James sat at his usual spot in the Gryffindor table. He absently chewed on some toast while looking towards the younger Gryffindors, wondering which of them would be best for the Quidditch team. They all looked scrawny and helpless, huddling together and whispering. They had all taken to wearing some sort of green accessory, like a wristband or necklace. James had heard them talking: it was supposed to make them look like Slytherins in case You-Know-You invaded the castle.
"James," a voice said, calling him back from his reverie. Sirius was leaning forward, a grin on his face that had trouble written all over it.
"I've got a great idea for a prank. First, we break into Slughorn's office, then we look into his potions stores—"
"I'm Head Boy, Padfoot, I can't be pulling pranks with you lot anymore," James said irritably.
"Head Boy, my ass. Is that all you care about now?"
Remus looked up now, sipping primly at some tea, unsure of whether to intervene. Somehow, this ticked James off. "Can you act a little less… middle aged?" he demanded, looking at Remus.
"Hey, leave him alone! It's not our fault you're having problems with Lily!" Sirius said. He had guessed right, and James bristled, his hands curling into fists on the table. Now Peter and Remus were glancing over at the seventh year girls', and they saw Dorcas, Mary, Marlene, and Hestia, but no sight of Lily.
"Lily?" Marlene asked, leaning over unhelpfully, her blonde hair swinging behind her. "Haven't seen her this morning. Are we talking about her?"
James said "No" at about the same time as Sirius said "Yes."
Marlene seemed puzzled. "She's very busy, you know," she said, giving James a look.
"I know," James sighed. "And I'm the lazy idiot who never helps her, I get it. Thanks."
With that, James left the table. Sirius watched him go before turning to Marlene, who was biting her lip (anyone who'd known her long enough knew that this was the telltale sign that she was upset).
"It's not your fault," Sirius said. "He gets into these… moods, you know, and then nothing you say is right."
"About Lily…" Marlene said.
Sirius nodded, crunching on some bacon. "Ever since Lily, he's been insane."
Marlene noticed the way Sirius casually told her that his best mate was crazy like it was normal breakfast conversation, before shaking her head. She didn't want to say it, but ever since James, Lily had been insane too.
! #$%^&*
Professor Slughorn cleared his throat when he passed James' potion, which was hissing like an angry cat. James knew Slughorn would never say anything to the Head Boy, who also happened to be in the Slug Club, but his potion was veering towards a complete disaster, and all he could do was desperately fan the deep purple fumes that were starting to rise up.
He turned to the girl next to him, Amelia Bones, who seemed to be handling her love potion well, the pale pink surface shivering and bubbling.
"D'you know what I did wrong?" he asked, stirring, which only seemed to aggravate the smoke.
"Dunno…" Amelia said, frowning at his cauldron. "Maybe you put it in the wrong order?"
James shrugged.
Suddenly, a tense, angry voice sounded from behind him, whispering, "You put rose stems in with the rose thorns, Potter."
James turned around to see a furious-looking Lily. Her potion was almost violently pink, and heart-shaped bubbles floated up from her cauldron.
"Excellent, excellent," Slughorn had commented when he'd passed her.
"How do I fix it?" James whispered.
"Don't bother, just go play Quidditch," she almost snarled, taking a phial and uncapping it. James watched her delicately plunge the glass into her potion, and put the stopper back on.
James tried a different tactic. "How will I learn from my mistake if I don't try to fix it?"
He saw Lily hesitate, knowing that she was always one to try and teach people things.
"Lower the fire. Turn counterclockwise for two minutes. Add essence of marigold and powdered ginger root. Then raise the fire quickly."
James did as she said, seeing the color turn from a stormy gray to a bright gold and then a violent red, which seethed and foamed when he heated it to become a demure pink.
"Ah, much better, Mr. Potter! Surely it was only a temporary lapse, and you've fixed it wonderfully."
"Thank you, Professor."
He turned to shoot Lily an appreciative grin, but she had already gotten up. Her fire was off, and she was at the back of the classroom, putting unused ingredients back into Slughorn's stores.
James winced, wondering whether Sirius would really go through with his plan and steal from there. He hadn't listened far enough to hear what exactly Sirius planned to do, and he regretted it now.
Having finished his potion thanks to Lily, James busied himself with a phial, bottling up a small amount of his potion for Slughorn to grade. The other students were finishing too, each of them producing a small sample of potion that ranged from angry magenta to pinks that were so pale they verged on white.
James noticed there was one student who was still seated, stirring a cauldron, and it was a certain hook-nosed, greasy-haired someone who was looking at James sullenly.
"What?" James accused, holding Snape's gaze, but the Slytherin didn't answer. James frowned and waved his wand, scrubbing the table clean and sending the scraps of ingredients sailing into a dustbin.
When he looked up, Snape was still staring intently at him, all while stirring his potion, which was a dark green, with thick tendrils of smoke that smelled of pungent tree sap and tar.
"Looks like you've royally cocked up your love potion, Snivellus," James said.
"This isn't a love potion," Snape said, with deadly calm. "This is a new poison that I have created. If even a single drop of it were to touch your skin, you would be found dead in your sleep the next morning… of 'natural causes.'"
James felt a shiver run down his back, and the faces of the people he cared about most danced in front of him—Lily, Sirius, Remus, Peter… He imagined them being found lifeless in their beds one morning.
"Don't you threaten me," James snarled. He pushed past Snape and thought he heard the echoes of a slight snicker, but couldn't be sure.
! #$%^&*
James was thoroughly worn out by that afternoon, but he was, after all, Quidditch captain, and there was a large gaggle of excited Gryffindors ready to try out for a position on the House team. A few first years were in a corner of the pitch, whacking each other with their broomsticks, and James shot them a doubtful look.
James tapped his wand on his throat, muttering, "Sonorus."
"EXISTING TEAM MEMBERS, HERE!" James shouted, his magically amplified voice bouncing around the pitch, and the students that had been previously zooming around the air changed courses and landed lightly near him.
He counted four, including himself, which was one less than the five players that were left from the previous year's team. "WHO'S MISSING?" James asked, accidentally blasting the question again. Everyone covered their ears, even the few Gryffindors who were in the stands watching. James tapped his throat again, "Quietus."
"Sorry," he said sheepishly.
"My ears," Dorcas Meadowes muttered weakly, clutching at her head.
"Where's Sirius?" James asked.
"Dunno," Dorcas answered, feeling the need to represent Sirius as she was the other Beater. "Haven't seen him today."
James remembered the row they'd had that morning and he smacked himself internally. It seemed so long ago now, and he wished they could move on from it, having forgotten all about it already, but it seemed Sirius had taken it very personally.
"All right… It doesn't matter, we'll go on without him," James said, running both hands through his hair.
"Are we letting someone else try out for Beater?" Fabian Prewett asked.
"No! He's staying as Beater."
Someone grumbled something about favoritism, but James had already turned to the small crowd that was waiting anxiously on one end of the Quidditch pitch.
"Sonorus," James muttered again, before turning to the hopeful Gryffindors.
"WE ARE IN NEED OF TWO NEW PLAYERS," James shouted. "A CHASER AND A KEEPER. IF YOU WANTED A DIFFERENT POSITION, PLEASE LEAVE."
There was a collective groan, and James frowned, knowing that many of them probably wanted to be Seeker, but James wasn't going to let go of sixth-year Benjy Fenwick, who had trained with the team for five years.
"CHASER TRYOUTS, TO THE LEFT. KEEPER TRYOUTS, TO THE RIGHT," James yelled, as the group separated into two.
A young, toothy boy asked, "What if I want to do both?"
James glowered at him and that was all the answer he needed, shuffling meekly to the Chaser side. James nodded at a few fourth and fifth years that he knew, before going to pick up a Quaffle. He tossed it to Fabian, a fellow Chaser, like James, who caught it expertly.
"KEEPERS, GO TO FABIAN. BLOCK THREE OF HIS GOALS. CHASERS, WITH ME, AND WE'LL PRACTICE PASSING THE QUAFFLE."
James throat was starting to feel sore as he went to get a second Quaffle. He mounted his broom, the Quaffle nestled under his arm like it was second nature, and kicked off, rising up into the air. The others were getting their brooms ready, including a few of the first-years, who looked like they were scared to actually go up into the air.
To pass the time while the others joined him, James flew in lazy circles, observing the Quidditch pitch, and feeling the cool breeze ruffle his hair. There were a few smudges of black-and-red on the stands that he took to be Gryffindor spectators, and he flew a little lower, trying to find Sirius so he could have a proper chat with him.
He saw someone waving to him down below, and James saw that it was Marlene, who was just a flash of blonde from that distance. Squinting into his glasses, James saw another figure next to her, who was pulling her flailing arm down. This indistinct figure was bright red, and before James could think, he let out a gasp.
"LILY?"
James covered his mouth as soon as he'd said it. He had forgotten about the Amplifying Charm, and every single Gryffindor looked up at James, having heard it like a freakishly loud bellow.
James cleared his throat, which again rang out across the pitch, before using the counter charm. He flew down to where Marlene and Lily were, the latter with her arms crossed, looking very unhappy.
"And why did you have to blast that across all of Hogwarts?" she asked, frowning at him.
"I was surprised. I didn't think you'd come," James said, shrugging.
"Oh, and believe me, I'd much rather be in the castle doing something productive, but…"
"Big Bad Marlene forced you to come, yes, we know," her friend said, laughing.
"Did you see Sirius?" James asked, looking at Marlene.
"Yeah, and he has a message for you," she answered.
"Yes…?"
"It's very long, and not very polite, but I remember a lot of 'tell him to sod off, the bloody wanker,'" Marlene said serenely.
"Great," James sighed.
"Well, go on, they're all waiting for you," Lily said, pointing up at the swarm of Gryffindors that were hovering in the air.
"Right," James said.
"Yeah, don't get too distracted," Marlene giggled. Lily whacked her, and James, not sure how to react, kicked off towards the waiting students.