Chapter 11
The day passed swiftly as things tend to do when you're having fun. By 4 o'clock everyone had tired of lazing around the lake doing nothing. Most were hungry and full of energy.
"Alright! First to the Great Hall gets to sit next to me!" Sirius exclaimed, jumping up from the ground.
"That's a prize?" Lily asked raising an eyebrow.
"Yes." He smiled cockily at her.
"Well, go for it, but it won't do you much good as we're all going to a meeting now, not dinner."
"Oh… James, can you please tell your woman to let us get some dinner first?"
"I'm NOT his woman!"
"She's not my woman," I looked at her and smiled sweetly "yet."
"Really, Sirius, you shouldn't talk about women like they are possessions, it's unfair and – " Remus was interrupted mid-speech by Becca.
"And if you ever refer to me as 'your woman' I'll kick your ass, got it?"
"Yes ma'am." Sirius saluted her mockingly, which made Becca roll her eyes.
"He is so whipped." Peter said.
"Yes, our little Sirius is all grown up. He's finally found the value of a nice bossy woman to keep him in line, out of trouble, and completely and utterly whipped." I added. "Just like Lily."
"Hey! I'm not whipped!"
"Yes you are hun." Becca said off handedly.
"Yes I am."
"Good boy." Becca continued her conversation with Rebby and Win.
"He's totally whipped." Peter said again.
"I give him three weeks before he cracks."
"And you call yourself his best friend?" Remus asked smiling slightly and raising an inquisitive eyebrow.
"Yes, yes I do."
"Well, in that case, I've got a galleon on two weeks and a day."
"Oh, high roller, huh?"
"What can I say, I like to live dangerously. What about you peter?"
"Well, maybe you two are blind, but I've seen how long Sirius's 'relationships' last. One week, two days." Peter handed Remus, the only one everyone trusted to keep track and not spend the money accidentally, 12 sickles.
"Sirius, you want to get in on this action?" I offered.
"Wait, that wouldn't be very fair, he's the one we're betting on." Remus pointed out.
"Oh, right. How about you Will?" I turned to face him.
"Are we betting on how long until he breaks up with her or cheats on her?"
"The actual break up date, some of them manage to stick to him through one skank." I decided.
"I've got…" Will took out his money pouch and dug through it. "16 sickles and four knuts on two weeks flat."
"I'm glad to know you have so much faith in me guys."
"Not you, Sirius, your libido." I said smiling.
"You're one to talk. You can't hold onto a girlfriend because you're always pining over someone else." Sirius nodded his head in the direction of Lily, who was walking with Mikki and Rei a few steps behind us.
"Ha ha, very funny. This year will be different though. I may have given up on 'the plan' but I'm still going to calm down on the whole 'pursuing Lily' thing. This year I'm only going to date girls if I really like them, not just because they're hot or I think it'll make Lily jealous."
"Big words, I got four galleons on you eat them."
"You're on." Sirius and I shook hands and kept on walking.
"So that's four galleons on whether or not James sticks to his new resolution." Remus was taking notes in a small black book. "The bets for Sirius's relationship with Becca are Will, 16 sickles and four knuts on two weeks; Peter, 12 sickles on one week, two days; my self, 1 galleon on two weeks and a day. James, how much is your bet for?"
"You know Remus, if the whole being smart thing doesn't work out for you, you could always become a bookie." I rolled my eyes. "Put me down for 2 galleons, I've got a good feeling about this one."
"James, 2 galleons on three weeks. Gentlemen, the betting table is closed." Remus flipped the little booklet shut and stuffed it into a pocket. And people think he's the well behaved, shy one who keeps us in line. Please.
By now we had reached the doors to the castle. We split up. Lily, Rebby, Mikki, and Win went to the Great Hall, Library, and the Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff house commons. Rachel and Rei ran ahead to the Gryffindor Tower with Becca to see if they could round up people who might be lazing about in the commons. Sirius, Remus, Peter, Will and I took our sweet time walking up to the Gryffindor Tower to get my invisibility cloak and the Marauders Map, of which Will knew nothing about. He just thought we were all going to meet there.
Once we were inside the Gryffindor commons, I said I had to go to the restroom and vanished up the stairs and into our dorm. After digging out my cloak and map I walked back down and sat on the couch with the guys. We were soon joined by Becca, Rach, Rei and a couple of fourth and fifth years and one seventh year. We made introductions and had a brief conversation about our summers before Lily popped her head through the portrait hole and gestured for us to come with her.
We followed Lily down the hall where we met up with the rest of our group, a couple of Ravenclaw sixth years, a couple of Hufflepuffs of undetermined year, and a couple more Gryffindor fifth years. Mikki, Win and Rebby were standing to the side of them have a conversation in hushed tones. Mikki was the one talking, her back facing the approaching group. Just before we reached them she was shushed by Win before she could finish her sentence. I had been close enough to hear her say "Well why don't they just go out? Those two are perfect for each other, and neither of them sees it. Especially-"
Suspicious behavior is your first clue that someone is plotting something behind your back, like a hostel take over or your imminent demise. This was very curious. I wander if it has anything to do with where we were having this 'meeting' tonight. I felt like a two year old following Lily and the other girls around like they were our first grade teachers. "Alright class, single file now. Hold hands with the person in front of you and the person in back. James, would you like to be the line leader today?" I only lasted about five minutes at muggle elementary school. My parents enrolled me so that I wouldn't get caught up in the anti-muggle society that seemed to be building at the time. That and they needed somewhere to send me during the day while they were at work. Somehow sending me off to spend the day with a bunch of muggle children who thought unicorns were purple and muggle teachers who thought magic didn't exist was preferable to me spending the day with the butler and the house elves. Parents are weird.
Thankfully after Billy Thompson spilled glue on my drawing and I made him float around the room like a Kleenex on the breeze, my parents decided I should probably be home schooled like the rest of the wizarding children. My mother had hired a private tutor to teach me the basics in math, writing, reading, etc. and this was where I had first met Sirius. We had the same tutor and, once I had caught up, our sessions had been combined. Those were the good ole days. Back when a guy could runaround like a wild hippogriff and be disciplined by none. What? My parents weren't neglectful, just busy. Of course I didn't see much of them when I was younger because they were always out but- "Oof!" I had walked right into Lily's back. That's what I get for not paying attention.
"Thank you James. I needed to be knocked over today. This just completes the whole day. Now I can rest easy tonight knowing that I had a full day, including getting knocked down by you, my favorite event." Her voice was just leaking sarcasm. You could practically see it dripping down her mouth and landing on the floor in a big puddle of sarcastic goop. I need to get my brain checked; that was a horrible metaphor type thing.
"Sorry Lils, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."
"Do you ever pay attention to anything?"
"Yes, on occasion I pay attention to-" at this point I had planned on saying 'your ass' but I thought that perhaps she wouldn't appreciate this comment. Better to save that one for Sirius later. Instead I finished out with "Dumbledore, mainly because his sense of humor amuses me. It's actually quite similar to-"
"I don't care, Potter. Now, watch what I do so you know bloody well how to get in yourself next time."
"What? We're here? But there aren't any rooms along this corridor."
"That's what you think." Lily sashayed away, then back, then away again. When she passed a certain point, a door appeared in the wall to her left. "Make sure you think about a place for defense practice and tutoring when you walk past the spot."
I looked over my shoulder at Sirius and Remus who also looked surprised that Lily Evans, the one who follows all of the rules, no matter how silly, had discovered a secret room that the Marauders had not. Also, the universe has just come to a standstill and pigs are flying.
Lily opened the door and we all filed in after her. The room was filled with squishy chairs and couches on one end next to a big fireplace, a large platter of finger foods on a table in the center. At the other end was a large open space, the floor of which was matted and the walls around it padded; perfect for dueling practice. The walls around the couch area were covered in shelves filled with books, most on defensive magic, a few on charms and transfiguration. I was completely stunned.
"Welcome," Lily said, smiling satisfactorily at my amazed expression, "to the Room of Requirements."
"So this is why you wanted me to bring the you-know-what, so that we can add it, right?"
"Yes, that and just in case we leave late and need to avoid teachers." She turned to Becca who had brought a backpack full of all the books Lily had bought over the summer for defense with her. "Becca would you take the books out and put them on that table right there? Everyone, gather round this table, I've got some announcements to make." She waited while everyone shuffled over next to the table. "Okay, So this year meetings will be scheduled for every Thursday and Friday unless you receive an owl saying otherwise from me, Rebby, or Becca."
Rebby and Becca, who were standing next to Lily, stood up straight and saluted, military style. "Ma'am, reporting for duty ma'am!" they said in unison.
"Also, we have some new people joining us, I believe you know or have at least heard of the Marauders."
"Um, why are they here?" one of the Ravenclaws asked. It was a girl who had spoken up, she had black eyes set into a heart shaped face outlined by black hair. She crossed her arms over her curvy frame and gave raised an eyebrow at Lily, occasionally glancing at Sirius with menace. Wait, I know her…
"Don't I know you from somewhere?" Sirius asked, a confused look on his face. Way to go Sirius.
"Yes, you do know me. We dated for two weeks!" the girl was now extremely mad. This was not good.
"They are here because I invited them to be here." Lily said with a severe note in her voice. Sometimes she sounded like McGonagall. It was scary. "Now, Marley, Sirius, shake hands, make up, move on, and get over it. We're no here to berate Sirius for his dating habits, though someone at some point probably should." She threw Remus and I dirty looks.
"Hey, don't look at me, I'm the voice of reason, remember?" Remus said, raising both hands in a gesture of innocence.
I raised an eyebrow at him then turned back to Lily and said "Yeah, guilty as charged, I'll be sure to beat him severely with a rolled up newspaper when we get home." I gave her a wink, and she rolled her eyes and turned back to the small crowd of people.
"I picked up some new books on defense this summer while I was in Diagon Alley. You can thank James Potter, our new financial backer, for that." I gave the people a smile and a wink, raising up on my toes and rocking back to my heels. What? It's a nervous reaction. "Most of the books are on magical defenses, but we also picked up some books on different forms of martial arts. This year I'd like to work on some wandless defense as well." There was a lot of excited murmuring at this, especially from the guys. "All right, that's it. Let's break into groups and search through these new books for some spells to work on next time." With that everyone took a book and wandered off to their own little corner to look through the books.
Sirius, Remus, Peter and I picked a few books and sat in the middle of the dueling area. We delved into the books, only talking when one of us found a spell we thought might be useful. Occasionally Sirius or I would throw a paper airplane of make gusts of wind flip the pages on the books. After two hours of research, one of our gusts of wind finally got to someone, namely Remus, who then proceeded to make Sirius's book float into the air and drop onto his head. A mock duel ensued, the victor of which was impossible to determine as Sirius had cast a laughing charm at Remus at the same moment that Remus had cast the , resulting in neither of them being fit to continue the mock duel.
Their actions had attracted a small crowd of spectators, including Lily, who was trying desperately not to laugh at them, and Rebby and Becca, who were plotting something sinister if the look on their faces was any kind of clue. Lily got control of her self and walked over to the two boys, releasing them from the curses.
"Alright, everyone pair up and go over the basics. That's enough research for one night, as these two boneheads have just proven." Lily gestured to Remus and Sirius who lay exhausted on the floor. Everyone split up and worked on basic shielding spells and curses and counter curses. At around 10:30 everyone took a break for some dinner, then continued with either research, last minute summer homework, or dueling practice. People didn't start to filter out of the room to get back to their dorms until around midnight. At some point Peter left with Will, Mikki, Win, and Rei. They were followed shortly by Remus and Rach. The only people left were Lily, Rebby, Becca, Sirius, and I.
"Okay, we're going to call it a night, you want us to grab the books?" Rebby asked as she walked towards the door with Becca.
"No, I'll get them." Lily turned and walked over to the pile of books and began putting them into the backpack.
"Ready to go, mate?" Sirius asked me. "If we walk fast we can catch up to Rebby and Becca." Lily was still picking up books and putting them into the backpack. Now I'm not stupid, I know an opportunity when I see one.
"Yeah, you go on ahead, I'll be along in a minute." I said to him, and then walked to the far end of the room where Sirius, Peter, Remus, and I had left our books earlier. I carried the books over to Lily and handed them to her to put into the bag.
"Oh, thanks." She said, taking the books and shoving them into the backpack as well. The thing was so full I was pretty sure that if she picked it up she would fall over backwards.
She attempted to put the bag on her shoulders, but couldn't get it off the table. "Here," I said, picking up the bag and putting it on my own shoulders instead.
"Um, thanks." She said. Her tone was somewhere between grateful and suspicious with a touch of embarrassment and sarcasm thrown in.
We stepped out of the Room of Requirements, the door vanishing behind us, and proceeded down the hall towards the Gryffindor Tower. I checked my map occasionally, making sure to avoid any corridors leading to teachers. After a while Lily asked "This isn't just some scheme to butter me up before asking me out again, is it?"
"What? The book carrying?"
"No, the new attitude; you being nice, your lack of ego, your helpfulness, all of it; the entire friendship thing we're working on here. It's not just leading up to you asking me to Hogsmeade the first chance you get, is it?"
I paused before I answered the question. "Well, not purposefully. I'm trying to show you the real me, not the me that attacks you daily with requests for dates, snogging sessions, and marriage." I smirked at the last bit. "I still like you, and I still want to ask you out. I'm just being patient. Playing hard to get." I gave her a sly wink "I'm waiting for you to come to me."
"Your reasoning in this is?"
"I figure, you don't want to go out with me because I'm a git most of the time, all of the time around you thus far. And you don't want to go out with me because I won't leave you alone. My theory is, if I leave you be, let you have some space and see the real me, the 'me' that isn't a git, then maybe you'll come around." Lily snorted in amusement. "I'm not saying it'll be instantaneous, I know it won't, and I'm not saying it'll work, but I figure, what the hell? It's worth a try. To use a muggle cliché, I'm putting the ball in your court, you're in charge, and you get the next move. All I can do is sit around and hope you'll come around." I looked over at her. She was walking with a bowed head, thinking hard by the looks of it. She nodded her head slightly and kept walking.
The rest of the trip back to the tower was silent. We didn't talk until we got back to the commons and I gave her the backpack full of books and told her goodnight. She just nodded silently in response, just as she had after my 'speech' in the corridor, took the bag, and walked up the stairs. I watched her go, not sure if I had done the right thing by telling her why I had had my sudden change of attitude. So far, it looked as if I hadn't. If I was lucky she would just act a little embarrassed around me for a couple of days. If I wasn't, she'd probably run off and file for a restraining order. And things weren't looking up.
So much for 'honesty is the best policy'.