Right, back to James' POV. Oh and still, if you like my story, and want to know what'll happen next, review it and put me on your author alerts. Thanks :D!
Chapter 17 : The Joys of Being Head Boy
It was the following Wednesday before the Marauders got to see each other properly again. Sure they had spent all of Friday, Saturday and Sunday night together in the Shrieking Shack, but as animals they couldn't communicate fully. They had spent Monday and Tuesday trying to recover, and so had been sleeping at all available opportunities – in between classes etc.
James had seen Sirius and Caitlin together on Saturday morning, so he assumed they had made up. He didn't ask Sirius any questions about it, he never did, he just accepted it. Their relationship was far too complicated for James to even begin to understand. The only thing he cared about was that when they were together Caitlin wouldn't tell, and when Caitlin wouldn't tell James was happy, and when James was happy people got less detentions – oh the joys of being Head Boy!
James felt an uneasy jolt in his stomach however, when he arrived down for breakfast on Wednesday to find Sirius sitting with the other Marauders, Caitlinless. They couldn't have fallen out again surely? They had been inseparable for 4 days, even if Sirius had been asleep for most of it.
"Morning," said Sirius groggily, as James slid onto the bench beside Remus.
"Morning," said James uncertainly, raising his eyebrow at him.
"She's with Lily, she'll be down later," Sirius yawned. "So don't worry Prongs, you will see Cait today!" he added cheekily, obviously trying to lighten the mood a bit.
"Oh good, 'cause that's what I was worried about," James answered earnestly. Sirius gave a small chuckle, which even Remus joined in on. James looked round at him in surprise. It was not often you heard Remus laugh at anything to do with Caitlin, he liked her sure enough, but he still saw her as a threat to his very existence.
"Uh Moony?" James asked. "You alright mate?"
"I'm fantastic," Remus answered, his eyes sparkling. The other three exchanged glances. "Why shouldn't I be?" Remus asked them, after taking their gazes. "Sirius has shut up Caitlin." Sirius looked a little disgruntled at this remark but let it slide. "Full moon's not for another month, and I just got a letter from my mother to say that they've almost completed the research on the Wolfbane Potion!"
Remus looked extremely happy with himself, but the other Marauders became a little downhearted at his last statement.
"No more Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs," Sirius said glumly.
"Padfoot, don't even try it," Remus scolded him. "Trust me, nothing is going to ruin this day!"
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The lesson after lunch on Wednesday's was one of James' favourites. Not because it was his best – Transfiguration was definitely his best – but because every single 7th year Gryffindor took it. The Charms lessons were always a good laugh, and generally James found the work easy enough that he did well in it, without that much effort.
It was also the only lesson that James had, that Gryffindor shared with the Hufflepuffs. This meant that even Peter was able to outshine them, and win the house some points. Charms was generally a good class for the Marauders plus Robbie and Frank, to have a muck about in.
This was the only class Sirius and Caitlin sat beside each other in, so James took his usual seat beside Remus, with Peter on the other side of him. James' stomach gave another jolt, when Sirius sat down beside Peter, and Caitlin sat down on the bench at the opposite side of the room. It was only when Caitlin smiled and gave a small wave across at Sirius that he relaxed again.
"Padfoot, are you trying to give me a heart attack?" James called up the bench to him. Sirius laughed at his concern.
"Nah, sorry. She just needs to spend some time with Lily at the moment," Sirius replied, not offering any further explanation.
"What's wrong with Evans?" James said quickly, almost tripping over his words. Sirius gave him a knowing smile in return.
"Why Prongs? Do you care?" he said slyly.
"Uh, Professor Flitwick is about to start," interjected Remus, whilst leaning forward in his seat so eye contact was broken between James and Sirius. James may now be Head Boy but Remus was still to responsible one in the group. After that the whole class quietened down and began to concentrate on the lesson.
Flitwick was in full swing of his lecture about Charms performed without a wand when James felt a tap on his shoulder, and a piece of parchment skidded onto the desk in front of him. He opened the note and read it.
Brace yourselves lads, the women are rebelling!
He recognized Frank Longbottom's handwriting. He looked round the room and realised what he meant. All the Gryffindor girls were sitting on benches on the other side of the room. It was very seldom you saw Frank and Alice apart, and Scarlet and Robbie had got to the point where James thought they actually might be surgically joined at the hip. He read on.
I know, what's going on? wrote Robbie Brown.
He was obviously most perturbed as to why his beloved Scarlet had stopped drooling all over him.
I have no idea. wrote Sirius.
Peter had simply read the note and passed it on, while Remus had added a drawing of himself drinking some smoky potion, whilst dancing, in human form, under the full moon.
It took only a second for James to decide what to write.
Sirius knows.
"Wingardium Leviosa," he whispered, and floated the note right back up the bench to Frank again. Frank glanced at it and then eagerly showed the note to Robbie, who then passed it to Sirius with a threatening glare. Sirius read it and then forwarded the glare to James.
James watched as Sirius wrote something quickly down on the page, all the time Robbie breathing down his neck. Once he had finished he showed what he had written to Frank and Robbie, who looked at him sceptically for a moment, and then seemed to accept it. Then he crumpled the note into a ball and threw it, so it hit James right between the eyes. Professor Flitwick didn't notice anything, he was too busy being thoroughly amazed by Lily's homework. James flattened out the parchment again.
All I know, is it is something to do with Lily Evans. Don't worry they haven't started an anti-man campaign again and I AM NOT THE CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM!!
James smiled inwardly at the memory when Sirius had been caught dating both Scarlet and a Ravenclaw girl at the same time, in their 2nd year. The Gryffindor girls had then started to ignore all of the boys to show their support for Scarlet. James seemed to remember them walking about linking arms a lot, and singing love ballads at the top of their lungs. It had gone on for about 3 weeks, until Remus had finally cracked them with his downright niceness.
What's wrong with Evans? Is it serious?
James flung the note back to Sirius. The other boys had lost interest, and so didn't even try to read it.
I think the most serious thing wrong with her at the moment, is that she is about to drown in Caitlin's hair.
James looked up as he read Sirius' reply. It was true, Caitlin was sitting so close to her that Lily had to keep sweeping her curly, blonde hair away from her face. He also noticed that every so often, Scarlet and Alice would reach out and put their hands on Lily's back. Lily looked a bit annoyed every time they did this.
Padfoot, what aren't you letting on? Surely you're not keeping secrets from me? Old buddy? Old pal?
James hastily threw the note back to Sirius, this time the sound of it hitting Sirius' desk attracted Flitwick's attention.
"Mr Black, you wouldn't be passing notes in my class would you?" he squeaked. Frank and Robbie looked up fearfully. Flitwick had a habit of reading out any notes that were passed in his class, and if he read that one out loud then the Gryffindor 'boyfriends' would be in for it tonight!
"Uh Professor, it's ok, I'll get this one," said James standing up and striding down towards Sirius. "Mr Black that'll be 5 points from Gryffindor, and give me that note!" he said authoritatively. "After you've written your answer," he whispered in Sirius' ear.
Flitwick seemed happy with the way James had handled the situation and so turned his attention back to the rest of the class.
"Mr Lupin, you're looking particularly cheerful today," James whispered when he had returned to his seat. "5 points to Gryffindor," he said to rectify the damage. It certainly felt good to have this much power. He looked down at the note he had just 'confiscated' from Sirius and read his hurried reply.
Look I can't tell you. Caitlin has this whole 'we should be able to tell and keep each others secrets' thing at the moment and it's more than my life's worth!
James looked down the table at his best friend disbelievingly. He raised his hand and brought it back down like the crack of a whip. Sirius shook his head in shame.
"I know," he mouthed. "I know."
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The class finished, and James watched in horror as the girls got up and left – with linked arms. Scarlet threw Robbie a scathing look when he tried to object to her going to dinner without him. The boys followed morosely, making sure to walk a distance behind the girls. They didn't want any fights, and so made clear they were not trying to pressure them in any way.
"Boy are we in the doghouse," Frank mumbled, as he looked longingly after Alice.
"We're not trust me," Sirius said knowledgably. "At least we won't be if we just leave them alone." Frank, Robbie and Sirius looked very depressed at this thought. It made James sick to look at them.
"Look on the bright side," he said cheeringly. "It gives you lot some time to find them again."
"Find what?" they chorused.
"Your balls." Sirius took James into a headlock, before Frank spoke again to defend him.
"You know he's right! We need time to be men again!" he said proudly.
"Yea!" chorused the others.
"Time to talk about Quidditch without commenting on each team's 'pretty colours'," added Robbie, mimicking Scarlet's voice perfectly.
"Yea!" the others yelled again.
"Time to scratch ourselves in public!" shouted Sirius.
"Hell yea!" the others cheered.
"Uh Remus?" came an unknown feminine voice from behind them. James turned round to see Eleanor Wilson, a 7th year Hufflepuff, who had just come from the Charms lesson as well, standing beside Remus. She was eyeing the other boys with much caution – who wouldn't after hearing that rant? "Can I have a word?" she asked in a delicate voice.
"Um, sure," said Remus. He looked round at the others, looking for help.
"Moony, we'll see you in the Great Hall?" James said, whilst indicating to the others that they should leave.
"Yeah ok," answered Remus warily. He was eyeing Eleanor as though she could explode at any moment.
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The boys were all thoroughly enjoying the absence of the girls, by chewing with their mouths open, and putting too much food in at the one time, when Remus joined them at the Gryffindor table about 10 minutes later. He was white as a sheet; his triumphant mood completely vanished.
"I was wrong guys, my day is ruined," he said slowly as he sat down. The others all looked concernedly at him.
"Moony what's wrong?" asked Sirius.
"She asked me to the ball," Remus answered in a monotone, his face expressionless. Frank and Robbie started to laugh, whilst Sirius gave his friend a hard, congratulatory thump on the back.
"And?" asked James warily, he was picking up that Remus was not exactly thrilled about it, something that the others seemed to have missed.
"And I said yes," Remus replied in a monotone again. At this Sirius and the other two non-Marauders cheered. James looked slightly happier at the thought of his friend having his first date, only Peter looked positively fearful.
"But...Moony... What if she finds out you're a w- "
"Woeful dancer," James said quickly, stopping Peter from spilling the beans to Frank and Robbie, who were still cheering. Sirius had stopped to give Peter a warning glare.
"Yes well, he'll just have to get dancing lessons," he said pointedly. "Won't he Wormtail?"
Frank looked round at the Marauders, noticing the meaningful glares being exchanged between them.
"Uh dancing lessons?" he asked, laughing slightly at what he presumed was a joke from Sirius. "I thought we were suppose to be relishing in our manhood?"
"Yes well, that was before Peter reminded us what a woman he really was," hissed Sirius bitterly. Frank threw him another non-comprehending look and then stood up to leave.
"Well I suppose I better go and see if Alice is willing to spend time with me again," he said a bit icily. "You coming Rob?"
James watched a bit disheartened as the two of them left to go sit further down the table. In their first year the Gryffindor boys had always travelled together. It had only been at the end of that year, when James and Sirius worked out what was wrong with Remus that the group had spilt. There had never been a falling out, they had still remained friends, but Robbie and Frank had sensed there was something else going on and so they had become less close. When the group spilt, Peter for some reason James didn't quite understand, had chosen to go with them, so they had felt obliged to tell him about Remus as well. James had always reckoned he had chosen them because Sirius and James were more respected than Frank and Robbie, and could protect him – being a short, fat, blob of a thing made him easy pickings for the particularly menacing Slytherins.
"You stupid git!" Sirius yelled once Frank and Robbie had left, lifting his arm and making a swing for Peter.
"Padfoot leave it," said James soothingly, catching Sirius' arm in mid- swing. "There was no harm done." Sirius puffed slightly but seemed to take James' advice on board.
"So Moony going to the ball?" he asked, trying to focus his energy on something other than beating Peter to a pulp. Remus nodded mutely, he did not seem to have noticed anything that had happened at the table since he had arrived.
"So you're obviously not worried about her finding out?" asked James, picking up Peter's well-thought, but less well-timed question. "Otherwise you wouldn't have said yes."
"Well I am now!" cried Remus. "I wasn't at the time. To be honest I didn't even think about it at the time, I think she just surprised me so much. I was just so flattered and... and excited," he finished, a bit ashamed.
"Well then go to the ball with her! Don't worry about it! Let her take your mind off it for a while. Merlin knows you deserve it!" said Sirius cheerfully. "We all deserve a little happiness in our lives," he added, giving James a sly grin.
"What?" asked James slightly annoyed.
"Oh nothing, just Caitlin told me something very interesting about Lily the other day," replied Sirius, grinning at the other two Marauders. Remus looked completely perplexed, while Peter began to snigger back at him. James was sure he had no idea what he was laughing at however. All the same he could feel the heat rising in his cheeks. Had Remus blabbed?
"Oh would this be one of the secrets you can't tell, lest you break Caitlin and your 'sacred bond of trust'," he said bitterly to Sirius. Remus and Peter now broke into real laughter, James felt happier about taking a low jab at his friend.
"No it's just – " Sirius began.
"Look if this is to do with Lily liking Remus then I already know alright?" he yelled. "I don't see what that's got to do with me though," he added, trying to cover up his obvious fury.
"Where did you get that from?!" both Sirius and Remus yelled in unison.
"Well she kissed him, didn't she?" James answered lamely, he didn't want them to know he had been analysing her reactions to when Caitlin had told her.
"Yea because she was under a love potion!" Remus yelled dumbfounded.
"She would have kissed Wormtail in that state!" Sirius added, much to Peter's annoyance.
The heat in James' cheeks had now started to burn his face, he was sure he was as red as his Head Boy badge. It was part due to embarrassment, and part due to the rage he was feeling that his best friend would put him through such torment.
"Look anyway, speaking of Lily, is there anyone you would like to ask to the ball Prongs?" Sirius asked, he voice strangely calm.
"I don't know how you got from Lily, to someone I'd like to take to the ball," James answered equally as calm, but defiant, looking straight into Sirius' eyes. He couldn't afford a sideward glance at Remus, Sirius would catch on.
"Look I was just asking if you were... if you were interested in anyone at the moment," Sirius tired again, screwing up his face as though it pained him to ask this.
"You starting to sound like a bit of a girl there," interjected Peter. James reckoned that was exactly what was causing Sirius so much pain.
"At least I don't look like one," Sirius spat back at Peter, eyeing his – well, what can only be described as – man-breasts. "Do you like anyone?" he added hurriedly to James.
"No," James lied. Sirius gripped the table with both hands and took a deep breath in, he was clearly losing his patience with James.
"Look I don't know why you're being so... so... Look I'm only trying to help alright?" he said breathlessly.
"Help with what? Padfoot would you just tell me what's going on?" James was the only one left to tell. Remus had got bored of the argument and was now reading a book on History of Magic, and Peter was still recovering from Sirius' scathing remark about his physique.
"I CAN'T TELL YOU!" roared Sirius. James and he both looked away from each other, each one infuriated at how stupid the other was being. "Look all I'm going to say, is that if you asked Lily Evans to the ball, she would say yes," Sirius said as though he was explaining the Fidelius Charm to a backward toddler.
Remus put down the book he was reading, Peter forgot the insult, and it took all of about 2 seconds for James to figure out what Sirius had just said.
"You mean?" James asked astounded. Sirius looked at him pointedly.
"I can't tell you what I mean. Caitlin would stew me," he said, whilst nodding vigorously.
"Should I ask her then?" James asked, barely able to contain his excitement. He liked balls, he liked Lily, this was perfect.
"I don't know what you are talking about Prongs," Sirius answered, still vigorously nodding, and pointing to the door of the Great Hall.
"Now?" laughed James. Remus beamed at him as well, his happiness was contagious.
"Prongs, stop asking me silly questions, and let me get back to my relationship-respecting, secret-keeping ways," Sirius answered again, this time lifting James up by the shoulder and physically pushing him down the table towards the exit.
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James didn't need any more pointers than that. He sprinted all the way up to the Gryffindor tower, taking the stairs two at a time. It was only when he reached the common room that he stopped to compose himself a bit, he didn't want to appear too eager to Lily. He looked around to see that the common room was empty apart from Avril Knight. He ignored her and walked on up to his own room.
As the lion cub let him in he was glad to see that Lily was sitting in their shared common room, exactly where he had hoped she'd be, this way he got her on her own. He stood and surveyed her for a moment, hoping to think of a way of how he was going to go about this. It was only then that he realised Lily was sitting quietly on one of the armchairs doing absolutely nothing, just staring into space.
"Uh Evans? What you doing there?" he asked cautiously, he wasn't sure she'd noticed he'd entered.
"Hiding," she replied flatly, still staring into space.
"Hiding from what?" he asked more concerned, walking over towards her.
"Caitlin," she replied flatly again.
"Why?" James laughed slightly. He sat down on the arm of her chair.
"She's smothering me, I needed some space to breath," Lily answered, with a small smirk this time.
"Yea I noticed," said James honestly. "'Lily Evans – choked on a hair ball.' It doesn't exactly read great on a headstone does it?" Lily eyes flickered towards him for the first time since he'd entered.
"No," she said laughing slightly. "It doesn't really."
"So what's the problem anyway?" he asked, keen to keep the conversation flowing.
"I don't really want to talk about," Lily answered, her eyes leaving his face and focusing on the floor instead. They both sat in silence for a few minutes, James not quite knowing what to say. He knew he probably shouldn't ask her now, she definitely was not in the mood he had hoped for, but he could barely contain himself. He decided to bite the bullet.
"Evans," he said, and then gave himself a mental slap. She had already looked up at him though, so he thought it best to ignore his blunder and carry on. "Uh I was wondering, would you go to the ball with me?" James scanned her face for any sign of emotion. She seemed shocked, and a little upset. Tears had started to well up in her eyes, and a sinking feeling took hold of James' stomach. She didn't seem angry or annoyed, as she usually would have done when he asked her out, but still the answer came.
"No," Lily choked. James remained silent.
'Bastard!' he though furiously. 'Bastard, I am going to kill him!' He couldn't believe he had just fallen for one of Sirius' practical jokes.
Oh I know I'm a right cow, but trust me they will get together and Lily has a perfectly good reason for turning him down! She's not being a bitch!
Anyway I saw the new Harry Potter film last night, and in fact I'm away to see it again now, I just thought I should post this first! It's amazing for those who haven't seen it yet! There should be a law forcing people to see this film! Far better than the first two, although it doesn't explain the ending very well, but I'll let that slide as I knew what was going on anyway!
Also I'm probably not going to post for a good few weeks, loads of exams coming up so I need to revise. Sorry about that, but as soon as July hits I'll be able to post a few times a week I promise! Anyway please read and review, and put me on author alerts if you like it!!!
luvsirius: OMG you crazy person why are you up at that time in the morning? Anyway thanks for reviewing!
Crazayladay: Look I put someone in for Remus! But it's not going to be romance of the century I'm afraid. Thanks for reviewing!
nightwanderer: Stay away from me with your pixies! At least I know there's someone out there with the same warped sense of humour as me!
DayDreamer743: Thanks for reviewing! I thought it was cute too.
Carmel March: Thank you for reviewing! Glad you liked the Caitlin/Sirius chapter.
Pick boy lover: Glad that cleared that up for you. I'm a bit confused though. Do you even like my story?
BurningIce22: What's Knotts? Anyway thanks for reviewing!
Oliverwoodschic: It never even crossed my mind to make them kiss at the end. I'll remember that for future chapters though!
Lolly O'Neill: Thank you very much!
james was a chaser: Oh you know I love you!
kaleidoscope0-0eyes: No I haven't finished my exams unfortunately. They don't finish until the 28th June, so I'm not going to be able to update as much until then. Thanks for reviewing both chapters!