Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 5
There were several things in James' life that were important to him. The Gryffindor Quidditch team winning the cup for the fifth year in a row was one. Making Lily Evans laugh until she was clutching onto him for support was another.
The most important thing to him however, were the three crazy boys he called best friends, otherwise known as the Marauders.
All of which had made it their solemn vow to cause as much trouble in the school as possible. This had begun in their second year, when they had all found out one member of their group had a very deep secret.
Remus Lupin was a werewolf.
James hadn't remembered ever feeling sorrier for a person, having to hide something so important from the people he was closest to for fear of abandonment. So he and Sirius had cooked up a scheme, and if they were to succeed, Remus would never have to be alone again.
It had taken some serious work, and a lot of detentions for skiving McGonagall's Transfiguration classes rather than risk her sussing them out, but by their fifth year they had all managed to turn into an animal at will. James was a stag, Sirius was a dog and Peter was a rat.
It was their most creative and brilliant bit of mischief yet, and had bonded the four of them for life.
However, just recently the castle had been a little quiet and due to their constant mission to cheer Lily up there had been a distinct lack of Maraudering, something which Sirius had been eager to point out not two days ago.
Which was the reason James currently found himself sat in a loose circle on the dormitory floor with his three best friends, the centre of said circle was dominated by dozens of shot glasses all filled with clear liquid. Being a Marauder wasn't always about getting into trouble, it was also about having a lot of fun.
Something everyone seemed to sorely need at the moment.
Remus hadn't long had one of his monthly transformations, and turning into a werewolf always made him retreat into himself due to anxiety. He had spent most of the last two days catching up on homework, prefect duties and trying to ignore the niggling feeling that the next full moon wasn't too far away.
Sirius had walked into an empty classroom earlier that day and found his younger brother conversing with seventh year Slytherins that definitely had associations with Voldemort. That had been enough to put Sirius in a foul mood for the rest of the day, for which he had snapped at several loud first years in the common room and gotten detention from Professor Vicary for skipping his Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson.
Peter had received his third D in a row on his Herbology homework and had been told to write the essay again. Despite spending most of the day in the library he seemed no further along than he had been that morning. To add insult to injury he had asked a pretty fifth year Hufflepuff to go to the next Hogsmeade trip with him and she'd looked at him as though he'd thrown up all over her shiny new shoes. If Sirius hadn't been so angry James was sure he would have spent the day teasing him, but was glad he didn't as Peter looked gloomy enough.
With his three best friends, and Lily Evans, acting as though the world was ending he knew something needed to be done. While Lily was a work in progress, the boys wouldn't take much to sort out. Nothing could beat an evening of drinking, playing games and laughing at each other's expense.
In true Marauder style.
They had just finished setting up all the shot glasses and Sirius had grinned and said, "Let's get started shall we?" when there was a soft knock on the door. They all glanced around at each other guiltily. It was almost midnight, whoever was knocking wasn't likely to be there for a social call but they hadn't started their game yet, so couldn't have been loud enough to wake anyone. Not that they would, Remus had cast a silencing charm on the door to ensure no one heard them.
"Remus" a voice called softly through the wood, she was so quiet he almost didn't hear her, "Are you awake?"
"Booty call, Moony?" Sirius asked, raising his eyebrows.
Remus rolled his eyes, "It's Lily you idiot" he said, before getting up to answer the door.
He returned to their little circle with the pretty red head in tow, her hair was pulled up into a bun on top of her head and her face was totally devoid of make up. James could see the freckles dusting her nose and the brightness of her eyes, both of which added a slightly innocent quality to her already endearing features. She was wearing tiny pyjama shorts and a jumper so big the arms fell far over her wrists. "I'm sorry if I woke you" she said, her eyes on the back of Remus' head, "I couldn't sleep and I was wondering-"
She stopped when she spotted the other three staring up at her.
"Hey Evans" James grinned.
"Cute pyjamas" Peter put in.
"You come for a sleep over?" Sirius asked.
Lily rolled her eyes, her cheeks a little pink from their staring, "No" she whispered defensively, "I couldn't sleep so I came to get my copy of Challenges in Charming back from Remus."
"Well, that should put you straight to sleep" Sirius commented.
"That's what I'm hoping" she hissed back, cutting Sirius a glare before turning back to look at Remus expectantly.
He hadn't moved but was considering Lily with his head cocked slightly to one side, "As you're here already and you can't sleep, why not stay a while?" he suggested.
"What an excellent idea, Moony!" Sirius exclaimed, shuffling up to make room for her and patting the floor next to him.
"Can you lot not sleep either?" she asked, moving to sit cross legged between Sirius and James.
"Well, we could" Peter said slowly, "But with no lessons until after lunch tomorrow we didn't see the need."
"So we decided to play a little game" James said, gesturing to the lines of shot glasses in the middle of them. "Care to join, Evans?"
"What does this game involve?" she asked.
"It's brilliant" Sirius cut in, puffing out his chest, "I made it up."
"I'm worried already."
James, Peter and Remus all laughed.
"Basically Lily, the shot glasses either have vodka, water or Veritaserum in them" he told her, her green eyes widening over his words. "There are only four shots of Veritaserum, one for each of us, but none of us know which is which."
"So, each round we drink" Peter cut in, "Then someone asks a question, we all have to answer, then the person has to guess who, if anyone, drank the Veritaserum."
"If they guess right they ask another question" said James.
"If they guess wrong, they drink" Sirius said, waving a bottle of Firewhiskey at her.
"Sounds dangerous" she breathed, her eyes locking with James' for a fraction too long. She looked terrified at the thought of baring her secrets to him, and if he was honest he was scared stiff at the thought of what he might say in front of her.
"Too rich for your blood, Evans?" Sirius joked.
Lily snorted, "You think I've never drank Veritaserum before?" she mocked, "You better add another shot boys, I'm in."
Sirius clapped his hands together, "Excellent!" he said, "Right, Wormtail add the shot while we're not looking then Moony mix them around" he commanded, covering Lily's eyes with his hands and gesturing for Remus to do the same. "No cheating!"
When everything was ready they all took a breath, "Right Prongs, you start" said Sirius before reaching out to take a shot. Remus, Peter and Lily all followed suit and he grinned.
"Right, who do you think is the fittest person in the school" he said, starting to his left, "Remus?"
Remus rolled his eyes, "You all already know the answer to that" he said, "Emmeline Vance."
"Peter?"
Peter blushed and squeaked, "Mary McDonald."
Under normal circumstances Peter might not have been embarrassed, all the boys already knew about his little crush. Lily on the other hand had no idea and was staring at him curiously, "Aw Peter, you never said!"
Sirius rolled his eyes, "Because McDonald is so far out of his league she's practically on another planet" he teased.
Lily ignored him, "I'll talk to her" she said, throwing a wink in Peter's direction.
"Moving on" James said loudly, clearing his throat. "Sirius?"
Sirius looked at him with a deadly straight face, "Sirius Black."
They all snorted.
He turned to look at Lily, his heart pounding in his throat, "Evans?" he asked.
Lily moaned and closed her eyes, "I'm so gonna regret this" she muttered, her face turning bright red. "Benjy Fenwick."
"What?" Sirius screeched from beside her, "That smooth talking Ravenclaw prefect?"
"His nose is wonky" said Remus.
"He's always late to class" said Peter.
"He walks with a limp" said James.
Lily frowned at him, "No he doesn't" she shot back.
"He will by tomorrow afternoon."
Lily laughed, "You lot are crazy, it's not like I'm going to ask him out."
"Would you say yes if he asked you?" Sirius demanded.
She narrowed her eyes, "No" she told him.
"Why not, if you fancy him so much?"
Lily sighed, "Marlene fancies him, and I can't go out with a boy one of my friend's fancies."
"Don't be silly, Ginge" Sirius said, "McKinnon fancies me."
Lily rolled her eyes, "You wish Marlene fancied you."
"Hey Evans" James called, "Do any of your friends fancy me?"
She looked at him strangely, "Not that I know of" she said, her nose wrinkling.
"I guess no one drank Veritaserum" he said, avoiding the knowing look in Sirius' eyes.
When they all nodded he indicated they should take a shot again.
"Okay" he said, "I want to know who your first kiss was with, and where" he said, grinning away to himself like Christmas had come early. "Remus?"
Remus sighed, "Dorcas Medowes, third year" he said in a resigned sort of way, "And it was more of a peck than a kiss."
James turned to Peter, "Wormtail?"
"Meganne Kipling, fourth year" he muttered, "She said she felt sorry for me."
"Sirius?"
"McKinnon, second year" he grinned, "I pulled her into a broom closet for the hell of it."
Lily rolled her eyes.
"Evans?"
"Caradoc Dearborn, fifth year" she said, her green eyes staring resolutely back at his. "We were messing around in the library and it just happened."
"But he was a seventh year" Sirius sounded scandalised.
"Do you still talk to him?" James asked.
Lily rolled her eyes, "Why do my questions just turn into an interrogation?" she demanded.
"Your answers are far more interesting than these losers" Sirius pointed his thumb in the direction of the others.
"Remus drank the Veritaserum" said James.
Remus sighed, "You're too good at this game, Prongs" he said, before standing up. "I'm going down to the kitchens to get some food."
He wandered over to his bed and rummaged in his trunk until he found a very old, very battered looking piece of parchment.
"I'll come with you, Moony" Peter said, jumping up and following him on his way out of the door.
"Wimps!" James called after their retreating figures before turning back to the other two, "Right, drink up."
Lily hesitated for a moment; she looked as though she wanted to stop them from leaving the Tower after curfew, but then sighed in a resigned sort of way and took a shot. Lily Evans had spent most of her first year as a prefect trying to stop the Marauders from doing exactly what they wanted. She had never succeeded and usually ended up worse off for her efforts.
She had obviously either decided it simply wasn't worth admonishing them, or she'd look like a bit of a hypocrite if she did, after all she was breaking several school rules herself, sat drinking alcohol and stolen potion in the boys dormitory.
James grinned at the thought as he mulled over his next question.
"What is the worst school rule you've ever broken" he asked, "Sirius?"
Sirius made a face as he pretending to think over this, "It's got to be becoming an illegal Animagus in order to sneak out and explore the Castle grounds with my best friend and part time werewolf once a month" he said finally.
"Got to be" James agreed, grinning. "What about you, Evans?"
Lily pressed her lips together as if she didn't want to say before the words spilled out, "WentskinnydippinginthelakewithAmosDiggory."
The two boys gaped at her for a second before Sirius exploded, "You did WHAT!?"
James eyes flicked between Lily, who was the colour of a beetroot and Sirius, whose eyes were about to pop out of their sockets and said quietly, "I think Evans drank the Veritaserum."
The next minute there was absolute chaos. James and Sirius had both jumped up to pin Lily to the ground at the same moment she had squealed and tried to escape out of the door. James grabbed one of her ankles to pull her back and Sirius straddled her hips to keep her from moving. James couldn't say he was exactly happy about that but they were all too flushed from their fight and Lily was giggling as she struggled.
"This isn't fair!" she told them, fighting against Sirius as James reached to pin down her arms.
"Say Evans, are you ticklish?" James asked.
Lily's eyes went wide but as she opened her mouth to answer Sirius cut her off, "Everyone knows that, Prongs" he said, rolling his eyes. "I want to know more about this skinny dripping with Diggory, why'd you do it?"
"Mary dared me" Lily said, pulling against her restraints, "She knew I fancied Amos but wouldn't do anything about it."
"Is there anyone in this school you don't fancy?" James asked, shaking his head. "Apart from me, of course."
He hadn't meant for it to be a question, but Lily's dose of Veritaserum was fresh and she couldn't help it when her mouth opened and she said, "I never said I didn't fancy you."
James was so shocked he let go of her hands.
"W-what?" was all Sirius could manage.
"But you always said no!" James pointed out, jumping up from where he had been sitting and staring at her shocked. "If you fancy me why would you say no when I asked you out?"
"I said no because you bullied my best friend, hexed people who didn't deserve it and teased me every chance you got" she said, her face bright red as she shoved against Sirius' torso. "Please let me up, Sirius!"
James wasn't sure why Sirius scrambled away from her, maybe it was because she seemed so desperate or because she'd practically begged. It might have even been because he was still so shocked by her last answer he had yet to utter another word; for whatever reason Lily Evans jumped to her feet and whipped around to face the door.
James blocked her exit.
He didn't think he'd seen her so angry since they'd stood at the lake together and she'd told him she'd rather go out with the giant squid than go on a date with him. He might have been happy to see a flicker of the old Lily again, if his curiosity wasn't overriding every rational thought. "James Potter" she said dangerously, whipping out her wand and pointing at him, "I swear to God."
"Help me out here Evans" he implored, holding his hands out in front of him. "I just want some answers."
"Oh, is that all?" Lily asked, laughing in a way that told James she really wasn't amused.
"How often do you get to ask the girl you've been in love with for the past five years anything you want without reprocusions?" James demanded, blocking her exit again. "I just want you to talk to me, Lily!"
"I don't want to talk to you, Potter!" She shouted, her cheeks pink and her breathing laboured from shouting. She gave him one long, hard look and took a deep breath. "Why can't you accept that? Do you have any idea what it's like, having the person who would literally use anything he knows about you to his own advantage, demand you open up and share your deepest secrets with him?"
"I wouldn't-"
"Tell me why I should believe that, when you've just used this situation to your advantage?" she demanded, cutting him off.
"I never meant to-"
"Exactly! You don't even realise you're doing it!" Lily let out a sigh, "I just want us to be friends, James" she said softly, "But sometimes I wonder if that's even possible."
He didn't stop her when she tried to leave this time, and he couldn't quite bring himself to look at Sirius after she'd left the room.