Ok, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!!! I'm updating now! It took so long because this chapter is about the same length as the Order of the Phoenix and I had to rewrite it loads and I still hate it! Anyway you can read and review and tell me what you think!
Ok, this chapter starts just where the beginning of the last chapter began.
It is the same events from James' point of view. Does everyone know where it's starting then? Ok, let us begin!
Chapter 19 : Misunderstandings, Chocolate and Invisibility Cloaks!
James stormed back into the Great Hall, to find Sirius and Caitlin sitting at the Gryffindor table, cooing over each other. Well, to be fair, Sirius wasn't doing much cooing himself, more lapping up Caitlin's attention.
James stormed over to them, and stood on the other side of the table from where they were sitting. He took up the standard 'I am so pissed off at you right now!' stance, – stand up straight, feet shoulder width apart, hands placed firmly on hips – and waited for a response from Sirius. There was none.
Sirius continued to tell Caitlin whatever it was that was making her giggle so much, and Caitlin continued to run her fingers along the backs of his hands. James tried again, still maintaining his stance, he took a sharp intake of breath and then blew it out slowly. Again he was ignored, and his patience ran out.
"Uh hello?!" he said forcefully, whilst repeatedly banging his fist off the table. Needless to say, this time they both looked round at him, so did most of the Hall.
Caitlin looked most affronted that James was trying to talk to Sirius, in what she obviously assumed was 'her time'. She slinked her arms around Sirius' waist, whilst he instinctively put his arm around her. She gave James a smirk to show that she wasn't giving him up. James returned it to show that he didn't care. He then turned his attention to Sirius.
"Uh, you're a bastard," he said matter-of-factly. Sirius looked at him a bit taken aback, and then started to laugh.
"Yea, I know," he replied. "But what can you do?"
"I don't think you're that bad," Caitlin interjected, and they started to coo over each other again. James banged his fist off the table once more, and Sirius broke away from a lingering kiss with Caitlin to look at him.
"Sorry," he mumbled, looking at James with slightly more concern now. "Why am I a bastard then?"
"You made me go all the way up there... to her... and ask her... and she said..." James could hardly speak he was so filled with anger. "PADFOOT HOW COULD YOU?! I HAVE TO LIVE WITH HER!" Caitlin flinched with his final outburst, and James saw Sirius tighten his grip around her.
"Prongs, calm down." He spoke slowly, and soothingly. "You're not making any sense."
"I'm sorry," James said sarcastically. "Am I upsetting your girlfriend? Do you like having a girlfriend Padfoot? Do you like me not having one? Do you like RUBBING THAT IN?!"
Sirius looked blankly round at Caitlin.
"Do you know what's going on?" he asked her. She shook her head and then they looked back at James.
"You told me to ask Evans out!" James said pointedly.
"What?!" shrieked Caitlin. She jumped away from Sirius, and stared at him absolutely infuriated – his arm that she had been supporting was left dangling in midair.
"What?!" Sirius shrugged to her. He obviously didn't see what the problem was.
"She said no!" James said, trying to show him.
"What?!" Sirius and Caitlin shouted in unison, both turning round to face him. James took a step back to survey their reaction for a moment. He was unsure of what to make of it, one thing he was positive of though, everyone at the table was now thoroughly confused.
"She said no... because it was a prank?" he began hesitantly. James stopped as he watched the pair of them slip further into bewilderment. "Look are we all on the same page here?"
"Prongs that wasn't a prank..." Sirius began.
"I can't believe you told him!" Caitlin shouted over him. "You promised you wouldn't tell!"
"I didn't tell him! I just gave him a few helpful pointers!" Sirius objected. To James they were beginning to sound like an old married couple. "I didn't come straight out and tell him! At no point did I say 'Prongs, Evans completely fancies the arse off you.'" Sirius stopped, looking completely stunned at his own stupidity. Caitlin crossed her arms and looked in the opposite direction, apparently too disgusted to look at him. A fresh wave of confusion swept over James.
"She... what?! Look, if all this is true, and... it wasn't a prank, why did she say no?!" he asked pleadingly, more directing the question at Caitlin.
"James, I don't know," Caitlin said earnestly, rising to her feet. "But I swear, I will go and sort it now, ok?" She placed her hand reassuringly on James shoulder, and then strode purposely out of the hall, still resolutely not looking at Sirius.
James slumped down on the bench opposite Sirius and sighed, before starting to bang his fist off the table again. This time several of the younger Gryffindors backed away from it, afraid of being hit by any of the cutlery that was flying about with the vibrations.
"I – DON'T – LIKE – GIRLS!" James yelled over the clatter.
"Well if that's true, then I know that if you ask Michael Dempsey from Hufflepuff, to the ball, he wouldn't say no," Sirius laughed. James stopped banging, something seemed to have hit him with the force of a train.
"I already have a date for the ball," he said flatly, staring blankly at his hands.
"Who?" Sirius asked, knocked for six.
"They asked me after Evans said no," he carried on, ignoring Sirius.
"Who?" he asked again.
"I was just so angry, I didn't know what to do... so I said yes." As he finished his eyes widened, and he looked like he was going to throw up.
"WHO?!" Sirius shouted, growing impatient. James looked up at him.
"Avril Knight," he gulped.
"Score!" Sirius said sarcastically.
-----------------
James was so annoyed at himself for saying yes to, what was considered amongst the Gryffindor boys, the most repulsive girl in the house, that he promptly put the whole situation to the back of his mind. It was Monday, before he even broached the subject of Lily again, afraid to mention her in case it reminded the other boys who he had now ended up going to the ball with. Four days, however, had passed since Caitlin promised that she would 'sort it', and he had heard nothing. Growing impatient, he finally asked Sirius whilst they were finishing a Defence Against the Dark Arts project, with Remus.
"Padfoot, d'you who I haven't seen for four days?"
"Who?" Sirius grunted, not looking up from the parchment he was furiously scribbling on.
"Evans," James replied. "I thought Cait was going to sort it?"
"Yea well, you know the way they're best friends?" Sirius asked, still not looking up from his parchment.
"Yes," replied James, slowly.
"Well, now they're swore enemies," Sirius added breezily.
"What?! How did that happen?" James asked incredulously.
"Well, whilst Caitlin was trying to sort it out she let slip that she'd told me Lily liked you, and that you knew, and so Lily probably guessed that Moony knew," he gestured towards Remus, who looked up from his textbook.
"Yea and that Wormtail knew as well," he added.
"Oh yes don't forget that Wormtail knew," Sirius agreed. "So basically, Evans is pissed that the world and his daughter knows that she wants to ride your broomstick. So she blamed it all on Caitlin, harsh words were said, and now they're never going to speak to each other again, which is 'fine by me, she's no fun anyway'," Sirius finished, mimicking Caitlin perfectly.
"They'll work it out though won't they? I mean, they're best friends," James said trying to sound concerned, secretly he was just annoyed that Caitlin hadn't persuaded Lily to surrender to him.
"Correction – were best friends. And I don't know Prongs, some serious things were said, I think Caitlin might even have told Evans to 'wise up'," Sirius said, mockingly fearful.
"The horror of it!" Remus exclaimed sarcastically.
"I mean I don't know what the big deal is anyway," Sirius said, after he had finished laughing at Moony. "Would you be that upset if Evans knew that you fancied her?" he asked James.
"Well no, but I supposed I'd be a bit annoyed if everyone else in the Gryffindor knew as well though," James answered honestly.
"Oh," Sirius said and then paused. "Well then it's a good thing that they don't then!" James noticed that he threw a look at Remus as he said this, but he didn't think anything of it. He had more pressing issues on his mind.
"Does she know about Avril yet?" he asked, hoping he could maybe rectify that problem before Lily even found out.
"I don't know," Sirius answered candidly. "I wouldn't think so though, I don't think she's spoken to anyone. Caitlin doesn't even know yet, and I'm not telling her."
"Why are you not telling her?" Remus asked, obviously as bemused as James.
"Because Caitlin hates Avril," he stated simply. "And when she finds out she is just going to curse you down dead," he added to James.
"Great, so now I have to deal with a nauseating dance partner, a homicidal Caitlin, and Evans being so uncomfortable around me, she'd probably rather share the Head quarters with Snape!" In James' eyes things couldn't get any worse.
"You haven't finished your project yet either," Remus added, indicating the forgotten piece of blank parchment that lay in James' lap.
"Oh FUCK!"
-----------------
15 minutes later James arrived down into the Great Hall for breakfast, with Sirius and Remus. He had written a project that should have taken a week, in less than 10 minutes, and the annoying thing was he would still probably get an 'Outstanding' for it.
The three of them had just sat down, and were discussing the fact that Remus hadn't spoken to Eleanor Wilson since the day he'd agreed to go to the ball with her, when Remus, keen to get the conversation away from his own shortcomings, pointed out to James that Peter was sitting with Lily just a bit down the table from them.
"Maybe you don't need Caitlin to speak to her for you after all?" he whispered slyly to James.
"Maybe not," James agreed. "Wonder what they're talking about," he mused out loud.
"Don't know, I'll find out," Sirius answered him quickly. James was just about to stop him, when his voice boomed down the hall. "WORMTAIL GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE NOW!"
James nearly hid underneath the table. Any uncomfortable situation with Lily had so far been avoided, by her barricading herself in her room. In classes he had tried to keep out of her way, and not draw any attention to himself. Sirius had now just blown this 'I'm not here, I'm truly insignificant' act, by shouting out to Peter in front of the whole frigging Hall!
James waited in trepidation for Lily's reaction. Was she going to storm out? Was she going to stand up in front of the whole Hall, and tell Sirius and him off for being 'bullying toerags' for ordering Peter around like that? Was she going to rush into his arms and declare her undying love? He was a bit surprised to see that she gave no reaction whatsoever. Well maybe he wasn't surprised, if there was one thing he had learnt, it was that Lily Evans was as stubborn as a mule. She had obviously heard, and she was obviously ignoring them. He found himself being more relieved than surprised. He was just about to start into his breakfast, thankful that no awkward circumstances had arisen when Sirius shouted out again.
"WORMTAIL COME HERE!"
"Look he's talking to me alright?" Lily answered them. Sirius must have been as taken aback by her reply as the James was, because he lowered his voice slightly.
"Evans give us our best friend back!" Sirius laughed. James watched the ensuing argument unfold before his eyes.
'She's going to blow. She's surely going to blow,' he thought, as he waited for Lily's response.
"No! You can't have him, he's my best friend now!"
'Is she joking? Is Lily Evans actually having a joke? Is she – hang on did she just stick her tongue out at us?' James felt a wave of emotions as he watched the girl he had thought was generally a bit uptight, messing about with his best friend. He thought it was time he got in on the act.
"Evans, you already have a best friend!" He knew that this was not strictly true, he knew Caitlin and she weren't talking. He knew it was foolish of him to bring this up, but part of him wanted to see her reaction, wanted to see how far he could push it. Even though he was enjoying her being a little less high strung, part of him wanted to see her go back to her usual ways. It was almost a way of him making sure he hadn't gone insane.
"Yea well I had to get rid of her, because she couldn't keep my deepest, darkest secrets! Peter here, would always keep my secrets. Wouldn't you Peter?" He was stunned. He was aware of Remus and Sirius laughing at her joke, but not much else. His mind was racing. Why was she being like this? Why was she being so open with them? Was she doing the same thing as him? Were they inadvertently testing each other without knowing it?
Lily stuck her tongue out again, bringing James out of his reverie. He laughed and then lent over to Sirius.
"Maybe I've still got a chance there," he said quietly enough that he was sure Lily could not have heard him. Sirius gave a laugh like a bark and then spun round to Lily again.
"HERE EVANS, PRONGS SAYS YOU CAN KEEP HIM! SAYS HE LIKES YOU BETTER WITH WORMTAIL AS YOUR BEST FRIEND!"
Instead of wanting to hide under the table again, at Sirius' outburst, this time James felt more confident. After all Lily had shown no objections to him up to now. He threw her a grin to convey his feelings.
"Oh well, if that's the case then you can have him back!" He and Sirius looked at each other confused. "Wouldn't want Potter to like me even more now would we?" she went on. Sirius and Remus started to give each other little uncomfortable looks, and James shifted awkwardly in his seat. This wasn't exactly how he had wanted her to react, and he certainly didn't want her shouting this out in front of the whole hall. "I mean, he already asked me to the ball last week!"
James barely had time to allow what she had just said to sink in before the others reacted. In a way he was glad they did, it covered up his real feelings and he was able to laugh the whole thing off.
It was only later, after a futile attempt in Defence Against the Dark Arts to try and get Lily to talk to him, so she could explain herself, that he told Sirius that that was it. There was no point in pursuing this any further, he had explained to him. It was too much bother.
He was giving up on Lily Evans.
-----------------
James was on his broomstick. It was a Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. He could feel the wind blowing through his hair, hear the crowd cheering his name, and he had the quaffle in his hand.
He passed it to Leanne on his right, she passed it back. He passed it to Caitlin on his left, and she passed it back quickly, almost catching him off guard, but still he caught it with the very tops of his fingertips. He flew on towards the goals, the crowds' screaming getting louder.
Suddenly Caitlin was right beside him.
"James what are you doing?!" she screamed. "You dropped the quaffle! We lost the game!"
He looked down at his right hand, where the quaffle had previously been gripped firmly, only to find it empty. He felt a searing pain as Caitlin slapped him hard across the face.
He woke with a start, to find Caitlin sitting on the edge of his bed, wearing a triumphant grin, wringing her hand that she had just slapped him with.
"How the hell did you even know I was dreaming about Quidditch?" he asked wearily, rolling over and trying to go back to sleep.
"You were making 'whooshing' noises in your sleep," Caitlin answered, a little too brightly for someone at – James opened one eye to check – one in the morning. "James, are you not even going to ask me what I'm doing in your room in the middle of the night?" she asked, when she noticed he was almost back in the land of nod.
"I'm guessing you've worn out Padfoot, and he's sent you up here to see if I could sort you out," James mumbled groggily.
"Me? Wear out Sirius?" Caitlin asked sardonically.
"Cait, seriously way too much information," James said before she say anymore.
"Ok, but James you have to get up."
"I will get up," James assured her. "At seven," he added, causing Caitlin to pout.
"James, come on, we need to talk," she whined, shaking him slightly.
"Cait, you know, we've never really been that close," James said a bit sharply, whilst sitting up in his bed. "So I can't see we'd have anything to talk about, unless it's Quidditch, which can wait 'til a reasonable hour!" With that he promptly lay back down again, and threw his covers over his head, hoping that she'd just go away.
"It's about Lily," Caitlin answered in a small voice, she was obviously a bit wounded by his remarks about them 'never being that close'. "Sirius told me about you giving up on her."
"She's not even your friend anymore," James answered from under the duvet, again a bit sharper than he had meant to.
"She will be if I do this for her," Caitlin answered more resolutely. "Get up!"
James peeked an eye out round the top of his covers to look at her. He was keen to hear what she had to say, but he was also aware of how comfortable his bed was at the same time.
"No." He swept the covers over his head again. Then he felt was Caitlin lifting them up a bit, and peeking down at him in the darkness.
"Get up, get up you sleepyhead. There's work to do around here!" she sang. James knew what she was doing and snatched the covers off her. He tried to stuff them into his ears, but still he couldn't drown out her voice. "Get up, get up, get out of bed. There's work to do around here!"
Next thing he knew, James was sitting on the edge of his bed, fully clothed, and wide-awake. Caitlin threw him another triumphant grin. He could have told her off, but as thoughts of going back to sleep were now far from his mind, he thought it futile.
"So where are we going?" he asked unconcerned. Caitlin looked crestfallen for a moment, she had obviously wanted him to congratulate her on her remarkable voice, but she quickly regained herself.
"Room of Requirement," she answered briskly, and with that she shoved him out of his bedroom door. He barely had time to grab his invisibility cloak and the Marauders' Map before they left.
They slipped silently through the corridors, under the cloak, and didn't speak, or even acknowledge each other until they had reached the corridor on the 7th floor. Once they had reached the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy, Caitlin streaked out from under the cloak. They had met absolutely no one on their trip there, not even a ghost, but James was still a little wary. He checked the map just before he uncovered himself just to make sure it was safe. All the staff seemed to be in their own quarters, apart from Filch who was patrolling the second floor corridor, Mrs Norris at his side.
'Merlin, does that man ever go to sleep,' James thought a little bitterly. The Marauders had always been a whisker away from being caught by Filch, in all of their previous adventures.
Looking up from checking the map he saw that Caitlin had already summoned the door for the Room of Requirement. She turned to face him before opening the door.
"So...?" she murmured.
"Go ahead," replied James, indicating she should go first. She seemed to brace herself before opening the door, almost not sure if she wanted to see what was behind it. She gave a little gasp as it opened. James stepped up behind her to get a better view, and found himself thinking she had braced herself for good reason.
"Jesus Cait, what did you ask it for? The land that time forgot?"
"I... I..." She was stuttering, apparently appalled at what lay before, and a little unsure if she should tell James what she asked for. "I asked it for something to help me convince you, that you and Lily were meant for each other," she finished a little more determinedly.
"But there's nothing there," James answered pointedly. And he was indeed right. They had opened the door to absolutely nothing. The room had no walls, no floor, no ceiling, no furniture, no lights, no ending. It was like looking into the abyss.
"But that means there's nothing... nothing to say your meant to be together..." A single tear fell down Caitlin's cheek. James understood how upset she would be feeling. Caitlin had always been a great fan of Divination. Anything to do with signs, or fate, or prophecies greatly intrigued her. It would be greatly upsetting for her to find that there were no signs for James and Lily.
"Well maybe the room's not saying that," James began more gently. He wasn't sure if he was trying to console Caitlin, or himself. He was also finding it a bit disconcerting that Lily and he seemed destined to be apart. "You asked it for something to help you convince me, not a sign. Maybe it's telling you to keep your nose out, so it's not helping. Maybe it's a sign to tell you not to meddle so much, just look where it's got you!" He was trying to make a joke out of it now, but he wasn't even sure he believed his own words.
Something in Caitlin seemed to light up though. She stopped crying and turned to face him, her eyes wide with significance.
"Or maybe," she began, as though she could hardly contain herself. "Maybe it means you don't need convincing. Maybe you and Lily are so meant to be that you don't need a sign. Whatever happens, the outcome will always be the same." Her eyes, now so wide that James was sure he'd never seen so much white in them before, reflected the flames dancing in the torch brackets down the corridor. She looked positively insane. Something that James had not failed to pick up on.
"No, I think I liked my explanation more," he mumbled. James did not share Caitlin's enthusiasm for fate. He liked to think he was in charge of his own destiny. Sure he liked Lily, and he was sure she liked him back, but meant to be? That was a bit far fetched. They were only 17 for goodness sake. I mean it would be great if Lily did consent to go out with him, but spend the rest of his life with her? Nah, he would just see how it went.
Caitlin was still staring at him, looking like she'd just escaped from St. Mungos.
"Cait, it's late, and I think you've had too much stress put upon you with this whole argument with Lily," James said with authority. He was starting to sound more and more like a proper Head Boy everyday, that or he was spending too much time with Remus. "I think the best thing to do would be for us to go back to our beds, and you to wake up in the morning and make up with her. Just put this whole thing with me and her to the back of your head. I will sort it myself, ok?"
Caitlin gave him a weak smile in agreement, her eyes returning to normal. She was just about to open her mouth to say something, when James noticed the flames dancing in someone else's eyes, directly behind her. Mrs Norris had found them.
Caitlin spun round to see what James was looking at, and then frantically made a dash to hide in the Room of Requirement. James caught her round the waist just in time. He was sure a room with no walls, no floor and no ceiling was not the best place to go running into. And he also had an inkling that once they went in and shut the door, there would be no way out of it again either.
He slammed the door shut from the outside and saw it melt away before his eyes. He then grabbed Caitlin by the wrist and yanked her down the corridor the opposite way from Mrs Norris, who had just ran from them to tell Filch.
Once he was sure that they were out of sight from Filch, Mrs Norris, or any wandering ghost, he stopped running and threw the invisibility cloak round them. Caitlin looked at him, alarmed at the fact they had stopped trying to get away.
"James, what?!" she whispered, but very loudly so. "We have to go! We'll get caught!"
"Not under this we won't," he said very smugly.
"But... we still... oh Merlin..." Caitlin was hyperventilating. James looked at her with deep disgust. What was her problem anyway? He did after all, do this all the time.
"Look we'll be fine," he tried to reassure her. "If we are caught, we'll just say we didn't realise it was past curfew."
Caitlin grabbed his left wrist to look at his watch.
"James it's half past two! Curfew is at 10, they're hardly going to believe us!"
"I know, I was trying to make a joke," James said through gritted teeth. He was starting to get a bit worried himself now, at the amount of noise Caitlin was making, and he knew from experience, telling her to be quiet would only make her louder.
He took out the map again. They had been running so fast that he wasn't even sure where they were. Two labelled dots told him they were on the fifth floor, a mere few metres from a secret passage that would take them to just outside the portrait that led to the kitchens. He tried to drag Caitlin along to it by the wrist again, but she was too entranced by the map to notice. She snatched it from him to look at it closer, apparently in awe of it.
Just then Filch appeared at the other end of the corridor, Mrs Norris by his side. James was struck with a horrible feeling. Filch could not see them, but Mrs Norris could smell them, and would be able to lead him straight to them. All was not lost though. If he could just get Caitlin to step a bit backwards, they would be able to drift under the tapestry on the wall, and slip, unnoticed, down the stone slide on the other side right down to the kitchen. But Caitlin was still not moving, the map still hypnotising her, yet she had failed to notice that it now showed the dot labelled Filch drawing ever closer to her.
As a last resort, James reached out and tapped the map with his wand.
"Mischief managed," he whispered. The map went blank, and James, taking advantage of Caitlin no longer being under its spell, yanked her back towards the tapestry. They were almost there when Filch gave a cackle of delight, which stopped James dead in his tracks.
"AHA!" he roared. "What's this?"
James watched horror struck as Filch picked up a blank piece of parchment that had fallen at his feet, a very old piece of parchment. James grabbed Caitlin's wrist so tightly she had to stamp on his foot to stop him. Two years he had had that map, it had been six months in the making, and now it was gone. Caitlin had dropped it!
He positively winged her through the tapestry and down the slide. They landed with a large bump just outside a portrait of a large bowl of fruit. James tickled the pear and dragged Caitlin inside, his hand over her mouth to stop her from making any more noise.
"Oh James I'm so sorry," she gasped when he finally released her.
"Don't worry about it. It doesn't matter," he lied. He couldn't be too mad with her, it was partly his fault. Him wiping it blank and dragging her backwards had shocked her so much she had dropped it.
"James I..." She went to put her hand on his shoulder, but he brushed past her, walked towards a large table in the middle of the room, and sat down at it. It was only then that Caitlin seemed to take in her surroundings. "Where are we?" she asked a bit abruptly.
"In the kitchens," James replied, yawning.
"Wow," Caitlin breathed, looking around the place. "I don't think I've been here before."
"You won't have been. It's out of bounds. Look we could be here a while, so you might as well take a seat." Caitlin walked over and took a place on the bench opposite him. "You hungry?"
"Not really," Caitlin shrugged.
"Well I am." James snapped his fingers, and 4 house elves came running. "Look I need chocolate," he told them. "Lots and lots of chocolate." Caitlin looked at him questionably. "Look I just lost one of my prized possessions. I need comforting alright?"
"I thought only girls ate chocolate for comfort?" Caitlin asked, trying to hold in a laugh.
"Well I do it too!" James answered defiantly, although laughing at himself at the same time.
-----------------
"James, do you know what I just realised?" It was about an hour later. Caitlin and he had now devoured five chocolate frogs each, seven bowls of chocolate ice cream and were three quarters of the way through an extremely large chocolate fudge cake. They were trying to come up with ideas on how to get back to the Gryffindor common room without being caught, now that they didn't have the map.
"What?" James asked, laughing for no reason. It was half three in the morning, they were high on sugar, and everything was now absolutely hilarious.
"You're Head Boy!" Caitlin said through fits of giggles.
"Only took you three months then?" They both fell about the place laughing, James actually fell into the chocolate cake, which set them off for another five minutes.
"Nooooooooo!" Caitlin cried after she'd composed herself slightly. "I mean, you're Head Boy! It doesn't matter if you're caught out of bed, you could just say you were patrolling or something, and Filch would have to let you off!"
"That," James said, whilst pointing across the table at her. "Is an excellent point! BUT!" He waved his hands dramatically in the air. "You are a lowly nothing, not even a prefect, and therefore could not come with me!"
"That is true," Caitlin gave a small applause for James spotting the enormous flaw in her plan. "BUT! Do you know what else you are James?" He gave it some hard thought.
"Drop dead gorgeous?" He hazarded a guess.
"No," Caitlin answered simply. "You're a" – she brought her voice down to a whisper – "animagus."
"I fail to see your point." He was a bit pissed off she didn't find him gorgeous.
"Well, there's rules against students being out of bed, but there's no rules about wild animals being out of bed is there?" James gave her a curious look; even in his sugar coma this wasn't making any sense. "Look, if you transform into a stag, then I can wrap myself in the invisibility cloak and get on your back. If Filch sees us, he'll just think something's escaped from the Forbidden Forest and let us past."
"Cait, I see two problem with your plan," James started.
"Go ahead then."
"Thank you, I will. The first is that as a stag I don't take passengers. The second is... well you know that at the minute we are running a high risk of detention?"
"I do indeed," Caitlin nodded in concurrence.
"Well if I go along with your plan, then I'll be risking Azkaban!" The house elves that were tending to the pair of them gave a little gasp at this. Caitlin turned to scold them.
"Oh relax," she said exasperatedly to them. "It's not like you're going to Azkaban!" She turned back to James. "So what do we do then?"
"Well I think we do it the old fashioned way."
And that is exactly what they did. Ten minutes later they were back in the Fat Lady's Corridor, having successively navigated themselves all the way from the kitchens, without running into anybody. They were almost there, on the final straight. As they casually strolled down the corridor, still under the invisibility cloak, they both lazily yelled out the password to the Fat Lady. They were still about 20 feet from the open portrait hole when a horrible, familiar cackle sounded behind them.
"AHA!" Filch shrieked. "Who's there?"
"Oh crumbs," Caitlin exclaimed. James laughed loudly at her choice of words, causing Filch to come charging blindly down the corridor at them.
"Run!" James shouted at her, putting his left hand on the back of her head, urging her forward and into the common room. They somehow managed to get in and shut the portrait behind them before Filch could reach them.
They both collapsed in a bedraggled heap on the floor, beside the fireplace. James lay with his back on the floor, Caitlin lying beside him, the invisibility cloak lay forgotten beside them. In all the confusion, James found that his hand was still holding on to the back of Caitlin's head. He went to remove it, so he could check his watch to see what time it now was.
"OUCH!" Caitlin screamed, and James knew why. His hand appeared to be stuck in her hair. "My hair!! James, your watch is all tangled up in it!" she moaned, as she put her hands to the back off her head, checking to see what the problem was. They both sat up.
"Don't worry I'll free it," James replied, as he lifted out his wand. He was just about to say 'Diffindo', when Caitlin grabbed his wrist.
"You're not cutting my hair!" she whispered menacingly. James looked at her blankly for a moment.
"Well then what do you suppose we do? Just stay like this?"
"If it means saving my hair," Caitlin stated, and then burst into another fit of giggles. "Look just wriggle your hand about a bit, it's sure to free itself." James did as he was told, and the sight of him concentrating so hard on rotating his wrist sent them both back into hysterical laughter.
"Caitlin!" The unmistakeable voice of Lily Evans drifted down the staircase towards them.
"Shussshhh!" Caitlin whispered, whilst putting her finger up to her lips. James had to stuff his hand in his mouth to stop himself from laughing, and Caitlin gave another small giggle. The fact that it was now about four o'clock, and they were still high on sugar, meant that the thought of Lily finding them, James' watch caught in Caitlin's hair, was now manically hilarious.
"Caitlin, it's Lily, I'm coming down the stairs, ok?" Caitlin giggled again.
"Honestly," she whispered to James. "Who does she think we'll think it is?" James nodded mutely in agreement, and looked around the common room, waiting for Lily to appear. He noticed the invisibility cloak lying beside him and an idea came into his head.
"Here, do you want to hide from her?" he whispered back to Caitlin, who looked a bit confused. "For a laugh?" Caitlin, in her current state, would clearly do anything 'for a laugh', and eagerly agreed. James lay back down on the floor again, and using the hand that was still stuck in her hair, rolled Caitlin on top of him and covered them with the invisibility cloak.
"Hello?" he heard Lily called nervously. "Is there anyone there?" He realised how strange the scene must look to her, she had obviously heard them, but now there was no one she could see.
She walked closer and closer towards the couch near to them. She obviously thought they were hiding on the other side. It was sidesplitting to watch her bracing herself as though someone was going to jump out at her as she walked cautiously towards it.
James would never know why he did it. Maybe it was the look of panic on Lily's face when she looked over the side of the couch and saw no one was there. Maybe it was because Lily would never have found them if he hadn't. Or maybe it was because he was so doped-up on chocolate, but for some reason he spoke.
"Boo!" he whispered. The strange thing was they still would have been alright if Caitlin hadn't decided to knee him hard in the groin for his stupidity. The simultaneous action of him curling in pain from his injury, and Caitlin grabbing her head, as he accidentally yanked at her hair again, caused enough movement that the invisibility cloak fell off them a bit.
They watched half in fear, half in amusement, as Lily stepped ever closer towards them. For some reason the fact that she was looking straight at them, and yet could not see them, made them start tittering again.
It was a release for James when Lily finally pulled the cloak off them, they were caught, but at least he could laugh out loud again.
"Hiya Lils," Caitlin managed before collapsing back into hysterics.
"Evans," James nodded to her, before the giggles took hold of him as well.
It took only a fraction of a second for Lily to take their current position in, and come to the wrong conclusion.
"YOU BITCH!" she screamed. Caitlin and James both tried to make their excuses but she wouldn't listen, and ran back up to her bedroom instead.
James immediately stood up, pulling his watch out of Caitlin's hair with such force that several chunks of her hair came with it. James tried to pick them off his wrist, as Caitlin rubbed the back of her head in pain. They were both thinking hard about what to do next.
"Well," Caitlin said to him, indicating the staircase that Lily had just run up. James looked blankly at her.
"Well what?"
"Well go after her then," she said exasperatedly.
"Uh no I don't think so," James answered, waving his hands in front of him like he was trying to stop traffic. "You go!"
"What?! You just said earlier on that I should stop meddling, and you were going to sort this out yourself! What happened to that?"
"Yea well, that was before this! I can't go now. There'll be no talking to her. Not after she thinks we... thinks we..." James couldn't bring himself to say it. He knew exactly what Lily had thought she had walked in on and the very thought of it angered him. I mean Caitlin was his best friend's girlfriend, just what type of person did Lily think he was?
"Well then what are we going to do?" Caitlin asked for about the fifth time that night.
"Well I don't know about you, but I'm going to speak to Sirius before Lily does," James answered, his head clear for the first time since he'd eaten all the chocolate.
"That's a good idea. I'll come with you so we can get our stories straight."
"What do you mean get our stories straight?! We haven't done anything wrong!" James shouted at her, annoyed because if Caitlin was feeling guilty, he would feel guilty, and he didn't want to feel guilty, because there was nothing to feel guilty for!
"Look I know, but you have to understand if you tell Sirius you story now, and I tell him something ever so slightly different tomorrow, it'll look even more suspicious than it already does. It's better we tell him together, ok?"
"Ok," James agreed. It would seem that it was not only his head that was now thinking straight again. The pair of them trundled up the boys' dormitory stairs eager to tell Sirius everything. If James had now lost Lily, he certainly didn't want to lose his best friend as well.
Well there you go, I absolutely hate it, and couldn't be bothered to proof read it but I'll post it anyway. Again I'm sorry for the delay, but if you find anything drastically wrong with this chapter put it in your review and I may take it down and redo it! I don't know when I'll update again, maybe next week sometime!
READ & REVIEW!!!!
Crazayladay: I'm sorry! But there's good stuff before that I promise!!
nightwanderer: KEEP THOSE PIXIES AWAY FROM ME!! I promise you'll like what happens in a few chapters! Keep reading!
Carmel March: Thank you, unfortunately you saying it kept getting better jinxed it, as that last chapter was crap. But I'll try and pick it up a bit with the next one!
BurningIce22: Thank you for reviewing. Yeah I forget about people reading these being from all over the world as well, and then I get a review at 5 in the morning, and you realise they're American!!
Oliverwoodschic: Well you'll have to wait for the next chapter to see how Sirius reacts! Sorry! (Keeps you reading grins evilly )
I love truegryffindorgrit: Change your name you eegit!
kaleidoscope0-0eyes: Yea well I worked out this story is going to be 39 chapters, so you could say I'm stretching this a bit yea. They get together before the 39th chapter though. Is it noticeable I'm stretching it? :s
Ryuu of the Broken Light: Ok your name no longer makes me think of my cousin. Phew! I didn't think you were a guy btw! Don't worry about being random... I mean, have you read this fic?
mbcgurl12: Lol if at first you don't succeed, review and review again. Just wondering, if you read through this fic again, would you tell me how long it takes you? I'm just curious. Also your 12, and this is pg-13, tut tut!! Jk!
elements-of-the-soul: Ooooooooo you were kind of right with those predictions! Well done! On the other hand, I'm becoming predictable. How horrible :( ! I now only have 2 exams left! So :P – even though I know you probably have none!
luvsirius: I'm sorry the bit with the cheering is something that I think only people from where I live do, and it doesn't come across very well when you try to right it down. I only put it in because I personally find it funny, but you should just ignore it.
b.o.r.e.d-h.e.l.l-y.e.h: I'm sorry. From now on I'm not making any more deadlines for myself, therefore I won't upset anyone, and blow up my own head!
MooningOverMoony: If cliffhangers might kill you, you probably shouldn't read on! I thrive on them! And there are worst ones to come I promise you! But thank you for your review.
i cant think of one: Your lucky! You only had to wait one day!
Ok, this chapter starts just where the beginning of the last chapter began.
It is the same events from James' point of view. Does everyone know where it's starting then? Ok, let us begin!
Chapter 19 : Misunderstandings, Chocolate and Invisibility Cloaks!
James stormed back into the Great Hall, to find Sirius and Caitlin sitting at the Gryffindor table, cooing over each other. Well, to be fair, Sirius wasn't doing much cooing himself, more lapping up Caitlin's attention.
James stormed over to them, and stood on the other side of the table from where they were sitting. He took up the standard 'I am so pissed off at you right now!' stance, – stand up straight, feet shoulder width apart, hands placed firmly on hips – and waited for a response from Sirius. There was none.
Sirius continued to tell Caitlin whatever it was that was making her giggle so much, and Caitlin continued to run her fingers along the backs of his hands. James tried again, still maintaining his stance, he took a sharp intake of breath and then blew it out slowly. Again he was ignored, and his patience ran out.
"Uh hello?!" he said forcefully, whilst repeatedly banging his fist off the table. Needless to say, this time they both looked round at him, so did most of the Hall.
Caitlin looked most affronted that James was trying to talk to Sirius, in what she obviously assumed was 'her time'. She slinked her arms around Sirius' waist, whilst he instinctively put his arm around her. She gave James a smirk to show that she wasn't giving him up. James returned it to show that he didn't care. He then turned his attention to Sirius.
"Uh, you're a bastard," he said matter-of-factly. Sirius looked at him a bit taken aback, and then started to laugh.
"Yea, I know," he replied. "But what can you do?"
"I don't think you're that bad," Caitlin interjected, and they started to coo over each other again. James banged his fist off the table once more, and Sirius broke away from a lingering kiss with Caitlin to look at him.
"Sorry," he mumbled, looking at James with slightly more concern now. "Why am I a bastard then?"
"You made me go all the way up there... to her... and ask her... and she said..." James could hardly speak he was so filled with anger. "PADFOOT HOW COULD YOU?! I HAVE TO LIVE WITH HER!" Caitlin flinched with his final outburst, and James saw Sirius tighten his grip around her.
"Prongs, calm down." He spoke slowly, and soothingly. "You're not making any sense."
"I'm sorry," James said sarcastically. "Am I upsetting your girlfriend? Do you like having a girlfriend Padfoot? Do you like me not having one? Do you like RUBBING THAT IN?!"
Sirius looked blankly round at Caitlin.
"Do you know what's going on?" he asked her. She shook her head and then they looked back at James.
"You told me to ask Evans out!" James said pointedly.
"What?!" shrieked Caitlin. She jumped away from Sirius, and stared at him absolutely infuriated – his arm that she had been supporting was left dangling in midair.
"What?!" Sirius shrugged to her. He obviously didn't see what the problem was.
"She said no!" James said, trying to show him.
"What?!" Sirius and Caitlin shouted in unison, both turning round to face him. James took a step back to survey their reaction for a moment. He was unsure of what to make of it, one thing he was positive of though, everyone at the table was now thoroughly confused.
"She said no... because it was a prank?" he began hesitantly. James stopped as he watched the pair of them slip further into bewilderment. "Look are we all on the same page here?"
"Prongs that wasn't a prank..." Sirius began.
"I can't believe you told him!" Caitlin shouted over him. "You promised you wouldn't tell!"
"I didn't tell him! I just gave him a few helpful pointers!" Sirius objected. To James they were beginning to sound like an old married couple. "I didn't come straight out and tell him! At no point did I say 'Prongs, Evans completely fancies the arse off you.'" Sirius stopped, looking completely stunned at his own stupidity. Caitlin crossed her arms and looked in the opposite direction, apparently too disgusted to look at him. A fresh wave of confusion swept over James.
"She... what?! Look, if all this is true, and... it wasn't a prank, why did she say no?!" he asked pleadingly, more directing the question at Caitlin.
"James, I don't know," Caitlin said earnestly, rising to her feet. "But I swear, I will go and sort it now, ok?" She placed her hand reassuringly on James shoulder, and then strode purposely out of the hall, still resolutely not looking at Sirius.
James slumped down on the bench opposite Sirius and sighed, before starting to bang his fist off the table again. This time several of the younger Gryffindors backed away from it, afraid of being hit by any of the cutlery that was flying about with the vibrations.
"I – DON'T – LIKE – GIRLS!" James yelled over the clatter.
"Well if that's true, then I know that if you ask Michael Dempsey from Hufflepuff, to the ball, he wouldn't say no," Sirius laughed. James stopped banging, something seemed to have hit him with the force of a train.
"I already have a date for the ball," he said flatly, staring blankly at his hands.
"Who?" Sirius asked, knocked for six.
"They asked me after Evans said no," he carried on, ignoring Sirius.
"Who?" he asked again.
"I was just so angry, I didn't know what to do... so I said yes." As he finished his eyes widened, and he looked like he was going to throw up.
"WHO?!" Sirius shouted, growing impatient. James looked up at him.
"Avril Knight," he gulped.
"Score!" Sirius said sarcastically.
-----------------
James was so annoyed at himself for saying yes to, what was considered amongst the Gryffindor boys, the most repulsive girl in the house, that he promptly put the whole situation to the back of his mind. It was Monday, before he even broached the subject of Lily again, afraid to mention her in case it reminded the other boys who he had now ended up going to the ball with. Four days, however, had passed since Caitlin promised that she would 'sort it', and he had heard nothing. Growing impatient, he finally asked Sirius whilst they were finishing a Defence Against the Dark Arts project, with Remus.
"Padfoot, d'you who I haven't seen for four days?"
"Who?" Sirius grunted, not looking up from the parchment he was furiously scribbling on.
"Evans," James replied. "I thought Cait was going to sort it?"
"Yea well, you know the way they're best friends?" Sirius asked, still not looking up from his parchment.
"Yes," replied James, slowly.
"Well, now they're swore enemies," Sirius added breezily.
"What?! How did that happen?" James asked incredulously.
"Well, whilst Caitlin was trying to sort it out she let slip that she'd told me Lily liked you, and that you knew, and so Lily probably guessed that Moony knew," he gestured towards Remus, who looked up from his textbook.
"Yea and that Wormtail knew as well," he added.
"Oh yes don't forget that Wormtail knew," Sirius agreed. "So basically, Evans is pissed that the world and his daughter knows that she wants to ride your broomstick. So she blamed it all on Caitlin, harsh words were said, and now they're never going to speak to each other again, which is 'fine by me, she's no fun anyway'," Sirius finished, mimicking Caitlin perfectly.
"They'll work it out though won't they? I mean, they're best friends," James said trying to sound concerned, secretly he was just annoyed that Caitlin hadn't persuaded Lily to surrender to him.
"Correction – were best friends. And I don't know Prongs, some serious things were said, I think Caitlin might even have told Evans to 'wise up'," Sirius said, mockingly fearful.
"The horror of it!" Remus exclaimed sarcastically.
"I mean I don't know what the big deal is anyway," Sirius said, after he had finished laughing at Moony. "Would you be that upset if Evans knew that you fancied her?" he asked James.
"Well no, but I supposed I'd be a bit annoyed if everyone else in the Gryffindor knew as well though," James answered honestly.
"Oh," Sirius said and then paused. "Well then it's a good thing that they don't then!" James noticed that he threw a look at Remus as he said this, but he didn't think anything of it. He had more pressing issues on his mind.
"Does she know about Avril yet?" he asked, hoping he could maybe rectify that problem before Lily even found out.
"I don't know," Sirius answered candidly. "I wouldn't think so though, I don't think she's spoken to anyone. Caitlin doesn't even know yet, and I'm not telling her."
"Why are you not telling her?" Remus asked, obviously as bemused as James.
"Because Caitlin hates Avril," he stated simply. "And when she finds out she is just going to curse you down dead," he added to James.
"Great, so now I have to deal with a nauseating dance partner, a homicidal Caitlin, and Evans being so uncomfortable around me, she'd probably rather share the Head quarters with Snape!" In James' eyes things couldn't get any worse.
"You haven't finished your project yet either," Remus added, indicating the forgotten piece of blank parchment that lay in James' lap.
"Oh FUCK!"
-----------------
15 minutes later James arrived down into the Great Hall for breakfast, with Sirius and Remus. He had written a project that should have taken a week, in less than 10 minutes, and the annoying thing was he would still probably get an 'Outstanding' for it.
The three of them had just sat down, and were discussing the fact that Remus hadn't spoken to Eleanor Wilson since the day he'd agreed to go to the ball with her, when Remus, keen to get the conversation away from his own shortcomings, pointed out to James that Peter was sitting with Lily just a bit down the table from them.
"Maybe you don't need Caitlin to speak to her for you after all?" he whispered slyly to James.
"Maybe not," James agreed. "Wonder what they're talking about," he mused out loud.
"Don't know, I'll find out," Sirius answered him quickly. James was just about to stop him, when his voice boomed down the hall. "WORMTAIL GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE NOW!"
James nearly hid underneath the table. Any uncomfortable situation with Lily had so far been avoided, by her barricading herself in her room. In classes he had tried to keep out of her way, and not draw any attention to himself. Sirius had now just blown this 'I'm not here, I'm truly insignificant' act, by shouting out to Peter in front of the whole frigging Hall!
James waited in trepidation for Lily's reaction. Was she going to storm out? Was she going to stand up in front of the whole Hall, and tell Sirius and him off for being 'bullying toerags' for ordering Peter around like that? Was she going to rush into his arms and declare her undying love? He was a bit surprised to see that she gave no reaction whatsoever. Well maybe he wasn't surprised, if there was one thing he had learnt, it was that Lily Evans was as stubborn as a mule. She had obviously heard, and she was obviously ignoring them. He found himself being more relieved than surprised. He was just about to start into his breakfast, thankful that no awkward circumstances had arisen when Sirius shouted out again.
"WORMTAIL COME HERE!"
"Look he's talking to me alright?" Lily answered them. Sirius must have been as taken aback by her reply as the James was, because he lowered his voice slightly.
"Evans give us our best friend back!" Sirius laughed. James watched the ensuing argument unfold before his eyes.
'She's going to blow. She's surely going to blow,' he thought, as he waited for Lily's response.
"No! You can't have him, he's my best friend now!"
'Is she joking? Is Lily Evans actually having a joke? Is she – hang on did she just stick her tongue out at us?' James felt a wave of emotions as he watched the girl he had thought was generally a bit uptight, messing about with his best friend. He thought it was time he got in on the act.
"Evans, you already have a best friend!" He knew that this was not strictly true, he knew Caitlin and she weren't talking. He knew it was foolish of him to bring this up, but part of him wanted to see her reaction, wanted to see how far he could push it. Even though he was enjoying her being a little less high strung, part of him wanted to see her go back to her usual ways. It was almost a way of him making sure he hadn't gone insane.
"Yea well I had to get rid of her, because she couldn't keep my deepest, darkest secrets! Peter here, would always keep my secrets. Wouldn't you Peter?" He was stunned. He was aware of Remus and Sirius laughing at her joke, but not much else. His mind was racing. Why was she being like this? Why was she being so open with them? Was she doing the same thing as him? Were they inadvertently testing each other without knowing it?
Lily stuck her tongue out again, bringing James out of his reverie. He laughed and then lent over to Sirius.
"Maybe I've still got a chance there," he said quietly enough that he was sure Lily could not have heard him. Sirius gave a laugh like a bark and then spun round to Lily again.
"HERE EVANS, PRONGS SAYS YOU CAN KEEP HIM! SAYS HE LIKES YOU BETTER WITH WORMTAIL AS YOUR BEST FRIEND!"
Instead of wanting to hide under the table again, at Sirius' outburst, this time James felt more confident. After all Lily had shown no objections to him up to now. He threw her a grin to convey his feelings.
"Oh well, if that's the case then you can have him back!" He and Sirius looked at each other confused. "Wouldn't want Potter to like me even more now would we?" she went on. Sirius and Remus started to give each other little uncomfortable looks, and James shifted awkwardly in his seat. This wasn't exactly how he had wanted her to react, and he certainly didn't want her shouting this out in front of the whole hall. "I mean, he already asked me to the ball last week!"
James barely had time to allow what she had just said to sink in before the others reacted. In a way he was glad they did, it covered up his real feelings and he was able to laugh the whole thing off.
It was only later, after a futile attempt in Defence Against the Dark Arts to try and get Lily to talk to him, so she could explain herself, that he told Sirius that that was it. There was no point in pursuing this any further, he had explained to him. It was too much bother.
He was giving up on Lily Evans.
-----------------
James was on his broomstick. It was a Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. He could feel the wind blowing through his hair, hear the crowd cheering his name, and he had the quaffle in his hand.
He passed it to Leanne on his right, she passed it back. He passed it to Caitlin on his left, and she passed it back quickly, almost catching him off guard, but still he caught it with the very tops of his fingertips. He flew on towards the goals, the crowds' screaming getting louder.
Suddenly Caitlin was right beside him.
"James what are you doing?!" she screamed. "You dropped the quaffle! We lost the game!"
He looked down at his right hand, where the quaffle had previously been gripped firmly, only to find it empty. He felt a searing pain as Caitlin slapped him hard across the face.
He woke with a start, to find Caitlin sitting on the edge of his bed, wearing a triumphant grin, wringing her hand that she had just slapped him with.
"How the hell did you even know I was dreaming about Quidditch?" he asked wearily, rolling over and trying to go back to sleep.
"You were making 'whooshing' noises in your sleep," Caitlin answered, a little too brightly for someone at – James opened one eye to check – one in the morning. "James, are you not even going to ask me what I'm doing in your room in the middle of the night?" she asked, when she noticed he was almost back in the land of nod.
"I'm guessing you've worn out Padfoot, and he's sent you up here to see if I could sort you out," James mumbled groggily.
"Me? Wear out Sirius?" Caitlin asked sardonically.
"Cait, seriously way too much information," James said before she say anymore.
"Ok, but James you have to get up."
"I will get up," James assured her. "At seven," he added, causing Caitlin to pout.
"James, come on, we need to talk," she whined, shaking him slightly.
"Cait, you know, we've never really been that close," James said a bit sharply, whilst sitting up in his bed. "So I can't see we'd have anything to talk about, unless it's Quidditch, which can wait 'til a reasonable hour!" With that he promptly lay back down again, and threw his covers over his head, hoping that she'd just go away.
"It's about Lily," Caitlin answered in a small voice, she was obviously a bit wounded by his remarks about them 'never being that close'. "Sirius told me about you giving up on her."
"She's not even your friend anymore," James answered from under the duvet, again a bit sharper than he had meant to.
"She will be if I do this for her," Caitlin answered more resolutely. "Get up!"
James peeked an eye out round the top of his covers to look at her. He was keen to hear what she had to say, but he was also aware of how comfortable his bed was at the same time.
"No." He swept the covers over his head again. Then he felt was Caitlin lifting them up a bit, and peeking down at him in the darkness.
"Get up, get up you sleepyhead. There's work to do around here!" she sang. James knew what she was doing and snatched the covers off her. He tried to stuff them into his ears, but still he couldn't drown out her voice. "Get up, get up, get out of bed. There's work to do around here!"
Next thing he knew, James was sitting on the edge of his bed, fully clothed, and wide-awake. Caitlin threw him another triumphant grin. He could have told her off, but as thoughts of going back to sleep were now far from his mind, he thought it futile.
"So where are we going?" he asked unconcerned. Caitlin looked crestfallen for a moment, she had obviously wanted him to congratulate her on her remarkable voice, but she quickly regained herself.
"Room of Requirement," she answered briskly, and with that she shoved him out of his bedroom door. He barely had time to grab his invisibility cloak and the Marauders' Map before they left.
They slipped silently through the corridors, under the cloak, and didn't speak, or even acknowledge each other until they had reached the corridor on the 7th floor. Once they had reached the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy, Caitlin streaked out from under the cloak. They had met absolutely no one on their trip there, not even a ghost, but James was still a little wary. He checked the map just before he uncovered himself just to make sure it was safe. All the staff seemed to be in their own quarters, apart from Filch who was patrolling the second floor corridor, Mrs Norris at his side.
'Merlin, does that man ever go to sleep,' James thought a little bitterly. The Marauders had always been a whisker away from being caught by Filch, in all of their previous adventures.
Looking up from checking the map he saw that Caitlin had already summoned the door for the Room of Requirement. She turned to face him before opening the door.
"So...?" she murmured.
"Go ahead," replied James, indicating she should go first. She seemed to brace herself before opening the door, almost not sure if she wanted to see what was behind it. She gave a little gasp as it opened. James stepped up behind her to get a better view, and found himself thinking she had braced herself for good reason.
"Jesus Cait, what did you ask it for? The land that time forgot?"
"I... I..." She was stuttering, apparently appalled at what lay before, and a little unsure if she should tell James what she asked for. "I asked it for something to help me convince you, that you and Lily were meant for each other," she finished a little more determinedly.
"But there's nothing there," James answered pointedly. And he was indeed right. They had opened the door to absolutely nothing. The room had no walls, no floor, no ceiling, no furniture, no lights, no ending. It was like looking into the abyss.
"But that means there's nothing... nothing to say your meant to be together..." A single tear fell down Caitlin's cheek. James understood how upset she would be feeling. Caitlin had always been a great fan of Divination. Anything to do with signs, or fate, or prophecies greatly intrigued her. It would be greatly upsetting for her to find that there were no signs for James and Lily.
"Well maybe the room's not saying that," James began more gently. He wasn't sure if he was trying to console Caitlin, or himself. He was also finding it a bit disconcerting that Lily and he seemed destined to be apart. "You asked it for something to help you convince me, not a sign. Maybe it's telling you to keep your nose out, so it's not helping. Maybe it's a sign to tell you not to meddle so much, just look where it's got you!" He was trying to make a joke out of it now, but he wasn't even sure he believed his own words.
Something in Caitlin seemed to light up though. She stopped crying and turned to face him, her eyes wide with significance.
"Or maybe," she began, as though she could hardly contain herself. "Maybe it means you don't need convincing. Maybe you and Lily are so meant to be that you don't need a sign. Whatever happens, the outcome will always be the same." Her eyes, now so wide that James was sure he'd never seen so much white in them before, reflected the flames dancing in the torch brackets down the corridor. She looked positively insane. Something that James had not failed to pick up on.
"No, I think I liked my explanation more," he mumbled. James did not share Caitlin's enthusiasm for fate. He liked to think he was in charge of his own destiny. Sure he liked Lily, and he was sure she liked him back, but meant to be? That was a bit far fetched. They were only 17 for goodness sake. I mean it would be great if Lily did consent to go out with him, but spend the rest of his life with her? Nah, he would just see how it went.
Caitlin was still staring at him, looking like she'd just escaped from St. Mungos.
"Cait, it's late, and I think you've had too much stress put upon you with this whole argument with Lily," James said with authority. He was starting to sound more and more like a proper Head Boy everyday, that or he was spending too much time with Remus. "I think the best thing to do would be for us to go back to our beds, and you to wake up in the morning and make up with her. Just put this whole thing with me and her to the back of your head. I will sort it myself, ok?"
Caitlin gave him a weak smile in agreement, her eyes returning to normal. She was just about to open her mouth to say something, when James noticed the flames dancing in someone else's eyes, directly behind her. Mrs Norris had found them.
Caitlin spun round to see what James was looking at, and then frantically made a dash to hide in the Room of Requirement. James caught her round the waist just in time. He was sure a room with no walls, no floor and no ceiling was not the best place to go running into. And he also had an inkling that once they went in and shut the door, there would be no way out of it again either.
He slammed the door shut from the outside and saw it melt away before his eyes. He then grabbed Caitlin by the wrist and yanked her down the corridor the opposite way from Mrs Norris, who had just ran from them to tell Filch.
Once he was sure that they were out of sight from Filch, Mrs Norris, or any wandering ghost, he stopped running and threw the invisibility cloak round them. Caitlin looked at him, alarmed at the fact they had stopped trying to get away.
"James, what?!" she whispered, but very loudly so. "We have to go! We'll get caught!"
"Not under this we won't," he said very smugly.
"But... we still... oh Merlin..." Caitlin was hyperventilating. James looked at her with deep disgust. What was her problem anyway? He did after all, do this all the time.
"Look we'll be fine," he tried to reassure her. "If we are caught, we'll just say we didn't realise it was past curfew."
Caitlin grabbed his left wrist to look at his watch.
"James it's half past two! Curfew is at 10, they're hardly going to believe us!"
"I know, I was trying to make a joke," James said through gritted teeth. He was starting to get a bit worried himself now, at the amount of noise Caitlin was making, and he knew from experience, telling her to be quiet would only make her louder.
He took out the map again. They had been running so fast that he wasn't even sure where they were. Two labelled dots told him they were on the fifth floor, a mere few metres from a secret passage that would take them to just outside the portrait that led to the kitchens. He tried to drag Caitlin along to it by the wrist again, but she was too entranced by the map to notice. She snatched it from him to look at it closer, apparently in awe of it.
Just then Filch appeared at the other end of the corridor, Mrs Norris by his side. James was struck with a horrible feeling. Filch could not see them, but Mrs Norris could smell them, and would be able to lead him straight to them. All was not lost though. If he could just get Caitlin to step a bit backwards, they would be able to drift under the tapestry on the wall, and slip, unnoticed, down the stone slide on the other side right down to the kitchen. But Caitlin was still not moving, the map still hypnotising her, yet she had failed to notice that it now showed the dot labelled Filch drawing ever closer to her.
As a last resort, James reached out and tapped the map with his wand.
"Mischief managed," he whispered. The map went blank, and James, taking advantage of Caitlin no longer being under its spell, yanked her back towards the tapestry. They were almost there when Filch gave a cackle of delight, which stopped James dead in his tracks.
"AHA!" he roared. "What's this?"
James watched horror struck as Filch picked up a blank piece of parchment that had fallen at his feet, a very old piece of parchment. James grabbed Caitlin's wrist so tightly she had to stamp on his foot to stop him. Two years he had had that map, it had been six months in the making, and now it was gone. Caitlin had dropped it!
He positively winged her through the tapestry and down the slide. They landed with a large bump just outside a portrait of a large bowl of fruit. James tickled the pear and dragged Caitlin inside, his hand over her mouth to stop her from making any more noise.
"Oh James I'm so sorry," she gasped when he finally released her.
"Don't worry about it. It doesn't matter," he lied. He couldn't be too mad with her, it was partly his fault. Him wiping it blank and dragging her backwards had shocked her so much she had dropped it.
"James I..." She went to put her hand on his shoulder, but he brushed past her, walked towards a large table in the middle of the room, and sat down at it. It was only then that Caitlin seemed to take in her surroundings. "Where are we?" she asked a bit abruptly.
"In the kitchens," James replied, yawning.
"Wow," Caitlin breathed, looking around the place. "I don't think I've been here before."
"You won't have been. It's out of bounds. Look we could be here a while, so you might as well take a seat." Caitlin walked over and took a place on the bench opposite him. "You hungry?"
"Not really," Caitlin shrugged.
"Well I am." James snapped his fingers, and 4 house elves came running. "Look I need chocolate," he told them. "Lots and lots of chocolate." Caitlin looked at him questionably. "Look I just lost one of my prized possessions. I need comforting alright?"
"I thought only girls ate chocolate for comfort?" Caitlin asked, trying to hold in a laugh.
"Well I do it too!" James answered defiantly, although laughing at himself at the same time.
-----------------
"James, do you know what I just realised?" It was about an hour later. Caitlin and he had now devoured five chocolate frogs each, seven bowls of chocolate ice cream and were three quarters of the way through an extremely large chocolate fudge cake. They were trying to come up with ideas on how to get back to the Gryffindor common room without being caught, now that they didn't have the map.
"What?" James asked, laughing for no reason. It was half three in the morning, they were high on sugar, and everything was now absolutely hilarious.
"You're Head Boy!" Caitlin said through fits of giggles.
"Only took you three months then?" They both fell about the place laughing, James actually fell into the chocolate cake, which set them off for another five minutes.
"Nooooooooo!" Caitlin cried after she'd composed herself slightly. "I mean, you're Head Boy! It doesn't matter if you're caught out of bed, you could just say you were patrolling or something, and Filch would have to let you off!"
"That," James said, whilst pointing across the table at her. "Is an excellent point! BUT!" He waved his hands dramatically in the air. "You are a lowly nothing, not even a prefect, and therefore could not come with me!"
"That is true," Caitlin gave a small applause for James spotting the enormous flaw in her plan. "BUT! Do you know what else you are James?" He gave it some hard thought.
"Drop dead gorgeous?" He hazarded a guess.
"No," Caitlin answered simply. "You're a" – she brought her voice down to a whisper – "animagus."
"I fail to see your point." He was a bit pissed off she didn't find him gorgeous.
"Well, there's rules against students being out of bed, but there's no rules about wild animals being out of bed is there?" James gave her a curious look; even in his sugar coma this wasn't making any sense. "Look, if you transform into a stag, then I can wrap myself in the invisibility cloak and get on your back. If Filch sees us, he'll just think something's escaped from the Forbidden Forest and let us past."
"Cait, I see two problem with your plan," James started.
"Go ahead then."
"Thank you, I will. The first is that as a stag I don't take passengers. The second is... well you know that at the minute we are running a high risk of detention?"
"I do indeed," Caitlin nodded in concurrence.
"Well if I go along with your plan, then I'll be risking Azkaban!" The house elves that were tending to the pair of them gave a little gasp at this. Caitlin turned to scold them.
"Oh relax," she said exasperatedly to them. "It's not like you're going to Azkaban!" She turned back to James. "So what do we do then?"
"Well I think we do it the old fashioned way."
And that is exactly what they did. Ten minutes later they were back in the Fat Lady's Corridor, having successively navigated themselves all the way from the kitchens, without running into anybody. They were almost there, on the final straight. As they casually strolled down the corridor, still under the invisibility cloak, they both lazily yelled out the password to the Fat Lady. They were still about 20 feet from the open portrait hole when a horrible, familiar cackle sounded behind them.
"AHA!" Filch shrieked. "Who's there?"
"Oh crumbs," Caitlin exclaimed. James laughed loudly at her choice of words, causing Filch to come charging blindly down the corridor at them.
"Run!" James shouted at her, putting his left hand on the back of her head, urging her forward and into the common room. They somehow managed to get in and shut the portrait behind them before Filch could reach them.
They both collapsed in a bedraggled heap on the floor, beside the fireplace. James lay with his back on the floor, Caitlin lying beside him, the invisibility cloak lay forgotten beside them. In all the confusion, James found that his hand was still holding on to the back of Caitlin's head. He went to remove it, so he could check his watch to see what time it now was.
"OUCH!" Caitlin screamed, and James knew why. His hand appeared to be stuck in her hair. "My hair!! James, your watch is all tangled up in it!" she moaned, as she put her hands to the back off her head, checking to see what the problem was. They both sat up.
"Don't worry I'll free it," James replied, as he lifted out his wand. He was just about to say 'Diffindo', when Caitlin grabbed his wrist.
"You're not cutting my hair!" she whispered menacingly. James looked at her blankly for a moment.
"Well then what do you suppose we do? Just stay like this?"
"If it means saving my hair," Caitlin stated, and then burst into another fit of giggles. "Look just wriggle your hand about a bit, it's sure to free itself." James did as he was told, and the sight of him concentrating so hard on rotating his wrist sent them both back into hysterical laughter.
"Caitlin!" The unmistakeable voice of Lily Evans drifted down the staircase towards them.
"Shussshhh!" Caitlin whispered, whilst putting her finger up to her lips. James had to stuff his hand in his mouth to stop himself from laughing, and Caitlin gave another small giggle. The fact that it was now about four o'clock, and they were still high on sugar, meant that the thought of Lily finding them, James' watch caught in Caitlin's hair, was now manically hilarious.
"Caitlin, it's Lily, I'm coming down the stairs, ok?" Caitlin giggled again.
"Honestly," she whispered to James. "Who does she think we'll think it is?" James nodded mutely in agreement, and looked around the common room, waiting for Lily to appear. He noticed the invisibility cloak lying beside him and an idea came into his head.
"Here, do you want to hide from her?" he whispered back to Caitlin, who looked a bit confused. "For a laugh?" Caitlin, in her current state, would clearly do anything 'for a laugh', and eagerly agreed. James lay back down on the floor again, and using the hand that was still stuck in her hair, rolled Caitlin on top of him and covered them with the invisibility cloak.
"Hello?" he heard Lily called nervously. "Is there anyone there?" He realised how strange the scene must look to her, she had obviously heard them, but now there was no one she could see.
She walked closer and closer towards the couch near to them. She obviously thought they were hiding on the other side. It was sidesplitting to watch her bracing herself as though someone was going to jump out at her as she walked cautiously towards it.
James would never know why he did it. Maybe it was the look of panic on Lily's face when she looked over the side of the couch and saw no one was there. Maybe it was because Lily would never have found them if he hadn't. Or maybe it was because he was so doped-up on chocolate, but for some reason he spoke.
"Boo!" he whispered. The strange thing was they still would have been alright if Caitlin hadn't decided to knee him hard in the groin for his stupidity. The simultaneous action of him curling in pain from his injury, and Caitlin grabbing her head, as he accidentally yanked at her hair again, caused enough movement that the invisibility cloak fell off them a bit.
They watched half in fear, half in amusement, as Lily stepped ever closer towards them. For some reason the fact that she was looking straight at them, and yet could not see them, made them start tittering again.
It was a release for James when Lily finally pulled the cloak off them, they were caught, but at least he could laugh out loud again.
"Hiya Lils," Caitlin managed before collapsing back into hysterics.
"Evans," James nodded to her, before the giggles took hold of him as well.
It took only a fraction of a second for Lily to take their current position in, and come to the wrong conclusion.
"YOU BITCH!" she screamed. Caitlin and James both tried to make their excuses but she wouldn't listen, and ran back up to her bedroom instead.
James immediately stood up, pulling his watch out of Caitlin's hair with such force that several chunks of her hair came with it. James tried to pick them off his wrist, as Caitlin rubbed the back of her head in pain. They were both thinking hard about what to do next.
"Well," Caitlin said to him, indicating the staircase that Lily had just run up. James looked blankly at her.
"Well what?"
"Well go after her then," she said exasperatedly.
"Uh no I don't think so," James answered, waving his hands in front of him like he was trying to stop traffic. "You go!"
"What?! You just said earlier on that I should stop meddling, and you were going to sort this out yourself! What happened to that?"
"Yea well, that was before this! I can't go now. There'll be no talking to her. Not after she thinks we... thinks we..." James couldn't bring himself to say it. He knew exactly what Lily had thought she had walked in on and the very thought of it angered him. I mean Caitlin was his best friend's girlfriend, just what type of person did Lily think he was?
"Well then what are we going to do?" Caitlin asked for about the fifth time that night.
"Well I don't know about you, but I'm going to speak to Sirius before Lily does," James answered, his head clear for the first time since he'd eaten all the chocolate.
"That's a good idea. I'll come with you so we can get our stories straight."
"What do you mean get our stories straight?! We haven't done anything wrong!" James shouted at her, annoyed because if Caitlin was feeling guilty, he would feel guilty, and he didn't want to feel guilty, because there was nothing to feel guilty for!
"Look I know, but you have to understand if you tell Sirius you story now, and I tell him something ever so slightly different tomorrow, it'll look even more suspicious than it already does. It's better we tell him together, ok?"
"Ok," James agreed. It would seem that it was not only his head that was now thinking straight again. The pair of them trundled up the boys' dormitory stairs eager to tell Sirius everything. If James had now lost Lily, he certainly didn't want to lose his best friend as well.
Well there you go, I absolutely hate it, and couldn't be bothered to proof read it but I'll post it anyway. Again I'm sorry for the delay, but if you find anything drastically wrong with this chapter put it in your review and I may take it down and redo it! I don't know when I'll update again, maybe next week sometime!
READ & REVIEW!!!!
Crazayladay: I'm sorry! But there's good stuff before that I promise!!
nightwanderer: KEEP THOSE PIXIES AWAY FROM ME!! I promise you'll like what happens in a few chapters! Keep reading!
Carmel March: Thank you, unfortunately you saying it kept getting better jinxed it, as that last chapter was crap. But I'll try and pick it up a bit with the next one!
BurningIce22: Thank you for reviewing. Yeah I forget about people reading these being from all over the world as well, and then I get a review at 5 in the morning, and you realise they're American!!
Oliverwoodschic: Well you'll have to wait for the next chapter to see how Sirius reacts! Sorry! (Keeps you reading grins evilly )
I love truegryffindorgrit: Change your name you eegit!
kaleidoscope0-0eyes: Yea well I worked out this story is going to be 39 chapters, so you could say I'm stretching this a bit yea. They get together before the 39th chapter though. Is it noticeable I'm stretching it? :s
Ryuu of the Broken Light: Ok your name no longer makes me think of my cousin. Phew! I didn't think you were a guy btw! Don't worry about being random... I mean, have you read this fic?
mbcgurl12: Lol if at first you don't succeed, review and review again. Just wondering, if you read through this fic again, would you tell me how long it takes you? I'm just curious. Also your 12, and this is pg-13, tut tut!! Jk!
elements-of-the-soul: Ooooooooo you were kind of right with those predictions! Well done! On the other hand, I'm becoming predictable. How horrible :( ! I now only have 2 exams left! So :P – even though I know you probably have none!
luvsirius: I'm sorry the bit with the cheering is something that I think only people from where I live do, and it doesn't come across very well when you try to right it down. I only put it in because I personally find it funny, but you should just ignore it.
b.o.r.e.d-h.e.l.l-y.e.h: I'm sorry. From now on I'm not making any more deadlines for myself, therefore I won't upset anyone, and blow up my own head!
MooningOverMoony: If cliffhangers might kill you, you probably shouldn't read on! I thrive on them! And there are worst ones to come I promise you! But thank you for your review.
i cant think of one: Your lucky! You only had to wait one day!