Lily, Kara, and Sasha lay in their pyjamas after the ball two in the morning having a gossip about the events that had occurred.
"Kara, you can't lie to me, no-one was wearing the same dress as you, and you tried to avoid explaining what happened with the magical changing dates… what's going on?" Lily's eyes bore into Kara as she sat there trying to come up with a viable excuse, then giving up.
"You tell anyone and I'll turn you into a cake" Kara said the first threat that came into her head, it wasn't as effective as she hoped "Fine, I may have, sort of, kind of, snogged Sirius" Lily stared at her open mouthed.
"Sasha, how are you not shocked by this?" Kara looked questioningly at Sasha who had been strangely quiet.
"Well I can't really say anything because I might have kissed Remus" Lily's mouth became twice the size it was before,
"WHAT? What is this, a soap opera?" She looked accusingly at her two blushing friends.
"In my defence I didn't know it was him" Sasha argued.
"Yeah, me too, I only found out when he started feeling me up" Kara realised what she said.
"Kara, you don't even know Davey, let alone it actually being Sirius!" Lily was so innocent.
"I was only messing about" She sulked as if she was being told off by Lily.
"Well this is going to be awkward between us now" Lily sighed.
"Yeah" Sasha agreed.
"Oh, and another thing" Kara admitted "He doesn't know it was me"
"Pads, this isn't a fairy-tale" James told him as the four of them sat in the kitchen and three in the morning eating ice cream when none of them could sleep"
"I know" He said dreamily "But it was so weird, she just ran off then I bumped into Felicity and you lot"
"This is sounding too much like a girl fantasizing about Cinderella" Remus mimed throwing up.
"Seriously guys, it was just like that"
"I think Pads is turning into a woman on us" James laughed, but Sirius turned and punched him. "Ow!"
"Shut up" Sirius returned to his ice-cream.
"Padfoot, do you even know anything about this girl?" Peter questioned.
"Well I think she might be a Hufflepuff" Was all that Sirius had.
"Well that narrows it down" Remus sighed.
"I CAN'T EVEN REMEMBER WHAT A CHARM IS" Lily was hyperventilating outside the classroom.
"Lily! It's fine, the test is in four weeks, you'll be fine" Kara soothed.
"WHY SPRING THIS ON US NOW?" Because of how serious the war was getting the charms NEWT had been brought forward to the next month because the ministry didn't think the students would actually stay in school until the last month of school next year when the NEWT was scheduled.
"A month isn't long enough!" Lily gasped "I need a schedule, tutoring, text books, criteria, AH!" Kara managed to calm her down enough to drag her into the muggle studies lesson they had with Sirius.
"Ok Lils, let's go and sit over by…. Shit" Kara saw that the only two seats left in the classroom were next to Sirius, Kara swanned over with her nose in the air and sat down opposite him in a huff.
"Why did you even take muggle studies, Black?" She snarled.
"I could ask you and Lily the same question! And for your information I'm only here for the same reason as you – I need a lesson to catch up on my sleep" Kara glared at him even thought he was right "Anyway what's a wizard whose entire family are muggles doing here?" Sirius questioned looking over at Lily.
"The more lessons I do the better" Lily have tried to tick every single box, but apparently that was impossible.
"Hang on a minute…." Sirius got an idea. "Maybe you two could help me with a predicament I'm in"
"Wow, Black, that's a very long word there, are you sure you know what it means?" Kara laughed.
"Oh stop being childish for one second" Sirius sighed "Do any of you two know the girl I was, er, with yesterday at the ball?" Lily and Kara looked at each other, then back at Sirius.
"You mean Felicity?" Kara tried to act oblivious.
"No, I , er, went to chat to her behind the stage" Sirius tried to dance lightly around the subject.
Kara saw her change to get a dig in "Oh I saw her, yeah, absolutely gorgeous, great hair" she smiled.
"Cool, do you know her then" Kara was seriously considering owning up, but it was too embarrassing and she was supposed to be hating Sirius at the moment.
"Nope, not a clue" She said, Lily gave her a knowing look but she tried to ignore her.
"Right then, class, we'll continue today from last week, with kettles and their uses"
"Hey, look it's Snivellus!" A group of Gryfindoor boys threw an apple core at him, Severus just ducked his head and tried to run past "Oi, Snivellus!" They persisted "Don't forget that potions homework I want doing!"
"I'll make you pay one day" Severus thought to himself as someone yanked the tree next to him making all of the rain shower on top of him "One day"
Severus had just come from a 'meeting' with Bellatrix, Regulus, Lucius, and some other wannabe Death Eaters after listening to them blather on about how great it was going to be to blow things up. They didn't get it, though. They didn't understand how much more this meant than just blowing stuff up. All of those people in the ministry were the type of person like James Potter who would torture people like him every single day. They deserved to be overthrown by the people who knew what it was like to suffer, not by people who wanted to blow stuff up.
"Bet you that you can't shove ten of them in your mouth at once!" Severus heard screams of laughter coming from around the corner before the gabble of Marauders showed up ramming gobstoppers into Peter's mouth. Severus sighed at their immaturity and tried to move on unnoticed.
"Hey, it's Snivellus!" Sirius beamed in delight "Signed another muggle's death warrant yet?"
"Can I just get to potions please?" He asked trying to dodge around them.
"Why? So you can torment Lily?" They all had potions next but the Marauders had decided to go to Hogsmeade,
"No" He murmured.
"Oh, well that's strange because that's what happened last time you met" James hated the way that Severus treated Lily.
"I didn't mean to" Severus once again tried to walk around them but Remus stopped him.
"Whether you meant to or not, it happened" Remus said "And we care too much about our friends to let that happen"
Something snapped inside Severus "Well it seems you either have to be considered 'fit'" He glared and James, Sirius, and Remus "One of you needs to fancy you" He looked at Sirius and James because that's how they accepted Lily and Kara, and in effect Sasha "or a bumbling idiot" He looked at Peter who was trying to get all of the gobstoppers out of his mouth "To be one of your friends, and everyone else is automatically an enemy!"
"You were being horrible to Lily when we met, Snape, so don't act innocent" James stood towards him and looked down his nose at him.
"I wasn't being horrible, I was showing her what it was like to have someone close to you just leave like that. She told me she'd try to be put in Slytherin with me"
"Who would ask to be put in Slytherin apart from evil sods like you?"
"Clearly no-one because I had to stand there and watch her meeting you!" Severus stepped closer to him to.
"Clearly that was for the best, wasn't it?" They were toe to toe now.
"This is getting out of hand now…." Remus tried to break the two apart but failed epically.
"Stop being so arrogant, Potter" Severus hissed.
"I'm not arrogant, you're a slimy git" James growled back.
"How, you've done nothing but make my life hell!" Severus jabbed James in the chest as he said that as it was the final straw. James, after all of those days in the gym working out for quidditch, punched Severus square in the face. Severus reeled backwards and fell onto the floor.
"Git" Severus shouted at him.
"Death eater" James yelled back.
"How dare you?" Severus spat as he got back shakily onto his feet and pulled out his wand ready to hex him, James had quick senses and easily beat him by whipping out him wand and simply saying,
"Expelliamus!" And Severus' wand flew out of his hand.
"Nice one James" Sirius laughed.
"Severus, I don't want to purposely hurt you, just don't try to insult/ harm me or my friends, ok?" James slowly started to put his wand back into his pocket.
"Whatever" Severus scorned as he ran off with his head down.
"You should have done something to him James, he's a git" Sirius sighed as they walked back up to the castle.
"I can't do it" James thought to himself as McGonagall gently lead him through the doors of Mungo's hospital "Professor I don't think I can go" He looked worriedly up at her.
"James, you can do it, trust me. You'll regret it if you don't" She calmed him as they reached the door of his mother's side room.
"I can't bare the thought that this is the last time I'll hear her voice. The last time I'll see the smile that spreads across her face when she sees me" Tears welled up in James' eyes "The last time I see my mum"
"Good luck" She whispered as she opened the door and James walked in slowly. When his mom saw him she beamed over to him just as he'd said.
"James" she said weakly holding her hand out to him, he ran to her and clutched it in his hands.
"Mum" He sobbed as the tears gently spilt over his cheeks and onto the bed. "Please tell me it was a mistake"
"I'm sorry but I can't, my love" she beckoned James to sit on the side of her bed "But please don't see this as the end, I'll always be with you, no matter what"
"But what will I do without you mum?" James asked as he wiped the tears away from his eyes "Who will be there to tell me when I'm being and idiot" his mum smiled "Who will be waiting in the garden for me every time I come home with a new batch of cookies, mum? No-one could ever replace you"
"James, you are my one and only son, and I am so proud to see how far you've come since you were that cheeky whirlwind of a boy" She smiled at him clutching his hand in hers "You've become a mature, responsible, talented wizard now, and I am so proud of you" Tears welled in her eyes "My only regret is that I will never get to see you on your wedding day"
"Oh mum" James wept.
"But, James, I want you to have this" She carefully took the delicate, golden ring shaped like entwined branches with a small heart shaped pink crystal in the middle off her finger and placed it into his hand.
"Your engagement ring" James gasped clutching it safe in his hands.
"Give it to your wife, so I can be there in spirit, please James" She placed her hand on top of his.
"Of course" James pretended to cross his heart just like he used to when he was a boy when he promised to be good at school.
"We should really leave her in peace now" A healer in the corner spoke up as she quickly brushed a tear out of her eye.
"No!" James begged.
"It's ok James, it's time to say goodbye" which was the same thing she said to get James away from playing with Sirius.
"I don't want you to go, mum" James sobbed burying his head in her shoulder.
"My dear James" His mum cupped his face in her hands and kissed his forehead "I just want you to know how proud I am, and whatever decisions you make in life I'll always be backing you up in spirit. Don't lose your friends in this war, and most importantly, stay safe!" James went to say goodbye but she put her fingers over his lips "Let's not leave this here James, we'll meet again someday, I promise" So James just kissed his mum on the forehead.
"See you later, mum, I love you" He smiled letting go of her hand.
"See you James, I love you more than you can imagine" She waved and beamed back.
Before James left the room he slowed down and whispered to himself, "Goodbye mum."
The morning after the other three Marauders had ditched classes for the day and checked all of the usual spots after they saw he wasn't in bed: Hogsmeade, astronomy tower, quidditch pitch, kitchens, and under his bed but they couldn't find him. Once they had told Lily they didn't know where James was she went straight to Dumbledore's office where she always seemed to find herself when James went missing.
"Cola Cube" She said whilst she smiled triumphantly to herself for remembering it, once she'd walked up the stairs she opened the door to find Dumbledore already stood there.
"Sir?" She asked uncertainly.
"Miss Evans, I thought you'd come up here" He said knowingly as he offered her a seat.
"How did you know?" She asked.
"You always come to me when you worry about James" Lily was about to protest but she realised it was true.
"Is he ok?"
"His health is perfectly well, but I'm afraid to say something devastating has happened that means he will not be well for a long time" Lily's face crumpled with fear, sadness, and concern.
"Tell me what happened sir" She pleaded, tears preparing to fill her eyes.
"Last night James' mother passed away, his father sent for him when they all knew it was her last night" Dumbledore said solemnly.
"Oh God" Lily put her hand up to her mouth and tears began to trickle down her face.
"He isn't fit to come back to Hogwarts yet so he's spending the weekend with his father.
"I… I need to go and see him" Lily stood up determined to help James like he had helped her so many times.
"I'm sorry Lily but he needs his privacy for the moment.
Lily wanted to scream and shout until someone let her see James but the look in Dumbledore's eye told her she was never going to win so she slumped back to her room and stayed curled up in bed.
Author's Note:
I tried to be emotional, how did I do? I knew that was going to be tough to get through writing and I put it off but now I'm sad to say James' mum died, oh how I've cried. Now I haven't got enough time when I'm at the internet connection I have found to read reviews, so how nice will it be for me to get back and read all of the reviews I'm sure you're about to send *hint hint* anyway must dash, going swimming,
Mischief Managed