And there will come a time, you'll see, with no more tears.
And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears.
Get over your hill and see what you find there,
With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair
After the Storm, Mumford and Sons
Marauder, by definition, is someone that raids, pillages, and plunders. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter didn't really consider themselves thieves, but they did love to break the rules, and the title sounded very cool. Most of the time the nickname was sneered by a teacher or a fellow classmate (Lily Evans) "the marauders" but there were some that said it with nothing but admiration, like Adelaide Deveo.
Despite her fanatical and sometimes hostile relationship with Sirius Black, Adelaide had become really fond of the marauders. She had partnered with Remus a few times in Defense, had Peter help her with a Care of Magical Creatures essay, sat around the common room and joked with James, and even shared a few shots of firewhiskey with Sirius one cold weekend. She still spent most of her time with her other friends, but Remus liked to think that the Marauders were keeping an extra eye on her, helping her build the support system that he had.
The biggest issue with Adelaide was the way she was reacting to whatever fears she had developed since the incident on Halloween. She was now twice as disruptive in classes, three times more destructive in the corridors, and infinitely fonder of firewhiskey. She had racked up more detentions in a week then James Potter had in the last month and nearly every professor had pulled her to the side for an ultimately unsuccessful conversation about her attitude. The worst incident was when Adelaide , in a fit of rage, rugby tackled Arielle Dolohov into the girl's bathroom and punched her until she successfully broke her nose and her wand. Sirius was the only marauder to witness the event. He talked about it for hours that night, laughing at the look on the Slytherin's face as Adelaide attacked their prefect.
"And then after she had finished," Sirius said through loud laughter "She got up, tossed the broken wand over to Parkinson, took a bow, and walked herself to professor McGonagall to report what she had done."
"How did this whole thing start?" James asked with a slight smile. He disapproved of Adelaide's reckless behavior, but he loved a good Slytherin getting punched story as much as the next Gryffindor.
"Dolohov said her mother was a squib and her friends were all mudbloods. Then she called her fat and ugly or something. It was stupid really, she could have just ignored her but I have to say it was one of the more entertaining things I've seen this year."
"Except now she'll be in a month's worth of detentions and the Slytherins will be out for her blood." Remus said with a sigh.
"She has been acting really impulsively lately." Peter added "Did you see her snogging Ray Pierce in the Great Hall yesterday? No one wants to see that while their trying to eat dinner."
"She was dryhumping him is what she was doing." James said with a disgusted face "Even Lily got mad at her for that one. I heard her arguing with her in the common room this afternoon."
"Who the fuck is Ray Pierce?" Sirius asked with raised eyebrows.
"He's a Ravenclaw, sits behind us in Potions. You remember him Padfoot. He gives us his notes all the time." Peter said.
"That twitchy bloke with the red hair?"
"What if she gets expelled?" James said, more to Remus than anyone else, "What the hell will she do if she gets kicked out of Hogwarts?"
"Do you really think Dumbledore will do that?"
"I think it's getting to the point where I would if I were him."
"I'm sure this is just a phase. She'll calm down."
James thought for a minute "Yeah, yeah I suppose she will…I might be able to ….I've got to run up to the owlery alright? I'll see you guys in a bit."
As it turned out, the ingenious plan James thought he had come up that night backfired on him the next morning. The Marauders were eating their breakfast when Adelaide Deveo came bouncing over with a smile on her face and a letter in her hand.
"James, could I have a word?" she asked.
He had a bit of a worried expression on his face, but he nodded and Adelaide plopped down next to him.
"I received this this morning," she said pointing to the letter "it's from Jack."
"Is it?" James asked nervously.
She smiled and then suddenly grabbed him by his tie and kissed him full on the mouth. Remus and Peter both nearly fell off the bench ,and Sirius immediately started choking on his tea.
Adelaide was still smiling at James' horrified face as she pulled away. "Is that what you wanted?" she asked sweetly. He shook his head. "Good because if I found out you were messing Lily around I'd kill you." She stood up and pocketed the letter. "Stop writing to my brother arsehole. I'm not a child. Oh and Black you may want to wipe the spit from your face."
So aside from being extremely embarrassed, James had to endure the constant ridicule from Sirius and the angry glares of Ray Pierce, who was now apparently Addie's boyfriend. Writing to Jack hadn't accomplished much, but at least James had tried. Addie seemed to see it as an act of compassion. She simply pretended that it had never happened. Her boyfriend was another story.
"Oi Prongs," Sirius whispered as he copied Remus's History of Magic essay in the library "ask the ginger why the fuck he keeps staring over here."
"You know why Padfoot," James said as he furiously crossed a word out, "it's because his girlfriend snogged me yesterday."
"His girlfriend?" Sirius scoffed "Yeah right, she barely gives the bloke the time of day. Their little relationship is a joke."
"Just ignore him." Remus said.
"I'm trying not to be angry with Addie for the snog but not only do I have Mr. freckles glaring at me all day, I had to have a very awkward conversation with Lily."
Sirius laughed "About what?"
"Well I didn't want her to think I'd given up on her."
"I don't think she thought that Prongs. She's probably the one that told Adelaide to do it." Remus said.
"You're probably right, and anyway she reminded me I was an absolute toe-rag. So I figure everything is business as usual."
"At least it will be once I pop Peirce's eyeballs out of his skull."
"Sirius, what is wrong with you?" Remus demanded.
"He keeps looking over here!"
"He's looking at James not you."
"I don't care, it's annoying."
What was truly annoying (although the other marauders would never tell him this for fear of pissing him off) was how much time Sirius spent talking about Adelaide Deveo. It was constant a constant stream of recapping their arguments, complaining about her, critiquing everything she said and did.
"How is it that you know everything she has done all day?" James asked him one night.
Sirius stared at him for a minute, as if thinking about his answer, "Because I pay attention."
"Yeah, it's sort of like how James always notices when Lily's answered a question right or wears a new color of nail polish." Peter said.
"It is NOTHING like that." Sirius snapped.
"If you say so Padfoot."
"I hate her."
"I'm sure you do mate."
"No really. I hate her and I am perfectly accepting of the fact that she hates me almost as much."
The funny thing was Adelaide actually didn't hate Sirius, which in turn made it obvious that Sirius didn't hate her. One night the marauders came into the common room to find Adelaide fast asleep at one of the tables.
"James what time is it?" Sirius asked as he casually glanced at her.
"Five to seven." James replied as he scoped the common room out for Lily (he hadn't had the chance to ask her out that day).
Sirius nodded and then walked right over to where Adelaide was sitting. He snapped his fingers in her face, "Deveo, wake up!"
Finally her head shot up "Damnit Black…"
"You're about to be late for detention."
"Bullocks!" she said as she scrambled to put everything in her bag.
"What is this one for?" Remus asked disapprovingly.
"Please say it's for punching Dolohov." Sirius laughed.
Adelaide smiled at him and stood up "Thanks Black, I'll see you gentleman later."
Remus was just opening his mouth to question Sirius' motives when Adelaide called from across the room "Black?"
"Yeah?"
"I know you're not…like the rest of them. I'm sorry."
Sirius just stared at her until James nudged him "Oh, Thanks. Um… no worries Deveo."
"Things would probably be nicer around here if we were friends yeah?"
"Yeah, you're probably right."
She smiled radiantly "Alright then, I'll see you around!"
"What the fuck was that?" James asked.
"What was I supposed to say?"
James and Peter laughed at him. "She actually made you speechless."
"Shut up. It's not a big deal! I was getting sick of rowing all the time anyway."
Remus smiled "I agree. I've been sick of it since school started."
"What a joyous day!" James said with mock enthusiasm "Sirius Black and Adelaide Deveo are friends!"
Of course that didn't even last twenty four hours.
Remus had just finished showering all of the mud from Herbology off of himself when the dormitory door flew open. James and Sirius came storming in. Remus could tell by the exasperated expression on Sirius' face that James was mothering him again.
"You're amazing you are." James said angrily.
"That's what mummy always told me."
"You JUST managed to make things civil between you and Dev. Literally JUST YESTERDAY you two decided to be friends."
"So?"
"So? SO? So why in the name of Merlin's holiest fucking socks would you think it's a good idea to start a row with her boyfriend?!"
Sirius laid back on his bed and started to absentmindedly flip through that morning's paper. "He's a dodgy little bloke. I don't like him."
"Who cares if he's dodgy, you're not the one dating him!"
"He's not bad Sirius," Remus chimed in "I know him from arithmacy."
"Moony your ongoing friendship with us is a clear indicator of your piss poor sense of character so…"
"Padfoot, I don't care if the kid is a death eater prodigy you can't just randomly fire curses at him in the corridors!"
"Why are you so hacked off?"
"Now there is going to be a giant row! Do you realize how many times Lily has bitched me out about the way you talk to Adelaide? Six times mate, six times this week alone! For some reason I'm responsible for every word out of your mouth…"
"So it's back to Lily as usual. Change the record James."
"It's the fact that it was completely unprovoked that pisses me off Sirius. He wasn't even glaring at me anymore! Why can't you just leave it alone? Why do you always have to get her all fired up?!"
"It wasn't necessarily unprovoked mate." Sirius said with a sigh.
"What does that mean?"
"It means that I have a theory_"
"Here we go" Remus mumbled.
"I think he's having it off with Adelaide's mate."
"What?"
"The blonde Hufflepuff, Cresswold or something, I was looking at the map last night and I saw them together …like really close together and alone…"
"Sirius." James warned.
"Oh come on James, that's really bloody low. Here the girl has lost her entire family and spent the last month screaming at me every day and this fucking prat decides to go off and snog her best friend."
"You don't know for sure that he's snogging anyone." Remus reminded him "You're assuming."
"I am using deductive reasoning skills to draw a conclusion."
"Plus you said it yourself, Adelaide doesn't seem to care all that much about him. You called their relationship a joke."
"Of course it is, but that doesn't mean he has to ruin one of her friendships. He's an arsehole."
"Even if it is true," James said "and he is cheating, why did you decide to take it upon yourself to punish him? You told me that you could barely tolerate Adelaide and now you're defending her honor? What is going on with you Padfoot?"
"Nothing is going on with me. I saw someone doing something wrong so I punished them."
James continued to stare at Sirius with raised eyebrows. "Sirius you see blokes in this school cheat on their girlfriends all the time. I actually witnessed you high fiving Connor Bailey when we ran into him and that Ravenclaw girl on the third floor. His girlfriend, or ex-girlfriend rather, Mary McDonald is your potions partner. I know that girl is nothing but nice to you…"
"It's different Prongs."
"How?"
"Because Adelaide is in a different situation."
"So you did it out of pity?"
"I don't do anything out of pity."
"Well what then?"
"I just don't think its right for him to make her even more miserable than she already is."
"You spent every day of the last month trying to make her even more miserable then she already is."
"Oh stuff it James! I don't have to explain myself to you! I did what I did and it's done! If little Miss breathesfire wants to destroy me to defend her smarmy boyfriend she knows where to find me!"
Remus sighed "Sirius you really have to learn how to keep your nose down."
"I keep my nose down plenty! Problem is that I do what I think is right, which doesn't always coincide with what everyone else thinks is right."
"Yeah but what goes on in Addie and Peirce's relationship isn't really any of your business."
Sirius just rolled his eyes. "She doesn't deserve it Moony. You know that. She may be a monstrous bitch but she deserves much better than that. I'm not sorry and if she asks who gave her boyfriend an elephant's trunk I'll tell her plain out."
"You get bored with school work yeah? That's why you love drama so much?"
Sirius laughed "It probably has something to do with my upbringing."
"Sirius," James said from across the room where he was staring at him suspiciously "I'll be honest, this whole knight in shining armor bullocks is really out of character for you."
"James please just let it drop."
"I mean you walk around here every day oblivious to over half this school's existence and then all of the sudden you're all concerned with who deserves to be cheated on and who _"
"I'm not concerned. I saw something, it pissed me off, and I reacted. That is a very characteristic process for me."
"You only care about yourself, your motorcycle, and the marauders mate. You say it all the time."
"I know I do."
"Sometimes you don't even defend Peter when the Slytherins start in on him,"
"He can take care of himself."
"Deveo can't?"
"I don't know James. I honestly don't. It was impulse. I saw him, remembered what he did, and I jinxed him. He deserved it and I'm not sorry. That's all there is to it. Now can we please just…why the bloody fuck are you looking at me like that?"
James was staring at Sirius like he had just been diagnosed with a terminal illness.
"Oh Sirius," he said with a pained expression "Noooooo."
"What?"
"Please don't tell me that you would honestly be that thick."
"Prongs what are you on about?"
"I knew this was going to happen! Of all the girls in this castle you have to fancy …"
"WHOA, WHOA, WHOA," Sirius said, suddenly very loud "no one said anything about me fancying anyone."
"So you don't then? You don't have any sort of feelings for Deveo?"
"Of course I don't!"
James looked at him and then shook his head "I don't believe you."
"You're delusional."
"Look mate, I know you. I know the way you work. You don't make a point to jinx randoms unless they've done something to someone you care about…..or they're in Slytherin"
"James don't…"
"And you're not the type of bloke to just befriend girls either."
"Alright fine I'll admit it," Sirius said with a sigh "I did it out of pity."
"You're so full of shit."
"Don't piss me off alright? I don't fancy Deveo. I just think her boyfriend is an arsehole. That's it."
"Good , that had better be it. Fancying her would be the stupidest thing you could ever do."
"I agree."
"So promise me that you won't."
"I don't make stupid promises."
"Sirius..."
"Fine, I promise."
"I don't know why you're laughing I'm being completely serious….don't you dare make that stupid joke."
Sirius closed his mouth and continued to grin. "You are acting so much like Evans right now it's unbelievable."
"Adelaide Deveo has more baggage than the Hogwarts Express could carry and you can barely manage your own…"
"Haven't I just promised you that I don't fancy her? I barely like her as a person. I respect her but I don't particularly care for her personality."
"You spend a lot of time talking about her. You notice just about everything she says or does…"
"That's because she pisses me off!"
"Remus!" James yelled "Do you think he fancies her?"
"Don't drag me into this."
"Well do you?"
"Of course he doesn't." Sirius said confidently.
"I… I think he understands that it would be a horrible mistake …"
"But do you think he fancies her?"
"It's a little… strange how important she's become in your life these past few weeks."
"WHAT?" Sirius snapped "She's not important in my life!"
"You rant about her every day, make fun of her in classes and at meals, argue with her in the corridors, position yourself in certain places at certain times during the day so that you could readily initiate an argument, and now your defending her from a cheating boyfriend…"
"How is that any different than the way we treat the Slytherins?!"
"Because of that last bit idiot!" James said, "There's a fine line between love and hate and there is an obvious difference between the way you hate the Slytherins and the way you hate her."
"This is the most ridiculous conversation we've ever had. I do not fancy Deveo. I don't fancy anyone. You two are really starting to piss me off."
"Fine Sirius we'll let it drop. It's not a big deal right James?"
"I just don't want to see you get hurt mate. If you keep pissing her off she's liable to kill you and if…if you do start to fancy her…well, you're gonna wish she had killed you."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Falling in love with that girl would be suicide."
"James…" Remus warned, he was getting dangerously close to exposing all of the secrets he had made Remus promise to keep for Adelaide's sake.
"I thought you said you didn't buy all this curse bullocks." Sirius said "You said it was just the school…"
"It is." He said quickly. "That's all I'll say about this alright. Just please don't attack anyone else she cares about."
"Fine."
Adelaide's retaliation for her boyfriend's elephant trunk was not as bad as they all expected. She walked by them in the common room that night, said hello to all of them, and raised her eyebrows at Sirius expectantly.
"I'm not going to apologize." Sirius said.
"I suppose you had a reason to jinx my boyfriend?"
Sirius was quiet for a second. Remus prayed he wouldn't be stupid enough to tell her about his "theory".
"Nope." Sirius said simply.
Adelaide shook her head and waved her wand "I thought so" she said.
Suddenly Sirius grabbed the nearest wastebasket and started puking up what looked like slugs.
"Have a nice evening Black." She said as she walked away.
Sirius puked most of that night, but he didn't point his wand at her back as she walked away, he never plotted any kind of revenge, and when he saw her the next day he didn't retaliate at all, simply asked her for a mint.
It was this more than anything that proved to Remus that James had been absolutely right.
Sirius fancied Adelaide.