Author's Note: Hey everyone! It's me, Beth. I've got a super long and awesome chapter for you today! Enjoy! (And don't forget to review!)
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Chapter 7:
The Great Hall- 12:00pm, September 10
Paisley poked at her salad lunch miserably as two fourth years walked past her on their way to the Ravenclaw table. They whispered and giggled as they passed. She pushed her plate away from her, and collapsed onto the table, groaning.
"Lily! Everyone is still talking about me!" she moaned to her friend across the table. "It's already been a few days, don't they have anything better to gossip about? Maybe I should start a rumor that Oliver Seeks is a death eater. That would divert their attention!"
Lily bit into her turkey sandwich thoughtfully. She chewed slowly, and swallowed. "I'm really sorry that everyone found out Paisley."
"See! I can't even convince you that we didn't do anything!" She reached across the table and shook Lily by her shoulders. "I did not have sex with Mooney!"
She turned around and shouted, "Do you hear that everyone? I did not have sex with Remus Lupin!" A few people turned to stare, including a few teachers.
"Paisley! Be quiet!" Lily hissed. "Here, eat this. It will keep your mouth busy." She handed her a sugar quill. "Okay, I believe you. Besides, if you had done something, he would have been telling everyone. Well, he would have told Sirius and James, and they would have told everybody."
Paisley took the sugar quill out of her mouth and gave Lily the death glare. "You have such little faith in me! Ever since that thing with Zane the whole school thinks I'm this whorish letch open for business." She stuck the candy back in her mouth.
Lily gave Paisley a sympathetic look, and unwrapped a chocolate frog.
"Okay, let's change the subject. What do you want to talk about?" she asked, while trying to keep her snack from jumping away. "Did you see that jean jackets went out of style?"
"Ugh! I know! I was so sure that they were here to stay. Thank god I postponed buying one. Hey, Lily, have you seen Potter recently?" He has been completely AWOL since Saturday."
Lily nearly choked on her chocolate frog. "You didn't hear?"
"No, what happened? April George is my only gossip source, and I have been avoiding her since the, erm, alleged incident. She's super creepy, and keeps asking, "how it was." Who does that?"
Lily told Paisley the entire story, staring in the supply closet and ending with what went down in the prefects' bathroom.
"Oh my gosh, that's why we haven't had potions lately! I am so dim! Hey, that's really great he asked you out!"
"Yeah, but James and Black haven't been seen since then. I asked Remus what was up, and he said that they've been in meetings with Dumbledore and McGonagall all weekend. Apparently this is like, the last strike, and there's going to be a hearing to see whether they're going to be expelled."
"Are you serious? That cannot happen! The marauders practically run the school. That cannot happen!" Paisley could not imagine school without James.
"I know, I'm freaking out. Hey, I got to run. I want to talk to Flitwick before Charms" Lily stuffed the rest of her sandwich in her mouth, and took off.
Paisley went back to picking at her wilting lettuce. A second year girl passed behind her. She heard her whisper to her friends, "Look, I told you! You can see the way she's glowing!"
Paisley slammed her fork down to the table and spun around to tell off the preteen twits. She had had enough!
But before she could figure out what to say, she heard someone else yell at them.
"Hey! Look, we didn't do anything, okay! Don't you have anything better to do with your lives than talk about Paisley? What the hell is wrong with you?" Remus was fuming over the girls, and they were practically cowering in fear. "Get out of here!" They ran off.
Paisley turned and called after them, "Yeah, and my skin glows naturally! You're just jealous because you know that no matter how many facials you get, that your skin will never achieve my level of luminous tan!"
Remus smiled at her. "Nice," he smirked.
Paisley, who was feeling great after finally confronting someone (even if it was just a few second years) felt herself crash from the endorphin high as she looked up at Remus.
"Hey, Lupin, thanks and all, but you really need to get out of here. We can't be seen together."
He shook his head, and sat down next to her. "It will be more suspicious if we avoid each other. So, how's it going?" he asked nonchalantly.
Paisley could feel numerous stares boring into her back. "Um, I'm doing okay. I heard about James and Sirius."
"Oh, don't worry about them. I don't think Dumbledore is actually going to kick them out. He probably just wants to scare them a bit. So, um, Paisley. I just wanted to, err, apologize for this whole stupid situation. The whole thing was my fault."
Paisley laughed bitterly. "It's not your fault. I have a gift for getting myself into awkward situations. Hey, do you want your sweatshirt back?"
Remus smiled. "No, you can keep it."
They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, having run out of things to talk about.
"Hey, you know what? You're right, this is stupid. We were getting to be friends before all this. Let's hang out this weekend!" Paisley declared.
Remus was completely taken aback. "Um, yeah, sure, great," he stuttered out before his heart sank. It was a full moon this weekend. He would just have to reschedule!
"Okay, cool. Thanks. I've never really had a guy friend before. I am so sick of those guys who only want to spend time with a girl in order to stick their tongues as far down her throat as possible! If that's not going to happen, then they just don't want to spend any time with us at all. I like that you're not like that!"
Crap, thought Remus as he stood up. Paisley thought that he seemed sort of out of it. "Yeah, I'll see you later Paisley. I need to go check on something." He started walking away.
Paisley scrunched her eyebrows together. It was the first time she'd noticed how strange he looked. He looked sick. There were huge bags under his eyes, his pale white skin had a greenish tint to it, and he looked thinner than ever.
"Hey, Remus, are you feeling okay?" she called after him.
She heard him mumble something incoherently back.
Dumbledore's Office- 2:03pm, September 10
Sirius Black folded his arms across his chest and looked down at the floor. He couldn't believe how horribly the school year had started out. It was only the second week back and he'd somehow managed to break every rule the school had. Why couldn't he just keep under the radar like Moony? His file was so fat it now needed its own drawer. He and James had been in meetings with a bunch of teachers and ministry officials for the last two days, and he was pretty sure that he was going to be expelled. He didn't know about James, but he was definitely screwed. The thing that bothered him the most was that he'd been caught. He prided himself at being sneaky. He was a freaking criminal mastermind! There was no way he could be expelled now. How was he going to become an auror if he didn't graduate from Hogwarts?
McGonagall and Dumbledore walked into the office, followed closely by some official –looking women.
Sirius nudged James, who had fallen asleep in the chair next to him, awake.
"Well, you both know why we're here!" McGonagall started. "After much deliberation and conversation, we have decided not to expel either of you."
"Oh my God," sighed Sirius.
"Thank you!" exclaimed James.
"But," she started up again. "The blatant disrespect that you've showed for school property must not go ignored. Also, it appears that you were trying to flood the Slytherin common room. That kind of hatred between houses is disturbing. We are still debating your punishment. It will be decided at the hearing tomorrow. You could still face suspension, community service, or at the very least, months of detention."
Sirius wasn't listening anymore, and he elated.
"Do not look so smug Mr. Black! This is serious, Sirius!"
James smothered a laugh. Apparently McGonagall didn't find the pun funny.
"As I was saying, the hearing will be tomorrow. We will have it here. Mr. Potter, your mother will be arriving in a few hours by the floo network along with her lawyer."
"Wait, what?" James yelled. "Who told my mother?!"
"Yes. She must be present at the hearing, as you are only a minor. I would have called Mrs. Black as well, but I was informed that Sirius is staying with you these days."
Sirius looked at James with wide eyes. Mrs. Potter was coming to Hogwarts!
"Now, you may head back to your dormitory. I assume you want to tidy up."
The boys got up to leave.
"Mate, we are royally fucked," moaned Sirius as soon as the door shut behind them.
"You don't think I know? She's not even your mother!"
"Hey, listen, I'm starved. I'm gonna stop by the kitchen and get the elves to make me something? You want anything?"
"No, I'm good, I'll see you later." James started the long walk back to the Gryffindor common room.
6th Year Gryffindor Boys Dormitory- 2:45pm, September 10
Lily paced back and forth across the room, trying to convince herself to leave. She couldn't believe that she had lied to Paisley about getting to Charms early, but she really needed to see James. Where was he?
She bit the nail of her pinky finger, and looked around, trying to calm down. She was not the kind of girl that randomly showed up in boys' rooms.
There room really was a little bit disgusting. None of the beds were made, and there were clothes and socks thrown all over the ground. Books and parchment and crumbs covered their desks, and the windowsill was littered with cigarette buds. She had also glimpsed some magazines that had made her blush, and the walls were covered with posters of different Quidditch teams. Yep, she was definitely in a boy's room.
"Hey, Lily! What are you doing here?"
She spun around at hearing James's voice.
He was standing in the doorway, staring at her in disbelief. He looked tired, and disheveled, but still as sexy and irresistible as ever. She suddenly felt very self-conscious.
"I just, um, I needed to see you, and, err, I heard you were getting expelled and I freaked out. Hey! How could you just disappear like that for two days? Where have you been? You just left me in the middle of the dungeon, soaking wet, and I didn't know what happened to you?" she let everything out, her voice getting louder. "You need to tell me these things! You've been telling me that you're in love with since first year, and obviously I'm in love with you too but I don't see how this is going to work out if you never talk to me!"
The next thing she knew, James was kissing her, hard. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pushed her whole body up against his. He really seemed to know what he was doing, and she moaned slightly as his tongue flicked over her lips.
They had somehow managed to make it to the bed, and it was only a matter of minutes before both their shirts were off. James was having some difficulty in trying to unsnap her bra though. Lily knew she needed to stop what was happening before she did anything she'd regret.
She didn't get the chance though, because as soon as she broke away to catch some air, she heard the door open. James quickly jumped off of her and snapped his head around to see who it was.
Lily looked toward the door. A middle-aged woman in elegant black robes was frozen in the doorway, her eyes opened wide. Her dark hair was pinned up, and her glasses gave her a stern, yet not unapproachable look. She looked familiar.
"Uh, hi mom," James stuttered. All of the color had drained from his face.
Lily's jaw dropped open, and she suddenly felt sick to her stomach. The worst part was that she couldn't find her t-shirt anywhere.