Fourth Year – James

A/N: I've been super super bad at updating, but I'm going to fix this! Going forward, you can expect a chapter every couple of weeks. I have one other work up right now, and that will be posted once per month. Everything is also crossposted on AO3 under the same story and author name, if anyone prefers the format there, but it's a few chapters behind and going up once per week until it catches up.

"You can't just keep yelling at her across the room, James," Remus said with a sigh. The Maruaders were sitting underneath their favourite tree by the Black Lake. The weather had just started to warm for the spring, and James particularly felt this sort of day called for skiving off lessons and prank-planning. Currently, that meant the Mauraders were lying in the sort of heap that they were prone to – Moony with his head in Sirus' lap, Sirius with his head in James' lap, James slouched against the tree, ruffling his hair habitually, and Peter sat up leaning against James. They had not, however, skived off any classes – Remus would never allow it. Instead, they were taking advantage of their spare time before dinner by doing precisely no work whatsoever.

"Technically, it was across the grounds. At least I was polite," James glowered down at the top of Remus' head. Honestly, best mates were supposed to be on your side.

"Jamie, calling 'Oi, Evans!' is not the least bit polite," Sirius laughed openly, tilting his head to catch James's eye.

"He did say 'Go out with me, please,'" Peter added, looking up from his Transfiguration book with a grin. James had the distinct feeling all his friends were taking the mickey out of him.

"Honestly lads, she'll cave yet. I'm fairly irresistible." James raised an eyebrow at his three friends, as if daring them to argue. Remus and Peter wisely ignored him, Peter flipping a page in his book as Remus shifted and closed his eyes. Sirius just rolled his eyes.

"You'll have to grow up if you want anything from her, mate," Remus finally mumbled after a moments silence. He was still curled against Sirius, looking, for all intents and purposes, as if he were asleep.

Remus worried James often. It seemed the moons were getting harder on him each year he aged. The other three were close to finding their animagus forms, but James and Sirius were still having trouble brewing a perfect animagus potion. Peter was still having trouble with the theory, and had taken to studying as much extra transfiguration as possible.

Pushing his concerns to the back of his mind, James scoffed. "I am grown up." The Mauraders hadn't had a detention in a fortnight (except Pete, but it was his own fault for blowing up his cauldron during Potions), and he hadn't even laid eyes on Snivellus in days. "What would you know about what girls want anyways, Moony?"

"I am friends with girls, you know," Remus sniffed loftily. "Just because I don't go around making a fool of myself every time I see one." He sat up slowly and turned to face James and Sirius, his long sandy hair falling across his face. "You know I'm friends with her, and I know what she thinks of you. It's not all true. You're an excellent mate, for one. Maybe you should try that."

"Try what?" James ruffled his hair in a nervous gesture. He had lost the plot a little, if he were to be honest. He knew Moony and Evans were friends, he didn't know they gossiped about him during their little study sessions.

"Being her friend," Peter toned as he flipped the page in his book.

James rolled his eyes. He loved his mates, but sometimes they didn't understand him at all. He didn't want to be mates with Evans, he wanted to-

"He wants to snog her, Pete, not befriend her," Sirius finished his thoughts for him.

"I'm just saying," said Remus, putting his hands up in a placating gesture, "that he might have better luck with that if he tried to see her as a human first, not just a prize to snog."

"Whatever," mumbled James, ruffling his hair again. Sirius grunted as James shifted his weight to a more comfortable position. "Can we talk about something else, now?"

"How're the charms on the map coming, Moony?" Sirius asked almost immediately. "Reckon we could start on the fourth floor next week."

The Mauraders had spent the past two years putting all their knowledge towards creating a map of the school. James was proud – the initial idea had been his. Upon completion, the map would show all the locations of the school as well as everyone in it and where they were at any moment in time. The charm work was a bit tricky, but they had put Moony in charge of most of it since he had the least energy for exploring the castle. Peter was responsible for most of the actual drawing, which left James and Sirius in charge of the exploring and helping Remus when needed.

"I'm stumped, honestly," Remus sighed, slowly lying back down. "Matching magical signatures to the locations of actual named individuals is harder than it sounds in theory."

"Doesn't mean we can't keep mapping, though," Sirius added. "It's not as though any of your charms work will be useful if we don't have a proper map to use it on."

James hummed in agreement, closing his eyes for a moment and letting the warmth of the sun wash over him. "We can all do some adventuring tonight," he concluded. "I want to get the passage to Honeyduke's mapped. Plus, I overheard some seventh years talking about a passage to Hogsmeade on the fourth floor, so we'll need to find that."

"Can't believe we haven't yet," replied Peter. "With that one it'll make, what, seven passages? Think there are any more?"

"Probably loads," said Sirius. He had sat up and pulled out a spare piece of parchment, and was beginning to jot down what looked like equations, but it was hard for James to tell. "The founders were barmy, Merlin knows what else the castle is hiding."

James watched as Sirius finished with a flourish and passed the parchment to a nearly sleeping Remus, who took it and peered at it with one eye open.

"Thanks Sirius," he sighed. "Honestly, I don't know why you lot have me working on the map's charms. You're both better at it than me."

"Nonsense, my dear Moony," proclaimed James and Sirius leaned back into his lap. "I suppose Sirius is top of the class, but you're ahead of me, anyways."

"That's because you don't study. Honestly, James," Remus sighed again. He did that a lot. "If you ever opened a book, you might actually pass Lily as top of our year."

"That's why we need you to do this, Rem," said Sirius, ruffling Remus' hair affectionately. "You actually open books! Plus, you're top of arithmancy, except for Evans, of course. That's just as important for the charms on the map."

"'Spose you're right. Still, will you help me with this next part lads? I think Sirius' equations might help me crack it," he waved the parchment Sirius had just handed him over his head, "but having an extra brain or two will be helpful."

James was about to argue that he was doing just enough work as it was, thank you very much, before he remembered that Remus wasn't supposed to know about the extra work he, Sirius, and Peter were already doing. "Sure, Moony," he finally agreed amiably. "We can work on it tonight, while Peter does his drawing."

"Speaking of tonight," put in Peter as he closed his book, "We should head inside, or we'll miss dinner."

James waited as Moony and Sirius lifted themselves off the ground – the former with help from the latter, and then hoisted himself up as well. As he picked up his bag, he noticed that Sirius had already grabbed his own and Remus' as well.

Remus often hid how hard the full moons were on his body. James had some sense of an idea, of course, from how drawn his friend's pale face looked to the added scars on his body, but Sirius always seemed to know exactly how Remus was feeling.

James and Sirius had been brothers from the moment they met – thick as thieves – and he always considered Peter and Remus his best friends. But however close he was with Remus, Sirius was closer, and sometimes he envied the boy a little. Still, they were Mauraders – no matter who was closest with who, that was a bond that couldn't be broken.

He was snapped out of his reverie by Peter bumping his shoulder as they entered the castle. "Snivellus," he hissed, with a nod just down the hallway.

James looked up just in time to meet the eyes of Severus Snape, who was looking his direction. He felt more than saw the Mauraders move behind him, flanking him – Sirius on his right, and Peter on his left. James stepped forward in front of Remus – Snivellus had an annoying habit of trying to figure out his furry little problem and was prone to randomly jinxing and hexing him in the hallways. And that was simply not on.

"Potter," Snape said, stepping forward as well. Avery and Mulciber flanked him, mirroring the Mauraders stance. He could see Regulus poking his head around the corner – probably sent to watch in case any professors decided to stray from the Great Hall during dinner and interrupted whatever the Slytherin boys had been planning.

"Snivellus," James responded. They sized each up for a moment, before wands were slashing through the air.

"Impedimentia!" James called the first jinx that came to his mind at the same time he heard Snape cast Flipendo.

James dodged Snape's blast, pulling Remus with him. The other boy stumbled into Sirius but kept his footing.

"Ickle Lupin doesn't want to stand up for himself?" taunted Snape, who had somehow dodged James' curse and was raising his wand again.

"Waddiwasi!" James cast back at Snape. He had a second to smirk in satisfaction as the quill that he had sent flying from his bag embedded in Snape's arm, before he realized that whatever curse Snape had sent hadn't come his way.

It was as if time slowed – he watched as Peter dashed off towards the Great Hall and the professors, not fast enough, and as Sirius' blasting curse knocked the Slytherin's back. He saw blood trickle across the stone floor, felt himself drop to the ground next to Remus, his wand forgotten, to press two hands to the bloody wound opening up on Remus' abdomen. The world was at a standstill, although he realized someone was shouting and that someone must have been him, before a red head and black head dropped down next to him, both grabbing on.

"Potter," Lily's voice finally broke through and the world sped up again. "James please, McGonagall is here."

He felt Lily move his hands away from Remus and noticed the glow that he had covered up as the wounds began to knit themselves back together. He felt Sirius link an arm around his waist and his muffled voice against his shoulder. It took him a moment to realize it was Sirius, speaking slightly wetly against him. "He's going to be alright, Jamie. It's okay."

McGonagall had Remus on a stretcher and was mumbling about the Hospital Wing. He turned his head and noticed Slughorn and Flitwick were doing the same with the three Slytherins.

"I can't believe you attacked him!" Lily rounded on James and Sirius.

"Evans, what?" James looked up, completely baffled. Lily thought they had attacked Remus? "We didn't hurt Remus, he's our best mate."

James saw Sirius' eyes widen, as if with a dawning realization, just as Lily responded. "Not Remus, I mean Severus. I honestly can't understand why you keep picking on him like this."

"Pick on Snivellus? Do you hear yourself right now Evans?" James asked, venom lacing his every word. "My best mate is in the Hospital Wing after I tried to keep him staining the whole Entrance Hall with his blood, and you think I picked on the bloke that put him there?"

"You didn't throw the first curse, then?" Lily jabbed back, equally angry. "You're not the reason this whole stupid duel started?"

"Evans…" James vaguely heard Sirius begin in a warning tone, but he cut him off, ears buzzing and throat tight with anger.

"What was I supposed to do, Evans? What would your brilliant plan be? Let him throw curses without defending myself?"

"Better you than four different people." Her voice had raised to shrill tones, now. He could vaguely feel Sirius shift back closer to him.

"You think he would have stopped, Evans, after he had taken me out? Have you seriously not noticed how much he's had it out for Remus? He's hell-bent on finding why Remus disappears. He's hurting him at every opportunity. And I'm what – supposed to just step aside? 'Oh Snivellus, no worries, take me out and then go after my best mate, in the name of sportsmanship'." James saw her face fall, but he couldn't stop himself – didn't know where this was coming from. He'd never been a particularly angry person. Passionate, yes, but not angry. But now? He was angry now.

"People are dying, Lily. And you know what Snivellus is doing? He's already making graduation plans to help the killers. He's going around calling every muggle-born student in the school a mudblood, except for you. I know you know this – so help me understand, how is it that you keep defending him?"

To his surprise, Lily burst into tears. For a moment, James looked on incredulously, before all the fight went out of him. He saw Sirius hesitate between the two of them, as if wondering who to comfort. James made the decision for him.

Stepping forward, he put a hand on Lily's shoulder. He took it as a good sign when she didn't immediately fight him off.

"Ev – Lily, I'm sorry." He dropped his hand and let Sirius wrap his arm around Lily's shoulders while flagging down Marlene and Mary with his other hand, who had just been allowed into the Entrance Hall by a rather harassed looking Professor Sprout.

"I'm just so scared," she said, looking up at him finally. "I couldn't – I just –" She hiccupped, "I came in and I saw Remus on the ground, and then I saw Severus and Avery and Mulciber. Sev's my oldest friend – but my first thought wasn't for him. It was for Remus. I don't know how to feel about that. I don't know what to do."

Marlene and Mary finally made their way to them, and Lily extracted herself from Sirius. James watched as Sirius looked at her for a moment. "We do the best we can, Lils," he heard Sirius say, though his mouth barely moved.

James glanced back at Regulus – still peering 'round the corner although there was nothing more to see, really. He had a brief moment of clarity. Sure, Sirius had explained it to him a little – but the way Lily looked right now must be the way Sirius felt constantly about his younger brother. It made James feel helpless.

Just then, his view was blocked by Dumbledore, who arrived looking more severe than usual. "I believe this conversation should be continued in my office," he began. His blue eyes didn't have their usual sparkle. If anything, the headmaster just looked tired to James. "I will have McGonagall begin flooing parents while we talk. Yes, Mr Black, your parents, too," he finished after a slightly frightened look from Sirius.

James felt Sirius tense beside him, and saw the slightly confused look Lily passed between them. While it seemed they may share confidences about some things, clearly Sirius didn't tell Lily everything.

"It was just me, Sir," James said, giving Dumbledore his best guilty look. "Sirius didn't do anything – honest. You can finite my wand if you want. All the spells were mine."

Sirius nudged him, probably because this was not true in the slightest. Dumbledore looked between them, as did Lily. James could tell Dumbledore didn't exactly believe him, but he didn't really need him to. He just needed…plausible deniability.

"Very well, Mr Potter. I'll take your word for it," Dumbledore responded mildly. "I will have McGonagall floo your parents and they can meet us in my office. You'll need to come, too, Mr Black. I believe Professor Slughorn has already sent Mr Pettigrew and the younger Mr Black to wait for us there."

Sirius relaxed ever so slightly beside James. Whatever James' parents would say, they loved him and Sirius and always would – not like Sirius' parents.

"Ms Evans?" Dumbledore turned to Lily, who clearly looked startled to be addressed. "Make sure you go to Madame Pomfrey. She can assess you for shock and provide you a calming draught. Ms MacDonald, McKinnon, see to it that Ms Evans makes it there."

With rushed agreement from the girls, Dumbledore turned in a swirl of his robes, Sirius and James following side-by-side in his wake.