Chapter 11: Explanations

James woke up Monday morning with the sun shining in through the window. He rubbed his eyes but stayed in bed. He really didn't want to go to classes that day. He knew he had a dream, but he could barely remember it. He heard the shower running and assumed it was Remus. James looked up at the clock; 8:21. Four minutes till class. James slowly put on his glasses and sat up. Then he stopped abruptly. WHAT! FOUR MINUTES TILL CLASS?! WHY DIDN'T ANYONE WAKE ME?! He hastily grabbed his pants and fell on the floor trying to get them on. He saw all the other beds were empty but the shower was still going. One minute later, Sirius walked out of the bathroom.

"Hey Prongs. You're finally awake," said Sirius, drying his hair with a towel.

"Why didn't you wake me, Sirius?!" asked James, still sitting on the floor and now trying to get his tie on properly.

"We tried, Prongs. We even poured water on you. You wouldn't move. We though you were dead, but we saw you breathing, so we figured you were just really tired," said Sirius shrugging.

James checked his pillow. Sirius wasn't lying; his pillow was wet and there was a dry spot where his head had been. James furrowed his eyebrows. Why hadn't he woken up? Was his dream that important that he couldn't even wake up? He decided he would think about this later as he had two minutes to brush his teeth, put on his robes, get his books into his bag and run down to McGonagall's classroom. Sirius was walking around leisurely like he had all the time in the world.

"SIRIUS! WOULD YOU STOP LOOKING IN THE MIRROR AND HURRY UP?! WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE!" shouted James.

Sirius furrowed his eyebrows into the mirror at James. "Since when did you become Miss Goody-Two-Shoes?" he asked.

"Since Dumbledore made me Head Boy and I'm supposed to be setting an example for other students!" he shouted at Sirius.

"Well Mr. Head Boy, I don't need to be on time for class, so will you just go already?" asked Sirius, continuing to fix his already perfect hair in the mirror.

James rolled his eyes and ran out of the dorm. He was really hungry, but he didn't have enough time to go to the kitchens. He had approximately 30 seconds to get to Transfiguration. He took all the shortcuts he could possibly use. While he was running through the last shortcut, the bell rang. James cursed and ran faster.

"Professor! I'm here!" he shouted as he ran into class.

"Thank you for announcing yourself, Mr. Potter. Now please take a seat," said McGonagall with a stern look on her face. James sat down at the empty desk where Sirius usually sat beside him.

The class was tittering at the appearance of the dishevelled Head Boy. His glasses were crooked, his hair was even messier than it normally was, his tie was hanging around his neck, he was out of breath and his stomach was grumbling loudly. Did James Potter actually miss breakfast in order to be on time?

Professor McGonagall started teaching the lesson and James groaned. Why did he come to class today? Better question, why hadn't he gotten up this morning? James really didn't feel like listening so he put his head on the desk. He shut out McGonagall and tried to remember his dream.

All James could recall in his dream was a blinding green light and Lily. Maybe the green light was from her eyes? No, it was different. Lily's eyes were warm and calming but this light was harsh and too bright. He closed his eyes and let McGonagall's voice lull him to sleep.

Lily was in James' arms. They were smiling up at each other. James saw love reflecting in Lily's eyes. He moved into kiss her, but she disappeared. She was there, safe in his arms, and suddenly, she had disappeared and was nowhere to be found. He looked around and started calling out her name. James was startled to find that there was no sound coming out of his mouth. He saw the entrance to the castle and decided to look for Lily inside. He ran into the Entrance Hall and found no Lily. Suddenly, James was on the seventh floor. He heard Malfoy shouting at someone.

"Move aside, stupid girl. Give it to me!" shouted Malfoy.

Who is he shouting at? James ran towards Malfoy's voice. When he reached the source of the voice, he saw that Malfoy and Bellatrix had their wands pointing at Lily, but she was standing tall.

"Give it to me now!" he shouted at Lily.

Lily started to pull something out of her robes.

"NOO! Lily, don't give them anything!" shouted James, running towards them.

"Stupid boy! Now she dies!" cackled Bellatrix. She pointed her wand at Lily and a flash of green erupted from her wand and hit Lily in the chest.

"NOO! Don't die!" James yelled jumping from his seat. That was it. That was the dream, he thought.

He looked around and noticed all eyes were on him. McGonagall looked annoyed and the class was laughing at him. Lily was at the front of the class demonstrating wand movements. She looked extremely confused at James' actions.

"Mr. Potter if you are done interrupting my class for the second time, I would like to continue with my lesson and I assure you that Miss Evans will not die," said Professor McGonagall sternly.

James blushed and sat back down. He noticed that Sirius occupied the seat next to him and was struggling to keep from laughing. Lily went back to demonstrating the movements to the class. James put his head back on the desk in shame. He closed his eyes and groaned quietly. He momentarily forgot about his dream because he was so embarrassed.

When Lily sat back down, McGonagall announced the homework and the bell rang. James moved towards the front of the class to talk to McGonagall.

He coughed slightly, "Er, Professor? Could I have second?" he asked politely.

McGonagall looked at him and nodded curtly. "Yes, Potter?"

"Well, first is that I wanted to apologize for disrupting your class…" he finished awkwardly.

"You are forgiven, but please Mr. Potter, don't do it again. I do not like giving out detentions to Head Students," she said.

Suurreee, he thought. "Okay, and also, could we have Quidditch try-outs tomorrow after dinner?" he asked.

"Tomorrow is a bit short notice, but I suppose it is acceptable. I'll have the notice posted in the Common Room by lunch. Good day, Potter." And with that, she excused him from the class.

James walked out of the class to discover that the Marauders had waited for him.

"So, now you decide to wait for me, huh?" he asked bitterly.

"Sorry, Prongs. But, we tried everything," said Peter meekly.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," he replied moodily, trying to fix his tie.

"So, Prongs. What was that earlier?" asked Sirius, amused.

"Well, I didn't wake up in the morning because I was having a dream. And in class, I had the dream again during my…nap," he replied.

The three boys looked at him strangely. "What were you dreaming about, mate?" asked Sirius.

"I'll tell you later, we're at Potions," said James.

…………………………

Lily walked into Potions class with Marlene as usual and sat down at their normal spot. Lily hadn't told Marlene what happened the night before and she wasn't sure if she should. Lily usually told Marlene everything, but this time, it didn't seem right. She told herself that if she did end up telling Marlene, she would be revealing the Marauders' secrets which she promised James she wouldn't tell anyone. She would think about it later though, as Marlene started talking.

"Hey, what do you think Transfiguration was about?" asked Marlene.

Lily looked at her. "Marly, please don't tell me you weren't paying attention again! I mean, I can't go through—" started Lily impatiently.

"Not the lesson, Lily! James shouting 'Don't die!'" said Marlene, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, that."

"Yeah, that."

Lily didn't say anything.

"Well?" asked Marlene.

"What?" responded Lily.

"What do you think happened?" asked Marlene impatiently.

"Oh. Well…maybe he was daydreaming," she tried.

"Maybe it was an actual dream, not just daydreaming. But what about?" asked Marlene.

"No idea," replied Lily. Talking about James made her stomach flutter so she changed the subject. "When do you and Remus have patrolling?" she asked.

"Um, for this week I think we're patrolling Saturday and Sunday," replied Marlene.

Lily nodded. That made sense, she thought to herself. She knew that the full moon was this Wednesday and that Remus would not be able to patrol that night or nights immediately following. But, Marlene didn't know about Remus, so she didn't say anything. Lily had figured it out on her own and confronted Remus because of patrols. It wouldn't be long until Marlene figured it out for herself or Remus told her.

"What day did you and James get stuck with?" asked Marlene.

"Thursday," Lily replied.

"I'm nervous. I mean two hours with him? Alone? Plus the threat of Slytherins? That's a lot a girl has to deal with," said Marlene.

Lily nodded in agreement. It was a lot to deal with. She was surprised she actually liked patrols. "But really, what can you do? Slytherins are just arses and…it's not our fault we have crushes on our partners," Lily finished in a whisper.

Marlene shrugged, "I guess, but still. It's stressing," she said.

Lily nodded again and the Marauders walked into class. She gulped. James still looked dishevelled but extremely handsome just the same. His tie was now messily done and his shirt sleeves were rolled up. Guys were so lucky; they could get ready in four minutes and still look good.

Lily looked away quickly before he noticed she was looking. Then, Professor Slughorn entered and greeted the class.

"Hello there! And what a lovely morning it is! Now, shall we get started? Open up to page 297 please!" he exclaimed.

The class turned to the correct page and got to work obediently. Lily and Marlene chatted for the remainder of the period as it was group work again. As usual, Lily and Marlene got top marks.

…………………………

At lunch, James ate like a lion that had been deprived of food for a month. His stomach had been grumbling all during Potions. He was so hungry that he almost ate one of the beetles used for potion making. Thank Merlin for Remus though, or James probably would have done it.

James was still embarrassed about first period and seeing Lily at lunch didn't help; after all it was Lily who was ordered not to die by James.

The girls approached the boys and sat down. Lily sat beside James again and Marlene sat across from her which happened to be beside Remus. Nicole and Melissa were sitting with a few friends from Ravenclaw hoping that that would increase their chances at getting with their crushes.

"Hey boys. How are you this morning?" asked Marlene.

"Fine," replied Remus half-heartedly.

Marlene glanced at Remus and noticed he was a bit pale. "Hey Remus, you sure you're okay? You look a little pale," she asked concerned.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm sure. Just a little cold," he coughed, trying to prove to her that he was sick.

"Okay…" she replied, unconvinced.

"H-hey Lily? Sorry about Transfiguration today. I fell asleep and I kind of had a dream, it had nothing to do with class," he said, embarrassed.

Lily nodded. "It's fine, but can I ask what you were dreaming about?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Uhh…" he started. He didn't really want to, but he would probably end up telling her anyways so he continued. "Remember what we heard last night? Well, Malfoy and Bellatrix were threatening someone to give them what they were looking for and Bellatrix shot the Killing Curse at them," he said, trying to leave out as many details as possible.

"Who were they threatening?" asked Sirius.

"Er, I couldn't see them," said James. He shot Sirius a look that said, I'll tell you later.

Marlene looked on in confusion. "Wait, what happened last night?" she asked.

"Can't tell you now, too open," replied Lily.

Marlene furrowed her eyebrows. "Why didn't you tell me before?" she asked Lily.

Lily grimaced. She knew this was coming. "Sorry Marly. There was no time to talk in private," she said.

"We'll fill you in after dinner," said Remus.

"We'll talk in our dorm for privacy," said Sirius, winking.

Lily smirked and finished eating her lunch.

…………………………

Soon, it was dinner. The six Gryffindors (Nicole and Melissa were at Ravenclaw table once again) sat down and ate their food. Marlene was curious and Lily was not looking forward to it; she didn't want to have to explain why she left her dorm in the first place and was hoping no one remembered or brought it up.

When the six were done eating, they made their way up to the seventh year dormitories. Remus cast a silencing charm on the room and locked the door. The four boys sat down on their respective beds and the girls stood awkwardly.

Sirius smirked and went to sit beside James. "Go ahead," he said pointing to his bed.

Marlene scowled and Lily smirked once again. They sat down and the room went quiet.

"So, what happened then?" asked Marlene.

"Well, us four lads went down to the Kitchens and decided to take a different way back to Gryffindor tower and that is where we found dear Lily here," started Sirius.

"Well, first things first. Marly, we have something to show you," said James looking around at the three boys. They all nodded and James went to his trunk. "Us Marauders, as you know, are the masters at pranking, but also, not getting caught," he said as he searched through his trunk. He pulled out a blank piece of parchment and another thing which he hid behind his back. He walked over to Marlene and Lily. "As you remember, Lily and as you will see, Marlene, this is the Marauders' Map," he said handing over the paper.

"But this is just an old piece of parchment, how could it be a map?" asked Marlene, clearly curious and confused.

"Ah, that is where the Marauder-ness of it comes in," replied Remus. Marlene looked on, confused.

James tapped the map and said the words clearly this time so that Lily could hear, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he pronounced clearly.

Lily laughed loudly. Of course, she thought to herself, what else would it be?

James smiled and handed the parchment to Marlene. She took it and looked down. Lily watched in amazement once more as the thin lines spread across the parchment. Now that there was light, she could see words appear.

Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs

Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers

Are proud to present

THE MARAUDER'S MAP

Lily laughed again. These four boys were truly intelligent. And funny.

"Why are you laughing, dear Lily?" asked Sirius, with his eyes closed.

"Why, good sir, because your dear map is purely wonderful," replied Lily. Marlene nodded in agreement as her eyes looked over the map.

"But I thought that dear Prongs here showed you the map already," he said, opening one eye.

"Of course he did, but since the light was limited, I wasn't able to see its full content," said Lily.

"Oh, but Lily, you still haven't seen all of it yet," replied James, grinning.

"Really? What more could this map do?" she asked, "Surely it doesn't shoot out insults too, does it?" she said jokingly.

The four boys looked at each other. They were all grinning; Sirius' eyes were both open now.

"Oh, my Merlin. It throws out insults?" asked Lily, disbelievingly. Marlene looked up from the map and looked at the boys.

"No, it can't! That is amazing!" Marlene shouted out. "Show us!" she exclaimed.

This time, Sirius stood up and took the map. He said, "Mischief managed." The lines instantly disappeared. He placed his wand on the blank parchment and said, "Severus Snape would like to see this map." He handed it to Lily and Marlene and the two girls watched in amazement.

Mr. Moony would advise Mr. Snape to get his filthy hands off of the Marauders' property and take a nice, long shower.

Mr. Wormtail would recommend using shampoo while he takes said shower.

Mr. Padfoot thinks that Mr. Snivellus Snape is a greasy hairball and should wash his underpants.

Mr. Prongs would like to commend Messrs Moony, Wormtail and Padfoot on their excellent comments and would simply advise Mr. Snape to stay out of the Marauders way and no one shall be hurt or humiliated greatly. Good day.

The two girls started laughing hysterically. "You…gasp…guys are…hahaha…brilliant!" Lily managed to get out.

The four boys smiled brightly at Lily and Marlene. Remus now stood around the girls. Peter walked over as well as he felt left out. Remus put his wand to the map and said, "Lily Evans and Marlene McKinnon would like to see the contents of this map."

Lily and Marlene looked down curiously to see what the map would say about them.

Mr. Moony would like to tell his very pretty lady friends to kindly put the parchment back and assure you that if asked very politely, the Marauders would only be pleased to show you what it contained.

Mr. Wormtail agrees with Mr. Moony and would also like to say that Ms. Evans and Ms. McKinnon are lovely people.

Mr. Padfoot would like to say that his bed is always welcome for lovely ladies as yourselves. (Lily and Marlene both snorted and Sirius smirked as they were on his bed already.)

Mr. Prongs says that Ms. Evans and Ms. McKinnon are very good friends of his and that Mr. Prongs lo—

James snatched the map from Lily's hands before she had a chance to read what the map had said about her. Since it was his character that was talking, he knew it would read something like, 'Mr. Prongs loves Lily' or 'Ms. Lily Evans is the sun in Mr. Prongs' life' or 'Mr. Prongs thinks Ms. Lily Evans is the most beautiful women to walk this world' or…you get the picture. He hastily put the map back in his trunk and cleared his throat.

"Okay, we still have some more stuff to show you," said James awkwardly. Everyone besides Lily and Peter were smirking knowingly at him. Lily was frowning as she wanted to see what the map said, and Peter was oblivious to what the map had almost revealed to Lily.

"What else do I have to know before you tell me what happened?" asked Marlene curiously.

James cleared his throat again, avoiding Lily's eye. He pulled out the invisibility cloak from behind his back. "This," he said, handing it to her.

Marlene's mouth hung open. "No. Way. These are so rare! Where did you get this?!" she asked, holding it up in front of her.

"Family heirloom," he replied.

"Can you put it on?" she asked him, eyes wide with excitement.

James took it from her and put it around his shoulders so only his head was visible. Marlene's reaction was very similar to Lily's but James enjoyed Lily's more than Marlene's.

"So, with the Marauder's Map and the invisibility cloak, you guys can virtually get away with anything!" Marlene exclaimed.

Remus nodded. "But, you can't tell anyone. You two girls are the only non-Marauders who know about it," he said looking at Marlene seriously.

"Don't worry, boys. I won't tell a soul. Lily and I are very honoured that you are telling us your greatest secrets to us," she said. "Right, Lily?"

Lily nodded. "Of course! I'm surprised you told us in the first place," she said truthfully.

The four boys looked at each other and Sirius said, "That's not our greatest secret; but that's for another time."

Lily and Marlene furrowed their eyebrows. "Sirius you only spiked our curiosity," Lily said.

"Curiosity killed the dog, you know," Remus said, smirking at the girls.

Marlene pouted at Remus, but said, "Then, are you guys going to tell me what happened last night if you aren't going to tell us your secret?"

"Right. So we found Lily on the seventh floor and we pulled her under the cloak because we saw Malfoy and Bellatrix on the map coming our way," said James. Sirius returned to his behaviour from yesterday night at the mention of his dear cousin Bellatrix, although this time, there was no Butterbeer or cookies.

"And once I was under the cloak, Malfoy and Bellatrix were talking and they said something about some sort of mission they were on for Voldemort," Lily said. Peter squeaked at the mention of the mission and the boys rolled their eyes at him.

"And they were supposed to be looking for something that Voldemort wants," supplied Remus.

"What do you think it is?" asked Marlene.

"We're not sure, but Remus thinks it's something that will help him accomplish something," said James.

"And we're still not sure what this object is," added Lily. "Any ideas?" she asked Marlene.

Marlene thought for a while. "Well, since I am no evil, dark wizard, I have no clue as to why he has his mini-Death Eaters searching the school," she said.

The others nodded and they all fell silent.

"Do you reckon we should tell Dumbledore?" asked Marlene.

The others paused. "We didn't think about that," said Remus, scratching his chin.

"But even if we do tell him, what is he going to do? Forbid Malfoy and Bellatrix from searching the school?" she scoffed. "And besides, the boys and I shouldn't have been out after hours in the first place," said Lily.

"How about, for now, we don't tell him. If we discover anything else, we'll tell him. And we'll just tell him that we found out through patrols," said James.

They nodded and fell silent again.

"So, if that's it, then I think Marlene and I should leave. We still have homework, and its 8:30," said Lily.

Remus nodded and said, "See you later," while unlocking the door and taking off the silencing charm. The girls said goodbye and left the boys' dorm.

…………………………

"So, what do you think?" Lily asked Marlene as they sat in their empty dormitory.

"I'm not sure," replied Marlene. "I mean, they could be looking for anything, can't they? There's really nothing we can do," she replied.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," said Lily, getting her homework out of her bag.

"Hey, Lily? Why didn't you tell me?" asked Marlene.

"First, because you would ask questions that I wouldn't be able to answer because I promised James I wouldn't tell anyone about their secret. Second, because I don't want Nicole and Melissa to know about this, it's one of those things I would only share with you," said Lily.

Marlene nodded. "So how're things with James?" she asked Lily.

Lily didn't answer for a moment. "I don't know," she said. "He's acting weird, like he's afraid of being my friend," she said sadly.

"Maybe it's because he is," said Marlene. Lily looked confused and hurt. "No, not cause he doesn't like you, but because he is afraid that if he becomes too close, then he will always be wanting more and will never be satisfied until you two are actually together," she said.

"But I want to be with James," said Lily exasperated.

"But he doesn't know that, does he? He thinks that you only want to be friends for now! And he's not going to force anything on you because he's the one who's been taking all the chances for the last six years! He's waiting for you to come forward and tell him you want to be with him!" exclaimed Marlene.

Lily stared at her. "How do you know this?" she asked in a quiet voice.

"I just do, Lily. Everyone can see it besides you. Love makes you blind."

Lily nodded. "I don't know if I'm ready to tell him yet. After all, we've haven't even been official friends for a week," she said.

"Don't worry about doing it any time soon, just as long as you do it," said Marlene. "Like I said before, just try and get to know him."

"But, how can I if he's not willing to and he's afraid of being my friend?" she asked.

"He won't be able to resist you for that long, Lily. Eventually, he'll learn to take what he can get and wait until he can have what he wants," said Marlene.

Lily sighed. "This year is going to drive me crazy," she said, lying down on her bed. "James, NEWTs, Head duties and Slytherins. Kill me now," she said.

"Lily, don't think like that. Everything has a bright side. James is easy because you'll end up together at least by Christmas. Also, you get to spend time with James, watch him play Quidditch, do some more pranking, et cetera. That's a plus. NEWTs, you will gets O's on everything anyways. Head duties are a chance to spend more time with James. Slytherins can be dealt with, not to mention James will kick their arses during Quidditch. And if I kill you now, you and James will not have green-eyed, black haired, smart, Quidditch superstar babies," said Marlene cheerfully.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say Marlene," she said.

Marlene smiled. "Good. Now get up and do your homework so you can help me with Charms," she said.

A/N: Hey people. Please Review. It keeps me going. It makes me want to update.

And since you are REVIEWING, might as well give me some pointers. I don't know where I am going with this story, like should I just skip a whole section and move forward? After all, there is only so much 'I love James' and 'I love Lily' until it gets extremely repetitive and boring. So, what should I do? TELL ME or I will have extreme trouble writing and it will be horrible. Pwweeezzz?

Please and Thank You. XD. xox. Mucho gracias. Much love.