James had been having a perfectly good morning walking with Sirius, Remus, and Peter, minding his own business when all of a sudden he was knocked over. His books fell out of his now-ripped bag and he looked up, hoping to find the person responsible. As he did, he couldn't help but stifle a laugh: it was Snape.
Snivellus was one of the scrawniest guys James had ever seen. He and Sirius made eye contact and smirked at each other.
"Oi, watch where you're going," Sirius exclaimed, pushing Snape the same way he'd done to James.
"You watch where you're going," Snape grumbled, pulling his bag back into place.
Remus looked back and forth between the three of them with a flicker of worry in his eyes. As soon as James noticed it, however, it was gone. Remus was always exceptionally hard to read, and it always bothered James just a little bit.
"What was that?" James asked, sizing Snape up. Not that there was much to size up in the first place.
"Why'd you come back, Snape?" Peter taunted. Sirius grinned.
"Yeah, did your old school kick you out for getting your hair grease all over everything?"
Snape pulled a face, stretching his already unpleasant features into something surprisingly more unpleasant. Remus rolled his eyes.
"Mate, leave him alone. The year just started."
By this point, they had started to gain a crowd. Students stood around in a ring, pretending not to watch the scene unfolding before them and staying a good distance away, should anything happen.
"I don't need you to stand up for me, Lupin," Snape spat the surname as if it were poison. "That's disgraceful. More so than Sirius."
Remus raised his eyebrows, an expectant look on his face. "Alright, then."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sirius stood tall, glowering down on Snape.
"You're a disgrace to your family. Your parents hate you and they wish you'd never been born."
"Say that again." Sirius narrowed his eyes.
"You're a disgrace to your family," Snape repeated. "Your parents hate you and they wish-"
He was cut short as Sirius punched him in the nose.
"Padfoot!" James cried, rushing over to hold his best mate's arm back. Remus followed, holding his other one while Peter stood to the side, eyes wide and mouth slightly ajar. "What was that for?"
"He mentioned my mother!" Sirius strained against James' and Remus's grip.
"It's alright, Pads, calm down," Remus tried to reason. He and James made eye contact and shared conflicted expressions.
Snape put his bag down and rolled his sleeves up, meaning to seem intimidating but only causing the crowd around them to have to stifle laughs. His pale, bony arms were nothing in comparison to the strength of any of the four boys facing him. Even Peter.
"Honestly, Sirius, you need to control that temper of yours." James added as Sirius began to calm down.
"You're one to talk, Potter. I've heard rumors that you beat your mum."
James rolled his eyes, exasperated, as the crowd around them gasped. "Where in the fucking world did you hear that?"
"Your mum told me while I went down on her."
At that, James released Sirius and went after Snape, throwing a punch of his own. No one talks about my family like that, he thought. Remus would've tried to stop him but Sirius was between them, and there was no way that Sirius was going to stop a perfectly good fight. Especially one that his best mate was destined to win"Get him, James!"
James jumped onto Snape, pushing him to the ground. He briefly registered his disgust at having to touch the poor excuse for a human before pulling his arm back and punching him again in his already bloody nose. People watching began to start yelling, forming a tight circle around them, pulling out their phones to record. Out of the corner of his eye, James spotted a flash of vibrant red hair. Lily, he thought. The girl he'd met the day before.
Lily shoved her way to the front of the crowd and Snape looked over at her. His eyes widened as he realized that he was getting beat up in front of her, and he attempted to push James off.
"Stop!" Lily's voice wasn't loud, but it echoed around James's head like it had been. He didn't register what she'd said, however, and reached his arm back for another punch.
"Mr. Potter!" The shrill voice of Professor McGonagall filled the corridor and James's body went rigid. Fuck. "My office! Immediately!"
James reluctantly got off of Snape and dusted himself off, picking up his things. Snape gave him a nasty look and had the audacity to almost look happy with himself. James inwardly weighed the amount of trouble he'd be in with McGonagall if he punched Snape again.
"You too, Mr. Snape! And you, Mr. Black, you're not off the hook either. My office. Now."
Sirius muttered something under his breath and walked over to James before they both followed Professor McGonagall to her office, Snape trailing behind them.
"Off the hook, get it?" Sirius whispered. "Like Snivellus's nose." They both looked back and snickered.
Professor McGonagall's Head of Gryffindor office had two plush chairs facing her desk, and Sirius and James sat in them quickly, leaving Snape to stand. They shared identical smirks and McGonagall cleared her throat. "Explain. Now."
"Snivellus mentioned my mum," Sirius deadpanned, as if that explained everything. The glare in McGonagall's eye seemed to soften for a moment before she turned to James, silenting willing him to explain.
"He mentioned mine, too, said that I beat her." With McGonagall staring at them, he felt the need to explain himself. "Which, for the record, is not true." He loved his parents with everything he had.
McGonagall then turned to Snape. "Black punched me! Then Potter joined in after! It was two against one, professor."
"Oh, don't you pull that bullshit," Sirius snapped.
"Language, Mr. Black!" McGonagall reprimanded. "For God's sake, it's the second day of school! And you're already fighting! Over your mum jokes, no less." She turned harshly to Snape, who couldn't help but cower. "Go to Madam Pomfrey to get your wounds fixed. You have detention. Report here tomorrow directly after school. Do not be late."
Snape nodded and stocked out of the room, his greasy hair the last thing James saw as he shut the door behind himself.
"Now, Mr. Black! Mr. Potter! I can't believe this. Two Gryffindor students beating up another student. And on the day of a football game, no less!" She turned to James, holding out her hand. "Let me see your hand."
James held it out, raising his eyebrows at Sirius as she inspected the broken skin. "You'll need to go to Madam Pomfrey before class. Does it hurt to move?"
James opened and closed his hand a couple times before shaking his head. She then did the same with Sirius. "Good. Ten points from Gryffindor, each of you, and detention with me tomorrow at the same time as Mr. Snape. I fully expect each of you to play to the best of your ability today." She glanced at each of them over her spectacles. "Hurting your hand does not mess with your ability to play football."
"It does for me, Minnie," Sirius grinned cheekily, satisfied with their punishment. "Goalie has to have fully functioning hands."
"It is your fault that your hands are not fully functioning, then, Mr. Black, and I expect you to play as if they are."
"Yes, ma'am," they chorused, winking and leaving her classroom. James thought he heard a scoff as they shut the door behind them. As they'd expected, Remus and Peter were waiting outside the office.
"That was wicked!" Peter exclaimed as they joined James and Sirius. "Did you see Snape's face? He looked just about ready to shit himself!"
Remus shook his head slowly, but his eyes sparkled so James could tell that he wasn't actually mad. "You are idiots, both of you. I hope that you realize that."
"We realize," James and Sirius said together. They turned the corner to go to the hospital wing with Madam Pomfrey. "See you at lunch, yeah?"
"Yeah," Remus and Peter chorused. "See you." They separated and headed to class.
James and Sirius were still laughing as they got closer to the hospital wing. Walking inside, they saw Snape with an ice pack on his face, with a girl next to him. She had pale skin and bright red- wait, was that Lily?
"Evans!" Sirius called, grinning. She shot him a murderous look. Sirius turned to James and whispered. "Touchy."
"Sod off," James pushed him. He didn't know why, but he didn't want Lily to be mad at him. He was lost in his thoughts as Madam Pomfrey bustled over and looked at his hand.
"You should be good to play tonight," she nodded as she handed him an ice pack. She then did the same with Sirius. "Leave that on and come to me in a few hours for a new one."
"Yes, ma'am," they nodded and headed out of the hospital wing. They were almost down the hallway when a high-pitched, angry voice caused them to look behind them.
"So I suppose you think this is funny? Beating up people smaller than you, two against one no less, is fun for you?" Lily's red hair matched her hot temper as she stormed up to them. "And to think I thought you were alright! I can't believe- Severus was right about you! You're both pricks!"
"Lily, wait-" James tried as she thundered away. He reached out to grab her arm but she pulled it out of his grasp. "Lily! It wasn't two on one!"
"I saw you punch him," she then turned, her eyes cold. "I saw you pull your arm back and punch him."
"I-" James was at a loss for word as she turned back around and reentered the hospital wing, slamming the door behind her. "For fucks sake," he commented while she stormed away.
"Maybe we dodged a bullet with that one," Sirius tried. He saw James's face and immediately sobered. "It's alright, mate, she's just a bird."
"Yeah," James couldn't stop himself from looking behind him at the hospital wing doors. How had he managed to lose Lily's friendship as quickly as he had gained it? She didn't even hear out their explanation! "Just a bird."
XxX
In first period with Marlene, Lily was fuming.
"I can't believe them!" She cried, forcefully pulling her notebook out of her bag. "Just when you think they're alright and they turn around and get into a fight and punch your friend."
"Good eye-candy though, aren't they?" Marlene joked. When Lily didn't react, she tried to reason. "In their defense, Lily, I'm sure he did something," Lily refused to listen. "I've known James since we were six and he's never done something without having a reason first."
"I just can't believe them."
"I know," Marlene chuckled, sighing. "This will all blow over. Just wait and let them explain."
"If one of them says something to make me mad, Mar, I think I might be the one punching them."
"As long as it's not Sirius," Marlene laughed. "His pretty face is the only thing that keeps me coming to this awful school." They then had to stop talking as Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and began her lesson.
"Hey, Lily?" Marlene asked at the end of class as she and Lily gathered their things. "You're going to the football game tonight, right?"
Oh, bugger, Lily thought. I've got to see Potter run around with a ball for hours.
"Of course, I wouldn't miss it."
Marlene's face broke out into a smile. "Wonderful! Alice and I will be cheering so you can sit with Remus- he's super sweet, Lily, I promise you'll love him once you get to know him." Marlene laughed and brushed her brown hair out of her face before kissing Lily on the cheek, as she always did when leaving, and skipping out of the room.
Lily sighed, not looking forward to the game at all. Maybe Marlene didn't think Remus was bad, but she thought James and Sirius weren't bad too, and they had beaten up one of her only friends just that morning. Not to mention the fact that she would have to watch them play… maybe, if Remus actually wasn't horrible, they could talk so she wouldn't have to pay attention to the game. Lily had never really been interested in sports anyway.
Sighing, she picked up her things and headed to second period.
XxX
The rest of the day ran relatively smoothly. Lily spent third period listening to Severus grumble about how horrible James and Sirius were then purposely ignored them all of lunch. She made small talk with Alice and Peter as she pretended not to notice James staring at her, and she and Remus agreed to meet up outside the Great Hall after school for the football game. In English, she sat on the other side of the room, focusing only on her work and pretending not to notice the captivating stare coming from a certain James Potter. Lily didn't want to get angry with him and make a scene on just her second day of school. As the day clock ticked and the class period came to an end, Lily could not be more grateful.
"Remus!" She called, looking around the outside of the school. She could barely see above people's heads, as she was only 5'4, but she knew that Remus was tall and would find her. "There you are!"
"Wotcher, Lily?" He walked up and pulled out his car keys as she laughed. "We could get something to eat if you'd like, maybe McDonalds?"
"Sounds perfect." Lily pulled out her phone and texted her mom, letting her know where she was going. She followed Remus into the school parking lot and found his car: a worn down, dark green 1960 alfa romeo giulia. She had to force the door open as she climbed in, but she looked around in wonder. "This is wonderful."
Remus rubbed the back of his neck, his cheeks a faint pink from embarrassment. "It was my father's. We don't have much money, see, not like James and Sirius, but we make do with what we have."
Lily grinned. "I love it."
She watched as Remus pulled the car out of its parking spot and began heading to McDonalds. As she studied him, she thought that he looked smart and innocent: nothing like his best mates. Even Peter looked as if he had a mean streak to him. But Remus, with his big eyes, slightly curly hair, and thin frame, seemed as if he'd never hurt a fly.
Lily ordered McNuggets and Remus got a plain cheeseburger from the drive thru. Once they'd pulled over and finished their food, they began to make their way to the football field.
"I don't really like sports, if I'm being honest," Lily began. She wanted to make sure that Remus knew what he was in for. "Never really understood them."
"I don't either, actually. I just go for James and Sirius. They love the attention." As Remus talked about his mates, his eyes lit up and a faint smile graced his lips. Lily frowned as she tried to understand why someone as great as Remus would ever be friends with people like them.
"Fantastic, then. We're on the same page." Lily and Remus sat in silence as he drove, listening to the sound of the engine and the music on the radio, a pop song by a singer with the name Celestina Warbeck. Lily couldn't stop herself from asking. "Why are you even friends with James and Sirius? They're so…" She paused, unable to think of a word to describe how atrocious they were.
"Ignorant? Childish?" Remus chuckled. Those weren't nearly as bad as the words I was thinking of, Lily thought, but she decided not to voice that. "They definitely are ignorant and childish; mind you, don't tell them that I said that or they'll have me hanged. But they're some of the most loyal people you'll ever meet and if you get to know them better, they have a wonderful sense of humor."
"Getting into fights doesn't sound like a good sense of humor to me," Lily muttered hotly. Remus smirked, looking from the road to her for a couple seconds before turning back to the road. She saw the field come into view and watched as he pulled into the already crowded parking lot.
"I promise you, Lily, they don't do that often. They've just always had a problem with Sniv- Snape. He's been horrible to them in the past, before he left for Ilvermorny, and he's still horrible to them now." Remus's eyes looked as if he were begging her to understand. "You should give them a chance."
Lily sighed. "I don't know, Remus, we'll see. Maybe if they win the game tonight."
Remus's face lit up into a smile. "This game should be a good one. We're playing Durmstrang, see, and they're incredible. Then again, so are we."
The tickets into the game cost ten pounds each, which Lily found absurd. She and Remus waited in the long line for overpriced popcorn ("it's a good thing we got that food earlier, Lily, it would've been like fifty pounds here") and found seats in the student section, right in front of the cheerleaders. Marlene and Alice waved at them and Lily watched as they managed to sneak away to talk to them as the players began to warm up. Lily saw James and Sirius kick the football between each other and Lily couldn't help but admit that they did seem extremely talented.
"I'm so glad you made it!" Alice smiled as they rushed over to Remus and Lily. "Didn't get lost on the way, did you, Rem?"
Remus laughed. "No, Alice, I know how to get here. Lord knows I've done it so many times for James and Sirius."
"Remus has the worst sense of direction," Marlene explained to Lily. "I'm surprised he knows how to get to the school, and he lives three minutes away from it."
"Four," he muttered as his cheeks turned a slight shade of pink. He made eye contact with Sirius and immediately perked up, waving happily. Sirius blew him a dramatic kiss and Remus laughed. Marlene shook her head in amusement.
"Lily, if Remus says anything about Sirius looking hot while he plays, you better tell me. " She then leaned over to whisper in Lily's ear. "We all have a bet on if they fancy each other or not, but we can't tell if their flirting is a joke so we're not entirely sure."
"Will do, Mar," Lily laughed.
The cheer coach blew her whistle and Alice and Marlene waved goodbye and ran to join the rest of their squad.
"I'll be honest, Lily, I've been going to these games since year seven and I still barely know how the game works."
Lily looked from Remus to the field and squinted. "All that I know is that they have to try and get the football into the goal."
"Yes, Sirius is our goalie."
Lily squinted through the sunlight to see Sirius in his maroon jersey while everyone else was in white. "What are his and James's numbers?"
Remus laughed. "James is six and Sirius is nine. They wanted those so that they could take pictures and be the number sixty nine."
"That's horrible," Lily muttered, but she couldn't help but laugh.
The team captains shook hands and with that, the game began.
Lily realized quickly that football wasn't as boring as she'd originally thought. It definitely helped that she knew a couple of the players, regardless of how annoying they may be, and that she could see everyone's faces. Lily spent an unholy amount of time checking the players out, especially on the other team, but was jerked out of her thoughts as a player - of course it was James - scored their first goal. The rest of the team went wild and James looked up into the crowd, finding Remus and Lily and giving them a wave. Remus brought two fingers up to his mouth and wolf whistled very loudly, causing James to laugh from across the field.
"I didn't know you could do that!" Lily exclaimed, fascinated. Remus shrugged.
"You pick it up from coming to so many of these games. James's dad taught me."
"That's wonderful!"
"I'm glad we got the first goal," he grinned. "Durmstrang is really good so putting us in the lead should really help." Lily nodded absently as she scanned the field for the ball.
One of the Durmstrang players had it, Lily realized, and was quickly heading for Sirius and their goal. "Come on, come on!" Lily yelled, standing up with the rest of the crowd as the player got closer and closer. Sirius got into position and had a look of determination that almost rivaled the determination he'd had when he punched Snape.
The Durmstrang player kicked the ball and, as it soared through the air, it spun. Lily groaned as the ball spun right out of Sirius's grasp and into the net. She watched Sirius pick it back up with a shocked look on his face before handing it to the referee and turning to his coach, who shouted at him.
"That was Winston Krum," Remus explained, turning to Lily with a frown on his face. "He's famous, on a national team and everything. He's mainly the reason Durmstrang is so good."
Lily nodded. "That's hardly fair, putting a national player against us." Remus nodded in agreement as the ball was kicked and the next play began.
"Where's Peter?" Lily asked Remus during half-time, with the score being 1-2 for Durmstrang. They had managed to score one more goal, but Sirius had done an excellent job guarding for the most part. James had also had many chances to score another goal but Durmstrang's goalie was amazing and kept blocking them from going in.
"He had tutoring for math," Remus explained. "Peter's marks aren't that good, you see, and James and Sirius and I do everything we can to help him, but there's only so much he can learn from people who aren't teachers."
"Do James and Sirius get good marks?" She asked, surprised. How in the world could they be good looking and good at sports and get good marks? No wonder they're so douchey and conceited.
Remus grinned. "Almost as good as me. I met them in math in year seven and the three of us were at the top of our class. Marlene and Alice weren't far behind," he added. "But Sirius, James, and I were the best. We became super good friends when we all got put into detention together."
"Why were you put into detention?" She could understand why James and Sirius would be in detention, but not Remus. He was so… sweet, detention didn't seem to match his personality. Then again, being friends with James and Sirius didn't seem to match his personality either.
"Our professor thought we were cheating because we all had the same answers on a test."
Lily raised her eyebrows.
"We weren't cheating though, that's the thing, we'd all gotten every answer correct. That old git wasn't used to students getting full marks so she assumed we'd all cheated."
At that, Lily grinned. "I didn't think you'd ever call a professor an 'old git'."
"I wouldn't normally," he agreed. "But Professor Marsdin had really been something else. Our group is called the Marauders around school, yeah? We got that name because one time she had gotten completely fed up with all four of us talking and she yelled 'oi, you four, stop marauding and get back to your bloody work'. We adapted the name just to spite her." When imitating the professor, Remus assumed a very high-pitched voice. Lily couldn't help but laugh.
"How did Peter become part of your group if you three had the best marks in the class?"
Remus rubbed the back of his neck. "He had the lowest marks," he said slowly. "The three of us took turns tutoring him and he was with us so often, he began to feel like part of the group."
"I suppose that makes sense."
The whistle for the beginning of the third quarter blew and Lily reached into her popcorn bag to get more but realized that she was out. With a frown, she turned to Remus. "I'm going to go get more popcorn. I'll be right back."
"Are you sure you don't want me to go with you?" he requested, always the gentleman. Lily had really taken a liking to Remus.
"No, it's okay, I'll just be a second." Lily scooted past people who were sitting down and giving her dirty looks for getting in their way. She left the student section and quickly got to the concessions stand, ordering her popcorn and moving aside to wait while it popped.
"Oi, who are you?"
Lily turned and her eyes met possibly the scariest girl she'd ever seen: she had curly, unruly black hair and her black eyes were hard and cold. She looked at Lily with disgust, as if she were dirty. Behind her stood a boy, possibly her boyfriend, with pale blond hair and gray eyes.
"Lily Evans," Lily stuck her hand out pleasantly, hoping to shake her hand. The girl looked down at her hand in disdain and didn't bother to shake it. Lily, suddenly awkward, brushed a strand of her red hair out of her face.
"Bellatrix Black," she said coolly. "You're in my way."
"Oh, sorry," Lily moved aside quickly. Bellatrix had given off a 'don't mess with me' vibe and Lily certainly did not feel like messing with her.
Lily's popcorn finished and Lily happily grabbed it, rushing off back to her spot. As she approached him, she watched the field as a Hogwarts player - not James, mind you - kicked the ball towards the goal. It barely brushed past the goalie's hands and went in as the whole student section erupted into applause.
"Right you are, Benji!" She heard Remus yell as he stood with everyone else, delight shining through his eyes. He noticed Lily and motioned her over, and took a handful of her popcorn as they both sat back down. "That was Benji Fenwick," he explained. "Next to James and Sirius, he's one of our best players."
Lily glanced at the giant scoreboard as it read two to two: they were tied.
The rest of the game passed in a blur. James managed to score another goal, causing students in the bleachers to jump in excitement and cheer. Lily couldn't help but join in as she saw everyone's happy faces.
"Hey, Remus?" She asked, watching the game as her heartbeat slowed.
"Yeah?"
"Do you know a Bellatrix Black?"
Remus turned sharply, his features in a hard frown. "Yes, I do. She's Padfoot - sorry, Sirius's cousin. Why?"
"She is?" Lily hadn't realized that Bellatrix and Sirius shared the same last name, but she supposed it made sense. Bellatrix was beautiful and Sirius was handsome and they both had pointed features and wonderful bone structure, but Sirius's eyes (however mean he may be) held a warmth that Bellatrix's could never possess. "She was quite rude to me when I was getting popcorn."
"She's bad news, Lily, please do your best to stay away from her." Remus looked around quickly before turning back to watch the game, but she could almost see the gears in his head turning as he thought. "Sirius's family- they're all lunatics."
"I don't see how Sirius is much different," Lily joked, but she sombered as she saw the look on Remus's face.
"I'm serious, Lily. The Blacks are a very wealthy family and they love to flaunt it. The Potters are wealthy too, mind you, but they don't act anything like the Blacks do. The whole lot of them believe that they're better than everyone else because of their money and how their family is ancient in Scotland. Sirius is the only one in the family not like the rest of them. Some of them have even killed because of it," he said darkly. Lily's eyes widened.
"Killed? Over bloodlines?"
"Yeah, they're horrible. Do your best to stay away from them; they'll probably want to show you how much better than you they are just because you're new and they're rich." At that, Remus grinned. "Then again, that'd be a load of bollocks because you're a genius."
Lily laughed and turned back to the game, watching as Sirius tracked the ball from his spot as goalie.
Hogwarts ended up winning and Lily and Remus left in happy spirits, waving goodbye to Marlene and Alice and following the rest of the crowd out to where the cars were. Remus dropped Lily off at her home ("you have a beautiful house, Lily, really") and she recounted the brilliant plays of the game to her mother as she ate soup for dinner and prepared for bed.
Remus is alright, Lily decided. It's just James and Sirius, and maybe Peter, who are the pricks. Not Remus.
As Marlene texted her enthusiastically, recalling all of the stunts that she'd done, Lily laid in bed and rubbed her eyes, wishing for sleep. As far as first football games had gone, she decided, Lily's had been a pretty good one.
That's it for chapter two! I can't decide if I should eventually include Remus/Sirius or if they should end up with their own people, so let me know what you think in reviews. The next chapter will kickstart the drama and include two characters hooking up, I just wanted Lily to have a little bit of time to enjoy her new high school. Thank you for reading and please remember to favorite and review!
-bookishme1