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Chapter 10
James was woken early the next morning by a yell of "SNOW!" before a huge lump hurled itself on top of him and he woke with a loud "Ooft" as Sirius landed on his stomach.
"It's snowing, Prongs!" Sirius said excitedly, burrowing himself under the duvet to ensure James didn't have the chance to fall back asleep, "Today is the day of the snowball fight."
"Sirius, it's barely eight in the morning" he groaned, turning over.
"Don't even try, Prongs" Remus said, sounding thoroughly amused as he climbed onto James' bed to join them. "He's been knocking things over for the past ten minutes to try and wake you up."
"I wanted a lie in" Peter voiced, clambering up and squishing them all together.
"There are no lie ins when it's snowing" Sirius admonished, glaring at all of them. "We have no time to waste!"
"You can't have had more than three hours sleep" Remus commented, yawning hugely and stretching his arms above his head. "What time did you get in?"
"Not until two this morning" said Sirius darkly, "Took me forever to get Lily to stop crying."
"Damn Evans is having a rough time at the minute" James sighed, "Is she okay?"
"I think so" Sirius shrugged, "I think it was a bit of a shock hearing those sorts of things from someone who isn't a Slytherin."
"That on top of everything is bound to upset her" Peter agreed.
"Well, she probably reacted badly to the comments about not being worthy enough to date a pureblood" Remus added.
"Which is just stupid" Peter put in.
Sirius shrugged, "It's always been that way" he said casually, "My favourite cousin Andromeda got blasted off the family tree for marrying a muggleborn."
"It's just prejudice nonsense" Remus said, shaking his head and brushing his hair out of his eyes, "She should be allowed to marry whichever pureblood might take her fancy."
James eyebrows knitted together, "Which pureblood would Evans want to be with anyway?" he asked.
Remus threw Sirius a look before saying, "Oh Prongs, isn't it obvious?"
James felt the blood drain from his face as he looked between his three best friends, "Should it be?" he whispered.
Sirius grinned and rolled his eyes, "She likes you."
"Well yeah" James agreed slowly, "We're friends now."
Remus laughed, "Maybe he shouldn't be with Lily if he's this thick" he teased.
"Honestly mate" said Sirius, grinning widely now. "She spent most of yesterday looking around and sulking until you arrived."
"She smiles so much brighter when you walk into a room" Peter agreed.
"Nah, you're having me on" James said, allowing himself a small smile. "She said she just wants to be friends."
"Well putting that aside for the moment" Sirius continued in a sombre tone, "She was pretty upset, I don't think she's been sleeping much and with her parents and Snape, this on top of everything just finished her off."
"Was she okay when you left her?" Remus asked.
"I didn't want to leave her" Sirius said, folding his arms across his chest, "But she refused to come up here and sleep in my bed."
"I take it you won't be going out with Daisy again, Prongs?" Peter asked.
"It wasn't her fault really" Remus defended, "It was her friend."
"Even so, I don't think I'll ask her out again" said James, putting his arms up behind his head. "She's nice and everything, she'd just not Evans, you know?"
Sirius rolled his eyes as he climbed out of bed, "We know" he said, tossing a pillow at James. "Now get up."
With much grumbling James managed to finally wrench himself out of bed, and with the other two muttering under their breath about Sirius and his crazy obsession with snow they all pulled on woolly hats, scarves, gloves and several jumpers before heading out of their dormitory.
Sirius was already talking about the monstrous snowman he planned to build when they stopped down in the common room. James had spotted someone sat in one of the armchairs by the fire, it was early on a Sunday morning and he had expected the common room to be deserted. Yet he was somehow unsurprised to find Lily Evans bent over her homework and scribbling furiously.
"Alright Evans?" Sirius called when he saw her, making his way over to where she was sitting.
"Hello" she said, smiling up at them all with tired eyes. Her hair was a haystack piled on top of her head and her mascara from yesterday was smudged across her cheek, but James thought she still looked so beautiful.
"What are you doing up so early?" Remus asked, his eyebrows narrowing as he focused on the red circles around her eyes.
"I couldn't sleep" she shrugged, crossing through another sentence on her parchment. From what James could see the parchment appeared to be mostly covered in crossings out and ink splatters. "I thought I'd write this Charms essay for next week."
"You don't appear to be getting very far" James commented, taking a seat on the arm of her chair.
Lily scrunched the parchment into a ball and threw it into the fire, "I can't concentrate!" she moaned, scrubbing her face with her hands then leaning back to rest her head the back of the chair.
"Right, well you're coming with us" Sirius said, holding his hands out as though he expected her to reach out and take them.
Lily looked up at all of them and raised her eyebrows, "Where are you going, Antarctica?"
"No, silly" Sirius said, "We're going to have a snowball fight."
"Oh, of course" Lily laughed, shaking her head. "I'm sorry boys but I'm not really in the mood."
"Come on, Evans" James said, bumping his thigh against her shoulder. "It might take your mind off everything."
"Plus, its Sirius' birthday so you have to do what he says" Peter added.
"No!" Sirius shouted, "There will be no use of the B-word today!"
James rolled his eyes.
"Oh that reminds me" Lily said, making a move to get up, "I have your p-"
"NO!" Sirius shouted, holding his hand out to stop her. "There will be no mention of the P-word today."
It was universally known that Sirius Black hated his birthday. When they had first met James always thought it was odd that Sirius refused to tell them when his birthday was. Sirius loved to be the centre of attention; he was always making loud jokes and dramatic gestures that drew crowds. It was only logical that he would love a day that was all about him. It was only now that James knew him better he realised it wasn't about that, it was about his family. Sirius hated any reminders of his childhood or anything to do with the house he grew up in, so birthday's had to be right up there on that list.
It wasn't until his younger brother Regulus had started attending Hogwarts in their third year that James, Remus and Peter had finally managed to find out when his birthday was and throw him a small celebration. Then Lily had bribed Remus with chocolate in fourth year and she had also been let in on the sacred date.
Sirius had sworn them all to secrecy, on pain of losing his friendship forever. They were not allowed to mention his birthday, nor buy him any presents or make any kind of fuss.
They all flamboyantly disregarded these rules every year.
Lily laughed, "Come on, you're seventeen!" she chided, "You can't expect us to ignore that milestone, can you?"
"Tell you what Ginge, I'll make you a deal" Sirius said, staring her down with his black eyes. "You come and join in on the fun in the snow, and I'll let you mention the B-word." He pretended to think for a second, "If you help me with my snowman I might even let you give me my P-word later."
Lily laughed, "Alright" she said, shaking her head at his absurdity, "Let me go and put something warm on, I'll catch up with you."
"What about my P-word?" James demanded as they made their way over towards the portrait hole together, "I had to lock you in a room with me last year just to get you to unwrap it."
"Yeah, you ungrateful git" Remus said at the portrait swung open and they all stepped out. "Why does Lily get to give you hers?"
"Listen mate, the day you get legs like Lily Evans is the day I'll give you whatever you want" Sirius teased, grinning as they all stepped out into the corridor.
That comment gained him a glare from Remus and a smack upside the head from James.
They all stopped at the end of the corridor when they realised Peter was no longer with them, "Hey Wormtail!" James called, spotting him still stood in the entrance to the portrait hole. "Are you coming or not?"
"I think you should all see this!" Peter called.
"What is it?" Sirius asked curiously as they all moved back towards where Peter was standing.
As they got closer James could see what they had missed, the Fat Lady appeared to be missing from the portrait. He stepped beside Peter to see the reason why, and saw ugly red graffiti scrawled across the portrait. House of Blood Traitors and Mudbloods was scrawled in huge, angry red letters across where the Fat Lady usually stood in her portrait.
Sirius swore loudly, "Damn Slytherins!"
"How did they even do this?" James demanded, looking at little closer at the now empty portrait. "It looks like some seriously advanced magic."
"It must be if they could get rid of the Fat Lady" Peter agreed.
"Do you think you could remove it, James?" Remus asked.
"With the Fat Lady missing I don't want to do anything that might make things worse" he said quietly.
"Forget removing it" Sirius burst out, "I say we go down to their common room and show them exactly who they're dealing with."
"We don't even know it was a Slytherin" Remus reasoned.
"Don't be thick Moony, who else could it have been?" Sirius snapped.
"Shut up a minute, Padfoot" James hissed, "I'm trying to think."
"What do we do, Prongs?" Peter asked, looking a bit lost.
"You and Moony go back inside and stop anyone from coming out" he said quietly, "I don't want Evans to see this."
"What are you going to do?" Remus asked.
James turned to look at Sirius, "We're going to speak to Dumbledore."
He didn't wait for his friends to respond or argue, just turned on his heel and marched back along the corridor again.
Sirius was right on his heels and quietly seething under his breath.
"This is our fault, you know" James said quietly.
Sirius' head snapped to look at him, "How'd you make that out?" he demanded.
"That stupid prank we played on the Slytherin's" James silently cursed himself.
"Prongs, that was just a laugh."
"It was poking the angry dragon with a big stick" he said, his voice slowly growing louder as they moved through the empty corridors. "You'd be angry too if someone made you declare your belief in blood purity to the entire school."
"That prank was harmless" Sirius said firmly, "It's not our fault they're all gits."
"But we've made it worse!" James burst out.
Sirius reached out to take hold of his shoulders and forced him to stop, "James, what is this really about?"
"The attack on Mary last year!" he growled, trying desperately to get his breathing under control.
"What about it?"
"What if it gets worse?" He said, his voice quietening as his fear boiled to the surface, "What if they come after people because of us?" He took a deep breath before voicing his greatest fear, "What if they come after Evans?"
"We'll protect her" Sirius said firmly.
"What if we can't?" he said, his voice so quiet he was surprised Sirius could still hear him.
"Then they should be the ones running scared" Sirius reasoned, "I've been on the receiving end of one of her jinxes and it isn't fun."
James let out a short, shaky laugh.
"Now come on" Sirius shoved his shoulder before turning to face the Gargoyle at the entrance to Dumbledore's office. "The password was French Fancies the last time I was here."
As the Gargoyle leapt aside to allow them entrance to the circular, stone staircase Sirius turned back to grin at James, "I guess it still is" he said, before hoping on the stairs.
James followed suit and they both moved up towards the entrance to the Headmaster's office.
Sirius reached out to knock softly on the door and they both heard a voice call "Enter."
James slowly moved into the large circular room and looked around, this wasn't the first time he had ever been in the Headmaster's office but it was one of the first times he wasn't here because of something he'd done. He glanced around the walls of all the portraits of former Headmasters and Headmistresses snoozing in their frames before spotting Professor Dumbledore sitting behind his desk.
"Good morning, boys" he said pleasantly, waving a hand at the two seats across from him as an indication that they should sit. His long, silver beard gleamed in the light of the fire as he surveyed them over his half-moon spectacles. "This is rather early for a social call."
"We have something to tell you, Professor" said Sirius.
"As I gathered" Dumbledore said, nodding as he laced his fingers together and glanced at them with his blue eyes. "Please go on."
Sirius glanced at James who said, "When we were coming out of the common room this morning we noticed the Fat Lady wasn't in her portrait."
"It looks like someone has vandalised it, Professor" Sirius continued, "It has House of Bloodtraitors and Mudbloods scrawled across it in big red letters."
Dumbledore seemed to consider them for a moment longer before whipping out his wand and murmuring an incantation, three silver Phoenixes appeared from the tip and streaked off in different directions.
"I have informed the teachers and Mr Flitch of what has happened" he told them quietly as he put his wand away again, "If you could stay here for a moment I would very much like the opportunity to speak with the two of you."
James and Sirius both glanced at each other with eyebrows raised before turning back to face their Headmaster.
"I am sure you have both realised that the prejudice in this school slowly grows under the shadow of Lord Voldemort's rise to power."
James had never heard anyone use his name before and couldn't help but stare in awe at his Professor.
"Don't think that I have not noticed your bravery at standing up to such people, your little prank at the Slytherin table was not only an act of brilliance but one of defiance" Dumbledore said quietly, "As you are both Purebloods from well respected families, I cannot tell you how it brightens me to see you standing up for those who need defending.
This is why I have asked you to listen to an old man's ramblings today, because I am in the process of forming a society in which I think you will both be interested."
Sirius appeared dumbfounded, "A society, Professor?" he asked quietly.
Dumbledore nodded, "Named the Order of the Phoenix" he said, "It was founded by me, and though we only have a few members, we aim to grow through the common aim of overthrowing Voldermort and his regime."
"Where do we sign up?" James demanded.
Dumbledore smiled, "I am afraid the Order only consists of members who have left school" he said softly, "But if you, and your friends Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, are still interested when you do, then I will be glad to welcome you."
"We want to fight now!" Sirius argued.
"Of course I understand, it is hard to sit by watching your friends suffer and do nothing" Dumbledore nodded sadly, "But the best you can do now is watch over them, I am afraid the castle walls are no longer safe enough to keep out all evil."
James eyes were locked with Dumbledore's X-ray blue ones, and he couldn't help but wonder if the Professor knew of his worries for Lily.
"But for now I believe Mr Black has some birthday celebrations to get to" he said, smiling at them as he shooed them away. "Think over what I have said and try not to be too troubled, we will catch the culprit of these attacks."
Taking that as their farewell they both thanked the Professor and bid him goodbye before leaving the office and walking back down the stone staircase.
"Did you hear that, Prongs?" Sirius hissed as they reached the corridor, "We're going to fight!"
"Are you sure that's what you want?" James asked.
"Why wouldn't it be?" Sirius glanced up at him with raised eyebrows.
"We both know the reason you left home is because your family have the same views as all the other blood purists here" James pointed out, "They say your cousin Bellatrix and her husband are at his right hand."
"Ah, Bella was always crazy" Sirius grinned, shaking his head. "Plus, dear old mum has already blasted me off the family tree, what more can she do?"
James shrugged.
"Won't you fight?" Sirius asked quietly.
"Of course I will!" James defended, "I'm just worried about my mum, she won't be happy when she hears, especially after what happened to dad."
"She'll be proud of you for standing up for what you believe in" Sirius said.
James nodded and they didn't say anything else as they reached the corridor with the portrait of the Fat Lady. She had been returned and the writing had been removed, so they were able to enter the common room without any trouble.
There were several students milling around but James could not spot Remus or Peter, so he pulled on Sirius' arm to lead them both up the stairs to their dormitory.
As they pushed the door open it was to find the other two Marauders and Lily Evans stood around a three legged wobbly stool on top of which sat a two tier chocolate cake with the words 'Happy birthday Snuffles!' piped untidily on top in bright orange icing.
"Happy Birthday Padfoot!" they all yelled together when they spotted him enter the room behind James.
Sirius seemed to have gone into shock as he stared stock still at the cake, "What…" he dithered, "Who?"
Lily bit her lip, "I snuck down to the kitchens last night after you went to bed" she admitted quietly, awkwardly rubbing her arms. "I did have some help from the House Elves so it should at least be edible."
She let out a short laugh but pressed her lips together when Sirius didn't reply.
Although he didn't say anything James could see emotion burning deep in the pit of his black eyes as he stared at the cake. Slowly Sirius looked up at Lily and James wondered if he was going to snap at her for ignoring his request about no fuss for his birthday.
Instead he reached out and pulled her into a bone crunching hug that stole the breath from her lungs.
They never did manage to conduct their snowball fight that day, instead they sat up in the dormitory eating chocolate cake and laughing at each other's jokes. For a moment James forgot about the war, he forgot about blood prejudice and the fight happening outside the castle walls.
All he could think about was the four people in this room, and how being with them made him happier than anything else ever could.