"What do you want, James?" Sirius asked, once James had pulled him well out of earshot of Lily.
"What I want," James said in a hiss that sprayed his friend with spit, "is to know why you were with Lily when you should've been with me!"
"Prongs, mate," Sirius said, smirking, "don't shove that wand any further up your arse, or you'll have to go to St. Mungo's and have it removed by a Healer."
"Padfoot, this isn't funny," James said.
"Fine, fine," Sirius said, twirling his own wand around his fingers. "If you must know, I thought Lily might want someone to talk to about her problems with her sister, so I told her about my problems with my family. I wanted to let her know that she wasn't the only person who felt upset, and that she could come talk to me if she wanted. Are you happy now?"
James ran a hand through his hair and ruffled it, a vacant expression on his face. "Are you sure that's all you were doing?" James asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
"YES!" Sirius exclaimed, clearly exasperated. "We were just talking down by the lake!"
James sighed. "I'm sorry, Padfoot," he said, his voice losing the vehement anger it held moments before. "It's just, you know how I am about Lily."
"Yeah, mate," Sirius said, slapping him on the shoulder, "completely paranoid and insane. We all get that way sometimes. Just look at Moony's reaction to somebody touching his precious chocolate!"
"So, let's go to the Great Hall to get some lunch, eh?" James said, laughing at Sirius's last comment.
"Right," Sirius said, as they walked into the Great Hall.
Getting to the Gryffindor table, they sat next to Remus. "Guys," Remus said with a worried look on his face, "Have you seen Peter lately?"
"No," James said, looking up and down the table. "Have you, Padfoot?"
"Nope," Sirius said, shrugging and shoving down a slice of roast beef. "Don wor bap hip, oopy!" he said, his mouth full of food.
"Sorry?" Remus said, looking at Sirius with an expression of mild disgust.
Sirius swallowed with apparent difficulty. "I said, 'don't worry about him, Moony'."
"Well," Remus said, "I thought someone should, and since nobody else seemed to care, I took it upon myself to see that someone did."
"Calm down, Moony," Sirius said seriously, wagging his fork (which was now covered in mashed potatoes) at him, "it's not like he's joined the ranks of the Death Eaters and is planning all of our deaths this very second!"
"You know, Moony, he does have a fair point," James said, grinning. "He probably locked himself in the bathroom or something."
"I suppose you're right, Prongs," Remus said with a sigh as he turned to fill up his plate with food. "Though I can't help but wonder where he's disappearing to." He ladled some mashed potatoes onto his plate. "He's usually with us all the time, almost like a stalker. Don't you find that unusual?"
"Well," Sirius said, "the stalking was a bit unusual, yes…especially that time he watched me snog that girl, I forgot her name, and he was all up in our faces, trying to see exactly how we did it. So yes, all in all, I would say that the stalking was very unusual."
"No, you dolt," Remus said, throwing a pea at his head. "I meant that it's unusual that we rarely ever see him anymore after that behavior."
"Oh!" Sirius exclaimed stupidly. "I get it now!"
The Marauders spent most of the afternoon playing Exploding Snaps and Wizard's Chess, sneaking into the kitchens, and roaming around the school. They didn't bother going to dinner, since they had stolen a load of food from the kitchens. Before James knew it, it was almost 8:00. "Guys," he shouted over the exploding of the Exploding Snaps, "I've got to go! I've got a meeting with Lily and Dumbledore!"
Sirius gave him the thumbs up, and he walked out of the portrait hole and into the corridor. He stood and stared at the stone gargoyle guarding the entrance to Dumbledore's office, trying to remember the password that he was told. Finally it clicked. "Drooble's Best Blowing Gum," he said confidently. The gargoyle cackled maliciously.
"Nope," it said. "That was last year's."
"YOU'VE GOT TO BE BLOODY KIDDING ME!" James screamed, kicking the stone with his foot. This only induced pain in his toe, causing it to throb horribly. This was how Lily found him, jumping up and down on one foot in front of Dumbledore's office, a stream of hexes and swear words coming from his lips.
"Fizzing Whisbees," she said, smirking at James, who was still hopping around.
"You got it," the stone gargoyle said. "Do a favor for this guy over here," he said, pointing a stone finger at James, "and watch out for him. He's incapable of doing it himself."
Lily's smirk grew as she looked at James. "Come on, Potter," she said, grabbing hold of his ear (no easy feat for her, what with being a good six inches shorter than him) and pulling him towards the spiral staircase leading to Dumbledore's office, letting go of his ear only twice; once to scratch her nose and the second time because she was knocking on Dumbledore's door.
"Enter," Dumbledore said. Lily let go of James' ear ("finally!" he breathed) and opened up the door.
"Good evening, Professor Dumbledore," Lily said. "You told James and I to come to your office at 8:00, sir."
"Yes," Dumbledore said calmly, "take a seat." He gestured to the two chairs located in front of his desk. "There is an urgent matter that I wish to discuss with the two of you."
James and Lily nodded, looking slightly puzzled.
"Now, Mr. Potter and Miss Evans, am I right to believe that you have both read the Daily Prophet this morning?" Dumbledore asked, surveying them over the tips of his interlaces fingers.
"Yes, Professor," James said tensely.
"Please, sir," Lily asked, fidgeting in her seat under the intense gaze of the headmaster, "what does the explosion have to do with us?"
"Alas,"
Dumbledore said wistfully, "no one can be sure of that. However, I
was merely making certain that you knew of Lord Voldemort's rise to
power. As you know, many are joining the ranks of Lord
Voldemort."
"But Professor," James interjected, "I still
don't see what this has to do with Lily and I."
"Ah, James, patience is a virtue," Dumbledore said, smiling. "To return to what I was saying before, many are joining the ranks of Lord Voldemort, becoming part of the feared group of followers that call themselves Death Eaters."
"Yes," Lily said anxiously, "I've heard of them. They wear black cloaks and pointed hoods and horrible masks that look like skulls. Their sign is the Dark Mark, a gruesome skull with a snake slithering out of its mouth. That's what was over the explosion. The Ministry doesn't want to admit it, but that's the proof that Voldemort was responsible for it."
"Yes, Miss Evans, that is true," Dumbledore said, impressed. "Now, for the reason that I have summoned you both here." James and Lily sat up a little straighter, and James moved up to the edge of his chair. "I have heard rumors that Lord Voldemort is trying to recruit students in Hogwarts, to inform him of the goings on inside the school. Therefore, your rounds will be extended. You will patrol the halls until 10:30. You will look out for any suspicious behavior among your peers. You will watch out for any clusters of witches or wizards that are whispering, acting secretively, or meeting after hours."
"Yes, sir," James said, saluting.
Dumbledore chuckled and continued, "Do you know anybody who seems to be acting suspiciously?"
James' mind immediately went to Peter, who hadn't been seen since breakfast the morning before last. He shook his head violently and pushed the thought to the back of his mind. "No, sir," Lily and James said at the same time. James said it half-heartedly, though, and resolved to talk to Sirius and Remus about it the next day.
"Then that is all," Dumbledore said, and James and Lily stood up. "Good night, Mr. Potter. Miss Evans."
Once back in the corridor, James was talking in a fervent whisper to Lily about what Dumbledore had just told them. "Do you reckon what he said is right?" he asked her.
"I don't know," Lily whispered back with a sigh, running her fingers through her hair. "I mean, it's Voldemort, isn't he? Does anybody know what he would or wouldn't do?"
"It's scary, though," James said, "to think of the amount of people he would kill just to get the world the way he wants it."
"Yeah," Lily said, nodding her head with a little more force than necessary, "not to mention the cruelty of it all." She mimed pointing a wand at people. " It's like, 'You there, you've got a Muggle mother. Bye! Hey, you, you're a friend of a mudblood. Bye! You, you hate the entire race of Muggles, so you're safe.' It's just disgusting!"
"It's so bloody stupid, how people can think up these things," James said, and Lily shushed him. His voice was beginning to carry, and they thought it would be best if nobody knew about the conversation they were having. "I don't understand how somebody can just decide that there's such a thing as good blood and bad blood. Clean blood and dirty blood. It's all red, isn't it?"
"That's very philosophical, James," Lily said.
James scoffed. "Philosophical my arse, Lily. It's the truth! And there aren't even enough purebloods left. If we didn't marry Muggles, then the whole Wizarding world would die out!"
"I just wish there was something we could do to stop him," Lily said with a sniff.
James said the password to get into the Heads dormitory, shut the door behind them, and turned to face Lily. "Lily," he said in a very serious and quiet voice, "have you ever heard of the Order of the Phoenix?"
A/N: So, everything is hunky-dory with James and Sirius…just a little thing…oh, and I won't update as often if I don't get more reviews, I want feedback on how you guys like it so far! Once again: if you have any comments, suggestions, or if you found a mistake, review! Even if you don't have any comments suggestions or whatever, review anyways, because I would like to know your opinion about how my story is going so far. Even if you think it's bogus. Thanks!