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Chapter 22

Mayhem

Remus POV

He watched as James turned on his heel and walked off. He watched in utter shock as Lily turned, tears rolling down her face, and fell into his arms. Sirius looked at him, eyebrows raised.

"Just go after him. I'll meet you." He said nodding his head towards Lily.

"Right. I'll get him, Right." He nodded and bolted off after James.

"Mr. Lupin, I trust you can handle this situation?" McGonagall said sternly, looking at Lily.

"Yes professor. I will take care of it." He muttered, pulling Lily away from the crowd and into an unused classroom followed by Kai.

"Look Lupin, I can handle this. Why don't you go play with that dick you call a friend." He said.

Remus let go of Lily's shoulder and turned swiftly to face the Ravenclaw.

"I know that he was hitting on your date right in front of you, and I can see how that would be disturbing to you but he is not nor has he ever been a dick. And if I ever hear you talk about one of my friends that way again, you will sincerely regret it. Now if Lils still wants to go with you to Hogsmede that's up to her. But why she would want to date a bloody wanker is beyond me."

Kai's face was red with anger as he walked over to Lily and held out his hand.

"Let's go Lily, I have a lot planned for today. We need to get out of here."

She looked up with her tear stained face and shook her head.

"I can't, I can't go. I am sorry. But I can't." she said, breaking into renewed sobs.

Kai looked furious, he spit out an expletive and stormed out of the room.

Remus hugged her for a minute. Before she pulled away, tears pouring down her face.

"I'm sorry, you are James' friend, I know you want to be with him, he needs you." She said softly, sniffing the tears away.

"Well, yes. But you are my friend too, and I want you to be alright. And I messaged Alice and she is already on her way back."

She nodded mutely.

"Lily."

She looked up and met his eyes.

"You love him." He said gently.

Tears filled her eyes and she sat down on the floor, cradling her face in her hands.

"I know." She muttered.

"Then why won't you tell him?" Remus said flustered at her acceptance.

"I just can't, I can't be in a real relationship. I don't want to be hurt and he or no one else, can hurt me if I don't let them. I won't let him."

"Lils, he would rather die than hurt you."

"It doesn't mean that he won't." she cried softly.

The door slammed open and Alice came barreling through. Remus passed her off to her best friend.

He took off through the castle at breakneck speed searching for three boys that could quite literally disappear in this school and never be found. Sirius had the map, James always always always had the cloak, and they knew these grounds better than Dumbledore himself. This was going to require thought and deduction.

He knew James wouldn't go to the Room of Requirement, it would hold too many memories for him. They wouldn't be in any unused classroom, he wouldn't want interrupted. Knowing James, and judging by the way he had slugged Sirius moments ago, he was destroying something. Where could he go that he could tear up whatever he wanted.

oOoOoOo

It had taken a lot of finagling to get into the secret passage under the willow on a Saturday, in broad daylight. But he was standing in the sitting room of the shack listening closely, trying to decipher where in the house the other three were. He heard someone curse upstairs so he followed the sound. It was surprisingly quiet for the reason they were here. He walked into the largest bedroom when he heard the old mattress squeak.

In front of him was a scene he had not expected. Pete was sitting in the tattered chair that always sat in the corner, Sirius was sitting, holding his bruised jaw, on the bottom of the bed. A respectable distance away, at the top of the bed sat James. He was cross legged and hunched forward, his head in his hands, his face covered by his hair. He listened to Sirius speak softly.

"Jamie, it isn't going to do any good to pretend that we aren't here. Just talk to us. Let us help you."

Remus watched the rise and fall of his friends back, he watched closer and saw the slight trembling in his hands and neck. On the air his wolf senses could smell the bitter scent of salt…Tears…and a bit of blood.

The blood was obvious as Sirius spit on the floor and it was sprayed with blood tinged saliva.

"You good Pads?" Remus asked as he stepped farther into the room.

Two of the three boys looked up, the third just continued to shake softly, trying to hide the fact that he was actually crying.

"Yeah, he busted my lip, that is all." He said muffled.

Remus nodded his head and walked right up to where James was sitting and knelt by the side of the bed. Sirius looked nervous but said nothing. Pete looked horrified at Remus' nerve. Remus placed his elbows on the bed and leaned in so he was close to James.

"Jamie, we know you are hurt. We know you are pissed. We know that you are confused. But we cannot possibly know how that all feels bottled up inside of you. Now, I know you aren't going to tell us. So we are going to go back to the castle, unless you want us to stay."

James turned his head to the side and Remus could see the unshed tears glistening like crystals against the hazel behind them, he could see the tracks left on his face.

He said nothing so Remus stood and motioned for the other two to do the same.

Pete stood and walked out quickly, Remus waited at the door for Sirius who was looking solemnly at James. He turned and made it to his side, they were stepping out when they heard.

"I don't want to be alone. Just…Stay…But I don't want to talk about it…"

The two boys nodded, Remus headed back in and Sirius continued out.

"Pads, we aren't leaving where are you going?" Remus said, confused.

"This is going to require enough firewiskey and food to last us until dinner tomorrow. I am taking Pete, and we will be back!"

oOoOoOoO

By Monday the entire school had either heard about or been witness to the James and Lily blowup. At breakfast that morning and in Charms right after Lily was an obvious mess. Her normally perfectly styled hair was pulled into a floppy flyaway ponytail, her uniform shirt was untucked in the front and she was wearing her tie loose around her neck. She looked sick, or tiered.

But when you saw James you wouldn't have known anything was even wrong with him. His hair was its usual tousled mess and his eyes were shimmering with excitement. If anything he looked happier and more energetic than usual.

Right now he was attempting to adopt a pitiful expression as Flitwick was attempting to scold him and Sirius for charming their quills to fence on their desk top. They were supposed to be working on the bubblehead charm.

OoOoOoO

Later that week found Sirius and James running full tilt through the dungeons screaming like mad. Everyone in their wake stopped and stepped back, and good thing as next minute no less than 15 suits of armor appeared tromping after the boys wearing purple tutus and wielding their axes.

oOoOoOoO

The day before the final quidditch match of the year the school should have shut down and let everyone stay in their rooms. It had become obvious at this point. Sirius and James dealt with stress and anger by playing and pranking. And today they were irate, and the Ravenclaw and Slytherin taunting had only fuelled the fire.

At breakfast all four marauders were suspiciously missing. Causing McGonagall to stop eating and walk out of the great hall, anxious to find them. However when she opened the doors chaos reigned, red and gold paint fell from the ceiling. Gold balloons fell and then burst a foot from student's heads, raining down scarlet glitter upon everyone. Every students hair changed Gold, every professor's red. A very realistic lion's roar could be heard throughout the entire school.

The student's all stood frozen, fearful of what was yet to come as their professor sighed deeply and threw the doors open all of the way to allow them to head off to their classes.

That afternoon, anyone walking to the greenhouses found themselves stuck in stinksap, the charms corridor was so slick that students and professors were seen sliding on their backsides across the floor all day. Everyone that walked under the archway into the transfiguration hall sprouted animal ears or tails. Every potion created by a Slytherin student blew up. And to make matters worse the professors couldn't figure out how to stop the madness. They needed Dumbledore but he was gone at the ministry for the day.

As dinner approached a mob of students could be found milling outside of the great hall. They parted as the four boys walked happily up to them.

"What are you all waiting for?" James asked curiously, no sign of a grin on his face.

"What is going to happen to us if we go in there?" A brave Ravenclaw 4th year asked.

Sirius shrugged his shoulders.

"How should we know?"

And they all walked brazenly into the hall. The others watched incredulously as they sat down and nothing happened. Slowly the Ravenclaw boy that had spoken up stepped in and when nothing happened he bolted to his seat and tried to eat as fast as he could.

Everyone was seated and eating nervously when Sirius felt a tap on his shoulder and they heard a familiar

"Ahem" behind them.

Sirius and James' heads popped up to see the ashen faces of Remus and Peter looking behind them. The two black haired boys turned to see Professor McGonagall standing behind them.

"You two should be glad you are already benched tomorrow, because if you weren't you would have been after today. As it stands, you all four have detention, every Friday and Saturday night for the remainder of the school term.

"But Professor, you don't even know that any of this was us." Remus said beseechingly.

"I have no doubt Mister Lupin. None at all. I don't know what you were doing to keep these two under control for most of this year but I suggest you go back to that method. This is ridiculous." She said coldly before turning to the head table and walking off.

"Damn it." Remus muttered. James and Sirius merely grinned, Peter shrugged it off. As long as they were in together he was fine.

"Well as long as we are already in detention. I guess we should finish off with a." James said before Sirius slashed the air with his wand and the whole great hall shook with a loud bang.

Soon the new fireworks that Pete had been eyeing at the beginning of the year were everywhere. They were exploding at a terrifying rate sending sparklers and pinwheels flying. Some students ran for it, others sat and clapped appreciatively.

Lily looked over at James sadly, he seemed fine, he was leaning against the table watching the spectacle above him laughing, sitting side by side with Gryffindor chaser Morgan Patil. Sirius was smiling as Soaryn came over and smacked his shoulder lightly with a huge smile on her face. He took her hand and left the hall with a huge smile on his face. James seemed nonplussed like he couldn't have been happier.

Remus turned as if he felt her looking and caught her eye. He smiled weakly at her and she stood and followed the giggling couple from the hall.

oOoOoOoO

The game had been underway for about an hour and it was a surprise that James still had a voice. He was screaming at the field, attempting to direct his team from the sidelines but it just was not working. They were failing miserably.

"Damn it! What are you doing! You hit the bludger at the other team!" he was screaming relentlessly as he watched his stand in beater knock his own partner off her broom.

Sirius looked appalled and merely held his face in his hands, wishing that this would soon end. And it did end, badly for the Gryffindors. They lost 420 to 30. The worst loss in 10 years, James was beside himself. The entire school watched him storm out of the stands and across the field to stand in front of the slytherin stands. He glared at them, hate plain on his face.

"Mr. Potter I suggest you go to your common room if you do not want to be expelled." Professor McGonagall said softly as she took his elbow in her hand and pulled him from the green and silver clad students.

James looked at her and pulled his arm from her grasp, trudging away like his world had ended.

oOoOoOoOoO

The entire school held its breath over the next week. Surely after his display of anger James was up to something. But nothing came. In fact no one had even seen him speak aloud that week. He would lean in and whisper to one of the other three Marauders but that was it, no snotty remarks, no big headed prattiness, no answering professor's, nothing. It was eerie how silent the school was without his voice.

They were five weeks from exams when in defense they were posed with a new task. They had to learn how to produce a patronus. To pass the class it had to at least have an indistinct form but extra credit would be given to those that had a corporeal patronus.

"Students, I want to see all of this week's progress on you patronus' at the end of class. Those who have not made sufficient strides will have homework, all others will not. Begin." Their professor said before standing to walk the class.

He saw the four boys standing to the side, laughing at one another rather than practicing.

"So gentleman I am taking it that you all can produce your patronus to standard since you are not doing your work?"

"Yup, that's about right." Sirius said rudely.

Pete nodded James sighed like he was bored as Remus muttered,

"Yes sir."

"Well then show us, your corporeal patronus. One at a time. You first Black." He said with a disbelieving tone.

Sirius smirked and raised his wand.

"Expecto Patronum!" he shouted and from his want burst a huge silver bear like dog. The students all stopped their individual practice to watch it bounce around the room playfully. It wagged its tail and hopped from side to side panting. Even Lily laughed as it weaved its way in between her and Alice.

"Mr. Lupin." The professor said tensely.

Remus waived his wand and screwed up his face before shouting the incantation.

Many students shuffled backwards as the silvery snarling wolf emerged, but as soon as it saw the dog it stopped its vicious behavior and sat on its haunches watching the other patronus warily. As they faded the professor looked at Peter and nodded, intending him to go next.

It took a moment for the students to realize that the small rodent running the floor was not real.

As they all waited for it to disappear several students began to practice their own patronus' again.

"Mr. Potter, you're up."

James nodded and just as he raised his wand Lily's squeal of delight distracted him. He looked over at her just as her silvery doe galloped towards him. His jaw dropped to his chest. He looked over at the other marauders, Sirius was sharing the look of shock, Peter looked confused and was looking between Lily and James so fast his head could have snapped off, and Remus stood with his arms crossed and a smug look on his face. James looked back at Lily and felt the heat grow in his stomach as she smiled happily at the doe that was walking around her. He turned and stalked towards the classroom door slamming it open, causing the entire class to jump. But before he could escape he was jerked back in by the Professor.

"No you don't. Patronus. Now!" he demanded.

James scowled at him, his look was so angry that even the marauders recoiled from it. He looked defiantly at Lily and raised his wand.

"Expecto Patronum!" he shouted.

And with a blinding silver light a huge Stag pranced forth, heading directly for the doe, it nuzzled her head they seemed to play, dancing around one another gracefully. The entire class held their breath, Lily looked stricken as pain seared across James' face before he walked out.