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Chapter 6

James sulked for weeks after Emily broke up with him. He could barely handle seeing her at Quidditch practice. Every time he tried to speak to her, she would ignore him and just walk away.

Lily was also having a rough time after her recent breakup. All of her friends were shocked by Alice's actions, however none of them seemed to side with Lily in any way.

"Well, we're not going to stop talking to her," Sarah said.

"But—"

"She didn't do it on purpose, Lily," Diane said.

Frank and Alice were as happy as ever. They went together everywhere. Snogging everywhere at least.

Worse, however, was that in March, James and Lily were given a complicated potions assignment in which they would have to situate themselves together every single night in the Gryffindor Common Room working together. People whispered. Frank and Emily stared. It was the talk of the tower.

"People are talking," James said to her one night as he dropped ingredients into the caldron.

"Just ignore it," Lily said.

"How can you ignore it? The whole house thinks us working together is exactly as I planned it," James said.

"I know," she said.

"I'm half tempted to start a fight with you right here just so people don't…you know…"

Lily looked at him and nodded.

"You miss Emily, don't you?" she asked.

James nodded.

"Why?"

"It's nice not to be so alone all the time," James said. "This war. The whole thing. People are dying every day and it's nice to say that you have a girlfriend, you know?"

"But, that could be anyone. It doesn't have to be Emily Spears," Lily said.

"No, it doesn't have to be, but…I don't know," he shrugged.

"I hate this potion," Lily said, dumping vials of blood into the cauldron and stirring gently. "You think Sirius and Severus are done with theirs? We could maybe take a look?"

"Isn't that cheating?"

"Not looking at something like that," Lily said. "Severus is probably too advanced for Slughorn anyway."

"Really?"

"He's very smart, Potter," she said.

"Is that something you want to be really good at though? Potions, I mean. I'd rather be good at Transfiguration or Charms…which I am, so…"

"Modest too," Lily laughed. James smiled.

"It's a shame Snape's such a little weasel destined for Voldemort's army of cowards," James said.

"You think he is?"

James nodded. "All of his friends are."

"But—"

"He loves you, I know," James finished for her. "Love doesn't apply to Death Eater policy."

"Maybe he'll change," Lily said hopefully.

James shook his head, "Probably not."

"You're terrible to him," Lily said quietly.

"Why do you think that is?" James asked her straightforwardly.

"What?"

"Why do you think I'm terrible to him?" he asked.

"I…don't know. You're not nice," Lily guessed.

"I'm terrible to him because he's mean to you," James shrugged. "Merlin knows Frank never stood up for you against him. Someone had to."

Lily gulped nervously. She had never heard James Potter be so genuine before. And what was worse was that Lily knew he was absolutely right. Her thought process was interrupted, however, when a trunk crashed down the stairs from the boys dormitory.

James and Lily stood to investigate, with other members of the house following.

"Who's is it?" Lily asked as James got closer and closer to the trunk.

Upon a quick viewing, James knew whose trunk it was immediately. It was Sirius's. And the closer he got to the stairs, the louder he could hear Sirius and Mary yelling at one another.

"James? Who does the trunk belong to?" Lily asked again.

"Sirius," James said, his eyes fixated on the stairwell.

"James!" Lily said again. She walked closer and could now hear what James heard.

"YOU WERE LISTENING?" Mary's voice yelled.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU TWO?" Sirius's voice said.

Silence.

They heard another thud and crash and then before they knew it, Remus and Peter had landed in the common room at the base of the stairwell.

"What's going on up there?" James asked.

"I think…they're breaking up?" Peter guessed, standing and dusting himself off. He pulled Remus up to do the same.

"We just got back from the library. We were going to go upstairs to get a few more study materials, we got outside the door and they were screaming at each other," Remus said.

"So you waited and listened to their entire conversation?" Lily asked.

Peter and Remus looked at one another and shrugged, "Not the entire conversation."

"And then…Mary threw Sirius's trunk down here and saw us outside the door and…well, here we are," Peter laughed.

Lily rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, staring at the two.

"Why are they breaking up?" James asked.

"We don't know. All we know is that Padfoot is having none of it," Remus said.

"She, however, has gone mad," Peter said.

"Well, it was bound to happen," James shrugged.

"For Mary to go mad or for them to breakup?" Lily asked him.

"Both."

More items began to appear at the bottom of the stairs. Picture frames. School books. Cauldrons. Sirius's broom. James's broom.

"Whoa!" James exclaimed, picking up his broom from the pile of items on the floor.

"Oh, Prongs! Your cloak! The map!" Peter exclaimed. "What if she ruins them?"

"He won't let her near them," James said reassuringly. "I hope…"
Soon enough, Mary and Sirius had moved their fight down the stairs and to the common room, following one another and yelling.

"Your parents did this, didn't they?" Sirius roared. "Last weekend, they got to you at the stupid wedding!"

"I know it's hard for you to understand this, but I can think for myself, Sirius!" Mary said. "My parents have nothing to do with this?"

"They hate me!"

"With good reason!"
"What does that mean?" Sirius asked loudly.

"You keep more secrets than anyone!" she accused him.

"Secrets?"

"Yes!"

"Like what?"

"Like where do you four go every month? Once a month. Same time," Mary said.

"We go to a pub, Mary. You know this," James said. "We took you with us once."

"Did I ask you?" Mary snapped at James. She turned to Sirius. "We are over!"

Mary began walking away from Sirius and passed Remus, "Now that none of you have girlfriends, I'm sure this is just a dream come true. No more lies. All Marauders all the time."

She patted Remus on the shoulder and kept walking towards her dormitory where Sarah and Diane waited for her. Mary turned round and looked to Lily. "Coming?"

Lily looked back to James, who was trying to help Sirius pick up his things from the floor.

"Um…I…we still have to finish our potion."

Mary rolled her eyes and kept walking up the stairs with Diane and Sarah. After she was out of sight, Sirius took his caldron and punted it out across the room, nearly knocking over a few first years.

The weeks dragged on. March to April. April to May. And in May, Sirius had still not recovered from his breakup. But in that time, Lily began joining the Marauders nightly to study with them.

People would stare at Lily and rumors began flying. This girl once detested all four of those boys. Now she was laughing and enjoying herself with them.

One evening, Lily sat with James brewing a potion for their final for Slughorn. They chose Peter as a guinea pig to test the potion.

"I don't want to," Peter said.

"Wormtail, c'mon!" James insisted.

"No. What if it turns me into a…turnip?"
"Are you doubting our skills?" James asked.

"Yes!" Peter exclaimed.

"We'll turn you back immediately," Lily insisted. "And you can trust me!"

"She has a point, mate," Remus said, looking at Peter.

"What do you think, Padfoot?" Peter asked Sirius. Sirius merely waved Peter off as he stared across the room at Mary, while she spoke with her friends.

"Please, Peter," Lily begged.

Peter begrudgingly grabbed a spoon from Lily's hand and sipped the potion. He swallowed it fast and made a face and began gagging.

"Water!" he yelled.

Lily handed him a glass and he gulped the entire glass instantly. And within a split second, Peter began shrinking.

"It's working," James said, standing. Peter kept getting smaller, and smaller, and smaller. Soon he was standing on the table, leaning against the cauldron.

"You don't feel sick or anything, do you?" Lily asked Peter.

"No!" he shouted.

Lily waved her wand and Peter was suddenly fully grown again.

"Now, I feel sick," Peter said, holding his stomach.

"Thank you," Lily said, kissing him on the cheek.

They were interrupted by Mary, who had left Sarah and Diane to talk to Lily.

"Lily, if Ron Keilor comes to give me back my charms notes, can you keep them for me?" Mary asked her.

"Yeah, sure. Where are you going?"

"Oh, I'm doing my Ancient Runes final with Julian Yeller," she said, smiling.

"Dressed like that?" Sirius asked, not able to stop himself. Lily finally noticed the way that Mary was dressed. It did look as if she were going on a date of some sort, with her skirt as high as it could possibly go and her makeup looking incredibly heavy, but flawless. Also, Lily noticed that Mary's shirt was quite low, and that she was showing the maximum amount of cleavage that she could.

"I like to look nice," Mary quipped to him.

"Julian Yeller's a Slytherin, Mary," Sirius said, stranding up and walking closer to her.

"Is he? I hadn't noticed," she said innocently.

"Oh, come on, Mary! A Slytherin?" he exclaimed.

"What about them? If anything, this is what Dumbledore wants! Houses intermixing and making friends!"

"Not the type of friends you want to be with them," James muttered.

"What was that?" Mary asked him.

"Leave James out of this. He's allowed to have his own opinion," Sirius said loudly. By now, the whole common room was staring at the two of them.

"You're not even going to stand up for me?" Mary asked him, a little perturbed and slightly shocked.

"No. Why should I?"

"He just spoke some slanderous words, Sirius!"

"Well, if you didn't like what he said, I'm betting you wouldn't like what I say about you."

"Sirius!"

"Maybe if you weren't going out with a Slytherin tonight, it would be a different story," Sirius told her.

"You idiot! It doesn't matter that he's a Slytherin!"

"Yes, it does!"

"Why?"

"We hate Slytherins for a reason, Mary!" Sirius yelled at her. "Not just because they beat us in Quidditch sometimes! But because of what they believe in! What your whole family believes in!"

"My family? What about your family, Sirius?" she yelled back.

"Yeah, because you know that I really want to turn out like that! It's always been a dream of mine to associate with the Malfoys and the MacDonald's!"

"Sirius—"

"You know, if you want some real adventure, I suggest that you tag along with your older brother for about two seconds and see what fun he has with his friends! Who knows, maybe you'll run into Evans's family and help torture them!"

James had now stood up and grabbed hold of Sirius's arm, saying, "Padfoot, come on, mate. It's no use."

"My brother! My brother? What about your brother, Sirius? Remember Regulus? Huh? Answer me, damn it!" she screamed at him.

But before Sirius could answer, a third year girl approached Mary.

"Mary, there's a boy outside for you," she said quietly.

"Thank you," Mary replied. She glared at Sirius and said, "I have to go. If you want to continue this, we can. But before we do, grow up a little bit!"

Mary began walking toward the portrait hole with Sirius behind her and slipped out very quickly as he stopped at the hole and slammed his fist into the wall with a yell. He turned round to find Diane and Sarah behind him.

"What?" he asked irritably while they stared at him.

"Grow up," they said simultaneously. Sirius looked over to Alice who was sitting on a loveseat with Frank. "Do you have anything to say?"

She shook her head quickly while Frank stared back at Sirius. He walked back over to James, Remus, and Peter and slammed himself down on the sofa next to Lily.

"So, anyone finish that Charms essay?" Lily asked them quickly. Sirius laughed and bit his lip.

"You're sweet, Evans, but I don't think that I want to do homework right now," Sirius said, patting her on the leg.

"I've never heard you yell that loudly," Peter said to him.

"It's a gift," Sirius shrugged.

"What did Diane and Sarah say to you?" Lily asked curiously.

"They told me to grow up," Sirius repeated.

"Oh."

"Do you have anything you'd like to add, as a friend of Mary's? Come on, I can take it! Take your best shot!"

"It's not about Mary actually," she said, sighing.

"What?"

"If you ever, mention my family in a reference to being tortured, I will kill you," she told him.

"Point taken," he noted, smiling. "Sorry. It was just to make a point."

"That's ok. She's being kind of thick headed right now anyway."

"Why do you say that?"

"We had a massive fight last night about Alice."
"What about Alice?" James asked.

"How I should forgive her or something. I don't particularly remember due to how mad I was that they would even insinuate something like that."

"Well…I've…uh," Remus started. "I've got to go."

"Oh!" James exclaimed. He looked worrisome and kept staring at Remus and then out the window at the setting sun. Lily looked at James strangely and then back to Remus. Peter also looked a tad concerned. Sirius however, was leaned up against the sofa brooding and not paying any attention to Remus.

"Where are you going?" Lily asked.

"Uh…I have a date," Remus lied. "And…Peter and James also have dates. Triplets."

"Triplets?" Lily questioned.

"From Damascus," Peter said.

"Damascus?" Lily asked.

"Yes. Syrian girls. We like 'em," Peter continued. "Right?"

"Right," James confirmed. Remus looked rather annoyed at the whole story and stood up.

"I'm going to go get down to Hogsmede now then. You know, meet them. Don't want them to wait," Remus said, standing quickly.

"We'll see you down there!" James said, waving to Remus. Remus exited the portrait hole and Lily looked back to James and Peter.

"Damascus?" she asked again.

"Yes! Lily, get over it. We date women of other cultures," Peter said, standing.

Soon, Lily was left alone in the common room. Well, not completely alone. Sirius was still sitting against the sofa staring off into the distance. He turned to Lily and noticed she was staring at him expectantly.

"What?"

"I'm just wondering what your excuse will be," Lily said, smiling.

"For what?" Sirius asked her.

"Well, apparently Remus, James and Peter all had dates with girls from Damascus. Triplets."

"What?" he asked.

"You heard me," she said, grinning. "So where are you going?"

Sirius shrugged and then stood. He looked down at her and said, "Let's go get drunk."

Lily paused for a moment and then looked up at him and said, "OK."

Sirius was on probation with Remus's trips to the Shrieking Shack. The previous time, he had gotten a bit rough with Remus as a werewolf. He later told James it was an attempt to make him feel something in his soul since Mary had crushed his. So instead of helping his friend, Sirius sat in a pub with Lily Evans in Hogsmede.

"Are you OK?" Lily asked.

"What?" Sirius asked. He was surprised she had asked that question. No one ever asked if he was OK.

"Are you OK? With Mary?" she wanted to know.

Sirius gulped his drink down and then looked at her and said, "I'm fine."

She nodded. "No, you're not."

"She's…turned into a…What is the word I want to use?"

"Tramp?" Lily suggested.

"Your word, not mine!" Sirius said, mildly shocked.

"She's been dating around, Sirius. Everyone knows she has been."

"She's your best friend. What do you think?"

"I think she's…going through a life crisis," Lily guessed. "You should get her back."

Sirius shrugged. "It's not right. You know? You know when it's right and when it's not right. It hasn't been right in a while. She just had more sense to break it off before I did. Are you OK?"

Lily nodded and kept sipping on her firewhiskey.

"Your mum? How's that going?"

"Uh…it's going. She's still sick."

"What about Frank?"

"What about Frank?" Lily asked.

Sirius shrugged. "You seem a little sad without him."
"Well, it is the first time in a long time that I haven't had a boyfriend."

"True," Sirius said. He called the bartender over to them and ordered two more drinks. "Just so we're clear, Evans, this is not a date."

"I know that," Lily said. Lily then noticed the amount of empty drink glasses she and Sirius had accumulated.

"Just making sure," Sirius said. "I mean, you're no lady from Damascus, but you are nice."

"They're not out with girls from Damascus, are they?" Lily asked.

"No," Sirius admitted. "Peter is a terrible liar."

Lily laughed and took a few more gulps of her drink. "So where are they?"

"I don't know," Sirius lied.

"That's not true. You know where they are all the time," Lily said

"Well, some things are meant to be kept a secret," Sirius said.

"So what's their secret? Are they in love? Is that why Remus never has a girlfriend? He's in love with Potter? And Peter monitors their dates?" Lily laughed. Sirius began howling with laughter.

"No! Stop it! That's not why Remus never has girlfriends," he said, continuing his laughing.

"Then why?"

"He's afraid he'd find a nice girl and she'd break up with him once she…got to know him. At a certain point, I think he's going to just have to stop caring and go a little mad, eh?"

"You really can't tell me where they are?" Lily asked.

"I made a promise and I intend to keep that promise," Sirius slurred.

An hour later, the two stumbled out of a pub, holding each other up and giggling. They ran into multiple other students, who were astonished to see how intoxicated they were. They staggered along the main street and ran right into Severus Snape, who was staring at them menacingly.

"Snape," Sirius said, saluting him.

"No other Marauders?" Snape sneered. "Is this a date."

"Yes, we're in love," Sirius said, putting his arm around Lily. "No, it's not a date, you twit!"

"So where are the others?" Snape asked. "I saw Lupin skulking in the shadows of the Dark Forrest earlier."

"Remus does like to skulk," Sirius said.

"And no Potter? No Pettigrew?"

"Nope."

"Then where are they?"

"I'll tell you if…you admit that you're a Death Eater," Sirius said.

"Sirius," Lily said, trying to stop him. She began to tug at him, trying to walk away from Snape.

"Black—"
"Fine, I'll tell you anyway," Sirius started. "You could use some adventure in your life. They're in the Shrieking Shack. Have at it. Fall through a floor board. I beg of you."

"Sirius, let's go!" Lily yelled. She grabbed Sirius by the hand and dragged him away from Snape.