grins.
Slughorn rested his hands on his overly large stomach, sighing. "Well, I just hope that the rat has an extraordinary day," he said jovially, taking a seat behind his desk. "Now, Mister Black I believe we need to arrange a time for you to redo your potion. Oh, and Mister Potter it would do you good to redo yours as well."
"Uh…we'll get back to you on that," James stated distractedly, heading towards the door. "Thank you for your hospitality."
Sirius inclined his head slightly as he backed out of the classroom. "Yes, good day, sir."
With one final nod to their slightly confused Professor, James and Sirius rounded the corner and grinned when they saw Remus and Peter casually leaning against the wall. Peter tossed a glass vile to James, who caught it victoriously, grinning. "You were excellent, Wormtail," he commented, fingering the vile delicately; Peter grinned at the compliment.
"So, what now? Considering the amount of time that has passed, Lily's going to be hard to catch up with," Remus stated.
"Now," James said, the gold of the potion inside of the flask reflected in his eyes, "I get lucky."
Pulling back his sleeves, James uncorked the bottle and surveyed the liquid within. "I think only one or two gulps should be enough," informed Remus. "That should give you a good hour or two."
"Yeah," Sirius stated excitedly, "we can save the rest for something else…" he trailed off, a mad glint forming in his eyes.
"Well," he raised the vile to his lips. "Here it goes!"
"Wait!" Sirius exclaimed, leaping forward and grabbing James' arm, causing three quarters of the precious liquid to spill onto the stone floor. James glared slightly at Sirius, who looked down at the spilt potion sheepishly. "Oops...I only wanted to say goodbye."
The three other boys looked at Sirius, a puzzled expression written across their faces. "Goodbye…You wasted more than half of Felix Felicis to say goodbye?" Remus repeated slowly, making sure he had completely understood his friend.
"Why? Where's he going?" Peter asked.
"Well, as we all know, Lily may rip Prongs to shreds," Sirius began, putting an arm around James, "I just wanted to say, I love you man!" He grabbed James, who smiled slightly, into a rough hug, clapping him hard across the back.
"I'll be fine with Felix's help...or with what's left of it" James reassured as Remus rolled his eyes in the background, "but if for some reason it doesn't work—"
"—Don't say that! It will work. I will not lose my best mate!"
Remus rolled his eyes again. Honestly, his two best friends could be a bit overdramatic occasionally, but he smiled nonetheless.
"But just incase," James continued, playing along, "I want you, Padfoot, to make sure the Marauders continue on without me."
Sirius put his hand to his eye, wiping away an imaginary tear. "You can count on me!"
"And what are Peter and I? Your sidekicks?" Remus asked sarcastically.
"Yeah," Peter added indignantly.
"No, the Marauders are made up of the four of us, but we all know Prongs and I are the ones that keep our pranks going," Sirius said, grinning.
"Yeah, but I'm yours and Prongs' brain," Remus retorted.
"Hey, I resent that," James and Sirius said in unison, glaring at Remus.
"Uh, you do know that you're wasting time here, Prongs," Peter spoke up, glancing at his watch.
Remus eyed the potion, sizing up its contents. "Well, judging by the fact the three quarters of the potion is useless--" he broke off to stare pointedly at Sirius, "then I would say you only have an hour, at the most."
James smiled, raising the potion to his lips. "Right, cheers mates." He gulped down the remaining amount of gold liquid and replaced the stopper into the vile. A grin floated across his lips, his mind becoming suddenly free of clutter so he could think straight. He looked around at his friends, who were all watching him interestedly. "Right," James stated, his eyes brightening from behind his round glasses, "I'm going to go to the boys' bathrooms."
"What?" All three boys asked incredulously, regarding their friend with a worried look. "But you're supposed to go find Lily Evans. A girl this high, red hair, green eyes, large temper…"
James shrugged his shoulders easily, hitching his bag onto his shoulder. He knew what he must do. "Yeah, I know, but making a stop at the loo seems like the right thing to do."
Sirius, Remus, and Peter exchanged nervous glances. "You're sure that you got the right potion, Wormtail?" Sirius asked, eyeing James.
Nodding frantically, Peter said, "I'm positive. It was gold, it was tiny, it was—" Their discussion was cut off as James said, "Well, I'll see you back at the common room later tonight then."
Receiving a tiny nudge from the potion, James directed his footsteps up towards the fourth floor corridor where the boys' lavatory was located, leaving his slightly confused friends behind. As he walked, he felt lighter than usual like something, or someone, was guiding him with not a care in the world.
Quite suddenly, realizing just how lovely it would be to pass by Professor Slughorn's office, James ducked behind a tapestry concealing a hidden shortcut. With absolutely no effort at all, James snuck out from the passageway and rounded a corner, just missing running head-on into the Potions' master.
"Oho, James, try not to jump out like that; gave me quite the fright," the aging man exclaimed, clasping a hand over his heart.
James beamed widely, Felix telling him this is where he was supposed to be and would, in time, catch up with Lily. "Sorry, sir, it's just that I'm in a bit of a hurry," he explained, knowing that the best way to handle with this situation was to tell the truth. He sure hoped the potion knew what it was doing.
Slughorn observed his student suspiciously. An alarming idea popped into James' head that possibly Slughorn could detect the use of the lucky potion, but a moment later that option seemed completely absurd; nothing could get in his way tonight. "Shouldn't you be at dinner? I heard the ghosts were planning to put on a wonderful performance this evening."
Whatever the ghosts were doing really didn't interest James; Felix had other plans for him that didn't involve watching transparent figures popping up through very solid tables, scaring the arses off of the first years. "Actually, sir, you see I took something that's dearly important to another student and I really need to apologize to her," James said slowly, the words tumbling out of his mouth before he really knew what he was saying.
A knowing smile crossed his professor's jolly features as he clapped James around the back as if he were about to indulge in a warm father-son conversation. "Aw, girl troubles. You know, James, the easiest way to a girl's heart is a nice, thoughtful letter. Back in the day, I was quite the lady's man—" With the help of Felix, James suppressed his urge to laugh in disbelief—"and in my fifth year I had messed up on a date—spilled a tankard of Butterbeer on the poor girl—and the first thing I did was right her note…" Slughorn continued rambling, but the only word that stuck out to him was note. It was at this point that the potion nudged at this brain, telling him what needed to be done, almost as if Felix Felicis had a mind of its own.
"Hm, what a great idea, sir," James complimented, pretending he had been paying full attention to his professor the entire time. "So good in fact, that I'm keen on giving it a try."
Slughorn grinned satisfactorily. "Well, I am always happy to help a needy student. Here you are—" With a swish of his slender wand, a spare piece of parchment conjured out of thin air. Out of his robe pocket, he pulled out a very handsome feather quill and handed both the writing utensil and paper to James. "For the finishing touch, a dash of rose-aura." A strong, but beautiful smell of freshly picked red roses emitted from the paper; already James knew it was brilliant.
"Thank you so much, Professor. It's perfect. Do you mind?" James asked, pointing off in the direction of Slughorn's office.
"Not at all, my dear boy. Just make sure to leave that quill upon my desk when you've finished. I'm rather attached to it," Slughorn replied. And with a last hearty pat on the shoulder, the Potions teacher ambled off down the hall muttering about young love and influential teachers.
Smiling broadly to himself, and profusely thanking Felix, James entered Slughorn's office and sat behind his desk. He unrolled the piece of parchment, dabbed his quill into a pot of black ink, and immediately began scribbling away. The words came extremely easy, as if he were born to be a letter writer, like it was part of his very nature. Knowing exactly what to say and when to say it, James was done in a matter of minutes, folding the rose-smelling letter up carefully. Luckily, although not finding it completely surprising, there lay an empty envelope beside his elbow on top of some graded second-years' homework.
Lily.
Without hesitating, James exited the office and walked briskly down the hall, directing his footsteps in whatever which way Felix directed him. His obedience was indeed rewarded, for as he walked into the fourth floor corridor, a girl with flaming red hair stepped out of the girls' restroom.
"Hello, Evans."
Lily spun around, clearly surprised at hearing the voice as everyone else was down at dinner. Her eyes narrowed slightly at the sight of him, but she attempted to speak casually. "Potter," she greeted in recognition as James approached her and fell into step beside her. "Shouldn't you be at dinner?"
"I could ask you the same thing."
For a moment, a flash of annoyance passed across her eyes, but amazingly the moment passed. James gratefully clapped his good friend Felix on the back. "For your information, I just left the Great Hall in order to come retrieve my bag that I must have left earlier in the bathroom," she explained, her hands on her hips.
Deciding that the moment didn't call for any words from him yet, James let the silence swallow the two of them up. They walked aimlessly, no one speaking, until James knew it was his turn to strike up the conversation. "Actually," James began, "I wasn't at dinner because I was tying to find you."
Lily glanced sharply at him, before resuming her brisk pace again. "What do you want this time, Potter? Trying to ask me for your stupid map back, because you're out of luck."
A small chuckle escaped his lips at her announcement. Out of luck…if only she knew, James thought happily. "Well, it seems as if it's my lucky day."
"What are you talking about?" Lily asked, her lips pursed.
Knowing that it was the right thing to do, James reached into his school bag and pulled out the little black book, revealing it to Lily. She simply stared at it for a moment, quickly calculating what this all meant. A look of harsh realization hit her face as she looked from James to the book he was holding. "You insolent, pathetic—give it to me," she hissed in a deadly whisper.
James was alarmed by the wild look in her eyes, and to make matters worse, the potion's nudges were becoming weaker and weaker, his time clearly running out. Felix was about to leave him, at the most crucial time. "Evans, it isn't what it look likes…well, I mean, it is, but—" he fumbled on his words, slowly handing the book back to Lily who snatched it up quickly.
"You disgust me," she seethed, stomping off in the other direction, but not before sending one last killer glare at the bespectacled Head Boy.
Well, it could have gone worse, James thought to himself, awaiting direction of what he should do next. But when none came, James knew he was alone once again. At least it had worked; Lily's diary was now back in her possession, and James was still in one piece. His moment of glory, however, was short lived as he realized there was one important piece of the puzzle he had forgotten about.
The map.
OOO
Sirius, Remus, and Peter were walking up to the Gryffindor common room, convinced that James must have succeeded by now and was probably waiting for them up in their dormitory. As they rounded a corner, they were almost plowed down by a raging Lily Evans; she seemed so angry in fact, that her hair seemed to be cackling with electricity waiting to electrocute anyone who stood in her way.
It seemed as if Sirius wasn't afraid of being electrocuted. "Oy, Evans, got your diary back?" he greeted cheerfully, as Remus and Peter cringed in the background, slowly backing themselves away into a corner.
A dangerous growl burst from deep within Lily's throat as she rounded on Sirius, her wand out and ready. Sirius gulped slightly. "You think this situation is amusing?" she said, her voice hazardously low.
"If your wand wasn't pointed so close to my throat, then I would find it pretty funny, yes," Sirius replied, eyeing the menacing gleam in her green eyes. Losing his pride and dignity, Sirius seemed to deflate as Lily pressed her wand closer to Sirius' throat so that her wand tip was grazing his skin.
"You are bloody hilarious, Black," she responded in almost a whisper before hastily removing her wand and stalking off again. "I hope Merlin sends you all to hell," she said behind her back, her hands shaking uncontrollably in rage.
Trying to save some of his pride, Sirius shot back. "I guess we'll be meeting you there then, Evans, because you also stole something from us," he retorted. Remus attempted to hush his friend, but Lily retorted quicker, hurting them far worse than spells or jinxes.
"At least I'll be going down with my stolen property back in my possession," she said, her face red with the struggle of restraining her emotions, and her very excellent knowledge of hurtful hexes.
A look equivalent to someone who had just got hit by a bus spread across Sirius' face. "You're telling me you didn't give back our parchment?" he asked incredulously, staring around at his wide-eyed friends.
"Wow, you're intellect never fails to amaze me," she retorted sarcastically.
"Cough up our stuff, Evans," Sirius demanded, marching closer towards her.
A mad gleam shone in her eyes as she stared upon the three Marauders. "I'd love to hear you go repeat that phrase to Filch, Black." And without another word, Lily stormed off in a huff, leaving three very shocked friends in her wake.
"I—she—what?" Sirius stuttered, unable to express his emotions.
"It's…gone," Remus said with disbelief. After all those years they had put into sneaking around, finding all the secrets they could within Hogwarts, their creation was being held captive by the Squib caretaker, Argus Filch; their chance of ever getting it back was as much of a chance as McGonagall wearing her hair down. Impossible.
OOO
"Well, lads," Sirius stated as he entered the boys' dormitory, looking around at his friends gathered in a circle on the floor of their dorm later that night. James had returned a while earlier and told his friends everything that had happened, and in return Sirius had shared what they had learned. "I do believe we need a plan to get our map back," Sirius explained, his dark eyes glinting. "It appears the spawn of evil has let our beloved map fall into the hands of a non-Marauder."
"Hey!" James objected heatedly. "Lily is not the spawn of evil! The spawn of a way-better looking McGonagall maybe, but not evil."
The three other boys snorted. "How can you still defend…that…that monster!" Peter cried objectively.
A small cough from Sirius ended any further attempt of a retort from James. "As I was saying," he began again with the air of a general commanding his troops into battle, "we have gathered here in order to retrieve a friend of ours. To speak in more detail of the matter, we have with us James My-Stag-Is-Cooler-Than-Yours Potter. Take control of the stage, Prongs."
James grinned slightly as he stood up, making his way in front of the others. His predicament with Lily would temporarily have to be pushed aside out of his head while he focused on the problem at hand. "Thank you for that brief summary, Padfoot. Now, the plan I have devised may be dangerous. We may end up in detention—"
"—again—" broke in Sirius.
"—We may be faced with suspension—"
"—yet again—" Sirius added.
"—We may even be expelled. Are we all still in?" James finished dramatically, scrutinizing the three other Marauders.
Sirius raised his hand up in the air. "For the map and for rule-breakers around the world!"
Peter raised his hand up next. "Here, here!"
Remus hesitated, looking around at his friends, "Well, since the werewolf regulations won't allow me to have a job after Hogwarts anyway…what the hell; I'm in."
James grinned mischievously. "Right. Operation Jailbreak is now in action."
"Er…Prongs?" Sirius asked. "What exactly is your plan?"
James grinned and leaned forward and began explaining, in detail, the different parts of his plan. As upset and devastated as they all were, the four seventh years knew that sulking over their lost map wouldn't help anything; the only hope of ever retrieving the Marauder's Map would be if they all worked together to see Operation Jailbreak through.
OOO
Chapter 5: The letter that James, or rather Felix, wrote to Lily is revealed...
Please review! And thanks for reading!
--HeyLookTheSnitch