Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter or Harry Potter related copyrights.
"Since when does Prongs close the curtains around his bed?" Sirius groggily asked Remus as they slowly dragged themselves out of bed the following morning at the ungodly hour of 5:45 a.m..
"He never does that," said Remus suspiciously as he rubbed the sleep put of his eyes. "Hmm…"
"Do you think we should check it out?" asked Sirius with a smirk on his face; usually he would be dead this early in the morning, but the mystery of James' sleeping situation was invigorating him.
Remus grinned back, temporarily distracted from the pain of the day. "I think for all of our sakes we should see what exactly is behind those curtains. Could be a monster you know."
"On the count of three," whispered Sirius as he and Remus approached James' curtains.
No matter what they had been expecting to see behind the curtains around their roommate's bed, Lily was not been on that list.
"Oh man! James!" groaned Remus. "Mate! This totally goes beyond all boundaries!"
Sirius laughed and said, "I thought you loved the girl, and yet you willingly subject her to the sight of Peter walking out of the loo naked and wet like he does every morning because he always forgets to bring his clothes in with him?"
"Good morning to you guys too," said Lily as she stretched her arms over her head.
"Hey Lily what are you doing here… so early in the morning… in James' bed… next to him… with very little clothes on…" Peter gulped.
"I don't know Wormtail," said Sirius sarcastically. "I think she's having a cup of tea. Idiot! What does it look like she's doing?!"
"Oh thank Merlin you're dressed," Remus breathed in relief as he looked over at Peter.
"Now that you fine blokes have had your say, if you could kindly close the curtains and be on your merry ways, I would be most grateful because I was having a very nice time before you butted in," said James, who still had an arm around Lily and his eyes closed.
"I should get up anyways," said Lily as she slipped out of her boyfriend's embrace. "Before McGonagall gets here and finds me."
James groaned as Lily left his side in favor of the loo.
"Damn," muttered Peter appreciatively as he watched Lily walk away.
Sirius and Remus looked at Peter in surprise. Peter shrugged and said," What?"
"I believe that they are referring to the fact that you were just blatantly drooling over my girlfriend," said James evenly. "That's one of those boundaries that just shouldn't be crossed."
"Let's talk about some other boundaries that shouldn't be crossed," said Remus.
"Like letting Lily into our dorm without telling us," stated Sirius as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"We know that you love her and stuff… but could you at least warn us or something?" asked Peter.
"She came in late last night and she would have left except she was locked in just like the rest of us. She doesn't always think everything through you know," explained James calmly. "And although it's none of your business, we just talked and fell asleep. Now I suppose that I had better get dressed and get the cloak for Lily before…"
Then there came a knock at the door and a stern call, "This is Professor McGonagall and I am here to escort you to my classroom where you will spend the remainder of the day. I am now unlocking the door so you had better all be… decent."
"Crap," said James as he glanced to the closed bathroom door. Quickly he sprang out of bed, grabbed his invisibility cloak and bundled it into a pile with his uniform, which he picked up off of the floor.
"Morning Professor," greeted James sheepishly as the Transfiguration teacher strode into the room. "I'm just going to get dressed and then I'll be ready to go."
"Hurry up," said McGonagall curtly.
"Sure, I'm just going to go into the loo and put on my uniform and then I'll be right back," said James loudly as he approached the bathroom.
He slowly turned the knob then opened the door as narrowly as he could and slipped inside. Once inside he put a finger to his lips and threw his cloak to Lily. Luckily Lily had finished her business in the loo before James had entered. As Lily put on the cloak, James put his wrinkled uniform on over his pajamas, which consisted of a pair of boxers and a tee-shirt.
"You ready?" James whispered to a seemingly empty room.
The only response he received was a light hand squeeze.
"Alright then," sighed James. The emotional high he had been on since he had woken up to the sight of his girlfriend was now rapidly wearing off.
When James reentered his bedroom the change in atmosphere was apparent; the joking attitude had been replaced by harsh realism.
"Let's go then," said McGonagall sharply as she turned and left the room.
The four Marauders and the invisible Lily silently filed out behind her. At the bottom of the stairs Lily slipped her hand out from James' and moved away from the disheartened group; James felt the last bit of hope and happiness leave him.
For the rest of the day the boys were stuck in McGonagall's locked office copying various lines hundreds of times. After every class period the stern professor would check up on them and around lunch the house elves brought them some provisions. All of the boys felt as if they were in prison already. They couldn't believe that they were getting blamed for such an atrocious act that they didn't commit. On the other side of the castle a small group of students were grinning madly and toasting each other's brilliance. A couple of corridors and a staircase away, another group was feeling on edge and guilty.
Up in Gryffindor Tower there was mass confusion and unease. All around the common room were small groups whispering to each other and constantly glancing toward three seventh year girls who were sitting by the fire and trying to pretend that everything was okay. They had textbooks and parchment in front of them, but none of them were doing anything except staring off into space desperately trying to find some way to help their friends.
"There are aurors in the entrance hall!" announced a winded fourth year Gryffindor as he stumbled into the common room.
All talk ceased and heads instantly turned to stare at the boy.
"A whole team of them!" added the boy's friend.
Alice, Marlene, and Lily dropped their textbooks as if they were blast-ended skrewts and ran out of the common room. After their departure the whispering was renewed with a frantic new energy.
The auror team arrived at the castle ten minutes before the fourth years came across them.
"I don't feel right about this Harris," said an experienced auror by the name of Tom Dardani. "You can't go behind Potter's back like this. He's the Captain."
"And I am second in command, empowered to act as the Captain when the Captain is unable to adequately perform his duties," stated Frederick Harris pompously.
"But there isn't anything wrong with Potter," argued Dardani.
"His son is one of the suspects; you can't expect him to be impartial, therefore he is unable to do his job satisfactorily and I must take over."
"But we should have at least told him about this; you know he'll find out about it eventually, and he doesn't tolerate betrayal well," continued Dardani.
"He won't find out if no one tells him," said Harris threateningly as he glared at each of the aurors on the squad in turn.
"You'll find Harris that there are a great many people in the department who are more loyal to me than you are and were more than happy to inform me of the mutiny you were trying to stage today," Christopher Potter firmly informed his lieutenant.
Any man less than a seasoned auror would have quaked at the sight of a livid Christopher Potter. He stood as straight as a rod, every muscle tensed, and his wand fixed firmly in his iron grip. However, these details could not possibly compare with the fear his face instilled in his opponents. His jaw was clenched, his eyebrows furrowed, and the rage was clearly visible in his dark brown eyes. It was no wonder Lily left James' house so quickly on Christmas morning; Christopher Potter could be downright scary when he wanted to be.
"Captain," said Harris with the air of a small child you has just been caught stealing from the cookie jar before supper. "You know that you can't be unbiased in this case; I thought I would spare you the pain of dealing with it at all."
"Regardless Harris," spat Potter. "It is not within your authority to decide that you can just take over an assignment without me. You can be sure I will be filing a report about this."
"That is if you're allowed to return to work," said Harris with a smirk. "Your only son is suspected of attacking students; that sort of behavior is not natural, it is learned."
If three aurors had not anticipated their Captain's action, Potter would have lunged at Harris and engaged him in a viscous duel. Luckily for all concerned, he was stopped before it came to that.
"Pull yourself together Potter," advised one of his comrades in a fierce whisper as he shoved Potter back and away from Harris.
"Good evening gentlemen," said Dumbledore in his serene voice. "Thank you for responding so quickly."
The aurors all murmured various greetings to their former transfiguration professor.
"How are you going to proceed with the investigation?" Dumbledore questioned Frederick Harris, the man who had sent an owl responding to his call.
"Well Dumbledore, numerous parents have contacted my department with theories about the culprits and it seems that they, and their children, have drawn the same conclusions as your staff," began Harris.
Dumbledore interjected at this point, "I would just like to make it known that neither I nor any member of the staff have made any conclusive judgments on this matter. We have discussed it and found that there was not enough evidence to draw any sort of conclusion. We simply endeavored to alleviate the fears of the students, which as you have so aptly pointed out, were directed towards four students in particular."
"Where are the boys now?" asked Mr. Potter. He somehow kept his voice completely emotionless.
"As they have been all day, they are locked in Professor McGonagall's office, under constant supervision," replied Dumbledore.
Desperate to regain control of the situation, Harris broke in and said, "We would like to begin this process by interviewing the students who were present at the attack."
"So all of them then?" asked Dumbledore with the faintest glimmer of humor in his tone.
"Perhaps just the victims then."
"That would result in a terribly skewed perception of the events considering that they were all attacked and thus just obviously would be inclined to exaggerate in order to get revenge on those they presume were behind their pain."
"Well, we can't very well interview each and every student!"
"Nor can you only interview a select few."
"How many students are currently enrolled in Hogwarts?" asked Potter thoughtfully.
"292," replied Dumbledore.
"If ten of us were to interrogate the students, each interview lasting an average of five minutes, it would take 144 minutes, nearly two and a half hours, for us to finish. Meanwhile the eleventh auror could interrogate and guard the four suspects. I, because of my bias, will not take an active role in this investigation, though I reserve my rights as Captain of this squad. If, for any reason, any of you think I am operating under a bias of any sort please inform me directly and we will take the proper measures to resolve the issue," said Christopher in a commanding way.
Potter looked each of his men in the eye to ensure they had an understanding and then continued with his plan. "Professor, may I request the use of ten classrooms spaced well apart?"
"Of course, I am at your service," said Dumbledore agreeably.
"To keep any one auror from getting a one dimensional view of the events I will randomly assign students of various ages and houses to each auror. To do this I would like to assemble all of the students in the Great Hall, immediately if possible."
"Certainly, I will just… well how convenient, here comes the Head Girl now," said Dumbledore as he saw Lily, flanked by her two friends walking slowly down the hallway, trying to pretend as if they were by coincidence. "I will have her go to each of the common rooms and enlist the help of the prefects while I inform the teachers of this update."
And so the investigation proceeded. Each student was interviewed but very little insight was gained. In the end, many of the students' conjectures reflected their house loyalties. Naturally Gryffindors, when pressed, bravely defended their own. The majority of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs also decided to defend the four Marauders, vouching for their characters and claiming that they had not been given even the slightest hint that the boys had taken any part whatsoever in the attack. Predictably the Slytherin victims viscously decried James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter.
After the individual investigations were finished Christopher Potter decided to address the entire student body.
"Students, each of you have talked to an auror within the last couple of hours. We thank all of you for your cooperation. I would like to assure you that we believe there is no threat to your safety, but to assuage the fears that many of you have expressed we are going to post an auror in each of your common rooms and two in the Great Hall during meals for the next couple of days, until this whole matter is resolved and everyone feels comfortable. If anyone has any more information please speak to a teacher or auror. I hope that you understand that you could shatter or salvage many futures with your input. You may now return to your common rooms," said Mr. Potter clearly and forcefully.
After the students had left with their auror guardians, a committee made up of the teachers, remaining aurors and Dumbledore met to decide what should be done.
"I apologize for this Christopher," prefaced an auror named Jack Timbeault who had been a close friend of Christopher since he met him on their first day of school. "But numerous students, especially the younger ones, have expressed a lot of fear concerning their safety while your son and his friends are still in the school. It seems as though a great deal of rumors have been spread throughout the school; I'm sure you remember how exaggerated stories got when we were at Hogwarts. I'm afraid that my recommendation is that the boys be suspended until all of this is cleared up."
Another auror Patrick Jinner, who had been only a couple of years below Christopher in school and had been a Slytherin, also said his piece. "I would like to further suggest that the four kids be placed under house arrest, to alleviate the fears of the parents. The department received nearly a hundred letters, visits, and floo calls from concerned parents today."
"These are very serious actions," said another auror, Hank Sputter. "If we placed the boys under house arrest that would be seen as an action taken against criminals; it would be put on their records and most likely exclude Christopher's son from the auror program."
"Now, Hank, we can't make special allowances for James because Christopher's son," said Jose Fernandes.
"Don't be like that Jose; we are know you have been trying to get James arrested since he charmed your daughter's hair pink right before she met the Minister five years ago at the auror ball," said Donny Harington, an auror who said little but saw everything and always told it like he saw it.
Defensively Jose replied, "All I'm saying is that we can't ignore out duty so that we keep Christopher's kid's record clean."
"Gentlemen, may I take this opportunity to point out the fact that throughout this conversation you have referred to James, Sirius, Remus and Peter as "boys" or "kids". They may be of adult age, but really they aren't much more than boys. I don't believe that any of my students are the hardened criminals you are trying to make the four boys out to be, so even if they were the culprits, I believe that you are handing them a punishment that doesn't suit the crime," said Dumbledore sagely.
"Also, may I remind you that there hasn't been any conclusive evidence to incriminate them. It would be terrible if their futures were ruined because of hasty decision making," said Professor McGonagall.
"I would just like to say," began Slughorn loudly and pompously. If the other teachers were going to have a say then so was he. "That Mr. Potter and his friends are among my finest students. They may like to joke around and get a few laughs, but it is all in good fun. I suspect that, over the years, most of their antics have been designed to impress Lily Evans, who is one of the best students I have ever had the privilege of teaching."
"I interviewed her I believe," said Jack as he flipped through his notes. "A lovely young woman, who is now dating your son, right Christopher?"
"Yes, has been for some time now," said Christopher emotionlessly.
"It is interesting that many of the Slytherin students told me that she began healing their wounds almost immediately after they had been inflicted," mused Patrick, the former Slytherin. "It could seem that she was prepared for the attack. Perhaps her dear boyfriend told her of it and powerless to stop it, she did what she could to help in the aftermath?"
"Auror Jinner," began Professor Dumbledore tensely. "Miss Evans is a very talented and honorable young witch, and an asset to my school. She has never and would never hesitate to stop any action which she considered wrong. In fact she has, over the past seven years, chastised and put a stop to a great many of Mr. Potter's pranks. I have no doubt that if Mr. Potter was the originator of this act and had informed her of it beforehand, she wouldn't have wasted I am extremely grateful that she reacted so quickly to the events of that night in question, but ask that you refrain from trying to involve her in some sort of grand conspiracy theory."
"My apologies," muttered Patrick.
"I think I have a solution," offered Auror Potter. "I understand that many of the students many be scared of what might happen to them; I have no doubt that the fear they have about the current situation outside of Hogwarts' walls mixed with the embellished stories that are being spread around have them quite on edge. If this is agreeable to Professor Dumbledore I would have the four suspects suspended. To ease the concerns' of the parents I would suggest that the four boys all be house-bound, though not placed under official house arrest. I am willing to host the four boys at my home and take a few personal days to supervise them. Also, to avoid any possible claims that I am biased, I would like to host two other aurors of a committee's choosing to also guard the boys. This would avoid having our numbers stretched among four houses when there are far better things we could be doing."
After a few moments of contemplation, Jack spoke, "I think that this is the best solution. I see no problem with it."
All of the other aurors voiced similar opinions.
"I also find this solution the best, as long as the boys keep up with their studies of course," Dumbledore added with his customary twinkle in his eye.
"Do you think Marilyn would have it any other way?" asked Christopher with a smile. "It was lucky for the boys that I opened the post this morning and read the letter you sent last night."
"I was wondering how you had found out about the case," said Jack. "I would have told you myself if I didn't know that you weren't told already."
Christopher's face darkened, "I'll deal with Harris later. He has been after my job for far too long, and he has finally taken it too far."
"Minerva, would you please lead Auror Potter and Auror Timbeault to your office. They can escort the boys to their dormitory to pack and then bring them to the Potter home," requested Professor Dumbledore.
"Of course," said Minerva curtly.
"I can't wait to see the look on James' face when he sees you," Jack said jovially. "He must know that he's in for it this time!"
"Just wait until his mother seems him home for spring break two weeks early," Christopher joked back. "I will certainly be on the other side of the house during that great explosion."
"If I were James I would never put a toe out of line for fear of you or Marilyn finding out; it's amazing that James hasn't been scared to death yet," remarked Jack. "The two of you are pretty darn frightening when you're mad."
"Marilyn can never stay mad at James for long though and she always has the house elves bake him a chocolate cake after she yells at him. Her anger is very passionate but doesn't last long."
"And then there is your anger which seems to last forever without burning out," commented Jack.
"True, but James is the exception. No matter what he does I can't stay mad at him for long."
"Who could? Firstly he's your only son; next he is far too much like you for you to stay mad at him and not feel like a hypocrite, and finally I must admit, that boy of yours has charisma. I think he could talk his way out of going to Azkaban if this whole thing took a turn for the worst."
"Merlin knows he's talked his way out of weeks worth of detention here," muttered Minerva, who had been eavesdropping the whole time.
"I apologize for all the problems my son has caused you over the years," said Christopher seriously.
"While your son and his friends have pushed me to my breaking point several times over the past seven years, I have enjoyed teaching them and I will miss them when they graduate. They have brought a lot of life into this old castle and I can't imagine life without their loud laughter and inventive pranks. Not that I would ever tell them that of course," finished the teacher quickly.
"Of course not," said Christopher with a smile.
His smile quickly faded as the trio filed into the transfiguration classroom and then into McGonagall's office. All four boys and their guardian, Mr. Filch, looked up at the sudden opening of the door. Mr. Filch's face was the only one that did not instantly pale at the arrival of the guests.
"You four, pack you bags, you will be staying at Potter Manor for the foreseeable future," Professor McGonagall told them sternly. "Auror Potter and Timbeault will escort you to your dormitory to get your things and then you will depart immediately afterwards. While you are away you will be expected to keep up with all of your schoolwork. Are we clear?"
"Yes m'am," said the boys dejectedly.
They got up and follower Jack and Christopher out of the office and to Gryffindor Tower in absolute silence. When they entered the common room, all activity instantly stopped and everyone turned to stare at the Marauders. They just looked at the carpet, refusing to meet anyone's eyes and mutely went up to their dormitory.
Lily, Alice and Marlene exchanged worried glances as they watched their friends go upstairs and then come down again shortly afterwards with their trunks. Lily forgot how to breathe as she watched them come down the staircase in horror. Like her classmates she thought the Marauders had been expelled. As he walked across the common room, James' glance found Lily and he shook his head "no." He hoped that he was answering the silent question "were you expelled?" and not "am I ever going to see you again?" or something like that.
Only seconds after Peter's trunk was dragged through the portrait hole, Lily, Alice and Marlene were deluged by the gossip-thirsty students of Gryffindor Tower. The auror posted in the corner of the common room didn't do anything to control the situation.
"We don't know anything!" Marlene shouted finally. "All we know is what you know! So stop pestering us and get your own lives!"
Still the crowd did not budge or stop yelling questions at the three girls.
"Go to your dormitories before I give all of you detention!" yelled the irate Head Girl.
"You can't do that," stated a haughty sixth year.
"Don't test my patience Cromwell," Lily growled. "I've had a very long and trying day and if you don't get out of my way so I can find out what is happening to my boyfriend I will probably skip the detention and just hex you instead!"
After this the mob parted and let the girls through. They lost no time in running out of the common room and to the entrance hall to catch up with the boys. Luckily the boys had to stop in the entrance hall, so the girls had plenty of time to catch up with them.
"We decided that Miller, Dardani, Jinner, and Harris will be posted in the common rooms, Sputter and Fernandes in the Great Hall during meals and patrolling the hallways during the rest of the day, Artens and Fengle will guard the boys at Potter Manor, and Timbeault, Jockham and I will continue the investigation," Harington informed Jack and Christopher as they approached with the boys in tow.
"Now these four boys don't exactly look like mass murders to me," said Hank Sputter jokingly. "They seem more like Quidditch players than dark wizards."
No one laughed, but the boys did manage wan smiles.
"Right then, now that everything is settled we should be on our way," said Auror Artens.
"Sir, could we possibly have just a moment to say good-bye to our friends first?" asked Sirius daringly.
Artens, who was young and still remembered his schoolboy crushes, nodded indulgently as he saw the three "friends" of the boys racing down the stairs.
James let his trunk down on the ground as Lily raced to him. He knew her so well that she didn't even have to ask him a question, he could read it on her face.
"We're just suspended for now; until the end of the investigation we're all staying at my house," said James in a low tone.
"Thank Merlin," breathed Lily as she hugged James tightly. He hugged her back just as tightly.
"I'll miss you," said James as he loosened his grip enough to be able to look Lily in the face.
"I'll miss you too," said Lily as he eyes roamed all over James' face, memorizing every detail. "I love you."
"I love you too," said James, and then, even though he knew his father was probably watching, he kissed Lily. The kiss was brief and not overly nauseating for spectators, but very passionate.
"I'll miss this," James whispered in Lily's ear. "Write to me?"
"Constantly," promised Lily. "Lots of perfumed notes to make the aurors reading your mail gag."
"These days without you are going to be torture," James said into Lily's hair as he breathed in her scent. "But luckily I have some fond memories of this morning to help me through the tough times."
Lily grinned as James released her from his embrace completely and grabbed his trunk to join the waiting aurors and his friends. Lily waved good-bye to the four boys until they had gone into the waiting carriages and disappeared down the road to Hogsmeade where they would apparate to the edge of Potter Manor.
"Merlin I'm going to miss that boy," Lily uttered quietly to the retreating carriages. A single tear dripped down her cheek; she cried for herself and she cried for the Marauders and all that they might lose.