Chapter 13: Rumors
The next few months went by increasingly fast for the girls and the Marauders. When they arrived back at Hogwarts for the next term, they weren't expecting the events that occurred from then until the Easter holidays. There were a couple of ridiculously intense Quidditch matches that lasted way too long. Also, insane rumors spread throughout the school about the Gryffindors. How they came about, no one knows and it became increasingly frustrating.
Not only did the seventh years have more homework in preparation for their N.E.W.T.s, they were also trying to keep their social lives away from the rest of the school. Which sounds pretty easy but in a school like Hogwarts, the only gossip is about the students. No one really has a personal life because it is displayed for everyone to see. There are certain things that do go unstated in Hogwarts but generally, everyone who cares knows everyone's business.
Now, the Gryffindor seventh years were not the only ones subjected to strange and ridiculous rumors. Oh no, everyone who was even remotely noticed by people in Hogwarts, was open territory. The first and second years were really the only ones who didn't have a rumor about them. They were still too unknown to the population of Hogwarts and too susceptible to emotional damage to be made fun of. But everyone else was free game, even the teachers. There were some pretty humorous rumors spread about the teachers but no one took them as true. It was merely for a laugh and the teachers laughed at them too. Some rumors spread were virtually harmless and lasted only a few hours at the most. But there were some pretty vicious rumors spread that lasted for months it seemed. The victims of these nasty rumors were none other than James, Lily, Sirius and Emily.
Not a single person knows who started the rumors. After a about a month into the term, the second nasty rumor just started, Lily and James went to the Headmaster to see if something could be done. They had been the first victims and now that Sirius and Emily became the next victims, something needed to be done. Unfortunately, Professor Dumbledore didn't know anything. That said something because Dumbledore knows everything that goes on in Hogwarts. Everyone knows that, although the Marauders severely hoped that he has no clue about their illegal Animagi abilities.
After their talk with Dumbledore, Lily and James exhaustedly collapsed on the couch in their common room. They sat in silence both thinking about the rumor that spread about them. The first full day back people were whispering in the Great Hall as Lily and James entered. As soon as they did, the whispering stopped and everyone stared at them. Looking at the Great Hall curiously, Lily and James made their way to the Gryffindor table. The whispers had started up again but at a much less quantity of people talking. Neither said anything but continued to eat their breakfast. Not until Alice joined them did they find out what the whispering had been about.
It hadn't taken long before someone noticed the delicate ring on Lily's finger. Naturally, everyone knew that Lily and James had become engaged over break but they didn't know the details. James and Lily and their friends refused to comment on the special moment that took place on New Year's. Alice told them that the rumor had developed into something nasty and that she was sorry that this was happening. Apparently, James only proposed to Lily because he felt sorry for her. She was Muggleborn (only the word hadn't started out that kind) and after her near death experience in Hogsmeade, James didn't have the heart to break up with her and decided that he would do Lily a favor by asking for her hand in marriage.
Needless to say, the rumor made Lily out to be the bad guy and James to be the selfless hero. Lily always knew that James had admirers. She knew that for the rest of their time at Hogwarts, the admirers would still be fawning over him and wishing ill on Lily. After they started dating, Lily began to notice this more and more but she learned to ignore it and it eventually died down. Well, now that Lily looked terrible in the eyes of the school, she could sense all those admirers' eyes glaring murderously at her. James was furious. How could someone think so ill of Lily? That was what he repeated all day to whoever would listen. None of their friends were happy either. It was a nasty rumor that was obviously not true.
Time and time again for the next week, James and Lily tried to prove that they were happily in love and that those were only rumors. But it didn't work. Lily was still getting stares from people and hurtful words were thrown at her too. For the most part she kept her cool and ignored them but if a particularly nasty one got to her she usually took points away. After the third day of the rumor, he pulled Lily close to him whenever the haters got close. They usually backed off at Lily's murderous glare. By Friday, James had had enough and when the next set of girls that had come near, James pulled Lily to him and kissed her deeply and passionately. When he pulled away he tenderly told her that he loved her and they went on their way to class.
After that hallway incident, people had stopped coming up to James and Lily and instead whispered behind their backs. They could have sworn that this rumor would have died by now but it seemed that something kept fueling the fire. They were both emotionally exhausted from all of this and couldn't wait to be done with school. Lily and James were startled out of their thoughts when two exasperated people sat down on the couch next to them.
"I can't bloody believe that the people in this bloody school actually believe that stupid rumor!" Emily cursed after, clearly showing how much of an influence Sirius had on her.
"Calm down Emily, we all know it's not true. Who cares what those bloody wankers think" Lily responded quite venomously. She was still miffed over her own rumor.
"I know but it bugs me. It's been a week since it started and one like this should have died by now." She grimaced sympathetically at Lily suddenly remembering the rumor started about her and James.
"Em, we'll get through this. We all will" Sirius kissed her temple and pulled her into his arms.
"Sirius is right. No matter what the rest of the school thinks, we all know the truth and the Marauders will get to the bottom of this. We have all been keeping an eye out for anyone who might be replenishing the gossip goblet but we haven't gotten a single clue yet" James said comfortingly, knowing all too well what Emily and Sirius were going through.
Someone had decided that Sirius had finally lived up to the name of Black and joined the ranks of Death Eaters. So when Emily and Sirius had a fight in the hallway about something stupid (they were arguing about who could eat more pepper imps) it must have sounded like they were fighting about his new found "friends" and that she didn't agree with his decision. So they "broke up" and now it was going around that Sirius was a Death Eater and that is why he and Emily broke up. Well, they aren't broken up and Sirius is not a Death Eater.
"How did you two get in here anyway?"
"James gave Sirius the password the other day because they were discussing something."
"Oh, well, I'm glad you're here, not that I don't love James, I just need to be around my friends too."
"I understand. I need normalcy and we don't get that in the common room. Even though the Gryffindors don't believe the rumors, it's a weird atmosphere."
Alice, Frank, Remus, Peter and Mary joined them later and they spent the rest of their evening talking about nothing and everything. They all needed a break from their school work (even Lily and Remus) and it was good to talk to just them. No one was judging anyone or trying to get any rumor started. It was just a relaxing evening. It also helped that Remus and Peter showed up with sweets and Firewhiskey. They all needed a night to do nothing and that Friday night was it. They were all getting a little tipsy when James suggested that they play a wizarding game that James and Sirius made up a few years ago.
"Okay, okay" James slurred slightly "let me ex-explain the rules. I will charm this empty bottle to spin for howevers l-long and when it stops on someone they have to tell the group something about them that no one knows. If someone else knows what you say then you have to take a swig of Firewhiskey. Then you touch the bottle and it spins again landing on a new person. The bottle will cease to spin when a person who is too drunk touches it and then the game is over."
The girls giggled and got into a circle. James touched the bottle to start the game and it continued like this. They laughed and laughed and took drinks when they slipped up and said something they had already told someone. Things were learned about each other and they all got drunk off their arses. Lily was the one who ended up stopping the game although she was no light weight. She had her fair share of Firewhiskey, even more than Emily can hold and Emily was the drinker of the girls. The girls were in fits of giggles as the boys couldn't stop laughing at the last thing Peter said. All in all, it was a good night for the Gryffindor seventh years.
The sun rose over the grounds of Hogwarts making the lake glitter and the birds chirp. For a February in Scotland, it was an incredibly beautiful day and most likely students would be grazing the grounds later in the day. Most of the Hogwarts population was just getting out of bed and making their way down to the Great Hall except for the occupants of the Head's Common Room.
If an outsider was to walk into the room, they would laugh at the sight before their eyes. There were a few bottles of Ogden's Firewhiskey strewn throughout the space in front of the fireplace. The embers were barely glowing anymore because the occupants of the Head's Room were unable to tend to them.
The occupants were spread out all over the common room. Peter was curled up in front of the dead fire, wrapped around a pillow. Sirius was laying half on the couch and half off the couch. It looked like he had fallen off the night before and just stayed there. Emily's head was on his chest and she was sprawled next to him, twisted in what would probably be an uncomfortable position had she not been inebriated. James was on the floor next the small armchair in the room. He was lying flat with his arms wrapped around Lily. She had her head on his chest and was lying sprawled out on top of him. The rest of the couch was occupied by Alice and Frank, who were somehow tangled up together and somehow they managed not to tumble off. Next to James and Lily were Remus and Mary. A surprise to all was that they were very closely wrapped together and looked like they had fallen asleep snogging. All together it was quite a funny sight to see.
The first ones to wake were Frank and Alice. The sunlight streamed just so, that it hit them in the face. They groaned at the bright light and their skull splitting headaches. As they carefully detangled themselves they noticed the rest of their friends and their humorous positions. As they got up, Lily and James started groaning. They slowly opened their eyes and smiled at their ridiculous position. James looked up and noticed Alice and Frank watching with slightly pained expressions. James didn't want to move, afraid of making his headache worse and he liked Lily laying on him. While they just stayed where they were, Alice and Frank sat back down on the couch and Peter was the next one to wake up. He just kind of rolled onto his back and groaned.
Sirius and Emily were next and groaned the loudest of them all, even though James and Lily had the most alcohol that night. They noticed that everyone else was sitting up so they joined them. Everyone had yet to notice the position that Remus and Mary were in. The others were too preoccupied with their splitting headaches and trying to remember the night before, albeit unsuccessfully.
When Mary groaned, everyone in the room turned in her direction. And then they noticed…
Remus and Mary's faces were inches apart. It quite literally looked like they had fallen asleep snogging. The two opened their eyes and didn't notice how they were positioned until someone cleared their throat. They looked over at the staring eyes and then back to each other and quickly scrambled away from each other. They were both blushing profusely and then immediately grabbed their pounding heads.
"Uh, w-we, were just…" Mary stammered out.
"Mary, I think you can save the explanations for later. None of us can really think straight after last night and I think we'll barely be able to make it to breakfast" Lily said quietly.
After some more blushing from Mary and Remus, Alice suggested that they all clean themselves up before going down to breakfast. Lily said they could use the bathroom here so no one aroused suspicion walking to Gryffindor Tower.
They all looked better but you could still tell that they had gotten drunk the night before. Lily and James changed their clothes and helped the others look as though they weren't wearing those clothes yesterday. They all headed slowly to the Great Hall for breakfast, none of them bothering to check the time. The Gryffindors didn't pass anyone on their way down to the Great Hall but all of them were lost in their own headaches.
When they arrived at the Great Hall, there were very few students in there. All appeared to be early risers but a few were trying to stay awake. Sirius was the one to notice this and became confused as to why there were so little students.
"Did anyone bother to check what time it is? If it's so early that there are this few students in here, I might have to hit something" Sirius said rather delicately.
Remus checked his watch and groaned. He would have preferred to have slept at least until the afternoon.
"It's just about eight o'clock. If we weren't already here I would say we go pass out for a few more hours. But we're here so let's just eat and then go pass out again."
There were murmured statements of agreement while the Gryffindors made their way to the middle of the table. Each distractedly put food on their plates and began eating. However, they shortly discovered that food was not such a good idea. A few bites in and every single one pushed their plate away in mild distaste.
Suddenly, Emily smacked her head, which was an incredibly stupid idea and began groaning at the pain she just inflicted upon herself.
"Why did I do that? I already have the worst headache possible."
"No, really, Em, why did you do that?" Lily asked without looking at anyone, afraid any sudden movements would increase her nausea.
"I just remembered that I have several bottles of a hangover potion my mum gave me before we came back to school."
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go get them. I can't take this anymore!" Sirius whined.
"Alright, alright, don't get your knickers in a twist. We'll go in a bit when everyone decides they won't be sick all over the table."
Admittedly, going to the Great Hall was not the most brilliant idea any of them ever had but they weren't really thinking straight. Once they got the potion, all sighed in relief. They had decided to have a lazy day and not worry about homework for now, when suddenly a memory popped into Lily's head.
"Mary, why were you and Remus so close together last night? I feel like something happened last night but I can't remember" Lily trailed off when she saw the looks on Mary and Remus' faces.
"I, uh, well…" Remus stammered.
"You two were snogging last night, weren't you?" Sirius asked.
Mary and Remus looked dumbfounded when Sirius asked that. They were sure no one would remember what had taken place in the wee hours of the morning. It had been a drunken escapade and it meant nothing to either of them. But they had a feeling that trying to convince the others of that would be more difficult than the OWLs and NEWTs combined. They still had to try though.
Remus and Mary shared a look and nodded. "You're right, we snogged last night" Remus confirmed.
Sirius smiled in his all-knowing sort of way. He looked a bit smug too until Emily slapped him upside the head. She gave him a look that said shut up until they tell us why.
"But why?" Lily asked honestly curious.
"I don't think either of us really knows. It just happened" Mary explained.
"Do you regret it?" Alice asked. Mary and Remus looked at each other and shook their heads.
"It wasn't something we planned, nothing we would consciously do again and it was fun but there was no spark, you know?" Mary explained.
Remus nodded in agreement and waited while the girls stole Mary and started for Lily's room. Frank had left a while ago knowing Alice would fill him in. He had promised a fourth year he would help them with Herbology.
Remus looked at his friends to gage their reactions. Peter nodded and it seemed like he figured it would be something like that. Although, Remus never really knew what Peter was thinking. He was the hardest of his friends to decipher. James smiled and looked at Lily. He seemed to understand what Mary and Remus were saying even though for him, Lily was the only girl he had ever kissed. But James would hex him if anyone found that out. Saving Sirius for last, Remus glanced at his friend to see him contemplative which was not a normal look for him. Giving him a questioning glance, Remus wondered what was on his mind.
"Well mate, I have to understand what you and Mary are saying. Even though I love kissing Emily, I have snogged other girls and never felt the spark you're talking about. But with Emily, it's just something from another world."
"Wow, Sirius, I never knew you could be so philosophical" James said with a smirk which earned him a punch in the arm.
"Shut it you. I have my moments."
Remus chuckled at his two best mates who were still taking the mickey out of each other and looked at Peter. "What do you think would happen if we played a little prank on those two?"
In Lily's Room…
"Okay, Mary spill. I'm not sure I should believe you or not when you said that what you and Remus did was just a good old fashioned snog."
"Alice, really, it meant nothing. As far as I can remember, Peter had passed out and the rest of you were snogging your respective others. We just got swept up in the moment. That was all. It wasn't long after that we stopped but it felt nice to be in his arms. What girl doesn't like being wrapped up by some muscular guy who smells gorgeous?"
All three girls smiled and nodded at that fact. It always felt nice when their boyfriends just wrapped them up in his arms. And they always smelled amazing.
"You've got a point. And if I wasn't head over heels in love with James, I would have to admit that Remus is good looking and surprisingly muscular too."
"See what I mean. It was a nice snog; don't get me wrong, but just no spark, no nothing."
"I guess you have a point Mary, but I have to ask, how good of kisser is Remus? I've never seen him with any interest in any girl before and Sirius always talks about how he needs a woman in his life."
"Pretty good I have to say. Better than all the other's I've snogged" Mary blushed realizing what she just said. Her friends only knew she had had two boyfriends that didn't last long but never knew of her other snogs.
Alice squealed a little and got her 'give me the dirt' look and Mary knew she was backed into a corner.
"Mary, we know you've dated that Vane bloke and the, er, what's his face. You know the one who called himself 'The Magnificent'" Lily could not for the life of her remember that bloke's name.
"Gentry O'Toole?" Emily filled in.
"O'Toole, right. The name fits for sure. He was some character. I still can't believe you went out with him, by the way."
"He pampered me. Got a lot of new clothes from him too. It was a good deal. Although I can't say I'm sad it ended." Mary latched onto this topic hoping to avoid her slip up but knowing her friends that was not going to be the case.
"Frank always called Gentry as nice bloke if he would ever get a new personality. If I remember correctly, you said at the time he was a good kisser" Alice added.
"Yes, he was. But if you remember he and I had absolutely nothing in common, whatsoever. It got boring. He had nothing on Remus."
"Wait, you think you are so clever for getting us off topic. You said you have snogged more than the three we've been talking about. Spill before you regret it" giving Mary a devious look, Emily smirk knowing she had the Marauders on her side if Mary became stubborn.
"Bollocks" Mary cursed, "I had hoped you forgot. Well, I guess I have no choice. I had a wild couple of months during sixth year. I probably snogged about twenty guys in that period. I don't know what came over me, some kind of 'if I don't snog these boys, I'll go mad' thing."
All three just gaped at her. Lily was the first to recover realizing that she had a similar situation in fifth year. James had been annoying her so much she had so much frustration that she needed to release that it came in the form of snogging boys. It hadn't been so many guys but still similar. Her friends had known that about her because it was something she couldn't have hidden from them being a prefect and all. Emily and Alice both smiled approvingly because each secretly knew that Mary had always tried to be more of a goody-two shoe than she really was.
After that little revelation about Mary, the girls talked some more but started yawning due to little sleep. Conjuring some blankets and pillows, Lily softened up the floor and they passed out. Shortly after, James quietly knocked on the door. Not receiving and answer, he peeked through the door.
"Lily, I-" he started but then stopped seeing them all fast asleep. Being a Marauder, it would have been a sin not to have called his friends in there to see what beautiful specimens they had to work with. After a few short nods and facial movements, they set to work.
Needless to say, when the girls woke up, they were none too happy to see what had happened to them. Different colored hair and thick ghoulish make-up adorned their heads. Immediately, they knew who the culprits were and started plotting once they cleaned themselves up. When they stepped out into the head's common room, the boys happened to be sound asleep. Perfect they each thought. Once finished, Emily snapped a picture for evidence (aka, blackmail) and Lily rudely woke them up.
The girls made them look like girls to everyone but themselves. Took them a few hours to figure something was wrong when everyone in the halls would laugh at them. They were not amused. Alice sweetly told them that all was fair in love and war.
February faded and so did most of March. The fifth and seventh years were furiously studying for their OWLs and NEWTs respectively. Most other students couldn't find an open seat in the library if they tried. Teachers kept piling homework and study aids on them making it impossible to find any free time. James and Lily would have never had seen each other if it wasn't for the fact that they studied in the head's common room together. Their friends usually joined them there to study because trying to study in the library was madness.
The Saturday before the students were set to go on Easter break, Lily found herself in the library looking for two specific books for her two-foot long charms essay. They had to choose a charm, it could be any of them they had learned about that year, and explain the origin of the charm, how it works, how to cast it, how it can be broken and several more topics. Also, they had to use a minimum of two books, not including their charms book. The charm she had chosen was proving to be more difficult than she imagined. Madam Pince had pointed her in the right direction but nothing was really giving her anything good.
It was early in the morning, so the library was mostly empty when she heard a little cough. She turned and standing a few feet from her was none other than Severus Snape. It had been several months since they had last spoken and you could tell he was unsure what would happen. Lily just blinked several times, unsure how she felt. After the Hogsmeade incident, Lily had done a lot of thinking and realized that even though she and he had grown apart, she didn't actually despise Severus.
Tentatively approaching this situation, Lily began the conversation to ease the tension that was clearly there, "Hello, Severus. How have you been?"
"Hello Lily, I've been well. Yourself?"
"Can't complain too much. This charms essay is beating me senseless though. Finding these books is just impossible."
"I agree. I feel like Professor Flitwick hid some books on purpose. I've only found one of mine."
Lily nodded unsure of what to say next. For a couple minutes they just stood there awkwardly. In past years, they would have found everything and anything to talk about. But now? Now they were different people, people who didn't speak anymore and didn't really approve of the other's life choices.
"Lily, I'm sorry. You have no idea how sorry I am. I never meant to hurt you but Potter and Black just bring the worst of me out." Severus sounded like he had wanted to say that for years.
Lily smiled a little. "Severus, I know you're sorry and I accept your apology. Anymore, I don't hate you. I don't think I ever did and I never could. You were my first friend in this world and I will never forget that. As for James and Sirius, they were immature and there is nothing we can do to change what happened in the past. I know we don't agree on whom we spend our time with and what choices we've made and will make but I won't ever forget you Severus."
"Lily, I don't know what to say. I'm grateful that you don't hate me but it doesn't change that what I did was the worst thing ever."
"Severus" she said with a tiny hint of her former self, "don't ever forget who you first were when we met. We might have changed over the years, but I will always remember the good times we had together. Well, I really should find these books and get started on this essay. Goodbye Severus and don't ever forget." Lily turned to the shelves once more.
"Lily, wait. I have one question for you."
"Alright, ask away."
"Potter? Really?"
Lily laughed her hearty laugh that always made him smile. "He's not so bad anymore. Very little of that old James Potter remains when he and I are together. He changed and I couldn't be happier. In hindsight, he really was never that bad, just a toerag."
"I have to say I'm surprised but I will always be prejudiced against him."
Lily smiled and reached up and kissed his cheek. He looked stunned to say the least. "Now, get going Severus" she laughed while aiming a fake kick at him. He gently grabbed her arm for one last look at her eyes.
"I'm glad you're happy Lily. And I won't forget. Goodbye Lily." And with that, he walked away, almost as though nothing had happened.
Lily resumed her search wishing him all the best. A little tear escaped her eye and she wiped it away as though nothing had happened.