Chapter 5

"You can't come," Mary breathed.

"What?"

"You're uninvited," she said quickly.

Sirius stared at his girlfriend for a moment. Mary had spent the entire weekend at home with her family to help prepare for her sister's wedding in two weeks. Sirius was to be Mary's date and now, she stood in front of him telling him he was not allowed to go.

"Oh."

"My parents are—"

"No, no. It's fine. You go. You have a good time," Sirius said.

"Sirius, I'm sorry. It wasn't up to me. They found that I was bringing you and my grandfather threw a fit," Mary said.

"OK."

"Sirius—"

"No. Mary. It's fine," Sirius reassured her.

"I'm going to go finish homework, OK?" Mary said, kissing him.

"OK."

Mary left their dormitory and Sirius stared after her. He turned around to find Remus and Peter whispering to one another. Peter finally looked up at Padfoot.

"What?" Sirius asked angrily.

"You OK?" Peter asked.

"I'm fine," Sirius lied.

"Just as well, mate. You know how her family is," Remus said.

Sirius nodded.

Meanwhile, James sat in a Hogsmede restaurant with his mother. His mother's hands were shaking as she picked up her cup and saucer while they drank tea.

"Everything OK, Mum?" James asked.

"I'm fine."

"Mum, you never come visit me. What's up?"

"I'm uh…I'm making changes to the house," she said.

"OK," James shrugged, eating his scone.

"I'm…adding security measures. And I won't be staying there very often," she told him.

"Why not?"

"I'm getting nervous, James," she said quietly.

"About what?"

"About the war!"

Mrs. Potter looked around the room and leaned in to her son, hushing her voice.

"There's rumors going on about me," she said.

"What type of rumors?" James asked.

"Voldemort has put a price on my head," she said.

James looked at his mother and smirked. "That's not true."

"James," she said, taking his hand and looking him in the eye, "I am in trouble and—"

"Mum. Stop, please," he said.

"James, he got your father. He will stop at nothing to get me as well," Mrs. Potter said.

"And then me?" James asked.

"I'm hoping we can hold him off until then," Mrs. Potter said. "We don't go down without a fight in the Potter family. You know that."

James nodded.

"So you came all the way up here to tell me we're fighting. You're fighting this."

"I came all the way up here to give you a gift," she said.

"Mum—"

Mrs. Potter pulled out a shimmery silver cloak from her bag and handed it to James.

"Dress robes?" James asked, looking at the cloak.

"No."

James looked up at his mother, "Then what?"

"Remember when you were a little boy and your father would tell you about sneaking through the castle?"

"Yes," James said, still looking at the cloak.

"I know that you travel through the castle at night a and sneak around with Sirius and Remus and Peter. But,-"
"Mum—"
"Don't deny it. Dumbledore's told me all about it," she said, pointing a finger at him. "Anyway, that's how your father got around so well."
"I don't follow, Mum," James said.

"It's an invisibility cloak," she told him, smiling.

"What?"

"You heard me," she said.

James grinned.

"I shouldn't give it to you. But…given the recent state of things, it might be necessary," she conceded.

"Mum, thank you!" James said. He reached across the table and gave his mother a hug and she smiled warmly.

"I should go home. Why don't you put on your new cloak and attempt a new way into the castle," she said. The two stood and Mrs. Potter hugged James once more, holding on tightly. She whispered to him, "Be careful."

"I will," he agreed.

With that, James put on the cloak and disappeared. Mrs. Potter smiled and walked out of the café and into the Hogsmede streets. She wandered through the main street and then headed down a side street where she could see two teenagers kissing.

She passed them and got a quick look that one of the teenagers was Frank Longbottom. The other was a girl Mrs. Potter had never seen before. However, she paid no mind to it and kept walking past them.
She reached the end of the street when she heard, "Mrs. Potter?"

She turned around and found that Frank Longbottom had caught up to her. He was red faced and his lips slightly swollen.

"Yes, Frank? How are you?"

"I'm well, ma'am," he said, breathless.

"Is that your girlfriend?" Mrs. Potter asked.

"Uh…oh, Mrs. Potter…uh…"

Mrs. Potter looked at him and nodded her head. "Oh. Well, I really should be going, Frank. And shouldn't you? Being out after dark isn't too safe anymore."

"Yes, ma'am," Frank agreed.

In the girls dormitory, Mary had returned from her conversation with Sirius.

"How'd he take it?" Diane asked.

"He was mad."

"He said he was?"

"No. I just…I just know," Mary said, sitting down on her bed and sighing.

Lily sat on her bed trying to adjust herself to get comfortable for a studying position and trying to ignore her friends. She kept looking at her watch and kept noticing that Frank and Alice had not yet returned from their weekend in London.

"You OK, Lily?" Sarah asked.

Lily shook her head. "No. This transfiguration is giving me problems. I might need to go find Remus for help."

"Remus? Not Remus. He's rubbish at Transfiguration," Diane said. "Ask Frank when he gets back."
"If he ever gets back," Lily muttered.

"What? Are you jealous of all the time he spends with Alice?" Mary asked.

"To be quite frank, yes, I am," Lily stated.

At that moment, Alice breezed through the door and plopped her things straight on the floor.

"You're back!" Diane said excitedly.

"Yes," Alice said. She looked genuinely exhausted and cold, at that. She looked to Lily and said, "I don't know how you do it."

Lily laughed.

"It comes naturally, I suppose," Lily said.

Alice poured her bags onto the bed and emptied one of the bags, spreading the contents on her sheets. She had an array of items. A book, a vinyl record, a cookbook, the British flag, a program from a theater show, and finally a sapphire and diamond necklace that looked incredibly familiar to Lily.

"What is all this?" Lily asked, looking over the items.

"We have to bring back items from our journey," Alice said.

Lily picked up the theater program first and then the necklace.

"This is beautiful," she said.

"Oh, I know. I got it at Harrods. Used Muggle money and everything!" Alice said, excited.

Lily nodded.

"I'm going to go see Frank. See you lot later," Lily said.

She bid her friends goodbye and headed downstairs to the common room and exited to the castle. She made her way down to the Head dormitory near the Great Hall. She arrived at the dormitory and knocked on the door, only to have Elizabeth Newmark answer.

"Oh, Lily! Hi!" she said.

"Hi. Is Frank here?"

"He was. He just went to do his rounds and then to see Dumbledore," Elizabeth said.

"Well, tell him I stopped by," Lily said.

"OK."

With that, Lily headed back through the castle in hopes of running into Frank while he did rounds with one of the prefects.

She reached the Gryffindor tower and found Severus Snape standing outside the Fat lady's portrait, pacing.

"May I help you?" Lily asked.

"Oh, Lily, thank Merlin!" he said, relieved.

"What?" Lily asked coldly.

"Can we go sit somewhere? Please, I wouldn't ask if it weren't important," he said.

"Sev-"

"Lily, please," he begged.

"No," she said shaking her head.

Snape stared into her eyes pleadingly, but Lily still shook her head.

"What is it?" Lily asked.

"I saw them together," Snape said, his voice hushed.

"What? Who?"

"Alice. Alice and Frank. Together," Snape replied.

"Where?"

"Just a bit ago. Snogging. Right in Hogsmede. Right in the street!" Snape cried.

Lily's face fell and she felt a pit form in her stomach. She began breathing hard.

"Lily—" Snape started.

"Leave. Right now. Leave," she ordered.

"I'm not lying," Snape said desperately.

"I know you're not!" she yelled. She was near tears, pulling at her hair and feeling her eyes weld and her lip quiver. "Just leave."

Snape nodded and left quickly. Lily leaned up against the wall and crumbled down to the floor crying.

As she sat there, she could hear footsteps coming closer, but could not see anyone near her. Until very suddenly, James Potter appeared right in front of her, holding a silvery cloak.

"Evans, what happened? You OK?" he asked, concerned. He knelt down to her level.

"How'd you do that?" Lily asked him, gesturing to his sudden appearance.

"Invisibility cloak," he said, smiling and letting her feel the fabric his mother had just given him. "What happened?"

She just shook her head and kept on crying.

"Do you want me to go get Mary?"

"No."

"Diane?"

"No."

"Sarah?"
"No! Potter, stop!"

"Alice?"

Lily wailed even harder at his last statement and James moved away from her a bit, just staring at her wondering how to assist. They began to hear footsteps coming closer to them.

"That's him. I know it," Lily said.

"What'd he do?" James whispered.

Lily shook her head and stood up, drawing her wand. She leaned against the wall and put a spell on her face to make it appear as if she wasn't crying.

Around the bend in the corridor, they could see a lit wand coming closer and closer.

"Evans, what—"

Before James could finish, he saw Frank Longbottom making his way toward them. And before he knew it, he heard Lily yell, "Levicorpus!"

Frank was instantly dangling upside down in the air, yelling.

"Let me down!" he yelled to Lily.

"No," she said, circling him as he squirmed.

James stood from his crouched position and entered the common room.

"Oy! Mates, come here!" he yelled to Sirius, Remus and Peter. The three stood from their game of cards with a few other students and joined James.

"What?"

"Evans. Evans," James said quickly.

"What about her?"

"She's gone mad," he said.

Instantly, Sirius, Remus and Peter headed out of the Common Room and to the corridor where they found that Lily now had Frank swinging back and forth while he dangled.

"What are you doing?" Remus yelled at her.

"Guys, help!" Frank said.

"Evans, stop it. You could hurt him," Peter said to her calmly.

"Yes, I wouldn't know what that's like," Lily said menacingly. She shot a spell at Frank, but he narrowly avoided it by swinging.

A moment later, Mary, Diane, Sarah and Alice joined the three Marauders in the corridor.

"Lily, why are you doing this?" Diane yelled.

"Yeah, Lily, why?" Frank bellowed.

Lily shot another spell at Frank and it instantly closed his mouth, not allowing him voluntary speaking movements. She then raised him higher and higher to the ceiling, finally turning round to face her friends. James then appeared out in the corridor as well, this time with Emily at his side.

"Evans, seriously, you're starting to scare me," Sirius said. "Did you go out at all today? Run into any strangers."

"No," she said. She then turned to Alice. "So that necklace, you bought it?"

"Yes. Lily, what-?"

"It looks an awful lot like one that Frank's grandmother has," Lily said.

Above, they could hear Frank making exasperated sounds with his closed mouth. Lily merely raised him further to the ceiling.

"Lily—"

"What?" Lily asked Alice. "He's a good kisser, isn't he?"

The other three girls then gasped, staring at Alice incredulously. Lily then lowered Frank to the ground and took off the jinx where he lay in pain on the ground, but still didn't allow him to speak.

"I mean you should know. You were snogging him in Hogsmede about an hour ago, right? That's what someone told me at least. And probably tons of other times before then too," Lily said to Alice.

She didn't allow Alice to respond and instead knelt down to Frank.

"For the record, we are broken up. And if you come near me again, I will make this much worse for you. Do you understand me?"

Frank nodded.

Four days later, after the whole house was abuzz with the news that Frank and Lily had broken up so that Frank could be with Alice, James sat quietly in his room with Emily trying to study.

It was cold and rainy that day. Peter and Sirius played chess with one another across the room while Remus sat on his bed, trying to shave.

"Aren't you afraid you're going to cut yourself?" Emily said, looking over to him. Remus was trying to shave with no mirror.

"A tiny little knick isn't going to kill me," he said.

"Moony's had much worse," James said calmly to Emily. They all went back to their quiet activities and then the door to the dormitory opened, revealing Frank Longbottom.

"Hi, Frank," Peter said nicely. "Can you talk yet?"

"Ha, ha," Frank mocked.

"What's up Longbottom?" Sirius asked.

"I need to talk to you, Potter," Frank said, ignoring Sirius completely.

"Oh? Why?" James asked.

Frank approached the bed and looked directly at James.

"You told her, didn't you?"

"What?" James asked.

"You told her. I know you did. I know your mother saw us. And she told you and you told her," Frank said.

"Frank, I genuinely have no idea what you're talking about."

"Actually, you should be listening to this too, Emily."

"I'm trying and failing," Emily drawled, irritated by Frank's presence and lack of clarity.

"You know it was going well. Me, cheating on Lily, I mean," Frank said to them.

"Frank, have you been drinking?" Remus asked.

"Shut up!" Frank spat at Remus.

"That's a yes," Sirius muttered.

"Were you seriously just going to continue to cheat on her and hope no one caught you?" Peter asked.

"Yes!" Frank yelled.

Frank turned back to Emily and James.

"What are you talking about Frank?" James asked.

"Your mother saw me and Alice. She told you. You told Lily. The reason I know this is because guess what? When I rounded the corner the other night, who was she crying to? You! You're sabotaging us to get with her! I know you! This is how you do things!"

"Frank—"

"Emily, they have Potions together. They get tea together at least once a week."

"To study," James sighed. "Emily, come on, why would I do this? You know I didn't tell Evans."

"Why wouldn't you?" Frank answered. "And remember that whole thing at the lake last term. She screamed at him and screamed at him and he still asked her out."

"That's enough, Frank," Sirius said from afar.

"They're partners for multiple classes," Frank continued, getting closer to Emily. "Remember at the beginning of the school year? He was just so interested in the fact that Lily was staring at you guys all the time."

James caught Emily's eyes and realized that he was in the process of losing this argument. She wasn't saying anything for quite some time now.

"Emily?"

"All those stories you've heard of him trying to sabotage us are completely true. Lily will be the first to tell you," Frank said, smiling.

"Emily! Don't listen to hi—"
"No," she said shaking her head and sliding off the bed.

"Emily!" James exclaimed exasperatedly.

"Spears, he didn't tell her!" Peter tried, watching as James stood and watched helplessly.

But Emily was already in the process of grabbing her things and on her way out the door.

"Emily, don't do this!" James yelled in desperation, calling after her.

He turned round and found Frank smirking.

"You know better than to mess with me, Potter," Frank said, patting James's chest on his way out the door.

James whirled around after him. "Frank!"

Frank turned around, pursing his lips, and looking quizzical. "What?"

"You're benched next weekend against Slytherin," James breathed. It was the only real power he held over Frank Longbottom.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"And when you lose to Snape, how are you going to explain that to the rest of the house?"

"I'll just say that you were too torn up about what you did to Evans to play. You were the one that decided not to. Not me. In fact, I have three witnesses."

"Fine," Frank conceded. "Just tell me, for real, that you were the one that told her."

"I didn't tell her," James said as a matter-of-factly.

"You're full of shit," Frank said, pointing to him. Frank rolled his eyes and walked out of the room. James shut the door after Frank left and slammed his fist into the door.

"Sorry, Prongs," Sirius said, patting James's back.

"You can get Spears back, James. Shouldn't be too hard."