Chapter Fourteen: Holiday Hangover
Lily watched from the window of the train compartment as her fellow sixth-year Gryffindors made their way down the platform. She saw Sirius and James first, who looked like they hadn't gotten a wink of sleep the night before. Alice came next. The poor girl almost looked lost. Lily leaned her head out the window to get Alice's attention and stepped down on to the platform to help her carry the trunk onto the train. Marlene looked the worst. Her blonde hair was pulled up into a messy bun and she didn't have a smidge of makeup on her face. Dark circles hung under her eyes and she didn't even bother trying to carry her suitcase onto the train. She pulled her wand out of her back pocket and levitated it through the open door. Marlene slumped down into her seat and closed her eyes. Alice gave a sheepish smile to her friend and sat down next to the window.
"Did I miss something?" Lily asked them confused. Both looked like they had been chewed up at spat out. Alice blushed slightly and mumbled something about the Potters' New Year's party. She smiled when Frank stepped into the compartment. Lily moved so Frank could sit down next to Alice.
A loud crash came from the compartment entrance. Remus and Sirius had both tried to enter and pull their trunks in at the same time. The taller of the two Marauders pushed the other backwards. Remus pulled his trunk into the compartment as Sirius toppled over his.
Marlene gave a groggy welcome to her boyfriend and smirked at the other boy as he righted himself. Lily knew that if Remus and Sirius were planning on sharing the compartment James wouldn't be far behind them. Peter knocked into Sirius as he charged into the compartment excitedly. Sirius just managed to stay on his feet as his plump friend knocked into him. A growl was low in his throat and Peter stepped around him muttering apologies. He was looking forward to hearing all about the party his mother wouldn't let him go to. When the dust settled Lily found herself sitting next to Sirius with the only empty seat left next to her.
Remus couldn't hide the grin as James walked in. It was almost as if the Marauders had orchestrated the seating arrangements today. Lily blushed slightly when she looked up at James as he entered. As he sat down Lily opened her book and tried to block at the chuckles. She elbowed Sirius sharply in the ribs but didn't look up.
"Lily, could you budge up a bit? I don't have a lot of room." Sirius murmured to her as he shifted closer to her.
Lily clenched her jaw as Sirius pushed her closer to James. She was firmly sandwiched between the two of them. It made her feel a little bit better when James tensed next to her. he obviously wasn't overenthusiastic about this arrangement either. "Cut it out, Padfoot. I know Peter smells but you don't need to crush Lily to get away from him."
Peter looked offended, clearly not in on the meaning of the reprimand. Sirius scooted away just a little bit and looked at Lily. "I'm sorry if I crushed your petals, Lily."
"It's fine, Sirius." Lily sighed and kept her eyes on her book. She could feel the heat rising in her face as the train rumbled and began to move forward. James had told Sirius to stop. James Potter had told Sirius to stop doing something. James Potter had told Sirius Black to stop making Lily uncomfortable. Hell was beginning to freeze over.
"Someone tell me about the party! I'm dying here!" Peter exclaimed. Everyone's attention shifted from Lily to recounting tales of the night. Peter kept interrupting people as they told stories. Lily kept an ear open but focused on her book. She was a little bit jealous that her friends had spent that time together. They all looked exhausted from the shenanigans two nights ago but seemed happier for it. Memories had been made and she had missed out on it.
Remus and Lily left to start their rounds. James stood up and closed the door behind them. He pulled the window cover down and rounded on the remainder of the group. "Seriously? Don't even think it, Sirius."
Sirius grinned at his friend, that joke would never get old. "Oh, come on, James. She needs a little push."
"Not from you." James was angry. He was angry with his friends. He was angry with Lily. And he was angry with himself. "Let her figure it out on her it own. Stop pushing her at me. It's only going to make her run further away."
Alice agreed with James on this one and she seemed to be the only one in the room aside from Frank, who didn't take a side at all. Marlene shook her head. How could her friend be so oblivious? If they didn't start pushing Lily in his direction she was never gonna get there.
When the prefects returned a half hour later, James had slid into the seat next Sirius letting Lily have the corner. She wouldn't meet his eye but he saw the small smile she had as she opened her book again. Remus exchanged glances with Marlene as he sat down to find out what had happened while they were gone. She rolled her eyes as he sat down beside her. Remus took away that James had been a bit dramatic about something.
The professors took no time at all in dumping school work on their students. The amount of work piled on to the students and the frigid weather outside the castle's walls put them into a stupor for the first two weeks of classes. Frank spent more and more time with Alice and the sixth-years. There were a few seventh-year boys he still spent time with but he was no longer friends with Colin and Aiden. This was something of a surprise to Lily, she had always figured Frank and Colin were a lot closer than they actually had been. The Marauders also spent a considerable amount more time with the girls than they had before the holidays, much to the annoyance of one Lily Evans. Not only that but she was beginning to feel ostracized from her friends.
Marlene had Remus and Alice had Frank and Lily often found herself getting cut out. There were a number of evenings that her two friends went off to spend time with their boyfriends, leaving Lily on her own. It wasn't like she wasn't friends with the other girls in her house. They just weren't Alice and Marlene.
It was one of these nights near the end of the month where Lily had curled up into a corner of the Common Room. She had her Transfiguration book in her lap and was trying to wrap her head around the theory of human transformations. Lily looked up from her book as Marlene stormed into the Common Room headed for the dormitory. The slamming of a door echoed loudly down the stairs. Lily sighed and stood up. She passed an equally angry Remus on her way to see what was wrong. At least this meant less James and Sirius in Lily's life for the foreseeable future.
"Mar?" Lily closed the door behind her slowly.
"Can you just leave me alone?" Marlene snapped at Lily. The blonde closed the curtains around her bed.
Lily could hear the sobs wracking her body. "Marlene, what happened?"
"Get. Out!" Marlene screamed at Lily.
Lily sank back down into her chair in the Common Room five minutes later after being yelled at for a fifth time to get out. Sirius appeared from his own dormitory. He looked a little shocked and slightly pleased with himself. A loud crash came from overhead and moments later Peter came scurrying out of the boys' dormitory. James wasn't far behind him though he looked a little more composed than Peter did.
Sucking up her pride, Lily crossed the room to the couches the three boys had seated themselves on. James looked up as she approached. He was a little confused that she was voluntarily approaching him. Bonus points because she didn't look like she was ready to kill him.
"What's going on between Marlene and Remus?" Lily didn't ask if she could join them, she sank down on the couch next to Sirius.
James very pointedly glared at Sirius. "I don't know. Sirius, what do you think?"
Lily was confused. What could Sirius Black have to do with Remus and Marlene?
"Look, this isn't my fault." Sirius tried to wipe the half smile from his face. "They didn't want the same thing and it's not my fault that I got dragged into it."
Peter snickered as Sirius struggled to get the smile off his face. And then Sirius was laughing and Lily couldn't figure out what was going on. She gave a pleading look to James to tell her why her best friend was up in the dormitory sobbing and why Remus was destroying his. James looked around to see if there was anyone who was within hearing distance. Remus would never care if anyone found out but Marlene would certainly strangle him.
"You can't tell Marlene I told you." There was an uncharacteristic seriousness to James's tone. He beckoned for Lily to come closer.
Lily scooted down the couch so James could lower his voice just in case. "I promise I won't."
James didn't really know how to explain it. It really didn't need a lot of explaining. Actually, it was rather simple it was just difficult to say. The entire affair was alien to James. The problem was that they were all growing up too fast and not everything was equal anymore. "Marlene and Remus shagged after the New Year's party."
While it made Lily uncomfortable, it was not altogether surprising. There was certainly some shock factor to it but Marlene was the oldest of the sixth-year Gryffindors and had always been ready to take a risk. She pushed boundaries and that was why Lily had become such good friends with her. Not because she pushed them the way James or Sirius did but she liked to dive headfirst. Lily found the girl's tenacity admirable.
"Sirius, pushed Remus's buttons all night long." Sirius squawked at this and tried to defend himself saying he had done no such thing. James silenced him with a look. "I don't think Remus was ready for it–"
"First of all, Remus let Marlene weave a web around him – and me – all night long," Sirius had scooted down and was closer to Lily. He held up his hand to prevent James from cutting him off. "You know that it's true. I'm not blaming Marlene in any way. She wanted to shag Remus. I admire her for knowing what she wants and being willing to go and get it. But Marlene wants that physical intimacy to be a big part of the relationship. Remus doesn't."
"But he always seems so cuddly." Lily was a little impressed with Sirius's analysis of the relationship.
Sirius waved his hands. "Remus is a cuddler, for sure. But he's not a drop everything and snog kind of guy either. My point is that the two of them are incompatible in terms of what they want."
"And Remus feels damn guilty about shagging her." James muttered.
This comment produced an eye roll from Sirius. "He shouldn't. She pursued him."
Lily still wasn't sure where Remus and Marlene stood. Or what Sirius had to do with them. "So, did they just have an argument or did they break it off?"
"Marlene broke up with Remus because he told he didn't want their relationship to be only physical." James told her. "Remus knows that Sirius is a Gryffinwhore and he wouldn't let either of them forget it."
Alice walked up to the group carrying a big stack of books from the library. She was incredibly surprised that Lily was having a conversation with James and Sirius. Her face scrunched up in concern when she saw how serious her friends looked. Lily filled her friend in quietly and stopped her when she moved to go check on Marlene. It was clear that their friend wasn't ready to talk about it and Lily wanted to respect that.
Marlene didn't eat breakfast the next morning. She arrived in the Potions class as the bell rang and slipped into her seat next to Alice silently. Remus tensed beside Lily as he saw Marlene out of the corner of his eye. Snape and Rosier saw this and snickered at the Gryffindors. They always enjoyed when there was trouble in paradise with the Gryffindors.
"Was she that bad of a shag, Lupin?" Rosier shouted across the dungeon. "Or did you finish too early?"
Remus slammed his fist down on the table. Alice was whispering calming words to Marlene and put her hand on her arm. Slughorn walked in and began the lesson, completely oblivious to the stare down between his students. The NEWT students set to make their potions while Slughorn sat at his desk marking essays. Rosier and Snape kept making lewd gestures at both Remus and Marlene. Lily was surprised that Marlene was holding her temper as well as she was. Remus was having a more difficult time. He mangled the third set of roots he was trying to cut and Lily told him to let her do it.
"Hey, Rosier," Sirius shouted from his seat. "Cute undies, did your mummy buy them for you?"
Heads turned to see both Snape and Rosier sitting in nothing but their boxers. Both boys looked mortified and Sirius couldn't wipe the sadistic grin from his face. Laughter erupted around the room as the students noticed that the two Slytherin's robes had vanished. Slughorn looked up aghast at the two boys. He sent them hurrying from the dungeons to put clothing on. Sirius grinned at James who grinned back.
Marlene and Remus both glared at Sirius. Lily raised her eyebrows at him and James. Sirius pitched his eyebrow when they made eye contact. He was almost begging for Lily to yell at him for making the boys' robes vanish. She sighed and shook her head. She'd chew him out for it later when she wasn't worried about Marlene spontaneously combusting.
By lunch the entire school knew about Marlene and Remus. Whispers followed Marlene through the halls. No one seemed to bother Remus. Some of the older male students congratulated him on shagging Marlene. Those same students asked Marlene if she wanted a go with them later that night. Lily and Alice flanked Marlene all day and made sure that any boy he commented on Marlene regretted it.
The Gryffindor boys were almost as bad as the Slytherins were to Marlene. The girls were headed back to the tower after their Transfiguration lesson and ran into a group of seventh-year Gryffindors. Colin was bold enough to comment that he had picked the wrong girl. Lily lunged at him. She was going to rip him to pieces. Marlene caught the back of Lily's robes just in time. Some of the girls muttered comments about Lily being a prude and Marlene being a slag. All of sudden Colin was on the floor and James Potter was slamming his fists into his face.
Girls started shrieking and a ring of students formed around the two boys. Marlene pulled Lily back against the wall as more students surrounded them. Younger students were shouting that they couldn't see as the sixth- and seventh-years were in the way. Sirius finally managed to pull James off Colin as McGonagall fought her way through the students. Aiden and Andrew helped lift Colin up of the floor. His face was bloodied and swollen.
"Mr. Potter!" McGonagall was furious. She was startled to see that two students from her own house had been brawling. Even though it was a lot more one-sided than that. "You will come with me at once. Mr. Boone, Mr. Connors, if you would kindly assist Mr. Smith to the hospital wing."
James sat in Professor McGonagall's office with an angry scowl. He glared at the desk in front of him as the professor sat down across from him. He didn't care that he was probably going to have detention for the next week. He would have been fine if McGonagall had told him he wasn't allowed to play in the Quidditch match in two weeks. The look on her face was pure disappointment and it nearly broke him.
"Explain yourself." She was livid. "No. Mr. Potter, how dare you put your hands on another student. On another Gryffindor at that. You'll meet for detention tonight and every night for the next week."
Civil war broke out among the Gryffindor students that week. No one had ever seen the house as divided as it was. Especially with a Quidditch match against Ravenclaw coming up. The older students became completely fragmented and the younger students worked to make themselves scarce to prevent getting hexed on accident. It had been a long time since students had seen Lily Evans as angry as she was. Whenever she saw Colin or James she looked at them menacingly. Marlene was equally as angry with the boys. Alice and Frank were super careful not be too affectionate around their friends for fear of setting the bomb off.
"They make me so angry!" Lily screamed one night as the girls were going to bed.
Alice, Beatrice, and Mary braced themselves for the rant. Every night for the past four days it had almost been clockwork. Either Lily or Marlene would make a statement in some variation of how angry boys made them and it would just snowball from there.
"I can't believe them! Acting like we're delicate flowers one minute and then hurling insults the next!" Marlene yanked her nightgown on over her head.
"You know what I want for my birthday!" Lily yelled at Marlene as threw the covers back on her bed. "I want those boys to be silent for the entire bloody day!"
Both girls stopped and looked at each other. This wouldn't be a bad idea. The two girls sat down on their beds and began scheming how they could actually make this work. Their three roommates took advantage of their scheming to go to sleep earlier than they had for almost a week. They really should have stopped Lily and Marlene but right now sleep was far more important than a plan to keep the Gryffindor boys from harassing them and each other for a day.
Lily and Marlene sat down at breakfast Saturday morning with smiles on their faces. They knew that today would be one of peace and quiet. Lily poured herself a cup of tea and grabbed an orange from the basket on the table. Alice was pleasantly surprised at how much she enjoyed Lily and Marlene's plan.
Sirius Black sat down across from Lily was a huge grin on his face. It was Lilyflower's seventeenth birthday and he was excited to see how much of an ass James was going to make of himself today. Lily grinned smugly as Sirius opened his mouth to wish her a happy birthday only to find he had no voice.
"What's the problem, Black? Cat got your tongue?" Marlene cackled as she grabbed a piece of toast and began to butter it.
Lily and Marlene were in stitches as panic crept onto the boy's face. Alice grinned too. She was glad to see her friends happy even if it was at the expense of Sirius. James came up to join them, surprised that Sirius was sitting with the three girls and astonished that they seemed so cheerful and happy with him there. He smiled at Lily and wished her a happy birthday but no sound came out. This threw Lily and Marlene into another fit of giggles.
"Have you taken a vow of silence for my birthday, Potter?" Lily snorted. "How kind of you! Probably the best birthday gift I've gotten in years!"
Remus and Peter joined them five minutes later and were as confused as James had been. They sat down and looked at the girls who were exceptionally happy and then at the two boys who were scowling across the table. Remus asked what was going on and found he couldn't talk. He looked at James and Sirius who pointed across the table at Marlene and Lily. Peter tested his voice only to find he had been silenced as well.
"Who knew how peaceful life could be when boys can't talk?" Marlene moved the coffee out of reach from Sirius. He opened his mouth to ask her to pass it to him and scowled. He began to gesture wildly at Marlene to give him the coffee. "I'm sorry, Black. I can't understand all your arm waving."
Colin and his friends came over. Presumably it was to mock the arm waving of Sirius and make snide remarks about Lily and Marlene and the boys they were seated with. Lily grinned at him when he tried to comment. He was petrified to find he couldn't speak. Aiden and Andrew couldn't say a word either.
"My first day of adulthood is certainly shaping up to be a good one." The girls excused themselves from the wild gestures of the boys. Marlene and Lily linked arms as they walked out of the Great Hall. Their faces streaked with pure bliss.