A/N: Note about fluff and future fluff. Yes, I know I've been dancing around the subject a lot but as I said before, I'm no good at writing romance so (admittedly) a lot of the would-be fluffiness will be drawn from my own experience. Past BFs, crushes, whatever, it's gonna go in. Of course most of it sickens me now but at the time it had me go all gooey and it had worked! I hope it works for you guys or if not, it would give you a laugh at the stupid things I fell for!
Ahem, one more thing. "Lost My Rag" isn't innuendo at least I didn't intend it to be. I think my proof reader is just being perverted in thinking it is but just in case...
Last thing, I promise! The reason I didn't mention the Head Boy/Girl thing was because I assumed that everyone knew that James and Lily were Heads. That's one of the reasons why Lily felt obliged to stop the arguement in "Red Temper". Sorry to those who thought I'd left it out!
TO: Cecilia Orechio, Brent does seem like Lockhart doesn't he? At first I was going to make him a charming guy so that he becomes a threat to Jamesas well as moving the story forward, but then I discovered it was more enjoyable writing about a complete prat than a goodie goodie! Still, I think even Lockhart held some sort of charm if not to Harry and his friends but Brent here is blatantly two faced and generally an idiot in all directions.
I also made that plant up. Just wanted to make life a bit more difficult for them and plus, I like the word "goo" so it had to be in the story somewhere. Hehe!
As for Rosie, she'll be back because she has quite a major role to play...oops! Did I just say that?
Having said that here comes the DISCLAIMER: Don't sue me. I don't own anything except the plot of this story and own characters. I'm 'borrowing' the imaginative ideas and warping them to my liking.
True to its words, the Dream Book had been right and her subconscious mind seemed satisfied with Lily's encounter in the Forbidden Forest. At last Lily was able to sleep fitfully.
Weeks passed in peace. Lily did not mention anything about the strange grave or any detail that involved her sleepwalking, not even to McGonagall who questioned them repeatedly. Rosie kept respectfully silent when it came to that matter and in return she effectively earned Lily's respect and friendship even if she hadn't set out to.
As far as the story went Lily was sleepwalking and the others followed her into the Forbidden Forest and the rest happened as it did except for the stumble in the grave. Even after a few weeks the story that had initially spread like wildfire among the students was still rampant, new with additional details every day and before long it seemed to involve them fighting three headed dogs, Giants and an initiation among the Centaurs.
For the first time in her life Lily knew what it was like to be a Marauder. Wherever she went there were stares of admiration and awe as if every student was expecting her to suddenly turn around and do something amazing. At first she hadn't received her new found fame very well but soon she grew accustomed to it and learnt to enjoy the finer points of being highly popular. At the same time it seemed natural that Yoanna and Lily should be found with the Marauders. Cerise was highly amused by all this and commented that "Almost dying together could be very bonding" one day while Lily was complaining about being grouped with the mischievous boys. Completing Head Boy and Girl duties also became easier now that Lily found that she could talk to James without wanting to hex him into next week.
Rosie remained the only member of their adventure to continually keep a distance and was rarely seen. She had an art of disappearing whenever Lily or any of the others spotted her.
James' generally good mood that had lasted for weeks finally evaporated one cold November morning. Tattlaevore, his Great Barn Owl had dropped a piece of parchment in his lap that morning and had flown off, insulted that her Master had once again called her "Tatty" for short.
Dearest Jamie,
I hope this reaches you before that damn article does. I'm afraid that your father is to undergo a hearing at the Ministry of Magic. They want to charge him for rumor stirring among the community. I can't believe that even now they refuse to do something. You-Know-Who is like a fox in a chicken pen and still they prefer to sit on their hands!
Don't worry dear, I know your Father will be fine and I've owled Professor Dumbledore as well Aberforth and I'm sure they will stop them from pressing charges.
Love, Mum.
James sat back, the last traces of his good mood dissolving. His mother was obviously upset and probably feeling lost without his father and he was stuck here at school unable to help. Pulling out a quill he quickly wrote a few lines back to his mother providing support and reconfirmation that his father would be fine. He whistled sharply and Tatty came flying back giving him an affectionate nip before flying off with his reply. James chewed on a bit of toast and resolved not to read the 'damn article' but with a second thought he pulled a copy of the Daily Prophet to him and scanned the front few pages. By the time he had finished he was enraged that the writer dared to scandalize his family name.
Picking up a pile of his books James headed back for his room. It was Saturday and he had intended on catching up with his increasing workload so he could spend Sunday practicing Quidditch. That idea was clearly out of the window now that he was distracted.
He made his way down the corridor not quite watching where he was going until he bumped into someone. His dropped his wand and muttered an apology as lent over to pick it off the floor. He straightened up to find Brent giving him one of his usual I'm- good-and-I-know-it looks. James silently cursed his bad luck for running into him. At the best of times this guy was overly sickly with his snobbish attitude but most of the time he was simply irritating. He had learnt to avoid him like the plague but found it increasingly hard, as the guy seemed to be popping up wherever they went. In some ways he was worse than Snape, at least Snape had a legitimate reason for stalking them even if it was to get them in trouble.
"Hel-lo." He chirped brightly and flashed a smile to a pair of passing girls before returning his attention back to James. "Just thought it would be courtesy to let you know that I plan on asking dear Lily out. The whole protective thing you do to her is cute and all..." he hesitated under James' hot glare. "And I do admire it..." he trailed off again. "Look, I know the deal and I'm sure you've tried asking her out and she's said no right? No hard feelings, mate." James didn't know whether to admire the guy's frankness or be angry at his audacity. In the end he settled on the latter. James was livid. How dare he tread on sensitive not to mention sacred ground! Unable to say anything straight away in his anger James pointed his finger with an open mouth, it just happened to be the same hand that held his fallen wand although he had absolutely no intention on using it at all. He was far beyond the rational ability to think of any spell. Unfortunately, Lily happened to turn the corner just in time to see him point. "Expelliarmus!" His wand flew out of his hand and landed at Brent's feet. Lily was mortified that James would raise his wand to someone who couldn't even defend himself against magic."James! What are you doing?" she marched up to stand in front of him with her hands planted on her hips. He didn't reply but could still feel his anger and upset boiling under the surface. "He's a Squib! How could you raise a wand to him?" she demanded. He was Head Boy and was supposed to set an example for the younger years. Maybe he hadn't grown out of his trigger-happy wand hexing days after all.
Brent cleared his throat. "Well, actually I prefer the term 'Muggle-that-knows-about magic'.'Squib' shounds a tad weird to me." Lily shot him a look that told him to shut up but he ignored it and pointed at James. "And you, she's right! You should be careful of where you point that thing!" It was as if Lily could see something in James snap and she grabbed him before he could even lunge at Brent. "What is wrong with you?" "He's what's wrong with me!" James said too angry to even raise his voice. He knew much of it had stemmed from an already bad mood but it seemed like a very good idea to use the opportunity to vent some of it off. "I'm sick of tired of his shitty comments! And what is this? All this special treatment because he has some rock in his gut?" Lily was quite taken aback upon hearing James swear in front of her, it was something he hadn't done before. Surprised at the effect it had on herself Lily fell back to her anti-sympathy-for- James and general anti- James behavior that she had worked hard to build up against him in the past few years. True it had been put aside for the past few weeks but now it came back naturally. "You probably deserved it!" she snapped back. As soon as the words left her mouth she knew that she had made a mistake and had made the situation worse. James looked down at her disbelief clouding his eyes. "I don't understand it! Every time something happens to me it's because I deserve it! Bloody fantastic!" He still refused to raise his voice and with one last lingering look of incredulity he turned and left at a brisk pace leaving a stunned Lily. Brent picked up the fallen wand. "Hey, you left your stick!" he called but James didn't hear him and continued to stomp off. Unsettled and upset Lily snatched the wand out of his hand and stared at it willing it to undo everything that had just happened but then a thought occurred to her. "Which end was he pointing at you?"Brent looked at it with disinterest. "The pointing end I suppose."
"Which end?" Lily held it out for him to show her.
"This one, I guess." Brent pointed at the broader end that was not customarily used to point with when doing magic. James wouldn't and couldn't hex with this end of the wand and Brent was enough of a Squib to not know that. Lily dropped her head onto a hand with a groan. What had she just done?
If James thought his mood was bad earlier it was now positively foul as he stormed into his room and tossed his pile of books onto his bed. Sirius sat up closing a Quidditch book he had propped up. "What's up, Prongs?" he was aware that James looked like he might explode any second but if he left him he knew the mood could only get worse. "Lily Evans!" James snapped. "Ah," Sirius should have known; there were few things in this world that managed to work his friend up in such a state and she was one of the few. "If I so much as look at her again, break my arm! No my leg! That will teach me a thing or two! And that I deserve!" he glanced at his limbs deciding which would be temporarily expendable. "What happened, mate?" James gave him a quick fill in that made Sirius laugh. "'Rock in the gut'? Couldn't have put it better myself!" he chuckled. "But still, I don't see how that managed to get you to lose your rag." Instantly James fell back to the initial cause of his bad mood and he tossed Sirius a copy of the paper he had clamped in his books. Sirius read the paper in silence and swore becoming equally as angry as James. James' parents had taken him in when he had nowhere to go and had treated him like a second son. They were good people fighting to protect people and this was their reward.
"Dumbledore will be on his way. You dad will be fine." He said after he was done with cursing every member he could think of in the Ministry of Magic.
"Yeah." James hung his head dejectedly. "I'm gonna go for a walk or something. Need to get some air into my head before I pop a vessel." He stood up and headed for the door. "Getting old already?" Sirius hunched over and pretended to shrivel up his face and act like he was a toothless aged James.
"Not a chance. Watch it dog boy or I'll take you to the vet." James threw back lightly before closing the door behind him.
A/N: Call me perverse but I liked writing that chapter! It was good that James finally lost his rag and Lily's realizing that he has certain effect on her. Next chapter is most likely to have some fluff in it by the looks of things, but I'm evil so I don't think it will be an easy fluff. Will see! xXx
