Chapter Nine: Charmed
Sirius was visiting James in the hospital wing Sunday evening. James insisted that he was fine but Madam Pomfrey wasn't going to let him leave. She wanted to monitor him for another day or so. At least this meant that he didn't have to go to any classes tomorrow, Sirius reminded. A couple beds away curtains had been drawn around a bed. Madam Pomfrey appeared through them and made her way towards James and Sirius.
"Better say your goodnights, Mr. Black." She said pointedly as she made her way back to her office for whatever nasty potion she was going to make James drink.
"Ten more minutes, Poppy. Please?" Sirius pleaded with the matron. She called out that he could have five more minutes with James.
Sirius settled back into his seat and looked at the curtains. His heart ached. He hoped he had broken Regulus's little head. All he had wanted to do was knock a little sense into the boy. Maybe he should go and check on him. Just to make sure he wasn't dead. The person on the other side of the curtain coughed. Well, he's not dead so I don't need to check on him, thought Sirius.
James recognized that Sirius was feeling guilty about hitting Regulus so hard with the bludger. "What happened to Snivellus? He was in here with a broken nose again. Poppy let him leave this morning."
"Wasn't me, mate," Sirius grinned though. McKinnon was really starting to grow on him. "I'll find out and report back tomorrow. Sleep tight, Jamesie."
The boy in the bed shoved Sirius away as he moved in to kiss his forehead, "Sod off, Padfoot!"
When Sirius returned to the Common Room he spotted Marlene and Remus sitting together on a couch. He walked over to join them and stuck out his fist. "Thank you for the best birthday present, McKinnon. Even if it was a few days late."
Marlene looked up at Sirius confused. She had no idea what this present from her was or why he was sticking his fist out. Remus solved the second part for her. He balled her hand into a fist and bumped it against Sirius's. This didn't clear up what Sirius meant by giving him a birthday present.
"You broke Snivelly's nose. Twice!" Sirius was so excited by this he held out his fist again.
The blonde slowly bumped his fist. "I only punched him the once at the beginning of last week. What are you talking about?"
"James just told me Snivellus was in the hospital wing overnight because someone broke his nose, again." Sirius wanted to know who had done it.
It donned on Remus that no one had told him about the fight in the stands during the match yesterday. "That was Lily. And Alice tried to bludgeon Helena Nott."
"Lily Evans broke Snape's nose?" Sirius stood there and looked at Remus in disbelief. For some reason, the Alice-Helena incident didn't surprise him. He looked around the Common Room for the redhead but she wasn't there. He stalked over to Colin and Aiden who were sitting near a window. "Smith. Where's you girl at?"
Colin looked up at Sirius disdainfully. "She got a letter a little while ago and went to read it in private."
Madam Pomfrey held James hostage in the hospital wing the next day too. Sirius was unhappy about sitting next to Peter that morning in Charms instead of James. It annoyed him even more because McKinnon had stolen Pete's original partner. Professor Flitwick tottered in and asked the students to settle down. Today's lesson would be on the Patronus Charm. Sirius had a feeling that Peter was going to set him on fire at some point over the next hour.
Charms almost always went the same way. Flitwick would ask if they had done the reading. He'd ask a few questions about the readings, Lily would answer almost all of them and earn a decent number of points for Gryffindor. Sirius usually got caught sending notes to his friends about how annoying Lily was during Charms. Flitwick would lecture for a while and then set them to working on their task. Lily almost always got the charm on the first try and Flitwick almost always gave her a ton of points for it. She'd send Sirius a dirty look as he imitated her across the room. She'd glare at James for staring at her. Today, however, was a different story.
"The most important thing to remember about casting the Patronus Charm is you need an exceptionally happy memory!" Flitwick squeaked from his perch at the front of the room. He toddled down and began circulating about the room correcting wand movement and pronunciation.
Most of the students were able to come up with wisps of silvery light. No one had yet cast a corporeal patronus. To everyone's surprise, Lily was not the first student to cast one. She had managed strong silver clouds but not a full patronus. It was even more of a surprise to the students that Remus was not the student to do it either.
"Whoa! Sirius!" Peter squealed from next to his friend. "You did it!"
A large silver dog was jumping around Sirius. He was just as shocked as the rest of the students that he had beaten not just Lily Evans but also Remus Lupin to this advanced bit of magic.
"Oh, well done, Mr. Black! Well done!" Flitwick was beaming. "Twenty points to Gryffindor!"
Lily glared at Sirius across the room. He smirked and flicked his silver dog at her. She ignored the dog that bounded towards her. Her eyes caught Snape's. He sneered at her and dropped his gaze. Lily remembered how good she had felt after punching him in the nose over the weekend. She swished her wand through the air and said the incantation, holding onto the euphoria from Saturday afternoon. A beautiful doe sprang forth from her wand. She didn't even acknowledge Flitwick's praise. Lily turned and stuck her tongue out at Sirius.
The silver dog chased the doe around the room. Students laughed and pointed at the patronuses. Lily and Sirius continued to practice the charm as the animals disappeared. A Hufflepuff girl named Rachel Moss was the next to conjure a corporeal patronus. A gazelle was now dashing about the room with the doe, the silver dog unsure of which to chase. Marlene leaned over from her seat next to Remus and asked Lily what had been her happy thought.
"Punching Snape felt really good." Lily whispered across the divide between their seats. Marlene grinned in awe and concentrated hard. A large silver cloud hovered in front of her. It was much stronger than the wisps she had been producing earlier. Remus patted her on the back and encouraged her.
No one else was able to produce a corporeal patronus during the lesson. Flitwick informed his students not to let this discourage them. Producing an uncorporeal patronus was challenging enough and that this was advanced magic. He was proud of them for being able to produce even a wisp. The bell rang and the students filed out of the class. The Hufflepuff students were chatting about how excited they were that Dorcas had been able to produce a corporeal patronus.
Alice and Marlene were ribbing Lily about how the happy memory she used to produce a corporeal patronus was punching Snape in the face. The redhead blushed to the roots of her hair. She wasn't proud that she had resulted to physical violence but she couldn't deny how good it felt. Especially after the sneer he had given her in class. It was good to know that more came out of punching him in the face than him getting a broken nose.
"How did you do that, Padfoot!" Peter was super excited about Sirius's patronus. "I could barely get silver light."
"What memory were you using?" Remus asked thoughtfully.
Sirius turned to his tall friend with a glimmer of happiness on his face. "When I showed up at James's house this summer. Mrs. Potter accepted me as her son when I ran away from home."
It was three in the morning on Thursday. James had returned to Gryffindor Tower that night after finally being cleared by Madam Pomfrey. Instead of spending the evening catching up on schoolwork like they should have been. The Marauders had turned in very early for the night, much to the surprise of the other students. Everyone decided they ought to steer clear of the four boys and the Slytherins for a while. A prank was certainly called for after James had his head smashed in by the beater at the Quidditch game. Remus had finally turned the light out little over half an hour ago. He was on the precipice of sleep when someone woke him up with a shout.
"Bloody hell!" Sirius sat bolt upright in his bed and threw a pillow at James.
"Padfoot!" Remus growled. Thursday was a long day for Remus and he desperately wanted to sleep.
"Prongs! You'll never guess what Lily's patronus took the form of on Monday morning!" Sirius was practically bouncing out of bed in excitement.
Peter groaned in annoyance. This was going to be a stay up all-night conversation. He just knew it. "Can't we talk about this in the morning?"
Remus growled for them to go to bed again. Sirius flicked the light on, "Wolf boy this is important!"
James was shouting at Sirius to bloody spill the beans or he was going to go to bed. Peter shouted that he wanted to go to sleep. Remus shouted at Sirius, "Padfoot! Now is not the time! Go to bed!" The lights flickered out again. Sirius flicked the lights back on again and disarmed Remus. The boy on the clean side of the room glared across the room at Sirius.
Sirius shouted at James, "Lily's patronus is a doe!" Remus tackled Sirius out of bed trying to get his wand back. Both wands were laying forgotten as they wrestled on the floor in between the beds. Peter crawled out from under his covers to watch from the end of his bed. Remus managed to pin Sirius for all of two seconds before Sirius started to tickle him. The taller of the two exclaimed that Sirius was cheating and that there was no tickling in wrestling. The boys stopped as silver light filled the room. Standing at the center of the room was a majestic silver stag. Peter's mouth dropped. Remus took the opportunity to snatch his wand and climb back into his bed. Sirius sat on the floor and looked up at James who looked just as shocked as Peter.
"Lily's my soulmate." James just continued to sit there dazed as Remus flicked the light out for the last time that night.
Remus almost fell asleep in History of Magic the next day. It was probably the smallest assortment of students he'd ever seen. A total of six students elected to continue with the NEWT class. Remus was the only Gryffindor. He was accompanied by four Ravenclaws and a Hufflepuff student. Professor Binns was droning on about some uprising in the mid-thirteenth century. No one was really paying attention. At numerous times throughout the term they had all questioned why they were still taking this class. The ghost continued to drone on even after the bell. The students packed up their belongings as quick as they could and vanished from the room. He dumped his belonging in the dormitory. All he wanted was a nap. Remus curled up on his bed and closed his eyes. He would just take a quick nap before dinner.
James and Sirius were sitting at dinner looking around for Remus. Marlene came over at one point and asked them what they had done with him. Peter continued to stuff his face as if one of his best friends wasn't missing. The girl muttered something to James about sending the dog to go and find him. James nearly choked on his food as Marlene stomped off to where Lily and Alice were sitting.
"I think she means Padfoot's patronus, Prongs." Peter commented between bites. "Not the other dog."
Sirius had to explain to James that he had cast a corporeal patronus in Charms on Monday morning. Peter interjected that he had managed to do so before Evans could. James asked what made him so happy that he had beaten Lily to the punch. Peter giggled at James's choice of words. Sirius had to explain that Peter was giggling because Remus had told them that Marlene had told him that Lily had said the happy memory that had helped her to conjure the doe was punching Snape in the face. James looked down the table awestruck. She wasn't doing much to prove she wasn't his soulmate.
"Anyways, I thought about how warm your mum was to me when I ran away this summer and I don't think I had ever been happier in my life." Sirius was a little bashful when he looked at James. It was little uncharacteristic for Sirius but he couldn't help but be a little embarrassed at his situation. James ignored Sirius's discomfort and crushed him in a bear hug.
"I'm glad you're my brother, mate." James said as he let go. "Wouldn't want to wreak havoc with anyone else."
Gryffindor house was disappointed that there was no immediate retaliation from the Marauders for the Quidditch match. This only emboldened the Slytherins, who took every opportunity to do something nasty to the Gryffindors. Midway through November, revenge finally came. The entirety of Slytherin was present for dinner on a Friday evening. Two weeks after the Quidditch match. Tomorrow morning the Hufflepuffs would play Ravenclaw. Midway through the meal a loud noise echoed through the Great Hall. Every head turned to look at the Slytherins who were covered in a thick green slime.
The Gryffindor table didn't even try to contain their laughter. Some Ravenclaws and Hufflepuff joined in the laughter but not all of them. Well not all the Gryffindors were laughing. There was one person sitting at the table who wasn't. Lily Evans was looking up and down the table for where the Marauders were sitting. They were sitting a good bit away, laughing. They had perfected the innocent look early on in their Hogwarts careers. They knew that if McGonagall didn't have solid evidence that they had done something the only way she knew it was them was if they gave themselves away by looking guilty.
Professor McGonagall caught the four boys in the entrance hall as they were trying to sneak away at the end of dinner. "Which of you would like to explain?"
The boys blinked at her. Sirius spoke first, "Explain what, professor?"
"What Sirius is trying to say is, we are unsure of what you would like for us to explain, professor. We are currently on our way back to the Common Room to work on the Transfiguration essay that you set for us this week." Remus smiled pleasantly at McGonagall.
"Mr. Lupin, I am not asking you to explain where you are going." McGonagall was more than peeved at this point. Numerous students were milling around in the entrance hall, the grand stairs, and the mezzanine above. "I am asking why you think it is appropriate to douse the Slytherin House in slime."
Remus pulled the most prefect look he could muster. "I do not think it is appropriate, Professor McGonagall. I must admit that I thought it was rather funny though. I think that James, Sirius, and Peter also found it humorous."
"Mr. Lupin, did you slime the Slytherin students?" Professor McGonagall was tired of these shenanigans.
"No, professor." Remus didn't even bat an eyelash. With a final reproving look, Professor McGonagall huffed and entered the staff room.
The Marauders bolted up the stairs and off to the Common Room. For one, McGonagall was likely to realize her error when she asked Remus if he had slimed the Slytherin students. For two, none of them fancied having the Slytherin students retaliate so quickly. They were hooting and hollering as they sprinted down the fifth-floor corridor. Peeves was jamming gum in a lock when they ran by him. He straightened and saluted the mischief makers. The poltergeist didn't always cooperate with the Marauders but he admired their capacity to cause mischief and wreak havoc.
They were only a little winded when they reached the Fat Lady's portrait. James greeted her and murmured the password. The four boys tumbled into the Common Room to cheers from the students who had returned after dinner. No sooner had they slumped down in front of the fire did their victorious revenge end. A fiery redhead rounded on them, cornering them in the space between her and the fire.
"I almost believed Alice and Marlene about you but I was right, wasn't I?" Lily's eyes were blazing. "Never content to just behave yourself and stop bullying students?"
Sirius stood up and stepped in front of Lily. "Now Lilyflower, we had to do it. We had to defend James's honour as it were, you saw what they did to him on the pitch."
"And you! Always strutting around the castle like a bloody peacock!" Lily spat at him. Remus stood up and pulled Sirius back. "Maybe if Remus did his bloody job and behaved like the prefect he's supposed to be."
"Now hold up! Remus didn't slime the Slytherins. That was me and James!" Sirius tugged his arm out of Remus's grip. "And you're not one to talk about being a good role model! Do you hear yourself? You're screaming at the top of your lungs and spouting foul language in front of the younger students. And to cap it all off you punched a Slytherin prefect in the face and broke his nose at the Quidditch match. Get off your high horse!"
Before Lily could open her mouth to retaliate, the sound of cannon fire filled the air in the Common Room. The two seventh-year prefects, flanked by the Head Girl had their wands raised in the air. "That is enough. The lot of you should be ashamed of yourselves."
Audrey Davies, Head Girl and seventh-year Gryffindor, stepped into the ring. A talented witch in her own right, she was in no mood to deal with a Lily-Marauders showdown tonight. "Ruth, escort Lily up to the girls' dormitory. Potter, Black, you're coming with me. And to top it all off twenty points from Gryffindor." The room groaned at the sound of the Head Girl taking points from her own house.
Davies, along with the male prefect, escorted James and Sirius down to Professor McGonagall's office. She glared at the two of them as she knocked on the door. The Transfiguration professor was shocked, annoyed, confused, and entirely unsurprised to see the assortment of student standing in front of her. Audrey explained the incident in the Common Room to Professor McGonagall. The Head Girl and prefect were dismissed and the two Marauders filed into McGonagall's office.
"Should Mr. Lupin and Mr. Pettigrew not also be standing before me?" McGonagall asked them shrewdly, "After all Mr. Lupin did lie to me when I asked if he had slimed the Slytherin students."
"But professor, Remus didn't lie," James raised his head and looked her in the face. "You asked him specifically if he himself had slimed the Slytherin students, and he didn't. So, it wasn't a lie. He told you the truth."
"Mr. Potter," There was warning in her voice against impertinence. She continued to eye both of them, waiting for one of them to speak.
"James is telling the truth, Professor McGonagall." Sirius hoped James didn't hate him too much after this. "James and I are the ones who pranked the Slytherins."
"Mr. Black, are you telling me that Mr. Lupin had nothing to do with your prank?" McGonagall pitched a black eyebrow up inquisitively. James opened his mouth to answer and she cut him off, "The truth only Mr. Potter."
James closed his mouth and grimaced. She had asked the right question this time and there was really no way around it. He or Sirius could try to think of a plausible way in which Remus was involved that didn't directly break the rules or they could tell McGonagall the truth. The third option was to not say anything although this still incriminated their friend. Sirius was quiet for a moment and then he had an idea that solved the problem.
"Remus informed us of the magic that we used to produce the slime but I don't think his intentions were for it to be used on the Slytherin students. It was a late-night conversation in our dormitory that I think was a more hypothetical scenario of if we ever wanted to use slime. I don't believe Remus thought we meant to use it on such a large scale."
McGonagall drummed her fingers on the desk as she looked at Sirius. She spent a few minutes contemplating what the boy had said to see if she could find a hole in it. "You'll both serve detentions tomorrow night with Mr. Filch. He will appreciate the assistance in scrubbing out the cauldrons in the Potions classrooms."