Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Chapter 7
Remus' concern over their current situation, other than food and drink, was not addressed.
Sirius' continual flipping of a galleon and calling it 'heads' and keeping count, now up to 157, had grown tired long ago for Remus, but seemingly Peter was still entertained by it.
James was in his own world, muttering to himself, fixed his hair while holding a hand held mirror, after he was not satisfied with the reflection in the train window, kept checking on that bouquet of flowers in his trunk, and rhetorically questioned them as to whether he should take the flowers to the feast, or prolong Evans' wait by giving them to her in the common room later. Since he was not really asking for their opinion, the continued responses of 'never' were ignored.
Remus felt giving Evans flowers without any discussion as to how she felt regarding the seaside holiday, when she had reported them to the Ministry, would be asking for more trouble. Evans was in seventh year now too so was no pushover. James' cheeky grin and persistence had never worked on her before. She also had quite a temper.
Nonetheless, Remus would stick by Prongs and pick up any body parts that got hexed off to get all of him up to Madam Pomfrey so he could get sorted. If James persisted in his pursuit of Evans, Remus might have to do that a number of times, if he could not get a shield charm up fast enough.
Prof. Slughorn released the wards on the compartment with a warning, "No funny business in the carriages, boys."
James was not paying him any attention. His face was pressed to the window, staring out at the platform. He mused, "Do you think I can catch Evans before she gets into a carriage? Maybe we can ride up together."
"Oh yeah," Sirius agreeably commented. "Two people board, only one makes it to the gates. Great idea, Prongs … and I bet you're the one that ain't going to make it."
"Evans fancies me."
Both Sirius and Peter sneered, while Remus' face showed concern over James' delusion.
In the carriage, Sirius flipped his coin again and enthusiastically announced, "Heads. Oh, what's that now?"
Peter cheerily responded, "187!"
James was muttering to himself, trying out some poetry and tilting his flowers about. He waved them into Sirius' next toss, and got an "Oi!" in response, besides Sirius transfiguring a nest of earwigs into Prongs' bouquet.
In the dark carriage, no one noticed the extra passengers.
When they arrived at the castle, Prof. Flitwick called them over and told them, "You four are on strict probation. No talking, hand gestures or casting spells at your victims."
"What victims?" Sirius asked with a nonchalant shrug. No one he shagged ever complained till he told them he was tired of them.
"Don't be obtuse. There will be severe repercussions, and your parents have already been warned, when they petitioned to allow you to remain in school till the Ministry has a trial or pronounces its findings."
Filius already heard from Minerva about Potter's parents. None of the ladies were the type that he would consider as loose girls, and the terrible thing they did to Miss Evans was beyond belief.
As the Charms professor left, James scoffed, "What does he know?"
"Yeah," agreed Peter. "He's probably never even gotten any tail."
"I think we should listen to him," Remus asserted.
Sirius laughed, "Yeah, don't talk to Evans. She must have gotten her story to someone here so no one's going to listen to us."
"Probably another woman," Peter suggested.
"I'm still giving her these flowers," James determinedly stated.
"The Marauders do not apologize," Peter reminded him.
"It's not an apology," James refuted.
"I think you should hand them to MacDonald in front of Evans," Sirius suggested.
"I think you should banish them for now, Prongs," was Remus' idea.
"No, gentlemen, my mind is made up."
So with a plan in his head, James Potter led his friends into the Great Hall and charted their course to the Gryffindor table. With their delay in getting off the train, Prof. Flitwick and their brief discussion, they were the last four to arrive.
Having spotted the delightfully bright hair of his intended, James continued on his way, barely waving his hand in response to the greetings from his fellow Gryffindors.
James had not been paying the Head Table much attention, but he could have sworn Dumbledore had been seated in the center, rather than standing over here, to shift himself into his path.
"Excuse me," James said.
"Flowers? For me?" Albus asked.
"No, they're for Evans."
"I'm afraid that would be quite inappropriate, Mr. Potter."
Albus leaned forward to study the moving black speck on a white lily. A shiny, black carapace almost an inch long with a pair on pincers twitching on one end, and that was not the only passenger. The bouquet was infested with earwigs.
"She's my ..."
"I realize that your high spirits get the best of you, Mr. Potter, but there will be no pranking," Albus said in a stern tone as he made the flowers and its insect cargo disappear.
"What prank? Evans is my girlfriend."
By this time, the confrontation between the headmaster and the Marauders was the only sound in the room, with anyone not catching what was said, supplied with a whispered recap within moments.
"She is no one's girlfriend. Miss Evans is no longer Miss Evans since she is now a married woman. You are not to start any rumors or gossip regarding the good lady's character or hint at any improprieties. Am I making myself clear?"
"What do you mean 'married'?"
"As I told your parents, Miss Evans is married. Any plots to ruin her have been averted. In my humble opinion, you are a cad of the lowest order, Potter."
"You told my parents that she got married? Why would you do that?"
"They were saying the most unkind things about the young lady, undoubtedly based on whatever fiction you supplied them."
"So she's not married?"
"Potter, your pretense at being as dense as a brick is tiresome. Along with refusing to cooperate with the Ministry or St. Mungo's. Miss Evans is now Mrs. Lily Snape. You are to leave her in peace, or you will feel my displeasure. I have no patience with people of your ilk. You will find that besides Mr. Snape and myself, she has many champions, in addition to being one of the finest examples of Gryffindors that I have met. Consider this scheme of yours to be a dismal failure, and please feel free to fear the punishment that is still to come."
James had been struck speechless by Dumbledore's crazy assertion that Evans had married Snape. That was the stupidest thing ever. Who would believe something like that? Evans was beautiful and intelligent, and had nothing in common with that greasy git.
"You're mental," Sirius commented. It covered so much of what Dumbledore said. He couldn't insult Prongs and his parents or threaten any of them. To further illustrate how delusional the old coot was, that bit about Evans and Snape proved it beyond a doubt.
Remus was wondering if he would get a chance to explain himself before he was expelled, jailed or whatever else was in store for them. True, he was there, he knew that something was going on, but was not fully aware of everything that was going on in the house. He would not tell or point fingers, however, this bit of a holiday was turning into a beast with a life of its own.
Peter was thinking along similar lines, but more in order to claim he was simply an innocent bystander in the wrong place at the wrong time. He had no idea what was going on, and was truly sorry for anything that occurred. Just like he told the aurors.
"In the interest of keeping things civil, I am assigning the four of you to sit on the far end of the table," Albus indicated where he meant by pointing, "every meal. You are to enter and exit from that door only. Even if that door and table are ablaze, you are not to be anywhere else in the Great Hall but on a direct course between them.
"Furthermore, you are only allowed out of Gryffindor Tower for classes and meals. The staff will become familiar with your schedules."
"I got practice," James protested.
"Ah yes, about that … you see, your persistence will now pay off, Potter. You were warned, and you still wished to fling bugs on a classmate. Therefore, there will be no more quidditch for you."
In addition to Sirius and James, a lot of Gryffindors protested the ban of their captain.
Albus held up his hands, waited for quiet, and announced, "The choice was entirely Mr. Potter's. He felt he'd rather continue to be the sorriest excuse for a Gryffindor I have ever had the misfortune to meet, rather than earn points for your house. In his six years at Hogwarts, Potter's net loss to your house has been 826 points. Black has lost 874, Pettigrew 324, and Lupin 157."
"But I got to play quidditch," James exclaimed.
Sirius was confident James would get back on the team before the first game. The Gryffindors would back them on that. These point totals were something that Dumbledore made up on the spot. So what if they lost a few points here and there? It was about having fun and doing things their way.
Fearing what would happen to them in Gryffindor, Peter attempting to redirect the blame to the usual target and blurted out, "What about Snape?"
"True, Mr. Snape would make a better Gryffindor than any of you four, but being a Slytherin is not a bad thing either. A Slytherin, Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff can also be brave, honorable and make sacrifices. They may not do it with the panache or fanfare that a Gryffindor would, but it is the results that count."
Prof. McGonagall had entered with the first years behind her, and had stopped in the middle aisle when she reached the spot opposite him, "Headmaster, do not try to intimidate any of these new students into choosing another house with those four." Turning to the eleven year olds behind her, she stated, "You will be sorted into the house that leans towards your individual strengths. Sometimes, there are individuals who apparently have no good points, such as this lot standing with the headmaster, and they are also sorted. Please do not hold that against the rest of Gryffindor. They are a brave, hard-working house that will overcome this burden, as they do with all other difficulties.
"The Sorting Hat is wise enough to see that you have the seed within you of being a fine example of either of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff or Slytherin. Since it is only a seed, it grows over time and will flourish, or you can always follow these fellows' example and waste the opportunity, spurning your house which acts as your family here at Hogwarts to be followed up with a confrontation with the headmaster at the Welcoming Feast and an evening in your head of house's office to outline strict punishments for being an undisciplined pack of baboons."
"Oh my," Albus commented in reply, then added, "by the way, Minerva, you'll need a new quidditch captain." The badge left the James' robes and floated towards Prof. McGonagall. "Potter chose to be a unprincipled scoundrel, rather than representing your house."
"I expected it, even after his parents fought so hard with us to keep him on the team," she commented as she caught the badge. "I've already made alternate plans, Albus, so it's no loss."
James was stunned. McGonagall had already planned to chuck him off the team? How could she do that when they needed him? She had to be bluffing. There's no way she'd let Gryffindor play a game without him.
"Take a seat, show's over," Albus commented, making a shooing motion with his hands.
"Wait a minute," Sirius protested.
"Your antics have taken up enough of my time. Further protest will land you outside the gates, on the road leading to Hogsmeade."
Grumbling among themselves, the Marauders went and sat down at the far end of the table, as they were told. They'd all regret it when the truth came out. In fact, James planned to write his parents tonight.
Lily had wanted to tell her friends in her own way. They had already noticed the rings on that particular finger when Potter decided that any instructions from the Ministry or Hogwarts were beneath him, and decided to get into a loud discussion with Prof. Dumbledore. She would have hexed him where he stood, but unlike the Marauders, she wanted no witnesses.
They were polite enough to wait until other conversations started to hiss Snape's name at her.
She admitted it was true, but did not want to discuss all the details out in the open, or perhaps not discuss any detail at all. Lily briefly told them that she did not want to answer a lot of questions, but would say it was sudden, a result of a terrible prank played by the Marauders on a number of women, and that she had no reason to be unhappy with her decision. They were not satisfied with those answers, but Lily did not want to confess her shame.
At the Slytherin table, things were not directly said, but they knew enough to be careful about what they said about Evans to Snape. Those that were closest in age and skill needed time to consider the advantages and disadvantages. The most obvious problems with Snape was he was not a pureblood, good-looking or charming. Hence, marrying a decent-looking muggleborn did not lower his status among them, yet showed he was not interested in improving himself. They thought he was interested in something more after he graduated from Hogwarts.
Of course, some of the fellows got the meaning immediately when Severus replied to some snide comment of Avery's, "You lack the charms that she possesses, you dolt."
AN: The coin tossing is from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. I watched the version with Gary Oldman tossing the coin.