Plot: The infamous Marauders weren't alone in their love for pranking. In fact, they often had their butts kicked by a bunch of girls. Now, this is it. Seventh year. Four girls, four boys. Two opposing pranking teams. One Hell of a battle to be won.
Disclaimer: Sad as it may be, I am not J.K. Rowling in disguise, and therefore I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters and themes involved. (I do, however, own Jamie, Hannah and Regan - so no poaching.)
Previously, in The Marauders and the Rogues...
Regan had a close call with Alice and Rosalie when she used her Animagus form to get Lily out of bed and claimed to have flushed the mysterious bird down the toilet.
Jamie FINALLY broke up with Frank once and for all.
Jamie and Lily executed a master matchmaking plan to get Frank and Alice together - and were ultimately successful.
Unfortunately, Avery (the fifteen-year-old Gryffindor Seeker) decided to go and hug James (very inappropriately, I might add) in front of the entire crowd at the Quidditch game, causing Lily to become very angry.
And here is what happens next...
Chapter Twenty-Four - A Shot at Redemption, Part Two
Gryffindor had claimed its first victory.
James, as captain of the team, couldn't have been happier. After the game, he was on such a high that he began to doubt whether he'd really landed his broomstick at all. A punch on the arm from Sirius confirmed that he was, in fact, on solid ground (not that Sirius wouldn't attempt such a thing while they were still airborne) and he turned to face his fellow Chaser.
"What a game, huh?" said Sirius breathlessly.
"Yeah," replied James. His head was still buzzing with so much adrenaline that he could barely hear his own voice. (The deafening cheers coming from the Gryffindor stands might have been a contributing factor, too.) "Who'd have thought we could pull together a better team than last year's?"
Sirius nodded fervently; his eyes remained bright, but his expression was suddenly thoughtful. "I gotta admit, as much as she pisses me off, that Williams girl is a legend." His gaze drifted over to the blonde Seeker, who was busy flirting with Carter by the bottoms of the goalposts.
The sight of Avery set James' stomach - and his thoughts - turning. What she'd done before had been completely inappropriate, but he'd had no time to react properly. Had Lily noticed? Was she angry? Did she even care enough to be angry? He turned away from Sirius' lively one-sided discussion of how Avery's Wronsky Feint matched up with those in Quidditch history, and looked up into the stands. The first thing he noticed was Frank Longbottom and Alice Hanby, still seated in the front row amidst all the madness. The next thing he noticed, after searching the crowd for quite some time, was Lily, face drained of colour, body tense. From here, James could barely see her - but even upon a glance, her expression spoke of nothing but irritation.
He felt a pang of guilt. When Avery had hugged him - if one could legally call that a hug - he'd been so shocked that he hadn't been sure what to do. He'd known, of course, that she had some kind of unhealthy obsession with both him and Sirius, and that, if her reputation was anything to go by, they were only a few tacked on to the end of a very long list.
But he hadn't known she was quite that insane. To act that way toward him in front of all these people was completely ridiculous, and it infuriated James to no end. Now, he was sure, it wasn't just Lily who thought there was something going on between them - the whole school probably did, too. He wished he'd had the sense to throw her off of him, tell her he wasn't at all interested, and walk away. Of course, he'd been too stunned to do anything of the sort - and, truth be told, after such a clean victory over Ravenclaw, he couldn't seem to wipe the idiotic smile off his face.
The third thing he noticed was Peter lying face down in the gravel outskirts of the pitch, but that wasn't enough of an abnormality to really hold his attention right now.
"Prongs!" Sirius' voice registered in his mind as he watched Lily make her way out of the stands, a sympathetic Jamie at her heels. He turned to face him. "You didn't hear a word of that, did you?"
James shook his head sheepishly. "Sorry, Padfoot. I..." He glanced back at Lily's retreating figure, only to catch a brief glimpse of her vibrant hair before she disappeared into the mass exodus.
Sirius laughed and put a firm hand on James' shoulder. "S'alright. I'd be worried too if my girlfriend-to-be had seen something like that."
Although James knew he'd meant it as a joke, he couldn't help but notice Padfoot's gaze dart immediately over to Hannah, who was eyeing Avery with distaste. Sirius' expression turned dark, and James couldn't help but comment on this. After all, he'd been on the receiving end of so many lame, uncalled for Sirius-style comments about his feelings for Lily that this would only be one small step toward getting even.
"Speaking of 'girlfriends-to-be'," he said suggestively, raising his eyebrows, "would I be correct in thinking that you and Milton haven't gotten into a shouting match in... oh, about forty-eight hours?"
Sirius' attention snapped right back to him."Pffft, what are you talking about?" he scoffed, attempting to make a that's-completely-ridiculous-and-you're-an-idiot-for-even-thinking-it face, but failing miserably. When James rolled his eyes, Sirius finally cut the crap and relented. "Okay, okay. Maybe I haven't yelled at her in a while. But it's only because... I don't feel like it." He shrugged unconvincingly. "Yeah, that's it. I'm just not in the mood. But now that you mention it" - his eyes adopted an evil glint - "thanks for reminding me, Prongsie."
James groaned. "I wasn't reminding you, you idiot!" he said in exasperation, but it was too late - Sirius was already walking over to Hannah with that arrogant swagger of his, and James could only stand there and watch it happen.
"Oi, Milton!" Sirius called out.
Hannah, who was exchanging a high-five with little Ellen, swung around at the sound of her name. She was smiling at first, obviously still caught up in the euphoria of victory, but her features quickly rearranged themselves into a cold stare as she took in the sight of Sirius, standing there in all his haughtiness. "What do you want, Black?" she snapped.
Sirius smirked. "A bit slack with the Bludgers today, weren't you?" he said, folding his arms across his chest.
Hannah snorted. "Yeah, I guess I was. None of them hit you, did they?" She cocked her head in a challenging gesture, but behind the defiant expression, James could see a trace of hurt. He wanted to smack Sirius on the head for being such an idiot.
Sirius, unfortunately, wasn't ready to back down just yet. In fact, now that she was biting back and getting him all riled up, things were only getting worse. This was the nature of their arguments - he egged her on, she took the bait, and before long they were shouting at the top of their lungs, exchanging vicious retorts like nobody's business.
"See, that's why we shouldn't have Rogues on the team," he fired back. "They go all rogue on you and turn on their own kind."
That jibe was enough for Hannah. "You miserable little twat!" she growled, surging forward - though both Regan and Ellen tried to hold her back - and reaching instinctively for her wand. She realised a moment too late that she was wearing her Quidditch robes, which were pocketless, and had therefore left her wand on her nightstand back in the dormitory. She stopped a few yards short of where Sirius stood, swore to herself, and scowled.
Sirius laughed out loud. "Can't hex me now, can you?" he gloated, grinning vindictively.
Hannah looked like she might burst into flames at any moment. Her shoulders rose up and down as she visibly battled with the anger rising up within her, and her eyes were narrowed with such vengeance that, had Peter been there in Padfoot's stead, he would have run away screaming and crying for his mother. Hannah's jaw was clenched as Sirius stared back, giving her a patronising what-are-you-going-to-do-now? sort of look. And then she made up her mind so quickly that Sirius didn't even have time to respond.
"Yeah, but I can still do this," she said, and lunged at him. With a single swing of her fist, she'd landed a punch cleanly on one side of his face.
Sirius staggered backward and fell (quite comically), holding a hand to his eye. "Shit!" he hissed. James couldn't tell if it was the shock or the pain that was getting to him; it was probably some combination of the two. Actually, he decided when Sirius couldn't seem to come to his senses, it was definitely the pain. Were those tears he could see in Padfoot's unaffected eye?
"Miss Milton!"
The admonishing voice came, miraculously enough, from Professor Slughorn - and not McGonagall, as it so often did - who was bustling over this way in an attempt to intervene. He looked bewildered, to say the least, and his eyes were so wide it was a wonder they weren't falling right out of their sockets.
"As impressive as that was from somebody your size," he said, his jaw hanging loose even as he spoke, "I'm afraid I have no choice but to give you detention. And don't let me see you behave in such a way again!"
Hannah shrugged, straightened her robes, and said, "Fine by me. That was worth it - even better than last time." She started walking in the direction of the changing rooms, but stopped by Professor Slughorn to offer a few last words. "Name a time and place, Sluggy, and I'll be there."
James had to stifle a laugh at this. Regan, who stood a moderate distance behind Hannah, didn't quite manage to suppress hers. Probably realising that this was likely to get her into trouble, she coughed, grabbed Hannah's broom from where she'd discarded it, and took off with Ellen. The latter stuck her tongue out at Sirius, who looked absolutely livid. (This was no surprise; it wasn't often that he took such a blow to his pride - or his face.) Poor, flustered Professor Slughorn was speechless. He muttered something unintelligible and shuffled off, changing directions halfway when he realised he was heading for a solid wall.
"Well, that was nice," said James sarcastically, grabbing Sirius by the elbow and helping him get to his feet. "We should do it again sometime."
Sirius said nothing. He simply dusted off his robes and picked up his broomstick, keeping one hand on his eye all the while.
"So she actually did some real damage, then?" James queried.
Sirius's voice was so low, so angry, it was practically just a rumble. "Milton hits like a bloody man." He stopped, turned to James, and removed his hand from his face. His eye was open just a couple of millimetres, and the skin around looked tender, like it was on the verge of swelling. "Don't tell me she's given me a black eye again," he said through gritted teeth.
James could only laugh at this, although, admittedly, the wound did look very painful. He felt like he should express some sympathy for his friend, but it also occurred to him that this was entirely Sirius' fault; if he hadn't provoked Hannah like that, he'd be walking away with two perfect eyes and his dignity intact.
"It's not funny, you idiot!" Sirius exclaimed, putting a hand to his eye again. "She's a lunatic, honestly! I can't believe I even bother to put up with her anymore." unscathed
James raised an eyebrow, partly to show off the fact that he, who didn't make a habit of striking up shouting matches with girls, still had full use of his facial muscles. "'Put up with her?'" he repeated. "I hate to say it, Padfoot, but I'm pretty sure she's the one putting up with you. Why don't you lay off for a while?"
Sirius made a noise in the back of his throat. "Whatever," he grumbled. Apparently, he didn't want to talk about it any longer, because he slowed his pace (he'd been going so fast in all his frustration that it had been a near-struggle for James to keep up with him) and changed the subject - kind of. "Anyway, we're not going anywhere near the change rooms until they've gone. If she sees me like this... it's going to be first year all over again."
James laughed again, meriting a dark look from Sirius. "Sorry," he said quickly. "It's just... I can't believe you two haven't wised up at all since you were eleven."
Sirius frowned. "Whatever," he said again, but it looked as though the point might finally have made a dent in his thick skull. What a relief, James thought, but he had to wonder how long that dent would last.
At half past three, Lily found herself lying on her four-poster with her head shoved under a pillow. It wasn't because she was tired - in fact, she'd had a surprising amount of energy today for somebody who'd been squawked out of bed at the most ungodly of hours. So no, she wasn't trying to go to sleep, although that would have been a welcome - and admittedly quite valid, she realised - escape from what she was about to face. She was, in fact, hiding. And because she'd decided to use toddler logic ("If I can't see it, then it can't see me"), this was where she wound up.
Unfortunately, it saw her.
"What's your problem, Lily?" it said. It had taken the form of a dark-haired, blue-eyed girl whose tongue was rapidly turning black from the ridiculous number of liquorice wands she'd consumed in the past half-hour. It sat on the edge of the bed and tried to coax her out from under her pillow.
"I'm. Not. Going," Lily said adamantly, although, with her face pressed into the mattress and all, it came out sounding more like, "Mmm. Nmph. Gfflgh."
The liquorice monster, however, got the message loud and clear. "It's just a Heads meeting, you wimp. You're not still hung up on what Skrewt Face did at the game, are you?" she asked, employing the nickname she'd adopted for Avery after the Quidditch tryouts, when she'd had to avoid using a nastier word in order to spare a young girl's innocence. "Because honestly, he looked as stunned as you did."
Lily, having suddenly rediscovered her need for oxygen, finally rolled over and removed the pillow from her head. "Please," she insisted after a sufficient intake of fresh air. "I saw his face. He was smiling like... like he used to smile at me." Ignoring Regan's classic as-if eye roll, she went on. "But anyway, it's not just that. Did you see what situation we were in the last time I spoke to him?"
Regan thought for a moment. "Nope," she said. "Want to fill me in?"
Lily groaned. "Actually, no. I don't ever want to talk about it again. So if you'll excuse me..." She picked up the pillow and threw it over her head once again.
"Lily, you're pathetic, you know that?" Regan said. Lily felt the mattress spring up a bit as she got to her feet. "And you know I usually reserve that word for Wormbutt, but in this case, I think I can make an exception."
Lily gasped, tearing the pillow away. "You did not just compare me to Peter Pathettigrew," she said defensively, narrowing her eyes.
Regan, who was currently biting into her umpteenth liquorice wand, put a hand on her hip and raised her eyebrows. "Damn straight I did," she said, narrowly dodged the pillow that was aimed with alarming accuracy at her face. "And I'm going to keep on doing it until you leave this room and go to your stupid meeting." She grabbed Lily by the wrist and tugged.
"Regan...," Lily whined, turning herself into a deadweight in order to resist her friend's incredible strength.
"I mean it!" shouted Regan, refusing to let go. "You're a wannabe, a loser! Your friends only keep you around because they feel sorry for you! Your mummy sends you bonnets in the mail!"
"Okay, okay!" Lily stood up and shook Regan off of her. "Sheesh, Reegs - you're actually making me feel sorry for the guy."
Regan's expression turned dark - very dark. "DO NOT PITY HIM!" she barked at Lily, who suddenly felt like she should be cowering to the ground. "By all means, skip your damn meeting, but do not waste your sympathies on him!"
Lily began to back slowly out of the room. "Er, what I meant was... Man, I'd hate to be Pettigrew." She coughed. "Because he's the biggest loser that ever walked the planet."
Regan straightened up and smiled. "Much better. Now off you go!" She gave a jolly wave and ushered Lily out the door. "Tell Tongs I say hi!"
As the door closed behind her, Lily rolled her eyes. If there was one person she could count on to help her take her mind off things, it was Regan. Mind you, her techniques usually involved crazy antics of some sort; yelling, physical contact, shamelessly bashing Peter even if it was completely irrelevant to the matter at hand - the whole Regan Package. Still, it did the trick, and as Lily wandered down the stairs, she realised she had momentarily forgotten what had made her so reluctant to leave in the first place.
Unfortunately, with Regan far behind her, Lily's thoughts slowly drifted back to the place where she didn't want them to go. As much as she hated to recall the incident, it all came rushing back to her in one painfully embarrassing memory as she headed out the portrait hole.
She'd been barely alert before it happened, and attempting to make the very same journey she'd just made across the common room and out the portrait hole. She hadn't gotten far - by the time she'd reached the couches, she'd given in and collapsed into a heap on the soft, red cushions.
She hadn't dreamt for the first hour or so. Her mind had been too exhausted to contemplate anything, and so it had vacated her body entirely. And then, just a few minutes before she'd come to her senses, she'd had this feeling of being wrapped in a cocoon of sorts, pressed up close to something that radiated heat - the fireplace, maybe? But no, certainly that would have be scalding her skin - with her hand closed around something soft and warm. She'd felt cosy, safe and comforted. Don't let this be a dream, she'd stupidly wished, a smile forming on her lips.
The thing in her hand had twitched, and before she'd had the chance to look down and see what it was, her eyes had snapped open. So had his. This was followed by several seconds of confusion, in which they'd stared into each other's eyes, each trying to decide whether or not they were still dreaming, and, if not, wondering how the other had gotten so close.
And then Lily had screamed.
"What the hell are you doing?" she'd shrieked, sitting bolt upright in her state of panic. "Get away from me, Potter!" She'd snatched up a pillow and started swatting him with it, not sure what else to do. After all, she still wasn't sure if this was real or not - but imaginary James or no, he still deserved to be pounded with a pillow. What had he been thinking, sleeping so close to her? And why in Merlin's name had they been holding hands?
"Whoa! Hold on!" James, who'd looked just as befuddled as she'd felt, had said. This had caused Lily to cease her attack, but she'd continued to glare at him in accusation. His glasses had sat askew, and his hair had looked even more tousled than usual; clearly, he'd been asleep nearly as long as she had. Still, there was no denying that this was heavily suspicious. And since she had been completely alone on the couch when she'd fallen asleep, this could only have been his doing.
"Would you care to explain yourself?" Lily had demanded, tossing the pillow aside vigorously and folding her arms.
He'd looked down at the couch upon which they sat, his brow creased in confusion. "Does this look natural to you?" he'd asked, gesturing at the cushions.
"What the hell are you-" she'd started, but stopped as soon as she looked down. There was no longer one couch here, but two, pushed into the centre of the room so that they had become a boxed in, bed-like structure. It had occurred to her then that unless James had a seriously twisted mind (pun very much intended) there was no way he had set this up himself. She'd looked up, made eye contact, and they'd shared a suspicious glance.
The synchronisation of their thoughts - and their voices - had been somewhat frightening as they'd both yelled out, "SIRIUS!" and jumped off the couch, looking around for their assailant. Unfortunately, they'd leapt up just in time to see the portrait hole slam shut behind him - or, well, they could only assume it was him - and hear the Fat Lady start screeching abuse down the corridor.
They'd looked at each other again, this time with identical expressions of frustration on their faces.
"Next time I see him...," Lily had threatened, shaking her head and gritting her teeth.
James had laughed darkly. "Oh, don't worry," he'd said. "He'll have heard it from me by the time you get to him."
Lily had kept her face completely straight as she said, "Oh, there's no 'hearing' involved in what I'm going to do to him."
This time, James' laugh had been genuine, and this had eased the tension between the two of them. Unfortunately, this also made it more awkward, and Lily found that she had absolutely nothing to say. They'd stood in silence, occasionally stealing glances at each other, and when their eyes had met involuntarily, Lily had cleared her throat and made her exit.
"Er, I'm just going to... go... now," she'd said oh-so-smoothly, and turned around. Even now, she remembered the feeling of her cheeks heating up to what must have been an outrageous temperature as she strode quickly away, taking refuge in the girls' dormitory.
And then, of course, there had been the Quidditch game.
A sane fragment of her mind - if she did possess such a thing - begged her to believe that she'd been observing from far away, and therefore couldn't possibly have gotten the right impression from watching the scene unfold. But she couldn't seem to shake the image from her head; he hadn't done anything to stop it, he'd been smiling his head off, and it had hurt to watch. Those three things were all that mattered to Lily now.
The two emotions that were nagging at her - humiliation and resentment - battled it out in her head until it was pointless trying to distinguish between them, let alone identify which one took priority.
Lily arrived at the Heads Room in record time - and cursed herself for it. She had a tendency to walk very quickly when her mind was preoccupied, and when she was tied up with memories that made her as angry as these ones did, her paces became determinedly longer and more furious without her even realising it.
Just as she was approaching the door and reaching an arm out for the handle, it swung open right in front of her face - and there was James, dressed in a white t-shirt sporting the logo of some Quidditch team and casual black pants. Lily couldn't help but note that he looked staggeringly attractive standing there, and she found it near impossible to tear her eyes away from him. Moments ago, she'd been focused on two simple things - embarrassment and her anger at him. As she took in the sight of him, she found these things were washed out of her mind and, try as she might to hold onto them, he looked so damn sexy standing in that doorway that they didn't seem significant anymore.
"Lily!" he said pleasantly, grinning from ear to ear. "I was just about to check the common room for you. Thought you might have forgotten."
Lily smirked. "Yeah, sorry. I, er... kind of got caught up with Regan," she lied, annoyed at how awkward she sounded.
James laughed. "I see. No explanation needed." He seemed to realise at that moment that he was blocking her path, so he stepped out of the doorway and gestured for her to come inside, as if inviting her into his own private lair. That wasn't too far off, Lily supposed, except that it was their private lair. She almost laughed at the thought.
To her horror, once she'd stepped inside, James made straight for the couch in the corner. Lily had been hoping they might use the table instead - but apparently, James had already gotten over yesterday's events, and didn't find anything remotely awkward about sitting together on the very piece of furniture that had recently brought them such severe humiliation. Lily, on the other hand, decided she may very well hold a grudge against sofas for the rest of her life.
The couch in this room was slightly less menacing. For one thing, it was the only one in the room, which limited its pranking possibilities. For another, it wasn't long enough to stretch out fully, and was a nice, neutral shade of light brown - a pleasant contrast to the fierce red of those in the Gryffindor common room.
Nevertheless, when James stationed himself at one end of it, Lily opted for the armchair instead. It was the safest choice, mostly because, well... It wasn't a couch. And it was free of boys with smouldering eyes and adorably windswept hair.
She felt almost awkward, sitting so far away from him; he didn't fail to notice it, either. He gave a little chuckle when she sat down, as if recognising her reasons for doing so. This made Lily a little uncomfortable and got her thinking - if he could get over it already, why couldn't she?
"So, uh... Dumbledore spoke to me this morning, and he wants us to think about Halloween," James started, all business now. "If I recall correctly, his words were..." He cleared his throat and did an impressive impersonation of the headmaster. "'I believe the feast has become remarkably dull, my dear boy. I would be delighted if you and Miss Evans would arrange something more, ah, fashionable for the students to enjoy this year. I'm afraid I'm not in tune with such things, being an old coot and all.'"
Lily giggled, knowing he'd tacked that last bit on the end just to make her laugh. "Well, he's got the last part right," she said, eliciting a smile from James. "But what exactly does he want us to do? I thought the feast was..." She racked her brain for the word. "Tradition."
James shrugged, but not in an attempt to brush off the question - he appeared to be deep in thought. "I'm not quite sure," he said after a moment. "Something fashionable." He raised an eyebrow. "Although I'm not sure what that means, coming from Dumbledore."
"Candelabras and tail coats?" Lily suggested, giving a helpless shrug and an impish grin.
His laugh was loud and hearty. "I'll write that down," he joked, but then his face snapped into semi-seriousness. "Actually, we probably should be writing some stuff down. Do you have any parchment?"
Lily shook her head apologetically. "I didn't think to bring anything with me."
"That's okay," was his reply, followed by "just a sec" as he sprang to his feet. He darted upstairs and returned a moment later with a roll of parchment in one hand. In the other, he clutched two quills and a bottle of ink. He kneeled in front of the wooden coffee table, and Lily joined him, slightly less reluctant to cross the space between them now that there wasn't a couch involved.
"Alright," he said, and they each picked up a quill. "Hallowe'en. Fashionable. Brainstorm. Go."
They jotted down ideas for a half hour or so, discussing the possibilities at length, finding that some sounded hopeful and rejecting others straight off the bat. After failing to come up with anything that they really liked, they got to the point where they were taking turns suggesting the most ridiculous, least-likely-to-be-staff-approved ideas they could come up with. Lily found herself in stitches, rocking back and forth where she sat next to James on the floor, enjoying herself without regret but wondering all the while how she could be having this much fun withJames Potter - especially when they were in the middle of a meeting that was supposed to be official.
"Okay, uh...," James said at one point, pausing to come up with his latest suggestion. "The students pair up and duel to the death. Then we have a tournament, and the last one alive... wins. Except they'll probably have to transfer to another school at that point."
Lily howled with laughter, clutching at her stomach and throwing her head back. "Dumbledore will definitely approve of that," she managed to utter between bursts of hysterics, and then gasped as she had a mini-epiphany. "No, wait - I've got it! How about we just chuck everybody in a room with Peeves? It'd be kind of like a living horror movie for them. And that way, they'd be out of our faces for an hour - or five - and we could probably hijack the castle in the meantime."
James laughed and said, "Good one," but titled his head in confusion. "Except... what's a horror movie?" he asked. The words sounded awkward on his tongue, as if he'd never spoken them before.
Oops. Lily snorted, having forgotten that James didn't understand the Muggle term. It sometimes baffled her, how all these clever wizarding kids went through their entire lives so much as knowing what a bicycle was.
"Kind of like a moving picture," she explained. "Except... with a lot of blood and guts and screaming and death."
James nodded, as if seriously considering her proposition. "Okay, so we have duel-to-the-death... or locked-in-a-cupboard-with-your-worst-nightmare. Which one sounds more 'fashionable' to you?"
Lily deliberated for a moment. She was going to try and offer some witty reply, but a thought had seeded in her brain and was rapidly expanding into something that, despite its comedic roots, might actually pass as a valid, almost practical idea.
"Hey," she said suddenly, "have you ever heard of a haunted house?"
She was taking it slowly, being cautious in case their very different roots caused another not-on-the-same-page moment. This time, however, James nodded and expelled a short chuckle. "Have I ever heard of one? Hell, Lily, I used to live next door to one."
Now it was Lily's turn to laugh. Another thing she had a tendency to forget was that many of the things she'd believed in as a child raised in a Muggle community really did exist out there. It had been strange for Lily, believing so irrefutably in something until her more sceptical sister told her it was nothing more than a child's tale, and then entering a world where these things were more real than she could ever have imagined.
"This is going to sound strange, so just work with me here," she said, and James nodded in response, giving her his undivided attention. "What if we sectioned off some part of the school - say, the Quidditch pitch or the dungeons - and turned it into a haunted house?"
James took some time to consider this. "You know, that could work," he finally said, his eyes lighting up as he apparently had further insight into the matter. "We'd probably want to use the Quidditch pitch, because it's more flexible design-wise. But other than the set-up, it shouldn't be too hard - we actually could use Peeves. And some of the ghosts might be willing to offer their services. Mind you, everyone's used to them, so we're going to have to come up with some really scary things..."
They rolled with the idea for a while. Oddly enough, it wasn't until now that Lily realised just how well they could work together as Head Boy and Head Girl when they put their minds to it. They used the other side of the parchment to jot down more specific ideas, and soon had at least ten inches of material to work with. It was a highly efficient process; once they'd exhausted their creativity, they went back over the list and crossed out or altered certain items, depending on whether or not they seemed plausible. They had a week to pull this off - that was, assuming the idea cleared Dumbledore - and Lily felt confident that they could do it, especially with this newfound ability to converse smoothly with one another.
That was until things took a turn for the worst.
When their inspiration was running dry and they were too lazy to revise their lists anymore, they resorted again to joking and suggesting things that would never be allowed, or were too ridiculous to even consider.
"I think we could hire Regan," Lily suggested at one point. "She'd be happy to torment people all day long." She paused. "Well, we might have to bribe her, but she sells out easy for sugar."
"Or," said James, a line of thought appearing on his forehead, "we could stick Sirius and Hannah in there. It'd be a wonder if anybody had any eardrums left after that, but hey, at least it sort of fits the theme."
After a short laugh, they both fell silent. Naturally, it was a valid suggestion, but it got Lily thinking about her friend's strange behaviour. Hannah had come away from the Quidditch game this morning with a bittersweet smile on her face and a set of bruised knuckles. Lily hadn't asked questions. She knew all she needed to know; something had gone down with Sirius, evidently, and it had turned her mood around again. She'd been spending more time than ever in front of the mirror - or rather, in the bathroom in general - over the past month or so, and Lily was concerned. Not only this, but she'd been eating very little, and often skipped meals altogether. Her recurring excuses were: "I'm not hungry" and "I have better things to do," but she often heard Hannah's stomach growling in the middle of the day, and she wondered what "better things" (in other words, mischief) she could be getting up to without the Rogues' backup. Even Regan was out of the know where these things were concerned, and this was unheard of - much like Jamie and Lily, Regan and Hannah told each other everything. But apparently, Hannah's unspoken past of honesty had wavered (also something she shared with Jamie), and considering how long she and Regan had been friends, this could only mean there was something really serious going on.
Which brought her to her next point. She could safely say that Sirius was the prime - if not the only - cause of Hannah's black moods. (Regan, she thought, would commend her for such frequent pun usage.) He seemed to take pleasure in making people feel like dirt, and Hannah was his favourite target. She knew that Hannah never missed an opportunity to fight back, but Sirius was almost always the one to start these things, and he seemed to have some tough outer layer that deflected her razor-sharp comebacks like armour. Clearly, it didn't bother him the same way it did her. Lily felt a sudden and inexplicable fury toward the Marauders in general.
"Lily? Are you alright?" That was James, looking at her with concern. Apparently, she wasn't very adept at masking her anger; she was shocked to discover her jaw was clenched, her fists balled up against her jeans as she leaned against the base of the couch.
She tried to swallow her rage for now and said simply, "Yeah. I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" James pressed. "Because for a minute there, you looked like you wanted to punch something."
Lily gave a short laugh. "Mmm, actually, not something - somebody," she admitted.
"What, are you still mad at Sirius for that stupid couch prank?" he chuckled. "Because actually, he told me it was Hannah who did it."
Lily turned her head in his direction and met his eyes with a defiant stare. "And you believed him?"
He looked somewhat helpless as he fished for a reply. "Well, no, not exactly," he finally stuttered. "But come on, Lily - you have to admit, it could have been either of them."
Lily couldn't stop the blush from rising to her cheeks at the reminder of that painful sequence of events. She'd hoped this wouldn't come up in conversation, but now that it had, she was on the defensive, and wouldn't let it go. "Only Sirius has a mind that sick," Lily declared, crossing her arms resolutely. "I'll admit, Hannah might have thought about it, but she would never actually do something like that."
James' eyebrows shot up. "Since when?" he asked. "She certainly seems like the impulsive type to me. Didn't anybody tell you what she did to Sirius this morning?" There was a hint of a smirk on his face as he said these last words.
Lily couldn't believe what she was hearing. She stood abruptly, her mouth gaping open in angry disbelief. "Are you kidding me?" she demanded. She put on a mocking tone. "Oh, poor, abused Sirius and his broken ego. It must be so hard for him to be beaten up by a girl - especially the one he insists on verbally pulverising every time he crosses her path."
James stood up too, but it was more a defensive gesture than any kind of challenge. "Whoa, Lily. Just listen for a sec-"
"No, you listen!" Lily was shocked at how quickly her outrage was taking hold. "Do you have any bloody idea what he's doing to her? She's... she's..." Lily searched for the right word to use, all the while trying to break past the rapidly-forming lump in her throat. "She's completely broken every time she walks away from him, James. She won't talk to anyone, she's angry all the time, and I don't think she's eaten in a week." She stopped there, intending to continue after a quick break, but found she was so fuming that her breathing had become quick and shallow, rendering her unable to speak.
James took a sympathetic step toward her and put his hand on her elbow. Despite the electric current that ran up her arm, Lily held her ground. It was difficult to look intimidating when he stood a good head taller than her, but she managed to keep her glower firmly in place.
"I had no idea it was that bad," James said sincerely. "Look, about the Quidditch match, I didn't mean it that way. Sirius deserved that - he was being an arse." He drew in a deep breath and then let it out again. "It's just... he's had some pretty rough things going on this year and last... and it's probably clouding his judgement. He doesn't always realise how hard he's hitting and... I think you should cut him a little bit of slack."
Lily, who'd heard enough, jerked out of his grasp. As soon as she did this, his eyes filled with shock and hurt.
"You want me to give him slack?" she said vehemently. "Why doesn't he start with a proper apology to Hannah, and then maybe I'll consider taking him off my hit list. And what is with you Marauders and all these 'things' you've got going on?" She had to ask, because earlier today, Jamie had claimed that Remus had fed her a similar story in his attempts to avoid her. The recollection of the conversation Jamie had had with the Rogues just before lunch (in which she'd divulged every detail concerning the Remus/Frank fiasco) struck another chord in Lily's brain, and it only served to make her more furious - at the Marauders, and at the entire male population. "Which reminds me," she snapped, "Sirius isn't the only one who has explaining to do. I never expected it from Remus, you know." She shook her head in disappointment. "He's the most tolerable of you lot. But then apparently, he's been blowing Jamie off every time she tries to talk to him. She's in almost as bad a state as Hannah right now."
James fidgeted uncomfortably, his gaze shifting from her face to the floor and then back again. "Lily," he said gravely, "do you ever think about anything other than your friends?"
This threw her. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" And how was she supposed to respond to such a question? "Of... of c-course I do," she stammered in annoyance.
James lifted a doubtful eyebrow.
"W-well, no, I suppose. Not often," she admitted with a sigh. Nevertheless, he wasn't going to corner her that easily. "Still!" she protested. "It's not like that's a bad thing. In fact, I think you could stand to think a little more about your friends. How can you just stand around and let them hurt people like this?"
She'd meant for it to get to him, but was in no way prepared for the deep hurt that fell across his face at these words. She felt so guilty for putting that look on his handsome features that she considered apologising - until she recalled one more thing that had been nagging at her all morning long, and decided that he didn't deserve her sympathy.
"Oh, wait," she said bitterly. "I almost forgot - you're too busy hooking up with fifth years."
Both of James' hands shot up to his hair (a sure sign that he was severely distressed) as he groaned in frustration. "Lily, I swear, it was not what it looked like." He said the words with such fierce conviction that Lily found it difficult not to believe him. "She jumped on me," he pleaded with her. "I honestly didn't see it coming; I was too shocked to do anything about it." He paused, and a sad sort of smile rose upon his lips. "And besides - since when do you care?"
That was a good question - not because Lily didn't know its answer, but because she refused to say it out loud. She cared because it killed her inside to see James smile that way at another girl. She cared because she secretly wished it had been her in Avery's place (minus the whole slutty attack factor, of course). Was she going to tell him that? Heavens, no.
"I don't," she scoffed. "Get real, Potter."
Another flash of hurt crossed his features, and the guilt in the pit of Lily's stomach was back. In her heart, she hated to do this, but her mind insisted that there was no way she could stand down right now.
This time, instead of standing back and waiting for her to abuse him some more, James took a determined step forward, almost closing the distance between them. Lily was taken by surprise, and the defiant glare she'd been trying so hard to maintain faltered.
When he spoke, his voice was quiet but passionate, and his eyes bored holes through her. "What do you want from me, Lily?" he asked. "I swear, I've done everything in my power to be the good guy this year. I tell Sirius off almost as much as you do these days. And Remus... I don't have a clue what's going on with him and Jamie, because it's his business, not mine. As for you, it's only one mistake - which, okay, I'll admit I could have handled better - and I'm back to being Potter again." He shook his head and clenched his teeth. "You expect too much of me, and you know it."
With their gazes locked together so intensely, it was like two conflicting spells had met in the space between them; Lily could practically see the balance wavering from one end to the other, and as his final words hit her, her resolve crumbled, and his gaze broke through, victorious.
She hadn't thought about it that way before.
Come to think of it, it made a lot of sense.
Maybe it was because of his miraculous turnaround this year, from insufferable prat to noble, responsible young man. Where her standards were concerned, she'd kept bar way above him in past years, determined that he would never reach her, because she refused to let his asinine, immature ways win her over. Maybe it was because he'd already shown her every ounce of adoration he possibly could; from "I love you" to snap proposals, nothing surprised her anymore. Nothing was good enough.
"James, I...," she started, her voice catching in her throat.
James shook his head, a smiling . "I'm trying, Lily. I really am. Why don't you get that?"
She used to take pleasure in the moments when she could tear him down - or at least fend him off - with her snarky comments. But right now, it felt like a hand was squeezing her heart, making her chest ache like crazy. She wanted nothing more than to make him feel better, whatever it took. In what was probably - scratch that, definitely - a moment of temporary insanity, Lily stepped forward and put her arms around him, feeling the soft fabric of his t-shirt against her cheek as she leaned into his chest. She was close to tears but managed to refrain from crying, biting her lip and hoping to convey her apology through actions instead.
After freezing up for a moment, James hesitantly wrapped his arms around her in return. One arm reached around and caressed her shoulder, while the other pulled her closer to him in a protective gesture. Everything felt so absolutely right in that moment that Lily couldn't believe she'd ever felt repulsed by the thought of being close to him. At the reminder of all the time she'd spent hating his guts, she sniffed - and realised she'd done a shoddy job of holding back the tears. They were rolling down her cheeks now, though she wasn't sure exactly why. She assumed it was a build-up of many different emotions.
"I'm sorry," she whispered into his chest, closing her eyes.
James said nothing. He simply held her tighter, as if she might slip out of his grasp at any moment.
As if he would never get the chance to hold her again.
Jamie slipped into the common room after dinner with a concrete plan in mind; walk quickly, avoid eye contact, and pray for the life of her that she didn't run into a certain Remus Lupin.
Like most plans she came up with (save for this morning's moment of brilliance with Alice and Frank), this one was a total flop.
She was so intent on keeping her head down that she walked straight into him as he was exiting the boys dormitories. Her head bumped right into his shoulder, and they both stumbled back, surprised. Evidently, Remus had also been distracted.
"Oh... I'm... I'm sorry," Jamie stuttered. She couldn't decide whether or not to look at him, so her eyes kept darting back and forth between his stormy grey ones and the (comparatively rather hideous) wooden floor.
When Remus spoke, it was completely toneless. "It's okay," he said simply, and started to walk away without another word.
What the heck, Jamie thought, changing her mind in a split second. If I'm going to do it, I might as well do it now.
"Remus, wait," she called out, causing him to swing around and face her.
"What?" was his response. This time, he sounded impatient. Jamie wondered if she might have interrupted something important. Then she noticed the unusual pallour of his skin, the circles under his eyes, the limpness of his hair... In short, Remus did not look well at all. Granted, he always looked a little bit under the weather, but this was different. This was... disconcerting.
Jamie cleared her throat. "I was... hoping we might be able to, er, talk." She met his eyes timidly, bracing herself for his reaction.
Remus put a hand to his forehead and exhaled heavily, shifting his gaze to some point in the distance. "Jamie," he said stiffly, as if trying desperately to suppress a wave of frustration, "I can't. I don't have time for this right now. I'm sorry. It's just... I can't. Later, okay?"
Jamie's heart sank like lead to the bottom of her stomach. Of course, she thought sullenly. She'd suspected he might not want to talk to her, but the fact that he was using the "I can't do this" speech again? That told her everything she needed to know. She knew it was all her fault. She'd ruined everything. He hated her guts now. This was deeper than the Marauder-Rogue rivalry; that opposition was expected of them, but this was very personal, and Jamie knew that things would likely never go back to the way they were before.
She swallowed hard, fighting against tears. "Okay," she said, her voice escaping as nothing more than a tiny, strained sound. She kept her eyes on the ground and walked past him, shuffling off toward the dormitory stairs in a mournful daze.
She didn't turn around once, but if she had, she'd have seen him standing perfectly still, his gaze trailing longingly after her.
It was Monday afternoon. Lily opened her eyes.
At first, the world seemed no different. She still felt like herself, and her surroundings were exactly the same as before. The charmed ceiling - like that of the Great Hall - still reflected the thunder and lightning outside. Regan, Hannah and Jamie stood in various locations around the room; nothing had changed there.
But after a second or two, Lily realised something.
She had four legs.
And a tail.
And soft russet fur covering her body from head to toe. Or rather... hoof.
"Lily, you did it!" Hannah squealed, running over to her with wide eyes. Her mood had taken an upward swing once more now that the Rogues were back to plotting against the Marauders in the Room of Requirement, and clearly, this progress pleased her. She assessed Lily's Animagus form and gave her an approving nod. "I like it," she said, and grinned.
Regan was right behind her, and felt the need to put in her two sickles' worth. "Yeah," she said. "Except for the eyes - those are seriously creepy."
What do you mean? Lily wanted to ask, but (obviously) could not utter a word.
Hannah seemed to sense that she was confused, and nodded, saying, "You might want to work on those. They're still, er... green. And very human."
She wanted to roll her eyes at them, but, deciding that would probably creep them out even more, she turned around instead. There was a mirror on the far wall, right near the circle of armchairs, so she headed in that direction to get a good look at herself. Unfortunately, she wasn't yet accustomed to the whole four-legs thing. Before she could get far, her front knees buckled and she fell to the ground, a tangle of frightfully delicate limbs.
Regan snickered. "That's why it pays to be a bird," she pointed out.
"Oh, please," said Hannah, who was also laughing. "Need I remind you of the first time you flew? If I recall correctly, the pair of us almost died."
"Don't exaggerate, Hanniekins. We were fine. You overreacted."
"Overreacted, eh? Why don't you go suspend yourself fifty feet in the air and see how you react?"
"Sure. I can do that - I'm a bird. Which is exactly my point."
"That wasn't the point, you idiot..."
While the two of them continued to bicker, Lily slowly raised herself to her feet and started walking again. She concentrated on finding a rhythm and, soon enough, was travelling smoothly across the room. She stopped in front of the mirror. Sure enough, there they were - her own eyes, as green as can be, looking eerily out of place set into the narrow head of her deer form. Hannah was right - she would have to work on perfecting that part of the transformatoin. Otherwise, she thought she looked pretty decent; her coat was sleek and a pretty shade of red-brown, with white patches around her tail, nose and eyes. Her ears were upright and alert, flicking in all directions as she took in the various sounds in the room - the waterfall running, the thunder clapping overhead, Hannah and Regan arguing...
A sudden thought entered Lily's mind - where was Jamie? She'd been there before, when the four of them had gathered in the centre of the room to attempt their transformations for the umpteenth time that month (and Regan to "observe their technique", since she had nearly perfected her own skills already), but come to think of it, Lily hadn't seen her since. She looked back at Hannah and Regan; they were alone, wrapped up in their little play-fight. She did a quick scan of the room with her newly sharpened senses, but couldn't see Jamie anywhere.
Lily crossed the room and snatched up her robes in her teeth. Then, she made for the armchair circle and ducked out of sight.
A few seconds later, after a surprisingly easy change-back, Lily stepped out from behind the chair with her robes wrapped loosely around her. "Guys!" she called to Hannah and Regan, who reluctantly stopped teasing each other and turned to her face her, looking sheepish. "Have you seen Jamie?"
The two of them looked casually around, as if this thought hadn't occurred to them until now.
"Nope," said Hannah. "I thought she was just behind us, but... I guess not."
Lily rolled her eyes at their nonchalance, but wasn't terribly bothered by it. Jamie was probably off in some corner of the room, trying to find some peace and quiet. After all, it couldn't be easy to transform with Hannah and Regan making such a racket.
She cased the room for her, checking by the waterfall, behind the cabinets... She even looked up to the there-but-not-there ceiling, wondering if there might have been another mishap like before, even though it was highly unlikely. Just as she brought her eyes back down to the ground, she noticed something appear from behind one of the elaborate marble pillars; a flicker of soft grey fur, just like the tail Jamie had accidentally donned during their very first Animagus practice session.
Lily smiled knowingly and hurried over there, wondering what she would find - was Jamie fully transformed? Partially transformed? Was she freaking out over her tail again, or was she okay with it this time?
"Jamie?" she said as she approached. Her friend - still human, save for the tail - was crouched down, leaning on the pillar, her head in her hands. She didn't appear to be upset - just severely frustrated. "What are you doing over here?"
Jamie looked up. "Sorry," she said. "It was too loud over there." She swallowed hard and pressed a palm to her forehead in exasperation. "I can't get rid of this damn tail."
Lily lowered herself and sat down beside her friend, pulling the robes more snugly around her frame. "You've done it before," she said, trying to be encouraging. "Can't you just... concentrate really hard?"
Jamie shook her head. "I can't. I can't focus on anything. There's too much on my mind." She wrapped her arms around her knees and placed her chin on top of them. Lily recognised that look in her eyes; it hadn't been present this morning after her master plan with Frank, but she'd seen it many times before - for instance, down at the lake on the night of the strip poker incident, just before the Marauders had arrived. She'd been sulking then, as if she'd given up all hope. Lily wondered what had happened to bring that expression back, but thought she had a fair idea already.
"Did you talk to Remus?" she asked quietly.
Jamie drew in a slow breath, let it out, and then nodded. "Lily," she said, turning to face her, "I think that was the last straw, yesterday. I think... I think I lost him." Her blue eyes were filling with tears, her lower lip trembling. As Lily wrapped a comforting arm around her friend and let her cry into her shoulder, Jamie let out a noise that sounded like a sob crossed with a bitter laugh. "And what's funny," she said in an ironic tone, "is that I never even had him in the first place." She sniffed. "God, I'm such an idiot..."
Lily hugged her friend tighter. "Don't say that, Jay," she said, trying to sound soothing and adamant at the same time. "You know what? I bet you just got the wrong impression. Remus is probably in one of those moods, you know? When he gets all snappy and impatient and avoids everybody? Don't take it too personally. He'll come around."
"No," Jamie said with morose finality. Apparently, there was no talking her out of this state of mind. She sighed, lifting her head from Lily's shoulder. "I think I just need to forget about him for a while."
Lily nodded in understanding. Then, she stood up, clutching her robes around her with one hand and holding the other out for Jamie to take. "Come on," she said, offering a sympathetic smile. "I'll help you forget. And we're going to use this-" she pointed at the tail "-to our advantage."
"What do you mean?" Jamie asked hesitantly as Lily helped her to her feet.
Lily grinned conspiratorially. "Well, the way I see it, you're already partway there. So instead of trying to get rid of it, why don't you push it further? Go for the whole thing, I mean."
Jamie's forehead creased with worry. "What if I get stuck, though?"
Shaking her head stubbornly, Lily said, "You won't. I just did it, and changing back is the easy part."
"You did it?" Jamie's eyes lit up with awe.
"What, did you think I was taking fashion tips from Regan?" Lily joked, gesturing at her scantily clad self. Regan's little birdie escapade hadn't gone unmentioned by Hannah - on the contrary, she'd hastened at the chance to tell the story, and it had since become something of an inside joke between the Rogues. "Anyway, like I said, you'll be fine. Just shove everything else out of your mind. Tell yourself nothing matters but this - you're so close. Keep telling yourself that, and you'll get it."
Jamie nodded. She took several steps back, relaxed her stance, and closed her eyes.
Not ten minutes later, when Lily had just changed back after her fourth transformation (during which she had finally managed to get rid of the "creepy eyes"), and while Regan was attempting to coach an irritated Hannah through her first, a silver fox darted out from the corner of the room and scurried past them.
Regan let out a whoop of delight while Lily applauded enthusiastically.
"I told you so!" said the latter, and then laughed. "Wow. Two of us in less than an hour - we're actually making progress."
While the other two were excitedly watching fox-Jamie test out her new legs, Hannah stood back, displeased by her personal lack of said progress.
"This isn't fair," she said, planting her hands on her hips. The others turned to face her. "How come all of you have done it, and I haven't even come close yet?" She shook her head in disbelief. "I mean, I was the one who came up with this whole scheme in the first place."
Lily took a step toward her, an understanding smile on her face. "You'll get it, Han," she said. Right now, in her state of irritation, Hannah didn't appreciate the gesture. It seemed condescending.
"Even if I do get it," Hannah said bitterly, beginning to pace across the room, "there's no way I'll perfect it before Halloween."
The Rogues had set the thirty-first of October as their deadline, not because they had a specific plan in mind, but because Halloween was a notable milestone in the school year. Things would only get crazier after that, and they would have little time to practice with midterm exams creeping up their backs. They just hoped this new disguising skill would be of some use to them before the year was over.
Regan scoffed. "You're taking this all way too seriously, Han. You know it's not the end of the world if you take a little longer than that."
For some unidentifiable reason, this just served to spark Hannah's anger further. She didn't like arguing with her friends, but Regan's attitude bothered her; why were the rest of them taking this so lightly? Couldn't they see that this was practically the only chance they had left at uniting against the Marauders - at coming together as a group? Right near the beginning of the year, she'd sensed the split coming. Lily was starting to feel differently toward James, and Jamie's loyalty was wavering, too. Even Regan had taken a more light-hearted approach to the feud, as if the whole thing were simply a joke. It wasn't. The Marauders already had a foothold in their ranks, and their grip was becoming too strong; Hannah wanted to make them see that they couldn't just manipulate the Rogues like that. She felt like she was losing her friends to the very people who, six years ago, they had sworn to despise and combat for the rest of their scholarly lives.
Of course, Hannah had done a little "fraternising with the enemy" as well, but she continued to tell herself that that had been a moment of weakness and nothing more. Besides, Sirius had made it clear at the Quidditch pitch yesterday that the strange flash of civility had been a one-off, and that it wasn't going to happen again. It hadn't changed anything between them - at least, she didn't think so.
All of that aside, she seemed to be the only one who really invested anything in the so-called war these days. As a result, the Marauders probably thought they were going to have an easy win on their hands.
As far as Hannah was concerned, they had to strike back before it was too late - before their alliances crumbled and the Rogues were no more. She wanted to laugh at the theatrics of it all, but right now, laughing was out of the question. She had to make them see the truth.
"No, see, that's where you're wrong," she said firmly, narrowing her eyes. She continued to pace back and forth, not quite realising how much she resembled Professor McGonagall, giving her misbehaving students a good, old-fashioned telling off. She liked to think of this more as a pep talk. "You all seem to think that this is just fun and games, but it's not. Like I said to Lily yesterday, it's as if we've forgotten how to be the Rogues - and if we do that, then we lose this whole thing, and they win. We have to pull ourselves together and fight back." She paused for a breath and Regan took this opportunity to break in.
"But Han," she said as she and Lily exchanged a rather annoying look of concern, "what exactly is there to fight back against? I mean, yeah, sure, I'd like to kick their asses, but..."
"They haven't really done anything horrible to us in a while," Lily finished. "Well, except for that stupid couch prank, but that was just Sirius. We all know he does solo missions just for the hell of it."
This caused Hannah to stop in her tracks. Solo... Naturally, both Lily and James had assumed that it was Sirius alone who had pulled that prank on them. Of course, that wasn't true at all, but Hannah wasn't about to let that slip. Not only would it give Lily reason to distrust her, it would also mean revealing the fact that she and Sirius Black, of all people, had worked together - and that couldn't happen.
"That's not the point," Hannah told them, shaking her head. "A few weeks of good behaviour doesn't make up for six years of harassment. Have you guys forgotten the pact we made in first year? Because if we don't do something soon to show them that we're not backing down this easily, then none of that will matter anymore. They'll think they've won. This is serious."
Regan and Lily exchanged another infuriating look, and then the latter spoke. "Are you sure Sirius isn't the whole problem in all this?" she asked, though there was very little humour in her tone.
That was the final straw for Hannah. At the mention of Sirius through that so-not-funny pun, her blood began to boil, and a million emotions rushed through her at once. She turned on her friends with an angry scowl. "Of course he's a big, fat, bloody problem, but what does that have to do with anything?" she exploded.
The others looked alarmed. Lily made a doubtful face and spoke cautiously, as if her next words might set off another reaction. "Well, it's just... We've noticed you act... strangely every time the two of you have had a run-in. Like this morning, before the game, you were all cheerful - and then after your little brawl or whatever it was, you were upset again."
Regan nodded in agreement. "And Han, did you honestly think we wouldn't notice how much time you've spent worrying about your appearance lately? Or how much weight you've lost?"
Hannah flushed, embarrassed. A part of her had known that they would figure it out sooner or later, but she'd been in denial for a long time. Hell, she still was. To have them know that he was getting to her this badly... It would be unbearable.
"I'm not depressed, okay?" she argued. "So what if I've dropped a few pounds? Merlin knows I could stand to do it anyway..."
"No!" Lily practically shrieked. Both she and Regan looked really worried now. Hannah didn't want this; she didn't need their pity. She just wanted to be left alone.
"That's just Black messing with your head," Regan growled, looking positively murderous. "And I swear, the next time I see him, he's gonna get a piece of my bloody mind-"
"Stop it!" Hannah shouted. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jamie making her way toward them, having changed back from her Animagus form. "I don't need you guys getting all concerned or whatever this is. I'm fine. I don't give a damn what Black says about me. I hate him and he hates me, and there's no way he could possibly be so-"
Hannah's words were cut short not by tears (as she had feared they might be), but by the strangest sensation. She felt her whole body contract, become smaller, and arms morph into something else altogether. Soon, she was on all fours, and white fur started to sprout from every inch of her body.
Lily's jaw dropped.
Regan, beside her, looked totally perplexed. "Okay, first," she said shakily, "what the hell?" She gestured with her hand at the animal on the floor where Hannah had been standing only seconds ago. "What happened to the whole 'complete focus' thing? And second, I thought you were supposed to be a freaking tiger!"
A pair of wide, olive eyes stared up at them. Indeed, that was what Hannah had intended to become, but this certainly wasn't a tiger. In its place sat an angelic, apparently harmless house cat with snow white fur and the sweetest face Lily had ever seen.
"What just happened?" asked Jamie, who had come over to see what all the commotion was about. Her eyes shot open when she saw the cat there, and she simply said, "Wow."
"You can say that again," said Lily. "I guess that makes three of us in one day. Whoever said we wouldn't meet our dead-" She broke off abruptly when she caught sight of something that deeply disturbed her; the cat had shifted to the right, giving Lily had a good view of its side. And there, carved into its left haunch, a stark contrast against the pure white fur, were four parallel cuts - too neat to be accidental, too fresh to be written off as a thing of the past. Lily remembered the pale lines she'd seen that night at the lake, and suddenly, it all made sense. She heard a sharp intake of break from Jamie.
She nudged Regan, but she needn't have; the girl was already fuming, her arms tense at her sides. Clearly, she'd noticed - and it looked like was just as distressed as the other two, if not more.
Still, Lily didn't expect it when she stomped forward, grabbed the cat by the scruff of the neck, and headed off toward the corner with the armchairs. "You," she hissed at Hannah, while Jamie and Lily followed cautiously after her, "have some serious explaining to do."
Not one of the Marauders was in a particularly good mood by the time Monday evening rolled around.
Sirius was still grieving over the damage to his face. As expected, the skin around his eye had turned every nasty shade of blue, black and purple in the book, and for the second time since starting at Hogwarts, he was forced to walk the halls bearing a bruise inflicted by a girl - a girl he neatly surpassed in both size and physical force, but, evidently, not in the element of surprise. Nobody had seen that punch coming, which was why, in James' opinion, it had been so bloody brilliant. He didn't mention this part to Padfoot, of course (if he did, he might find himself nursing a black eye of his own) but didn't hesitate when it came to teasing him about it. He suggested several times that he take his injury to the Hospital Wing, though he knew very well that Sirius would refuse to do so - "She'll think I'm a coward," was his classic excuse. "I won't sink that low. I have to grin and bear it." He had a point there - but in all, grinning was something he had done very little of in the last couple of days.
There was a full moon coming up, so naturally, Remus was in a bad state. His energy was waning, the colour fading out of his skin - but worst of all, things upset him easily. James wasn't sure what had gone down with Jamie in the common room yesterday (he'd mentioned it very briefly to the Marauders without elaborating at all) but that event in particular seemed to have pushed him over the edge. Now, he walked through the corridors with his head down, and in between classes, he took refuge in the library or the dormitories, claiming he needed to be alone.
As for James, he wasn't in a bad mood, so to speak. He was just confused. Lily had made a hasty exit from their meeting yesterday and had been avoiding him ever since. She was doing a pretty lame job at hiding that fact, too. Whenever they crossed paths in the corridors, she met his eye for only a fraction of a second before averting her gaze and taking off at lightning speed. If the Marauders happened to sit near her and her friends in the Great Hall, she mumbled some dumb excuse that barely made sense and vacated her spot, often leaving her plate untouched. To be honest, James knew they'd taken a positive step in their relationship, so he wasn't taking it to heart. He just hoped they'd find some way of getting past the awkwardness sooner or later.
Peter was the same as ever. He'd insisted that they take him to the Hospital wing yesterday after he'd fallen out of the Quidditch stands, claiming that his wrist had been snapped in two. Madam Pomfrey, however, had concluded that it was only a sprain, and that he had landed at a very lucky angle, leaving him practically unharmed. Aside from that minor incident, Peter was just fine. James sometimes envied his ability to avoid the mess of romantic entanglements, but when he walked into the dorm after dinner and saw his pudgy friend sprawled across his bed, making miserable attempt after miserable attempt at James' trademark Snitch trick, he realised that Peter's lifestyle was not one he would voluntarily choose.
"Pete, man, don't do that," he said as the boy's fingers closed around nothing and the Snitch zoomed away from him. James stuck a hand out and caught it expertly, stowing it in his pocket. "You'll lose it, and I'm running out of places to nick them from."
Peter rolled over, looking dejected.
James wandered into the dormitory and slumped down onto his bed, wondering what the hell there was to do when all three of his friends were down in the dumps. Remus lay face-down on his mattress, so still that James feared for a moment he might not be breathing. (A sudden, deep sigh disproved this theory.) Sirius sat on his own four poster, grouchily sorting through his depleted stash of chocolate frogs.
"When's the next Hogsmeade visit?" he grumbled in the general direction of James, who shrugged.
"Dumbledore hasn't mentioned anything yet, but I expect not too long after Halloween."
Sirius perked up a bit at the mention of his favourite holiday. "Well, at least there'll be plenty of dessert at the feast."
James smiled apologetically as he broke the news to his friend. "Sorry, mate, but Dumbledore wants to replace the feast this year. He reckons it's 'unfashionable'."
Sirius looked crestfallen. "What the hell? What's so unfashionable about stuffing your face with pudding?"
James raised an eyebrow.
"Okay, whatever," Sirius relented. "But what could possibly replace the feast, anyway?"
"We're thinking a sort of haunted house thing. You know, section off the Quidditch pitch, fill it with enchanted objects, maybe get Peeves to help us out a bit."
Sirius groaned. "That's lame, Prongs."
"You think everything is lame."
"Yeah, but this is really lame. Can't we just do your stupid idea after the feast is over? Or are they expecting us to scream on empty stomachs?"
Strangely enough, Sirius actually had a point. Not about the screaming thing - that was pushing it - but about combining the feast and the extra event. "I'll put in a word for you and see what I can do," he told Sirius, who hooted with delight and exclaimed, "You're the best, Prongsie!"
"This haunted house thing, it's obviously going to be after dark, right?"
James turned, surprised to hear Remus speak from his side of the room. He was sitting up now, and in the shadows of the bed curtains, the circles under his eyes were darker than ever.
"Yeah," said James, furrowing his brow. "Why, is there a problem with that or something?"
He thought he saw a melancholy sort of smile on Remus' face, but it could have been the dark playing tricks on him. "Normally, it wouldn't be," he said ironically, "but since Halloween happens to be the night of the full moon... I'd say yes, that could cause a bit of trouble."
James froze. The entire student body of Hogwarts outside the castle after the dark on the night of Remus' transformation was definitely a cause for concern. For one thing, they would need to keep him far away from the pitch, so as not to put any students in danger. If anybody so much as saw him, there would be serious repercussions. What was more, with such a task at hand, all three of the Marauders would need to be there to herd Remus away from the students - but since James was probably going to be required for supervision at the haunted house, that, too, would be a problem.
"Oh, shit," said James dryly. "This could get interesting."
A/N: Sorry for the wait (and also for the length), but there was just so much I had to cram into this chapter that it took me a lot of time (and a lot of words) to get through it all without butchering any parts of the story.
A couple of things I should probably mention:
1) I know Hannah did originally decide to make her Animagus a cat, but I'm in the process of changing that as I go back and edit the earlier chapters. So just pretend for now that she took the good ol' book's advice and decided to be a tiger after all.
2) I also knowthat I never mentioned anything about Peter falling out of the stands in the last chapter, but this is a similar case - it's something I'm in the process of working into the last chapter, because I was originally going to put it in and then forgot, because I'm just stupid like that.
3) You might have noticed that I eradicated my usual author's note at the beginning of the chapter, just because, well... I figured most of you probably don't feel like reading through a bunch of nonsensical rambling before you can even get started on the story. Plus, it makes the "Previously, in The Marauders and the Rogues" thing seem cooler.
Anyway, that's it for filler chapters. The next one is it - TBDO. Yes, it's going to be BIG. And DRAMATIC (perhaps excessively so). I'll get to writing it as soon as I can, but since I have to be careful with how I put this one together, it could take a while. In the meantime, reviews would be very much appreciated. Thanks for reading!
~PrincessEarth