James was spacing out in charms once again, while little professor Flitwick spoke enthusiastically about fire-extinguishing charms. James was thinking back to Monday. It seemed such a long way off from Wednesday. Tuesday had been far too hectic to sit down and think. He and Sirius had been caught skipping Potions by Dumbledore himself; they had been restoring a particularly nasty picture of a warlock who had the tendency to swear at passers by mainly James and Sirius. So fifth year they had gotten fed up with said portrait and James threw a curse he'd found in one of Moony's books at it, making it not only silent but unable to move from its frame. James finally took pity on it because he saw the old man crying the day before. It had been right after they finished taking the curse off the old portrait that Dumbledore came by. James had thrown caution to the wind and told the headmaster that he and Sirius had been jinxed earlier by and unknown person and had only just then freed themselves, it was then that they saw the poor old warlock crying and decided to help him, as they themselves knew what it was like to be victims. Dumbledore of course said this was perfectly reasonable and that it was only natural to 'take pity on those who had been done wrong', and with much emphasis, 'even if others don't understand them'. He let James and Sirius go, letting them know (in case they had forgotten) that their potions class was just ending, that they would be able to apologize for their absence and catch the last few minutes of class. Part of James was quite sure that if Sirius and his story hadn't been so outlandish they would have actually gotten into trouble.
That same day Sirius and James had also decided to take it upon themselves to venture into the Forbidden while Moony and Wormtail were studying to fetch an ingredient needed for a potion that not even Professor Slughorn had in his stock. The leaf was rare and if they hadn't spotted it last full moon they would have never found it. Unfortunately for Sirius and James, a pack of Trimigons found them harvesting said leaf and got angry, as they were clearly stealing things that didn't belong to them. They managed to escape by sprinting as fast as they could right into centaur territory with only a few injuries to their bodies. They had prior expirience with the centaurs, who had let them go for being children on previous cases. Unfortunately the centaurs were very aware that they were almost considered adults in the wizarding world and had a hard time slipping away so easily on this occasion. After apologizing profusely and admitting that without the superior directional skills of a centaur, they had no idea where they were going etc. they were allowed to go. They ran into trouble once again on the edge of the forest. They seemed to have found an offspring of the whomping willow, and though it was a shrub in comparison to its parent, James and Sirius sustained severe lacerations from its needle like branches. They had, however, completed their task and returned to the other half of the marauders with leaves in hand.
James now thought not of last nights exciting adventure, but of the red-head sitting in the front of the class neatly writing something on a scrap of parchment Alice Prewett had passed her. After years of getting verbally assaulted by the girl, he had to marvel at the balls it must have taken her to convince herself it was okay to break curfew and wander about the castle with no apparent reason. He wouldn't have blinked an eye if she had been meeting someone, even, though it pained him to think, a secret lover. But there was no special reason for her infraction, no books to steal from the library (though admittedly she could probably get any off limit book in the library anyway), no special ingredients to procure, and no secret passage way to find. It had seemed completely pointless for her to meander up to the astronomy tower for a couple minutes and then sprint back. Was she leaving something there for someone, or was it just a whim? And then, even stranger was the conversation they had afterward. After all the detentions he had received from her, she didn't even stutter at breaking the rules herself. She displayed no apparent embarrassment over the subject. Not to mention that, he had been completely civil towards her and he got nothing in return, nothing but a small smile, and even stranger, a suggestion. Granted, those two things are all he even could have hoped for from her, as she did indeed hate him. No boy could have complained about seeing Lily Evans even mentioning sexual promiscuity. However he couldn't help but admit that it angered him and slightly turned him off that she felt above the rules when she herself enforced them with such a hard nose. His respect for the girl with whom he had been so enamored both decreased and increased that night.
"Mr. Potter, you can show me a spell that creates fire?" Flitwick asked, bringing James tumbling out of his daydream
"Sure Professor." James obliged, not even skipping a beat, with an unspoken spell and the professors' desk caught in a mass of flames
"Thank you Mister Potter. Finexticus." Flitwick projected with a downwards slash of his wand "I want you all to pair up and try this spell, but not you Mr. Black and Mr. Potter, no I've had enough of that to last me a life time. Miss Prewitt, would you be kind enough to work with Mr. Black? And you, Miss Evans with Mr. Potter?"
Lily came and sat down with James and intoned "morning"
"'Lo Evans" he said
They practiced the charm silently for a while. But both Lily and James succeeded their first try and it was only so long they could stand the boredom.
"You were out last night." She said in a tone that sounded disapproving
"Yeh, I was." He said shortly
"Enchanted forest I suppose" She said looking at his wounds part in concern and part in distain
"yup." He said shortly again
"Well I'm glad you're heeding Dumbledores' suggestions beginning of term every year." She said coldly and slashing the flames off her wooden vase.
"You love taking his advice too, don't you Evans? Though I suppose it just doesn't count, for you, does it?" He laughed sarcastically. He had no idea why he was being so harsh.
"I suppose…" She said faltering slightly
"Right, well, go ahead and keep on doing it, just as long as you stop busting me for everything." He said, doing his best to look indifferent
"It's…it's my job. I have to. You don't really want me to…?" She said with a look in her face that wasn't distinguishable
"Not see us doing whatever we're doing? Yeah, that might be nice. Though I suppose we don't get caught when we really don't want to be. Not even by you, Miss Evans." He said smiling unconcernedly. Lily just started at him for a little while.
"You're a git, Potter." she said, looking angry. She got up from her chair and went to sit down with Alice and Sirius
The class threw furtive and curious glances at him. Sirius looked at him in confusion but went back to what he was doing when James shrugged almost imperceptibly. Remus too cast a glace at James, but James just shook his head and went back to practicing the charm.
"What the hell was that all about, mate?" Sirius asked James as they walked to lunch
"Dunno, I wasn't even doing anything this time, I was just being a bit cheeky, that's all. She just…left."
"What were you talking about?" Remus asked shrewedly
"Oh, don' give me that look Rem, she's in a bit of a tiff 'cause I caught her out the other night, and I keep reminding her every time she tries to get on my back about breaking rules."
"How does she know you were out last night?" peter squeaked
"It's not that hard to tell, Pete, look at my face."
"You could have gotten them anywhere." Peter said
"Anywhere between 10:00 last night when she left the common room and 6:30 this morning when she saw me at breakfast. No, Lily's not that much of an idiot."
"James, I know you like twisting her up sometimes, but just leave off, will you?"
"Cut the shit, Moony, I haven't done that since fourth year, not so she knows I'm doing it at any rate. I guess I was a bit harsh, but I've sat plenty of boring detentions 'cause of her, least she can do is sit and take the blame when she breaks the rules herself."
"Yeah, thas' right, I've had to deal with Filch more often than I'd care to 'cause of her!" Sirius said indignantly
"It's not like you don't do it to yourselves" Remus said
"Ah, let's just drop it. When are we going to brew that potion?" Sirius said in a low tone
Lily felt sick to her stomach by the time lunch was being served. She was mad at James because he wouldn't let the other night drop. She hardly considered running to the astronomy tower and back equal to going into the forbidden forest. She didn't understand why it was such a big deal it wasn't like she'd never been out before. She and her room mates used to play truth or dare all the time and they'd have to go around the school on dares. How was she even a prefect, how did she get like this? She used to bend and break rules all the time, maybe not the way Potter's group does, but she never used to be such a stiff. What was so bad about leaving them to their own devices? It's not like she could stop them anyway. James himself said they couldn't be caught when they didn't want to be. Remus let them do as they pleased for the most part. Why couldn't Lily do the same? Remus broke rules all the time and he was a prefect. He, after all was the one Dumbledore had clearly intended to keep James and Sirius under control.
"He looks so rugged with all those cuts, you know?" Lily heard a girl sitting behind her at the hufflpuff table say to another girl
"I know, how dreamy can you get?" Lily started laughing when she realized they were talking about James
Alice, Sarah, Olivia and Marcy turned to look at her, apparently torn from their own conversation.
"Are you feeling alright, Lil?" Olivia asked
"Yeah, sorry, sometimes I have to laugh when I hear snippets of other peoples' conversations." She glanced at James and thought of how un-rugged he looked telling a joke to amused friends and using lots of hand motions to make his points.
"You wouldn't be laughing if you'd been listening into ours" Alice said and Lily turned back and stopped smiling immediately
"That little girl that had been kidnapped so many weeks ago was found last night just outside Lancaster."
"That's awful." Marcy commented
"Yeah, well, that wasn't the worst of it. She cited severe damages from the cruciatus curse. They aren't even sure she'll be able to tap her magical resources when she gets older. I guess extreme pain shuts off the magical receptors in the brain." Alice said grimly
"That's not the worst though" Sarah said "She might not even be able to function like a normal human being. They say she might not live long enough to get to the point where children start exhibiting magic."
"Oh no, I didn't hear about that bit!" Olivia said sadly "Poor Molly."
"What?" Lily spluttered "Molly, as in Molly Weasely?"
"Yeah, I didn't know you knew her." Alice said
"I don't, I met her at one of your parties. I thought it was supposed to be a little girl. Molly's got to be at least 25, got a son of her own now, doesn't she? "
"Yeah, Bill, he's a sweetheart, turns one soon I think. Anyway, it was Molly's closest cousins' daughter, Magdalena Marx. Molly's torn to pieces by it though. Loved Magda to death, she did. Not to mention she's got a son of her own to worry bout, and a new husband." Alice said
"Oh the whole thing is horrible."
"Mum says it's just the beginning" Sarah said "You Know Who is supposed to be worse than Grindelvald. She said this is how it started when she was a little girl and he was coming to power."
The girls all felt this new weight upon them, a pressure that signified that something was coming. This strange sort of foreboding that made them think twice about the frivolous way in which they regarded their lives.