Wednesday 30th April 1977
Sirius leaned against a wall in an abandoned classroom, anxiously tapping his wand against his arm. He had managed to sneak a message to Regulus to meet him here during morning break. They had come to somewhat of a tentative truce after the easter holidays. If he was honest Sirius had missed him, and had been missing him for years, and Reggie was still in there, he was sure of it. Sirius had been trying to chat with him a bit more and had quickly learnt that Regulus wouldn't respond if Sirius tried to address him in front of any of his Slytherin friends. Instead, he sent owls with nonsense notes containing old references and kid code that only the Black brothers would understand, to try and meet up with Regulus secretly. It seemed to be working but Sirius couldn't shake the fear that Regulus would arrive one day with death eater cronies in tow. The door opened as Sirius checked his watch for the third time and he held his wand ready before recognising Regulus' lean form as he slinked in. Regulus checked behind him casually before shutting the door.
"All good?" Sirius asked, keeping his hold on his wand.
"All clear."
"Perfect." Sirius holstered his wand and fixed his brother with a grin as he sat on a chair at one of the dusty desks. "How are ya, Reg?"
"Ok, I guess. Things are a bit tense around here though."
"Yeah, I hear that." Sirius said his smile fading slightly. "Well listen, I've got something I think you'd enjoy." Sirius reached into his pocket and pulled out a wrinkled photo, handing it over to Regulus who warily took it from him. His expression softened as he took in the photo of the pink haired girl.
"It was her birthday last week." Sirius said as he looked at the photo of their disowned cousin over his brother's shoulder.
"Did they celebrate?" Regulus asked, with a rare smile.
Sirius nodded shrugging, "well Ted and Andi obviously threw her a party, Alphard made a brief appearance but it was mainly with Ted's family."
"The muggles?" Sirius nodded carefully, Regulus tone wasn't derisive, just curious. Sirius pointed to the picture.
"That's the cake Ted's parents baked for her."
"She's four, right?"
"Yup, four years since little Nymphadora's been in our life. Though I still don't know what they were thinking with that name."
Regulus let out a small laugh, "interesting names run in our family, Sirius."
Sirius shoved at his shoulder, "they don't have to be genetic. If I have a kid I'm giving them a normal name. Paul or something."
Regulus wrinkled his nose, "it is a bit boring though isn't it. Paul?"
"At least my child won't get bullied for having a stupid name."
Regulus shook his head with a small smile, "have you seen them recently?" Regulus asked quietly. Sirius nodded his head slightly, he had managed to see them over the easter holidays, "and they're-" Regulus averted his eyes from his brother, "they're doing ok?" Andi had been Reg's favourite cousin, he had cried for days when she'd been cast out of the family.
"They're doing well," Sirius fixed Reggie with a genuine look, "obviously Andi's had to get used to a different lifestyle after Cygnus cut her off, but Ted treats her like a queen."
Regulus nodded once, resolutely, "I'm glad." He set his shoulders.
"Reg, there's still time to get you out of whatever our family have got you into, I can talk to Mr and Mrs Potter, we can-" Regulus shook his head, "I can help you!" Sirius gestured as he got frustrated, "we can talk to Dumbledore-" a look of disgust appeared on Regulus' face at the mention of the headmaster, "Reg I'm telling you-"
"No Sirius."
"Yes, you don't have to go through with whatever it is you're going through-"
"Sirius-"
"No, listen to me-"
"Sirius!" Sirius stopped protesting as Regulus raised his voice imperiously. His eyes were dark and endlessly sad and a lump rose in Sirius' throat as he beheld him. "After the rumours about Alphard, Andromeda's marriage to a muggleborn and the…" he struggled for a suitable word, "defection of the scion of the House of Black," Regulus raised his eyebrows at his brother, who scowled at the description of himself. "Many of the old allies of the House, the 'darker' families, if you will, they weren't pleased. You don't know what it's been like since the Dark Lord has begun to gain strength, whatever he says, just goes, with little to no argument from anyone."
Regulus slashed a hand through the air, his distaste for the blind faith people had in Voldemort leaking through, "our 'allies' have been holding debts and deals over the heads of mother and father for months. Cissy is being given in marriage to Lucius, Bellatrix has been completely taken in by the dark lord as some form of sick penance. Mother and father are spending hundreds of galleons to gain favour and doing nothing to bring in new revenue, even though the Black fortune has been plateauing for years." Regulus was running his hands through his silken hair in a rare show of emotion and he caught himself and forced his hands to his sides, staring deeply into Sirius' eyes.
"You cannot help me," Regulus clenched his jaw, "because I have been signed into the Dark Lord's servitude as retribution for our family's failures." Sirius froze as he listened to him, his blood running cold in his veins. "Father made an oath, it probably took no more than a suggestion from mother after a whiskey too many, and seeing as I'm not 17, and I'm not the heir- they still haven't worked out how to completely disinherit you yet- I am completely under their authority." Regulus' voice shook and he took a breath to steady himself. "On my 17th birthday I'll be taking his filthy mark and officially joining the ranks of the death eaters."
Sirius finally found his voice again, "that's over a year away. We can find a way out for you, I'll find something-"
"No you won't," Regulus said, shutting his eyes briefly as he ran a hand over them, "trust me I've tried." He looked young and defeated as he stood, shoulders slumped in that dusty classroom and a familiar wave of stubbornness filled Sirius' mind, he was Sirius Black, he'd become an animagus at 15, had outsmarted dozens of students and professors with pranks, and he'd be damned if he couldn't get Reggie out of this.
"The only way I could get out of it is if I was emancipated or disowned from the House of Black." Hope surged through Sirius, that was doable, he could talk to Euphemia- "and that is something I refuse to do." Sirius' jaw dropped at his little brother's statement.
"Don't be stupid Reg, we can do that."
"I will not turn my back on my house, Sirius." He said defiantly, looking every bit the heir he would never be as he drew himself up straight.
"What have they ever done for us, Reg?" Sirius asked, raising his voice as hope turned to hopelessness that swiftly became anger.
"It's not about what they've done for us, it's about what we can do for the house!"
"Regulus-"
"We used to be great, Sirius." Regulus was alight and animated as he spoke, "we are an Ancient and Noble House. The Blacks were renowned for centuries for our skill and power, we were venerated for our duelling prowess, loved for our charisma, respected for our business and trade. Our parents and grandparents brought shame on our house by acting out of fear," his lip curled in disgust, "believing baseless claims that marrying in the family kept us pure when really it just made us insane, they bow to a Dark Lord who, although he is plenty powerful has little genuine respect for the old ways. All he cares about is power, and they follow him unchallenged. Blacks do not bow, not to anyone, yet I find myself forced to my knees at wandpoint anytime he enters a room." Regulus began to pace slightly before catching himself and forcing himself to be still.
"If I can just stay alive, while I'm in his service. If I can be smart and know how far I can push it without drawing suspicion. If I can find the point of no return and not go past it and just bide my time until he's brought down, maybe I'll be ok." He looked at Sirius with bright eyes.
"I despise Dumbledore, but he did take down Grindelwald, he just has to do it again, and I know you and your Lions have been training, your magic is the strongest I've sensed it being in a while. Tell me you have a plan Sirius."
Sirius felt overwhelmed at his question, if he could save his brother from Voldemort and the machinations of his wretched family through sheer willpower Regulus would've been saved ten times over. In reality though, aside from getting better at fighting he didn't have a plan. He had little to no political power as a 17 year old disgraced heir, and in truth he was relying on Dumbledore and the adults to deal with the problem. A seed of doubt gnawed its way into his brain, Dumbledore hadn't really done anything yet, even when his own student and Sirius' peer Nicholas Smith was murdered. Sirius heart hardened, he would come up with a plan, even if he had to become a fucking child soldier, Reggie was getting out of this.
"I swear to you I will do everything in my power to bring that fucker down." Magic sizzled in the air and the brothers shared a moment of surprise, "I guess Lady Magic is going to hold me to that." Sirius said with a small smirk.
"I want to get out of this Sirius but I need to play the game, and I won't give up on our House, we're better than what we are right now, I just know it."
Sirius gave him a watery smile, Godric, he hoped Regulus was right. "If you hear anything that might be useful against voldy, is there a way for you to let me know safely? If not, you don't need to try, you need to stay spotless, he can't be suspicious of you."
Regulus shrugged, "I can try, but there's been talk lately that he's capable of mind magic."
Sirius' eyebrows shot up, "he's a legilimens? That's rare."
Regulus nodded, "he doesn't use it on initiates like me, because it takes a lot out of him but he's been practicing on… prisoners." A shiver stole over Sirius' skin.
"I'm certain there's a technique to block that though." Sirius said with a frown.
Regulus shrugged again, "I saw Snape reading about it one day, occlumency - the ability to block it, but I don't know anything about that."
Sirius' eyebrows raised even further, Snape was reading up on a way to defy Voldemort? He filed that information away for later. "Well there's our plan then," Sirius said with conviction, "I'll trawl the library and pick the brains of the Potters and everyone else and tell you everything I find out about it. I'll try and learn it too if I can, maybe I can help you, plus I don't like knowing that he can look into my mind like that if he really wanted to."
Regulus raised an aristocratic eyebrow at him, the hint of a smile starting to form, "well, alright then. We have a year for me to attempt to become an occlumens." Sirius nodded enthusiastically but Regulus' levity faded, "but that doesn't mean it's safe for us to talk so freely, if we can't find anything about it or I can't do it, it would be safer for both of us to distance ourselves from each other." Regulus stayed composed but internally he was beating at the inside of his skull pleading that it didn't come to that, he needed his brother, despite their differences Sirius was the only one who had ever seen him. To everyone else he was the spare, the Slytherin, the typical Black, but to Sirius he had been a partner in crime, a confidante, an estranged sibling, but now back to being the one other person in the world that knew exactly what their childhood growing up in that dark home was like and how Sirius worked. He needed his brother.
Sirius recoiled, he felt like he'd only just got Regulus back in these last few weeks, he didn't want to lose him again. He sighed but nodded, that just meant that he had to learn it so that he didn't watch his brother slip away all over again. He tugged Regulus into a spontaneous hug and for once Regulus leaned into it. He wrapped his arms around Sirius' wider frame and inhaled his scent, one he'd almost forgotten, he allowed himself four seconds, five seconds of comfort before he pulled away. They talked for a few minutes more before Regulus checked his watch, he should've left five minutes ago, he thanked Sirius for chatting to him and updating him on little Nymphadora before carefully exiting the abandoned classroom and slinking away.
Dear Lily,
Yes, dinner with Vernon's parents was definitely an interesting one! Remarkably enough, Vernon appears to be the most interesting person in his whole family, who would have thought - don't tell Tuney I said that!
I'm glad you got our care package, I still think you witches and wizards have the craziest foods. Do you still see your old friend Severus Snape around Hogwarts? You should maybe check on him, your father was reading the obituaries yesterday and saw a Tobias Snape in there, he seems to have passed away very suddenly, but it must be Severus' father, it's not a very common name after all. I know you had a falling out but you should maybe check on him.
Also make sure your timetabling in some rest and relaxation into your revision schedule for your upcoming exams, I know how you get when it comes to exam time.
Write soon sweetheart,
All our love,
Mum and Dad x
Lily chewed the inside of her cheek as she digested the contents of her mother's letter to her. Severus' father had died? She hadn't noticed Severus acting sad, preoccupied or anything different to how he normally acted. She sighed as she stared out the window, she should say something. The issue was finding Sev at a time he wasn't with all his death eater friends, if only she had a way of tracking people in the castle. She huffed out another sigh. She would just have to keep an eye out for him.
Friday 2nd May 1977
Lily stretched as she walked, she had just finished a shift in the hospital wing and her back and neck were cramped up and tired from being on her feet for practically the whole evening. It wasn't a long walk from the hospital wing to the Gryffindor common rom but she kept her hand on her wand just in case.
"You!" Screeched a voice from behind her, jumping she whirled around, pulling her wand out of her pocket before she realised it was Filch who was shouting at her. She attempted to abort the movement halfway through and it ended up producing a mocking sort of wiggle at the care taker. "Have you seen 'em?" Filch shouted at her, incensed as he brandished a mop.
Lily was confused and it took her a second or two to reply, "sorry, seen who?"
"Those blasted marauders! Those insolent, insubordinate trouble-makers! If the headmaster would let me have my shackles back I could show them a thing or two about bewitching the suits of armour in the castle! Oh, I'd teach them a lesson-" he cut himself off, as if remembering she was a student and fixed his beady eyes on her afresh. "What are you doing out in the corridors at this time!" Lily glanced her watch, technically it wasn't curfew yet, Madam Lambert always let her go with just enough time to make it back to her common room before curfew, though if Filch kept delaying her that would be a stretch.
"I was in the hospital wing." She said, opting for few words rather than trying to explain to the caretaker that she had been getting work experience.
"The hospital wing," Filch said disbelievingly, Lily smothered a sigh, she was about to be very pissed off if he attempted to get her in trouble.
"Yes, you can check with Madam Lambert she'll tell you, I-"
He jutted his head towards her as he tried to stare her down, "so you've got nothing to do with the suits of amour that are suddenly running amok through the castle, then?"
Lily stared back unflinchingly, "nothing at all." Filch held the stare down for several long seconds before looking away with a huff as he tightened his grip on his mop as if it were a wand, or perhaps a double edged sword perfect for punishing unruly children.
"Very well, get back to your common room then."
Lily nodded, letting out a sigh as she continued on her way to the common room, the caretaker leaving in the opposite direction, checking over his shoulder regularly, as though she was going to curse him in the back when he wasn't looking. She turned the corner and was startled again by a hissed whisper.
"Evans." Once again she span around, drawing her wand, and once again she had to abort the movement halfway through when she realised it was the insolent, insubordinate troublemaker himself, James Potter. He was beckoning to her from behind a tapestry.
"James?" She asked exasperatedly, damn the exhaustion from the hospital wing was definitely making her jumpy.
He smirked at her, renewing the energy with which he was beckoning to her, "excellent reactions and skills of deduction, Evans." He said slyly, making her roll her eyes as she walked towards him.
"What are you doing?" She asked, checking for Filch again.
"You should get in this passageway with me," she shot him a look, "unless you want to get stampeded by the bewitched suits of armour." He quickly justified. Too tired to disagree or even come up with a witty reply, she squeezed into the passageway with him, looking through the small gap he'd left open into the corridor.
"Any second now." He said quietly.
"What have you-" She began to ask.
"Just wait," he glanced at a piece of parchment in his hand, snickering slightly before returning glittering eyes to the corridor.
"Potter-"
"3-" cutting her off again, "2…" intrigued despite of herself, her ears pricked as she began to hear a clamour start to get closer, "1…" and around the corner of the corridor came a group of suits of armour, galloping down the hallway, singing a rousing, if slightly tinny, chorus of Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts, Filch's yells added to the chaos as he also appeared, slashing and stabbing at the vocalising ornaments, wielding his trusty mop as though he was the medieval knight.
James began to crack up as one suit of armour dramatically hit the floor as Filch took out a knee, unable to continue to move, but not giving up on the harmonies of the school song. Lily swiftly followed James into fits of laughter, the tiredness exacerbating the sudden giddiness of the situation. What a monumentally stupid, hilarious prank. She snorted, making James laugh harder as the two of them practically doubled over with fits of laughter. He motioned for her to be quiet as the suits of armour moved away, a panting and furious Filch moving to follow them.
She was able to be quiet for all of three seconds before another dreadfully unladylike snort of laughter erupted from her. Filch with his damn hearing like a bat, whirled around, his eyes falling almost immediately on their hiding place. James didn't even have time to swear before he had grabbed Lily by the wrist and dragged her through the passageway which was a shortcut to a parallel corridor.
"This way!" And before she knew it she was sprinting away, practically hand in hand with James bloody Potter as they fled the scene, she was still too delighted by the prank to be that worried about getting caught by Filch and letting James lead the way they zipped along the corridor, darting through secret passageways and shortcuts, half of which she didn't know existed. They kept out of view of Filch as they ran, but she could hear his manic shouts as he followed them, shortcut for shortcut.
"Stop right there you conniving little sneaks! Wait til I get my hands on you! Oh, the headmaster will have to listen to me now! And no running in the corridors!"
"Merlin's balls." James cursed as Filch continued to tail them, but his face was alight with the thrill of the chase as he led her through another shortcut, doubling back on themselves.
She stumbled slightly as he led her into a long, open corridor, "wait- James-" she panted.
"Just trust me." He said back, tugging on her wrist to follow him. And she did, so she followed. They ran through the empty corridor, picking up speed on the straight and just when Filch appeared behind them and she was about to curse James and his stupid plans, the chorus of suits of armours reappeared and her and James wound easily through them as Filch's oaths and shouts renewed in vigour at the return of his enemies. She discretely shot a few non-verbal charms at the suits of armour.
James looked at her questioningly, "energising charm." She replied, raising her voice over the clamour as her spellwork had succeeded in making them sing louder, and she ducked a flailing arm as one suit in particular burst into a spontaneous jig, oops, she must've overpowered that one.
They darted through the crowd- did James just high-five one of the armours? She didn't have a chance to check as they rounded another corner, skidding to a halt as James pulled her into an empty classroom, unlocking it wordlessly with his wand he had drawn at some point. He locked it again behind them, but he didn't stop, instead sliding a bookcase out of the way at the end of the classroom which led to yet another passageway. They jumped down a few steps, ignored a few branching passageways, clambered up three more stairs and burst through a tapestry, across a corridor and into-
"A broom closet?" Lily asked, gasping for breath, as James shut the door behind them, leaving them in darkness.
"Trust me." James repeated, laughter still in his tone. Lily shook her head, grinning, not that he could see her.
"You don't think he's gonna check the broom closets?"
"Not this one." She felt his breath rustle the hairs atop her head and she suddenly realised how close they were. Her heart stuttered and jumped in her chest as she became aware of the heat of his body next to hers in the tiny space, she could smell him, that weird appealing scent that seemed to always cling to him, and she attempted to back away to create some breathing room between them, only resulting in his hands wrapping around her biceps to steady her as she bumped into the shelves behind her.
"Are you good?" He asked.
She began to nod before realising that dammit Lily it was pitch black, "yeah- yeah, I- sorry- it's just- it's dark." She finished lamely.
She heard a swish of cloth and a rustle of parchment, as James let go of her arms, and if she had been able to see him, she would've seen him put his ear to the door as he listened for the telltale signs of Filch, before looking to where he knew she must be consideringly.
"Maybe we should move," she suggested, "I'm sure Filch will-"
"Lily." He cut her off, his voice quiet but firm, "if I show you something will you promise to not tell anyone unless you ask me first?"
She frowned in the darkness, what could he possibly be on about? "Yeah," she finally said, "yeah of course." And then she heard the rustle of parchment again, before suddenly James wand tip had lit up the darkness, making her blink rapidly as her eyes adjusted to the difference. Once they had adjusted she saw that James was looking expectantly between her and the parchment in his hands. Taking the hint, she looked at the parchment, she was quiet for a few seconds as she studied it.
"You've got a map." She whispered, tracing the moving label of Filch that James had pointed out with a small flick of a finger.
"We made a map." James replied back, equally as quiet, the pride in his voice unmistakeable, and she followed his finger as he pointed out Filch again, before tapping the map with his wand and tracing a pathway along another flap of parchment showing a different floor, and ending at the overlapping labels of James Potter and Lily Evans, where they were situated in a broom closet on-
"-the 8th floor?" She asked, honestly confused, "we didn't even go up a staircase?"
Jame smirked in the dim light, "that's cos we didn't." She looked up at him, raising her eyebrows expectantly, "it's Hogwarts," he shrugged, "and I'm a marauder." As if that was answer enough, she laughed slightly, she guessed it almost was.
James grinned as she laughed, before looking back at the parchment in his hands. He'd have to tell the boys that he'd showed it to Lily, but I mean, c'mon, she had found the bewitched suits of armour just as hilarious as he did, plus, the cheering charm to help them get away from Filch? The girl was practically a marauder at this point.
"Incredible." Lily whispered as she admired the map, "it can track people?"
"Only in the castle." James replied, quietly vindicated and flattered at her awe at their map.
"How long did this take?"
"Four years."
"How did you even- I don't even know where to begin- how did you-"
"Evans," he grinned teasingly, "it was a very long, tedious process with a truly incredible amount of trial and error, but unless you want to be in this broom closet with me until we graduate, I'll have to save the ins and outs of it for another time."
She frowned at him, knitting her eyebrows as her questions halted, this was an insane piece of magic, she was already running through lists of potential charms that they might have used and how they might have done it. The marauders had been full of surprises in the last year, but this was maybe one of the biggest. "Who knows about this?" She couldn't even imagine how problematic a map like this could be if it got in the hands of, say, some of the death-eater wannabes that hated and targeted muggleborns.
"Just the marauders. Plus you now. And you can't tell anyone." He added hurriedly.
She shook her head, of course she wouldn't tell, even though she was certain Flitwick and probably even McGonagall would likely drool over such an impressive creation. She looked back down at the map, longing to know all of its secrets, and she watched as James double checked where Filch was - now the sixth floor - before tapping the map again. "Mischief managed." He whispered, and Lily blinked as the map was wiped clean, looking like nothing more than a spare piece of parchment as James folded it up carefully.
"It's now well and truly past curfew, prefect Evans." James said, his tone light, "we should get back." And he swung open the broom closet, "ladies first" he smirked. Lily rolled her eyes at him and they began to walk back to the common room.
"Well if you won't tell me how you made the map, can you tell me how you got the suits of armour to harmonise?"
James grinned at her, it was infectious, making her grin as well, "now that isa much shorter story." She gestured for him to expand, "there is a very clever little ward stone Remus and me came up with that we put in one of the suits of armour to animate it. We then gathered up all his brethren and with a bit more rune work, some choice spells and a proximity charm, you now have a temporary choir of angels."
"Temporary?" She asked.
James placed his hands over his heart mockingly, as if offended, "we don't want to torture Filch until the end of time, Red." Lily shrugged with a laugh, you never knew with the marauders, "it'll fade after a day or so, or if Filch gets a lucky shot with that bloody mop of his and dislodges it, the stone will deactivate. It's not even that much clean up for Filch," he added, "because all of the suits of armour are permanently enchanted to return to their spots in the castle." Lily laughed and shook her head as they rounded the corner to the portrait hole, she was only just beginning to understand the depth to the secrets of Hogwarts that James knew after five years of persistent trouble-making, it was truly impressive.
Saturday 3rd May 1977
It was dark and the common room was empty, and Lily Evans had once again found herself eating s'mores with James Potter. They laughed together as he finished telling her the story of how he had coerced Alice into carrying out her first ever prank on her cousins the Prewett twins.
"And so, Alice burst out crying but Fabian and Gideon thought it was the best thing ever. And that, I fear, set in them an incorrigible desire for pranks."
Lily snorted and James looked at her they way he always did when she snorted in front of him, with a delighted but secretive grin as if it was some sort of inside joke between them.
"So it's Alice's fault that the Prewett twins terrorised Hogwarts."
"Yep." They laughed again as they twisted their marshmallows in the flames of the common room fire. They were sat close to it but Lily couldn't feel its heat, she was much more distracted by the boy next to her. He was wearing that loose quidditch jumper again that slipped down his neck and her eyes traced the scar that it revealed from that fateful night when James had to fight Remus' wolf in his animagus form.
"Like what you see, Evans?" He said in a low voice.
Lily looked away quickly. "I don't know what you're on about." She assembled a s'more and bit into it, not meeting his eyes. He wasn't wearing his glasses and she could see him looking at her in the corner of his eye. He ran his eyes leisurely over her form before looking back at his marshmallow.
"Suit yourself." They sat in silence for a few moments before James spoke again. "Godric, I really don't know what kind of life I was living before s'mores."
Lily smirked, "a sad one, Potter. A very sad one."
"Or before you." She looked back at him startled, he was suddenly much closer than he had been.
Lily was silent, her brain stuttered as she tried to reply. Oh my god, he's so close. He smells so good, why is he looking at me like that, why does that jumper make him look so hot.
"You havemarshmallow on your face." Why did she just say that, what the hell is wrong with her. I mean, it is true, it's right there on his chin.
"I'm sure you could get it for me." He whispered, leaning in towards her. She didn't move away. Ohmygodit'shappeningit'shappening.
"Fuck Slytherin." He whispered.
What?
"Fuck Slytherin!"
"Yeah, fuck Slytherin!"
"C'mon Alice, you know you want to join in."
"Evans, get your ass up."
There was a grunt and then a sudden slam as a pillow was launched directly at Lily's snoozing form by Marlene. Lily squawked as she woke up, she was in her bed in Gryffindor tower. Disoriented, she looked around. No s'mores. No James Potter. No kiss.
Shit. It had only been a dream, she caught her breath. Shit. Why was she dreaming about James bloody Potter, like that. Why not? Whispered the familiar part of her brain that always whispered things like that to her.
"Red!" Another pillow ricocheted towards her, losing momentum as it slammed into her partially open bed curtains.
"Oh my god can you stop." She barked, sticking a messy head out to glare at her friends.
"Heads up!"
"Oomphf-" She retreated as another pillow hit the bullseye that was her face.
"Why are you lying in, it's the Quidditch semi-final!"
"Get all your yellow clothes on girl, we've got a Hufflepuff team to hype up."
"Get up-"
"C'mon-"
"Lily, please, they won't stop until you're up." Groaned a groggy Alice from her bed where she was pulling on some shoes.
"Alright, alright! I'm getting up." She sighed as she slumped back into bed, trying to recall the details of her dream, this is so not ok, she thought. However, that didn't stop her from playing it back in her head as she reluctantly got ready, it didn't stop her at all.
The sun was warm as the students made their way down to the Quidditch Pitch, today was the deciding match over who got to face Gryffindor in the final. Slytherin vs. Hufflepuff, and the older years had decided to take the morning off from revision and homework for their upcoming exams to enjoy the match. James and Sirius were rambunctiously bounding around their friends as they walked towards the pitch. James was proudly wearing a yellow and black zip up hoodie he had been gifted by the Hufflepuff quidditch team while Sirius, somehow, had gotten hold of some face paint and was sporting yellow and black stripes all over his face that made him look remarkably like a zebra crossing. Lily stiffened as James dropped an arm over her shoulders as he appeared next to her, he grinned at her and her brain went into a tailspin as she thought about her dream.
"Ready Evans? I say Huffle, you say puff." Her pulse increased and she smiled queasily at him.
"Huffle!"
"Puff!" She managed, dredging up some enthusiasm from the mush that was her head.
The chant gained momentum behind them and he let go of her shoulders to appeal to the crowd, him and Sirius shooting sparks into the sky that formed into a huge badger that danced over their heads. Lily caught her breath as he walked away and almost jumped out of her skin as Remus nudged her from the side.
"You alright there, Lily?" He asked, an amused look on his face.
"Yeah, I'm fine, what do you mean?" She replied her voice higher than usual.
Remus had the audacity to smirk at her response, "you just look a little flustered."
She flapped her arms around, laughing nervously, "just excited for the semi-final, y'know?" She dragged Dorcas into their conversation, shooting side glances at a pleased looking Remus that kept looking between her and Potter.
Lily screamed and punched the air as Hufflepuff scored a stunning goal against the glowering Slytherin keeper.
"Let's Go!" She bellowed, making a fourth year stood in front of her jump, the girl shot her an annoyed look that Lily ignored, "that's what I'm talking about!" The play restarted.
"Couldn't have done it any better myself!" James yelled waving his Hufflepuff flag that he'd conjured enthusiastically.
"We love you Owen!" Screamed Sirius as the Hufflepuff captain flew near their portion of the stands, making the fifth year girls swoon.
"You're so fucking hot!" James called to him, making him smirk.
"Have my babies, Owen!" Sirius called to the laughs of the crowd. Owen laughed and waved them off before flying away. Remus rolled his eyes at their antics, Peter was nowhere to be seen. The match went on, the play heating up as Hufflepuff pulled ahead. Marlene and Lily were clutching at each other as they watched the Hufflepuff seeker close in on the snitch, after a heated ten minutes Slytherin had managed to close the gap and the teams were now neck and neck as the seekers closed in on the snitch. Dorcas was stood on her seat bellowing,
"Don't give him any room!" She yelled to the Hufflepuff seeker, cheeks flushed with the excitement of the match. Alice leaned into Frank and laughed as she watched her friends' reactions to the match. The marauders and the girls along with most of the other spectators held their breath as the Hufflepuff seeker, pulled off a 90 degrees turn and veered upwards, the snitch disappearing from view. There was a pause and then a wave of unbelievable noise left the stands as the Hufflepuff seeker punched the air clutching the snitch.
"I SAY HUFFLE YOU SAY PUFF!" Roared James. "HUFFLE"
"PUFF" Echoed the Gryffindor section of the stands, Lily allowed herself a smirk at the student body shouting puff over and over but joined in, and soon enough the cheers for Hufflepuff rang throughout the quidditch pitch as Slytherin supporters began leaving in frustration and disappointment.
"Potter! Black!" Came a shout as the marauders and the girls got to the bottom of the stands, they turned to see a beaming Owen Redgrave make their way over to them, there was still a fair crowd milling about so it took him a few moments before he caught up. James gave him a hug, slapping him on the back as he reached them.
"That was a great game, Owen. Of course it means you're going to lose against us in the final at the end of the month, but what can you do?" Owen laughed at his banter.
"I heard your section cheering as I flew past." He engaged them in conversation as they all recapped their favourite parts of the game. Owen had always been friendly with James and Sirius as they bonded over their quidditch rivalry, and Lily and Remus had actually gotten to know him quite well last year when he was a prefect and they chatted easily.
"Oi Redgrave!" Came an aggressive voice from behind them and they turned to see the Slytherin captain striding up to them, flanked by his friends.
Owen turned, "well played, mate, it was a good game." He responded diplomatically. The Slytherins scoffed and sneered.
"Oh, please. This isn't over, all the calls were so clearly in your favour."
"Whatever you say," Owen replied, rolling his eyes as he turned away, while the Gryffindors hovered over their wands.
"They were biased, they probably just felt bad for you after your sister dragged your name through the mud." The Slytherins laughed as Owen tensed up. "Such a pathetic head boy, they let you have the match because everything else you've done this year has been so unremarkable." The Gryffindors rolled their eyes as they bade Owen to keep walking, they were sensing danger in the air as a few Hufflepuffs appeared to support their captain and head boy. Owen Redgrave was a credit to his house and extremely well-liked by his peers.
"Wow you guys are just as bad at losing as you are at playing." Quipped a Hufflepuff, the Slytherins began to respond with their own insults and Remus and Lily shared an alarmed look. Owen waved his house mates off as he told them to keep walking and tense magic crackled in the air from the assembled crowds.
"Yeah, you just walk away," one called after him, "you're about as good at showing some backbone as your sister is at keeping her legs shut." Cruel laughter rang out and Owen reached for his wand, his teeth gritted.
"I heard it wasn't hard for that bint at all." Owen's hand gripped his wand.
"She didn't keep her mouth shut either, if you know what I mean."
"I hope you and your family like surprises Redgrave, because that kids father is definitely a surprise."
"Maybe the bastard will purify your bloodline."
That was the final straw and Owed whipped around, letting loose a booming spell, James pounced on his arm at the last second sending it slamming into the ground instead.
"Are you mad?" He asked a pale-faced Owen.
"Oh, there's Hogwarts' esteemed head boy!" Shouted the Slytherin captain, arms spread wide in challenge, "come on then!" Chaos ensued immediately as the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins began a barrage of spellfire.
"Oh, for fucks sake." James said exasperatedly, as he ducked under a spell and dragged Owen away, "Owen! Cool it!" Owen pushed at James, "you're headboy you can't be firing the first spell!" James cast a shield, casting his eyes about for his friends. Lily and Remus were casting defensively, attempting to defuse the situation while getting the younger students out of the way. Sirius, meanwhile, span and leapt with chaotic abandon as he cast here, there and everywhere. Several spells came singing towards them and James gave up on corralling Owen away from the fight to defend himself. He cursed and span away as his shield shattered, with a quick flurry of creative spellwork he turned the grass surrounding the largest group of Slytherins into mud, conjuring a flock of ducks and directing them towards the Slytherins successfully stalling and confusing them whilst the quarrel continued. James shouted at the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs to stop casting and was distracted as Sirius sent a stupidly large booming hex at the ground sending several students stumbling.
"Sirius!" James growled, grabbing his shoulder, "stop! You're going to hurt someone." Sirius went with the momentum from James tugging him, using it to spin and send another spell soaring towards the Slytherins.
"That's kind of the point Prongs." His face was a mask of determination and glee, "I'm not going to badly hurt anyone."
James stepped in front of him, expression thunderous. "There's first years around, you need to calm down." Sirius scowled as he had to abandon the jinx he had lined up for Avery in favour of deflecting a spell that was heading towards James' exposed back. James' eyes widened as he saw Dumbledore flanked by Mcgonagall and Slughorn striding towards them, with a sweeping wave of his wand the students were silenced and their wands dropped to the ground under a weak expelliarmus.
"Enough." The headmaster commanded, he hadn't raised his voice but it rang through the crowds. Even the Slytherins seemed cowed and they exchanged looks as they picked up their wands. Dumbledore's expression was grieved as he took in the group. The rest of the heads of houses soon appeared and punishments were swiftly given out. The Gryffindor head of house took in the group of usual Gryffindor suspects with thinly veiled exasperation, they attempted to explain the situation but were all given detentions anyway.
"God, two detentions in one year." Lily muttered as Mcgonagall turned to deal with some other Lions, "my record is well and truly ruined."
"I'm sure you'll survive, Evans." James said with a teasing grin.
Alice scowled as she appeared next to them, Marlene and Dorcas not far behind, "me and Frank only just got here and we just got a detention."
"Wrong place, wrong time it looks like." Chimed in Sirius.
James scowled at his best mate, "what were you doing just now, Padfoot? There were younger students around."
Sirius rolled his eyes, "I wasn't aiming for them, James. It was too good an opportunity for some free shots at our junior death eaters, I saw my chance and I took it." He shrugged, "I got some good ones too," a grin split his face, "Mulciber won't be able to use the shitter anytime soon." He nodded to the large Slytherin boy who scowled as he massaged his stomach. They were stood for a few more minutes as the teachers took control of the situation before being dismissed to go back to the castle.
"A moment please." Came a voice from behind them and they turned to see Dumbledore examining their group. "If you would step over here briefly." He asked, exchanging looks they followed him to an emptier area. He clasped his hands as he studied them. "That was some skilled spellwork from the eight of you just now." They bobbed their heads awkwardly unsure what to say. Piercing eyes locked onto James', "Mr Potter, do you remember what you said about wanting to learn to defend yourself at the beginning of the year?" James nodded, his expression hardening.
"Yes headmaster," he said calmly, "we never did receive a notice from you about anything being done about it." His friends looked at him in shock, if his tone wasn't so even it would've seemed insolent.
Dumbledore inclined his head, "am I to understand that you took it upon yourself to remedy my silence?"
James swallowed, "I would think of it more as a study group professor," his heart thudded as he looked at the headmaster, only a few inches smaller than the older man, "with a focus on the more practical side of our classes, any improvement in self-defence is merely a happy coincidence." James wasn't sure why he was so reluctant to impart to Dumbledore what they had been doing, it wasn't against the rules, he'd checked. He supposed he was maybe still annoyed at the headmaster's seeming inaction in so many of the incidents that had happened throughout the school year.
"I see." Dumbledore said, looking at all of them in turn. "If I had known how serious you were about your studies, perhaps I would have changed my mind. We shall see what the next school year brings." He swept an arm towards the castle, "you had best get back inside I'm sure Professor Mcgonagall will inform you about your disciplinary proceedings in good time." They nodded and took their leave, more than a few of them puzzled by what had just happened.
"Are you pissed off at Dumbledore, James?" Marlene asked once they were out of earshot of the headmaster.
"Yeah, I was detecting some sass back there." Sirius said, looking at James searchingly.
James shrugged, "it's not like I'm pissed off at him I just don't get it…" he shook his head, "he's been so lax with the Slytherins and all the shit they've done this year, he hasn't done anything to dissuade people of death eater notions within the school. That would maybe be ok if he was busy with opposing them in the wizengamot but he doesn't even seem to be trying that hard in the ministry from what my parents have said."
"You know what Dumbledore's like though," Said Dorcas as the Castle came into view, "he's always playing the long game."
"Yeah maybe." James said noncommittally, "it would be nice if he got on with it though." Conversation turned to the fight and the match, and the amount of detentions that had just been given out as they wandered back to the common room.
A/N: Hello readers! And welcome to any people new to this story! I'm afraid this is probably doomed to take years to finish and have painfully inconsistent updates, but I'm trying!
I hope you enjoyed the chapter, please leave any feedback or where you want this story to go in the reviews or leave a favourite. Thank you! :)
