Lily found out about the fight before the end of lunch break, of course. The whole school talked about nothing else for a good half hour while James and Snape were stuck in Dumbledore's office. James Potter, with the reputation of an angel, had beaten up Severus Snape, with the reputation of the devil. No one could believe it.
When the two of them finally came into the Great Hall, everyone fell silent, and all eyes were on James. Lily was the only one not looking at him. She was just staring at the table. James, for the first time in his life, kept his head down and darted straight to where Sirius, Peter, and I were sitting and sat down quickly.
"Oi!" Sirius shouted at the staring crowd, "Stop being so nosy, you bunch of knobheads!"
Some people turned their heads away from us, but others just tried to watch without Sirius noticing.
"I told you you'd pay for it, didn't I?" Sirius said, patting James on the back.
"It was worth it," James muttered under his breath, "he deserved it. Plus, I'll be doing my detention with you and him until the end of the year. And his detention will continue into next year for the fire and the mind-reading."
"So, you told the teachers about that?" I asked.
"Well, it had to be reported."
"I thought I told you two not to tell anyone," said Lily from across the table. "Great. Thanks a lot, now Potter's gone and beaten someone up and told the teachers!"
"Well, it will stop now at least," said Sirius.
"Yes, but Severus… what will he do, he'll be so mad, now everyone might find out he can do legilimency, and it's all my fault!" she whispered.
"Stop being friends with him!" cried James, "haven't you realised now how much of an arsehole he is!?"
"Yeah, I suppose he is…" said Lily sadly, "But I can't just leave him, that would be so cruel."
"Evans, you're too nice for your own good!" Sirius cried. "People like Snape are going to use that against you."
"You're right." Lily looked up at the four of us with determination, and when she smiled, I could have sworn James was about to melt into a muddle. "Severus is a terrible person! I won't let him do things like read my mind ever again!"
She hopped up and skipped away, and James silently screamed with joy and whispered, "Isn't she just so cute!?"
"Cute?" Sirius repeated.
"Cute… pretty… beautiful… gorgeous… stunning… all of those adjectives and so many more are Lily Evans…" James said, dreamily. "I'm so glad she's the girl I beat someone up over."
"Oh, god, James, beating Snape up isn't something to be proud of," I said, rolling my eyes. "Let's just go…"
"What do you mean, he can't play?"
"As I said, Randall has caught dragon pox and Madam Pomfrey has forbidden him from playing," said Marlene.
"The morning of the last match of the season!?" James cried. "Why such late notice?"
"Maybe we'll just have to play with a team of six," Marlene said sadly, "There are only fifteen minutes until we're due on the pitch."
"And lose our winning streak? I don't think so. I'll find a replacement; I know I will. Can you think of anyone?"
Marlene's eyebrows creased as she thought hard. "All of my friends hate Quidditch, except Dorcas, but she's rubbish."
"She's better than no one," said James, "can you go ask her?"
Marlene nodded, then ran out of the common room. It was entertaining, watching them. They'd just found out one of their chasers couldn't make it to the last Quidditch match, versing Ravenclaw, and now James and Marlene, the two craziest Quidditch players in the school, were going mad.
Marlene came rushing back within minutes, shaking her head. "Dorcas can't… she's… going home… for… funeral…"
"Give her my condolences, but WHY!?" James cried, looking at his watch. "Ten minutes! We should be heading down by now! Oh god, Remus, can you play? Please?"
He called to me across the room, and I raised an eyebrow.
"I'll buy you a chocolate every day over the summer!" he cried, and I smiled.
"Alright, then. Deal."
"And welcoming the team of… Gryffindor!"
"And now we walk out. Just wave at everyone," James whispered to me as the door opened. The lights could have blinded me, and the cheers could have deafened me. I followed James and Sirius out of the change rooms and absent-mindedly waved at no one in particular.
Madam Hooch said something about wanting a clean game, and then was telling us to mount our brooms. I climbed on and was starting to regret agreeing to play this game. I hadn't flown on a broom for almost two years and couldn't even remember how to do it.
Nevertheless, I kicked off the floor when Madam Hooch blew the whistle and flew up with everyone else. She threw the quaffle in the air and James seized it immediately, and then he was off like the wind.
"Do you know what to do?" asked Sirius, flying up next to me.
"Um, not really," I said.
"Well, fly up with James and the other Chaser, and just catch the ball then pass it back to them, and try and throw it through the rings over there," he said, pointing to the three hoops. "And if you're worried about getting hit by one of the bludgers, then don't worry, because this bat and I will protect you."
"I wasn't that worried until now but thank you!" I said, hoping I wasn't blushing too hard.
"Alright then, get into the game!" he cried.
I nodded, then flew forward to where James was. The other Chaser had the Quaffle now, and she threw it at me as soon as she saw me. Taken by surprise, I leaned to the side, making the Quaffle go flying.
"Oh shit, I'm meant to catch that, aren't I?" I said, feeling my face go red with embarrassment as James flew down to catch it.
"Why is this guy on the team, Potter?" the other Chaser cried down to him.
"Just for this game," James cried back, throwing the Quaffle back to her, who passed it right back to him.
"Yeah, maybe don't pass it to me," I said.
"Don't need to tell me twice," said the other Chaser, flying faster alongside James.
"Um, I'll go defend the other hoops!" I said, then started flying back the other way.
"Remus, where are you going?" asked Marlene as I flew past her.
"To defend the other hoop!" I cried, not stopping. I assumed she didn't hear me because there was no response. I passed the Ravenclaw seeker on my way: a huge seventh-year guy with a full beard. I managed to swerve past him before I kept flying, only stopping once I got to the other hoops, where some other guy in scarlet robes was sitting on his broom, looking bored.
"Hey," I said, panting, "are you defending this hoop? Do you want me to take over?"
He raised an eyebrow at me. "Mate, I'm the Keeper. It's my job to defend the hoop. What's yours?"
"I dunno, just fly around and do whatever James tells me to do?" I said.
"You're going to listen to Potter?" he said, raising his other eyebrow. "I thought you would have lost all respect for him until he beat up that Slytherin guy."
"Why would I lose respect for James?" I asked. "He's one of my best friends."
"Because he's gone all violent over some girl. And he drags me out of bed at five in the morning every day…" the Keeper grumbled. "So bloody tired, and all for what? I'm the Keeper on an extremely talented team, so the Quaffle is always up the other end, and I'm stuck sitting here for hours on end."
"Well, here's an idea," I said to him, "Wait, what's your name, by the way?"
"Aetos," he said, "Helios Aetos."
"Well, Helios, how about you go and be a Chaser for today, get in and amongst the action, and I'll stay here and defend the hoop for you?" I offered.
"Hmmm…" Helios thought for a long time, before finally saying, "Alright, then. Have fun sitting here doing nothing!"
And he flew away.
I sat there for over an hour before the Ravenclaws finally got close to scoring a goal, and even then, Helios managed to stop them, and the game continued. It was even more boring than watching the game, because then at least I could talk to Peter, and stare at Sirius, and read a book, and stare at Sirius, and watch the game, and stare at Sirius…
But here, I just sat on a broom, which made my balls sore, and looked ridiculous in front of the entire school. Finally, after almost three hours, the game came to an end, and I was allowed to fly the broom to the grass and climb off and thank any gods that it was over, and I never had to do that bullshit again.
"Did we win?" I asked Sirius.
"God, Remus, use your eyes," he said, pointing at Marlene, who was holding the snitch high above her head, her expression full of pride. James had his arm around Helios, who was smiling proudly. He must have done well. I did terribly, but the team still won. Good on them.
The week following the Quidditch match was exams week. James had called off Quidditch practice until the end of the year so everyone could have time to study, especially him and Sirius when they weren't in their nightly detentions.
Having more subjects this year meant more exams, so each day was filled with multiple theory and practical exams and the nights were filled with studying for the exams the next day. Thankfully, the full moon had been on the week before exams this year, so I was able to study every single night.
On the afternoon of the last exam, Divination, my friends and I went straight out to the grounds along with the rest of the school and managed to find a patch of grass.
"So, what do we want to do this week?" James asked, cracking his back.
"Sleep," I muttered.
James laughed. "Did you know Lily's starting hanging out with Hestia Jones and Mary Macdonald instead of Snape?"
"Isn't Mary Macdonald in second year, though?" asked Sirius.
"Yeah, but she's friends with everyone because everyone loves her," James yawned. "'Because she's so cute', according to Reginald Cattermole. He fancies her, I know it."
"He's that guy in Ravenclaw right?" Sirius asked, "Our year?"
James nodded. "Anyway, you guys got plans for the summer?"
"Well, if my parents are better, I'll probably be forced to watch West Side Story with my mum, and if not, I suppose I'll be staying at St Mungo's," I said.
"What's West Side Story?" Sirius asked.
"A musical movie thing," I told him, "My mum's obsessed. It might be good if I hadn't seen it ten million times!"
"Better than my summer sounds," Sirius said, "Narcissa's getting married, and I have to go. It's going suck!"
"What date's the wedding?" James asked.
"The day after we get back, the twenty-fourth of June," Sirius said.
"How about we all come," said James.
"What?"
"To Narcissa's wedding," James continued. "We'll go under the invisibility cloak and completely marauder-fy it."
"You want to destroy my cousin's wedding?" Sirius raised an eyebrow, and James nodded. "Alright then, that will be great… but you guys need to be careful, and you cannot, under any circumstances, be seen or heard."
"Alright, alright," said James, "here's the plan."
By the end of our free week, the plan to destroy Narcissa's wedding was put together, and we were all looking forward to putting it to action, and talked of nothing but it on the Hogwarts Express, only stopping when we came to Platform nine and three-quarters and I saw my parents, standing there and waving at me, next to James's parents, and all other thoughts I was thinking dropped.
I gripped my trunk and ran out of the train, and bolted towards them, running into them so hard they almost fell over, and squeezed them both tightly, trying to ignore the tears threatening to leak.
"You're OK!" I cried, "You're OK! You're OK! You're OK!"
"We're OK. We've missed you so much," Dad smiled. "And… Fleamont and Euphemia have kindly offered us to stay with them until we can get a place of our own."
I looked at James's parents who were both squeezing James tightly. "Thank you."
"Oh Remus, we've missed you so much…" my mum breathed. And then she noticed the mullet. "Oh, Remus, what have you done to your hair?
"Oh, uh… cut it…" I said. James's mum noticed his hair as well and began fussing over it.
"Great hair!" James cried, finally escaping from his mother's grasp. "Can Remus and I go out for a bit, and we'll meet you at home tomorrow?"
"Not unless you tell me where you're going?" Euphemia asked.
"To Peter's house," James said to his mother, who nodded.
"Alright, then," she said, then, after enormous hugs from my parents, James and I ran back to Peter, threw the invisibility cloak over all three of us, then followed Sirius and his family back into King's Cross Station.