Chapter 10

See our friends, see the sights; feel alright

We are young, we run green;

Keep our teeth nice and clean;

See our friends, see the sights;

Feel alright.

Alright, Supergrass

When James woke up that morning, he was pleasantly surprised to find that his leg was not nearly as bad as it had been the day before. He used his cane to go to the bathroom, and to move around as he continued with his morning routine. He wasn't a massive 'early riser', but he always got up before the others, mainly because they were, in his opinion, lazy slobs, but also because it meant he could take his time in the bathroom, washing his face, brushing his teeth and usually showering, without Sirius banging on the door for him to get out. He woke the others up when he got out of the bathroom, before sorting his bag, making his bed and getting changed.

The swelling in his cuts had gone down a small bit, but James knew that this was no indication of anything, as they could swell up again in a few days. By the time he was ready, Remus was out of the bathroom, and Peter was changed into his uniform. James smiled at the fact that their habits hadn't been altered one bit. Sirius dragged himself out of his bed and into the bathroom, while Remus got changed and Peter sorted his books and bed. Everything ran like clockwork, the same as it had for years, and this gave James more comfort than he expected it to.

James sat on his bed and did his stretches, watching as Peter got impatient and shouted at Sirius to get out of the bathroom 'because he still had to use it and they were going to be late to breakfast for Merlin's sake'.

When the four of them finally made it down to the Great Hall for breakfast, Sirius made a show of being shocked at how early it was, because, despite Peter's fretting, they were never late for breakfast. This morning in particular, there were more people up than was usual, due to it being the first day of school.

James and his friends slotted into seats near the middle of the long Gryffindor table, chatting about what classes they'd have together and which ones they'd have with the other houses.

"Potions with the Slytherins," Sirius said as they sat down. "It has to happen. It's been happening for the past five years."

"I agree," Remus said nodding. "We always manage to be stuck with them somehow."

"Nah," James shook his head. "We're beginning the study for our N.E.W.T.s. not everyone will have picked Potions, so there's a big chance we'll have students from all of the houses in, like, one class."

"I hadn't actually thought of that," Sirius said, nodding. "Makes sense. Pass the toast, will you Moons?"

McGonagall swept down the aisle to them, handing them their timetables, so they took time out to compare; James was happy to see that he shared at least one class with each of his friends. They swapped timetables for another few minutes, seeing which days were the best and which were the worst, and who had the best timetable and who had the worst.

The boys were quiet for a small while, too busy eating to talk, but they were distracted when the owls arrived for the morning post. A copy of the Daily Prophet landed on the table in front of Remus, who picked it up for inspection.

"You can't seriously be reading that?" Sirius asked in disgust.

"Mum said they're not reporting any of the important stuff, 'cause the Ministry told them not to," James added. A letter landed in front of James, his name written on it in his mother's scratchy handwriting. "Speaking of which," James said, opening the letter. He finished it a moment later, and put it down on the table with a sigh.

"What did she say?" Sirius asked.

"Said that the Ministry had brought in another person for questioning, but they're not talking either.

"Who?"

James pursed his lips. "Bellatrix."

Sirius's eyebrows shot into his hairline, but returned moments later. "What a brat."

James couldn't help but laugh at Sirius's description of his cousin. "Think she's involved?"

Sirius scoffed. "I'd be more surprised if they weren't, she and that idiot husband of hers."

"The Daily Prophet reporting anything?" Peter asked.

"Nah," Remus replied, shaking the paper closed. "They haven't said anything about Diagon Alley at all."

"What's this about Diagon Alley?" Lily Evans asked, sitting down next to James.

"We were just talking about the so-called incident that happened in Diagon Alley a few months ago. There's nothing in the paper about it," Remus answered, leaning over James to hand the Prophet to Lily.

She scanned the newspaper, eyebrows furrowed, before handing it back. "That happened a month ago, though. It was only a small incident, wasn't it?" James scoffed, Peter coughed, Sirius snorted and even Remus's eyebrows quirked. Lily stared at them for a moment. "Why do I get the feeling that I'm missing something?" she asked slowly.

"My mum used to work in the Ministry," James began explaining. "She said that it might've been more than an 'incident'. They've even brought people in for questioning."

"So what brings you to our neck of the woods Evans?" Sirius asked. "Couldn't stay away from me, could you?"

"Just wanted to see whether Potter actually threw you out of the window last night or not," she replied, smirking. "It's disappointing to see that he didn't."

"You were going to throw me out the window last night?" Sirius asked in an exaggerated hurt voice, holding both hands to his heart.

James shrugged, a smile on his face, one eyebrow lifting. "I contemplated it."

"Oooo, 'contemplated'. That's a big word," Lily teased.

James attempted a glare at her, but it didn't last more than two seconds. "So what does bring you to our neck of the woods, Evans?"

"None of my friends are down yet, thought I might as well spend some time with you guys," she said with an innocent look of her face.

"I'm hurt," all Marauders replied in unison, simultaneously raising a hand to their heart.

Lily stared at them. "That was scarily weird." They sent her matching mischievous smiles. "Okay, just stop it now," she said, shutting her eyes and scrunching up her nose. The Marauders laughed, and went back to eating their breakfast. Lily took this as her opportunity and turned to her left to face James.

"You okay?" he asked, also turning to face her.

"I just, uh, wanted to apologise again for giving out to you yesterday. It wasn't fair of me, because I didn't know the whole story," she said nervously.

James waived his hand dismissively. "It's fine Evans."

"It's not. And I'm sorry. It's just that I'm Prefect, and I thought it was my place to tell you off, and it wasn't and I'm sorry."

James smiled at her. "It's fine, Evans," he laughed. "As long as you don't do it again," he teased.

"Don't pull anything stupid and I won't have to," she joked back. "How's your leg?"

"It's mostly back to normal," James replied. "I'm sure it'll be perfect in a few days."

"Just in time for Quidditch trials," Lily said, smiling. "Marlene made captain, did you hear?"

"Yeah, I did. No one more qualified, in my opinion."

"Not even you?" Lily asked, bumping her shoulder against his.

James's stomach twisted. "I'm, uh, not trying out this year."

Lily gaped at him. "What?"

"I'm not trying out this year," he repeated, wincing.

"Why?"

"Training for the circus, wasn't it James?" Remus asked casually over the newspaper.

James smiled in relief, glad that his friends had remembered the plan. "I think so, yeah."

"You told me that you were switching to Hufflepuff, and that you couldn't bear to play against Gryffindor," Peter said, doing a really good job of sounding upset.

"What?" Sirius asked, snorting. "That's ridiculous. James's isn't playing Quidditch because he lost all his Quidditch skills to Moony in a bet, remember?"

"Ahh," the other three Marauders replied in unison, as if remembering now.

"Good times," Remus said, shaking his head and going back to reading his paper.

Lily was still staring at him. "Are you serious? You're not playing Quidditch?"

James nodded. "I'll have to break it to Marlene, the poor girl. She'll have to recruit Moony instead."

Remus snorted. "Good luck with that."

Lily frowned, but decided to drop the subject. "The girls arrived a few minutes ago, I better go join them. I'll see you guys later," she said as she picked up her stuff and stepped over the bench.

"What are we, second best?" James asked of her retreating back.

Lily twisted around to reply, walking backwards. "And don't you forget it Potter," she replied cheekily, before turning back and heading down to where her friends were sitting.

James shook his head, chuckling. When he faced the table again, he found his friends staring at him with various smirks on their faces. "What?" he asked defensively.

"Didn't know you two were such good friends," Remus remarked.

"I'm fairly sure she couldn't stand you," Peter teased.

"I apologised," James shrugged, though his cheeks were turning red. Sirius waggled his eyebrows at James, who threw a piece of toast at him.

"You two looked pretty cosy," Marlene said, eyebrows raised, as Lily swung into her seat next to Dorcas.

"Who? Me?" Lily asked, confused.

"Yes you," Mary answered.

"Me and who?" Lily wondered. The other four girls stared at her. "What?" she asked.

"You and James," Alice replied finally.

Lily, who had been taking a sip of her tea, nearly choked. Dorcas patted her on the back, almost sympathetically, rather than to stop Lily from choking. "What?" Lily managed to wheeze out.

"We're just calling it how we see it Lils," Mary said, calmly taking a sip of her pumpkin juice.

"Which is what?" Lily asked indignant.

"You purposefully got up earlier than usual, said you'd see us down there. I thought that was pretty strange, and then we come down to breakfast to see you in a deep conversation with James Potter and laughing it up with the Marauders. So you obviously got up early to talk to him," Marlene said, like it was obvious.

"I got up early to apologise to Potter. I gave out to him yesterday for something that wasn't his fault, and I was in the wrong for," Lily explained.

"The fight yesterday?" Alice guessed.

Lily nodded. "Turns out he had been trying to stop the fight, and had been the one to tell the Hufflepuff to get a Prefect. McGonagall gave him 50 points and all."

Marlene whistled. "I heard that Avery might be getting expelled."

Lily nodded again. "He used the Cruciates Curse, or tried to, on Potter and Black."

Alice's face paled. "What a horrible person."

"I really hope he goes," Dorcas agreed, her nose scrunching, "he always creeps me out."

Down the end of the table, Lily saw the Marauders rise from their seats and begin to make their way out of the hall. As they passed, she felt a hand gently tug on the end of a piece of her hair. She whipped around to see James salute her before turning and catching up with his friends.

"Piss off Potter," she called at his retreating back, but there was no malice in her words. In reply, his laughter floated back to her. Lily faced her bowl of porridge again, only to find her friends staring at her. "What?" she asked, feeling self-conscious.

"And what was that?" Mary asked, sounding both delighted and scandalised.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Shut up." Her friends were still staring at her with those looks, so she wracked her brain for something to distract them. "Potter said he wasn't trying out for the Quidditch team this year," she said with fake nonchalance.

"What?" Marlene practically exploded. "Why not?"

"I'm not sure," Lily shrugged. "When I asked, Remus said it was because he was training for the circus, Peter said it was because he was moving to Hufflepuff and couldn't bare to play against his old house, and Sirius said it was because he lost all his Quidditch talent to Remus in a bet."

The girls looked confused. "What?" Dorcas asked, brow furrowed.

"My thoughts exactly," Lily replied.

"I don't want to say this," Marlene began hesitantly. "But you don't think it's because I got captaincy and he didn't?"

"Nah," Lily shook her head. "He said you were the perfect person for the job. He might be joking, I couldn't really tell."

Marlene looked pleased at the compliment and seemed content to drop the topic for the moment, so the girls finished their breakfast in companionable silence.