A/N: Don't mind the wee dates I've got written in they help me figure stuff out when I'm writing.
Sunday 5 October 1976
James swirled his tea thoughtfully as he sat at the breakfast table the next morning, he'd had a lie in as it was a Sunday and he had been kept up last night by the disturbing event that he and Lily had witnessed. Remus and Peter had come down for breakfast earlier but as it was the full moon tonight Remus hadn't exactly been able to stomach much so Peter had gone with him to the hospital wing instead with James promising Remus he'd be up later. James and Sirius had woken up at around the same time and were meant to be breakfasting together, but after Sirius had been sorting out his hair for longer than 10 minutes James got impatient and just went down. He'd been sat for a few minutes and Sirius still wasn't there.
The Hall was fairly busy but James had found a relatively empty spot at the Gryffindor table and sat down. He had gone for a nutritious breakfast of bacon, sausage, eggs- both fried and scrambled, toast and a generous helping of fruit on the side and ketchup over everything (excluding the fruit). He was tracing the words that Patrick had been repeating- that hadn't left his head since- on the table with his index finger. He chewed the inside of his cheek as he thought but was no further to coming to a conclusion. A flash of red caught his eye and he looked up to see a tired looking Lily Evans wandering in, he averted his gaze quickly so she wouldn't see him looking and instead fixed his eyes on his breakfast. She absent mindedly took a seat opposite him and began piling food onto her plate- bacon, beans, sausage, toast and interestingly- a poached egg. James grinned in spite of himself, he appreciated her selection.
"Alright Evans?" He asked casually.
She shook her head, "it's been a long night." James took her in. She did look rough but she made it work. There were bags under her eyes and the few blemishes on her face stood out red and sore against her pale skin. Her hair was a mess, thrown back messily in a low ponytail. She was wearing a navy knitted jumper that looked several sizes too big and possibly belonged to a man (James sincerely hoped it was her dads and not stupid Brendan's) and she sat on her foot as she blearily stabbed at her breakfast. However, James was still insanely attracted to her which was entirely unfair as he probably looked worse and she was definitely not attracted to him.
"Were you thinking about that rhyme?" James asked. Lily nodded. "Any thoughts? It kept me up too." Lily looked at him and smirked.
"I reckon you probably look as bad as I feel." A laugh escaped James as he clutched his heart, mock affronted.
"You wound me Red." He cried, flicking a piece of toast at her. It was aiming straight at her nose and would have struck home if she hadn't suddenly and surprisingly deftly, caught it in her mouth. James' own mouth dropped open in awe. "No way did you just do that." Lily just shrugged and tucked into her bacon. James jabbed a fork at her.
"That was damn impressive Evans!" She laughed slightly. James slapped the table, he'd been desperate for a distraction this morning and now here one was. "Well that's it then. We will no longer be able to do any transfiguration work as the much more pressing issue of the extent of your prowess at catching food in your mouth has now been revealed to me. I have no choice but to investigate the matter." She laughed for real now and James grinned at her.
"I'm a woman of many talents James." James bowed his head in acknowledgement and smirked at her.
"Now that I can believe." He wanted to swallow the words back almost as soon as they left his mouth. Crap! Did that sound flirty? Godric, what if it did and she flips out on me. Uuuugh. He decided the best course of action was to pretend that it was just a normal sentence so he turned back to his breakfast sneaking a glance at her through his lashes as he attempted to gauge her reaction. She looked at him for a moment longer before shaking her head and laughing slightly. Lily too, studied her meal and hoped that the small smile and the light blush that seemed to have snuck its way onto her face wasn't noticeable. The slightly awkward moment was interrupted by none other than Sirius who plonked himself down next to James. He looked irritatingly good and like someone who had his life together.
"Morning Evans," he said politely to the prefect. She smiled at him, also annoyed at his apparent ability to get himself ready in the morning. "What are you two chatting about."
"That verse that Patrick was saying." James replied, his short-lived distraction fading from memory as the more pressing issue rose to the surface yet again. He motioned to Lily. "Neither of us really have a clue."
"What was it again?"
"The air's the key, the world will see the dark Lord will prevail." Lily replied at the same time that James replied with:
"Absolute nonsense apparently." It was now Lily's turn to flick a piece of toast at him which James did not smoothly catch in his mouth. It instead went straight for his eye and he was only saved from potential blindness by his glasses which protected his mostly-blind-already eyes. Sirius mulled it over piling bacon onto his plate.
"Yeah, I honestly don't know either," he said. "A prophecy perhaps?" Lily wasn't really surprised Sirius knew about the rhyme, she expected those four boys probably told each other everything. She did however frown at his answer.
"A warning?" She suggested instead, Sirius shook his head.
"Not really Voldemort's style," James supplied. Lily was grudgingly impressed by the teens in front of her. The two pranksters calmly and maturely discussing the wizarding world's biggest terrorist.
"Maybe he's gonna pump some poisonous gas into the air which will cleanse all the muggleborns, make us all die a painful death and successfully achieve world domination." Lily muttered cynically.
Sirius barked out a mirthless laugh, his voice turned hard, "in his dreams." James meanwhile had stopped eating his food and was staring intently at Lily with an expression she couldn't quite place, whatever it was it was quickly making her self conscious. She lowered her head, allowing her hair to fall in front of her face, hiding her from view.
"He won't win you know," James told her quietly, still looking at her too much. Lily slowly met his eyes and was struck by his seriousness.
"There are good people who would rather die than let that bastard win." Lily blinked, she had never heard him sound like that before. He sounded passionate and charismatic. He was just so sure. Of course, Lily tried not to let it get her down when she saw the stories in the news about Voldemort's latest sins but that didn't mean she was unaffected. The way James Potter just spoke to her though made her want to believe him.
He didn't look away.
Lily had never noticed the speck of gold in his left eye before. The back of her own eyes started to prickle as she held his earnest gaze and she swallowed hard as she broke away. Sirius had been eating his sausages and was completely unaware of what just happened.
"Hear hear Potter!" He said loudly. "Truer words have never been spoken." Suddenly James swore, Lily looked up in alarm and saw him staring at her plate. She too examined her plate expecting to see an insect or a mouldy sausage or something but it looked pretty normal to her. She looked quizzically at James.
"You put your ketchup on the side?" She rolled her eyes laughing at both his outrage and the seamless mood change.
"Of course." She replied confidently. "I suppose you're a drizzler?" She said with disdain. Sirius was grinning as well.
"I think drencher would be a more accurate term. James drowns his food in tomato sauce." James was still glaring at the ketchup that was next to Lily's food as though it offended him.
"If you drizzle there's a very thin line between enjoying your food and wanting to die," Lily said matter of factly. "You just never know when it will get too much." Sirius laughed loudly.
"I agree wholeheartedly Red." He reached across for a high five which Lily returned. James stared at them disappointedly before turning back to his cup of tea.
"My day has just been ruined." Lily and Sirius laughed at him. James was struggling not to smile as well. He turned to his best mate. "Seriously? I cannot believe you would take the side of a ketchup on the sider. And you say you're my best friend."
Sirius grinned devilishly. "I'm always Sirius." James swore at him, realising that he'd completely walked into that one whilst Lily just carried on laughing at their antics- James was now trying to shove bread up Sirius' nose but he kept on eating it as it neared his mouth. They talked for a while longer before Lily excused herself and left the table. James smiled as he watched her walk away. Sirius turned to James.
"I think that was the most civil conversation I've had with Prefect Evans in a while. She was laughing at your jokes."
"I know!" James said happily. "I think we're friends now."
"And." Sirius said, slapping James' arm for emphasis. "She's funny."
"I know!" James said again.
"So I guess if you weren't completely head over heels before you definitely are now." Sirius smirked as James groaned, he was completely right and James nodded in defeat.
"Is it that obvious?" Sirius punched him in the arm.
"Maybe it's just because I know you so well," Sirius said hopefully. James shook his head, laughing slightly. "You looking forward to tonight?" Sirius asked, changing the subject.
"I'm gonna be dead for tomorrow's lessons you know that right?" Sirius grinned.
"Gotta love those Sunday night moons."
"Have we got any plans for tonight?" James asked.
Sirius shrugged. "I was kinda thinking we could see whats past that clearing because I still think there's a lake in there somewhere." They talked a while longer before they got up and made their way back to the dorm.
They had only made it to the entrance hall when a group of less than friendly faces appeared. Snape and his usual gang had just come up from the dungeons and James held back a groan as they spotted him and Sirius.
"Behold!" Cried Avery. "Our Lord and Saviour James Potter! Rescuer of the mudblood and blood traitor." James rolled his eyes and stuck up his middle finger.
"Heard you were quite the hero last night Potter." Hissed Snape. Sirius stopped and faced them crossing his arms menacingly.
"And what exactly would you know about it, Snivellus." Sirius growled. "I suppose it was probably you and your little band of cowards that cursed the kid wasn't it."
"Well, I wouldn't say that." Snape replied in a low voice. "Your brother knows more than I do Black." Sirius tensed and James took a step closer to him in case he decided to spring. Sirius' jaw clenched as he turned dark eyes on to his brother who was watching the proceedings carefully.
"You should stop talking shit, Snivellus." Sirius said, eyes not leaving his brother. "It makes your breath smell worse than usual."
"I hope you realise," James said calmly, "that once we catch whoever's done this they will go to Azkaban."
"I think you mean if they catch whoever has done this," Mulciber grunted.
"Although," added Avery. "I'm sure more than a few of the esteemed wizards in government would see the benefit of weeding out the mud bloods while they're still young and can't reproduce. So I think an award would be a more realistic option if whoever's done this is found."
James rolled his eyes. "Your stupidity continues to amaze me Avery. Maybe when you take your tongue out of daddy's ass you'll realise the world doesn't work like that."
Avery's eyes flashed and he reached for his wand. "What did you just say about my Father."
"Oh it was about you too," James said, smiling wolfishly at him.
Sirius slapped his forehead sarcastically and turned to James. "He's incestuous with his mother as well James don't leave her out."
"Crap, my bad, sorry Avery. Have you told your sister?" That was the final straw. Avery drew his wand and fired a curse towards the two marauders. Mulciber was quick behind him but Snape and Regulus hung back. They sidestepped it. Sirius drew his own wand but James pushed it down.
"No wands Padfoot. Play it smart. We're literally outside the Great Hall." James' moment of distraction cost him and a curse from Mulciber sent him flying backwards. Instinct took over and James did a smooth backwards roll that surprised even him and was on his feet in seconds, he had landed in front of the doors to the Great Hall and the commotion had caused some of the students that were left in the hall to turn towards the brawl that was currently happening. James dodged another spell and pushed a suit of armour over, causing a loud enough ruckus to attract the attention of Professor Ludlow a rather nasty man but it was better than nothing. James returned to the fight in time to push Sirius out of the way of a curse from Snape who Sirius had apparently just thrown a vase at. Soon Ludlow arrived.
"Enough!" He roared at the fighting students. The Slytherins reluctantly dropped their wands but not before Avery fired a sneaky curse that took James' legs out from underneath him sending him crashing hard to the stone floor.
"Avery!" Roared Ludlow. "Detention, thirty points from Slytherin. What is the meaning of this?"
"You should ask the Slytherins Sir." James said, getting to his feet quickly, glaring at the offenders.
"Potter and Black drew on us first Sir." Spat Snape who had a swollen eye and some flowers rather comedically hanging from his sodden hair. James made a mental note to congratulate Sirius later on his impeccable vase throwing.
"Oh yeah, of course we did, because two against four is so clever." Sirius said sarcastically.
"Quiet, Black." Snapped Ludlow. "Detention all of you."
"We didn't use our wands sir, we did nothing wrong." James said through clenched teeth. Ludlow scoffed.
"So, you two are completely innocent?" He asked, laughing slightly. "Well then how do you explain Mr Snape's black eye?"
"Probably did it to himself, greasy git." Sirius muttered glaring at Snape who glared right back.
"You can check our wands Sir." James replied, drowning Sirius out. Ludlow considered the two Gryffindors.
"Potter, Black, detention tonight and 50 points for fighting in the corridors. Avery, Mulciber, Snape and Black detention tonight, Wednesday and Friday. 50 points." Avery opened his mouth to complain but Ludlow shushed him. "My word is final! Off with you."
"Well that's just great isn't it?" Spat Sirius as they walked up the stairs. "Now we'll be late for Moony. We didn't even do anything. I would've bashed their stupid heads in if I knew we'd get in trouble anyway."
"Don't you realise that every single time something bad happens it's automatically assumed that we did it." James said sadly.
Sirius turned to him. "Well that'll be because we usually did." He took James in. He was dabbing at his lip. Sirius stopped him. "Avery?" James took his glasses off. There was a blossoming bruise on the side of his face from where his glasses dug into him when he'd hit the floor and he'd bit his lip at some point. He was also pretty sure his back would be bruised from that first fall. James avoided Sirius' question.
"Does that not get to you that people don't think they're funny pranks but that we just hurt people? It's like we're some kind of gang."
"That's just Ludlow, Prongs. You know he hates us." James disagreed- it wasn't just Ludlow who assumed the Marauders were some kind of violent gang but he let the subject drop and they continued their walk back to the tower.
After lunch found James slumped at a small table by the window in the common room, Sirius was upstairs sleeping and Peter was working on his transfiguration project whilst James was attempting to finish some defence against the dark arts homework for tomorrow whilst holding back multiple yawns. Alice was across the room reading a book and she watched as he wearily leant his face against his hand then winced as he accidentally pushed against his bruise. He rested his head on an arm and rubbed at his shoulder uncomfortably. Alice made her way over to him.
"Rumour has it you and Sirius single handedly fought off an acromantula and a band of Slytherins firing only unforgivables with no wands." James laughed, licking at his swollen lip where a bead of blood appeared as the torn skin stretched.
"I guess the rumour mill has been at it again?"
Alice scoffed, "you have no idea. So what did happen?" James relayed the events to her. She listened silently and cocked her head when he finished.
"What?" James asked, raising his eyebrows at her. "You're giving me a look."
"Am not," Alice said, swatting him gently on the arm.
"Go on. Spit it out."
Alice relented, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "There's something else on your mind, Jimbo." James smiled at the nickname.
"Do you remember what you said at the end of last year?" Alice coloured slightly as she remembered her dramatic outburst at James. Her cousin laid a hand on her arm.
"Don't be embarrassed Al," he said gently. "It was all completely and utterly true. I've only just realised how bad we were." He retracted his hand and his eyes fell to the table in front of him. "When Lily and I brought Patrick to the hospital wing. Lambert thought that I was the one who cursed him." He leant back and ran a hand through his hair. "That hurt. That she assumed it was me. She's not the only one either." A rush of affection for her cousin rushed through Alice and she took his hand and squeezed it, it was cold in her own.
"You did some hard thinking over summer didn't you?" She asked half joking. James laughed. "You know now though, don't you? Why I yelled at you and was so angry." James nodded.
"I'm an asshole. I know."
"Not always. Just sometimes." He laughed again.
"I'll do better Al, I promise." He squeezed her hand back.
"That's all I wanted." They talked for a short while longer before a frazzled Lily Evans climbed through the portrait hole. She took a moment to scan the common room before she made a bee line towards James and Alice. James sighed, she was probably going to yell at him for starting fights with the Slytherins. He sat back and attempted to mentally prepare himself. The redhead pulled a chair over and sat calmly. She regarded James with watchful eyes and he looked questioningly at her whilst Alice looked between them cautiously.
"We just had a really long prefect talk about fighting in the corridors." She said innocently. James didn't reply, he continued to study her.
"Are you going to shout at me about it?" He asked bluntly after a while.
Lily tensed before forcing herself to sit back in her chair.
"Nope." She responded. "I'm going to non judgementally and calmly ask you what happened."
Alice smiled and laughed slightly.
"Good Godric this must be the year of self improvement." She muttered under her breath. Lily and James both heard her, she recoiled from their sharp looks and raised her hands in surrender.
"Snape caught me in the corridors and told me his side of the story but I'd like to hear yours." In reality Snape had walked past and Lily had asked him what happened to his face to which he had spat something about 'bloody Potter' before marching away down the corridors. James calmly told her what had happened. He was intrigued by her and was waiting for her inevitable explosion but instead she simply nodded as he told her his side of the story.
"So no Ogres?" She asked as he finished the story.
James grinned, amused. "I thought it was Acromantulas we had been fighting." Lily grinned back and shrugged.
"Some distraught Hufflepuffs outside the hospital wing are worried sick, thinking you and Sirius are fighting for your lives." James laughed, shaking his head. Dabbing again at the fresh blood that appeared on his lip from doing so. His smile faded as he registered what Lily had said.
"You went to see Patrick?" He silently cursed himself, swiping a hand through his hair, he should've gone to check on him as well. Lily nodded.
"He's still unconscious." She answered before James even asked, he nodded. The portrait hole slammed open again and Tess Monette entered. James attempted to hide behind a book but she seemed to have spotted him and sauntered over. James groaned.
"I'm not mentally ready for her." He turned to Alice desperately. "I will love you forever if you distract her." Alice sighed but nodded and stood.
"Wait," Lily said a devilish twinkle lighting up her green eyes. "I've got an idea." She discreetly drew her wand and muttered a spell. It felt like a small breeze brushed past James and rushed towards Tess. She turned questioningly as her hair rustled, seeing nothing she continued her strut across the common room. However, her hair was starting to swell, it was puffing up as though she had just walked into a humidifier. Her normally sleek brown hair was swiftly turning into an afro of frizz. Alice covered her mouth as she laughed, and with great difficulty put on a straight face as she walked towards Tess. The victim looked around again as people stated whispering, a first year was even full out pointing at her. James was smothering his laughter in his book whilst Lily peeked out behind her hands.
"Oh my gosh!" They heard Alice squeal in a very un Alice way as she intercepted Tess. "I love that new hairstyle Tess. Volume over value right?" She simpered. James had to stuff his fist in his mouth to smother his laughter at her last comment whilst Lily had tears pooling in the corners of her eyes. Tess whipped out a compact mirror from her robes and gaped as she saw the monstrosity that was her hair continue to expand and in seconds she had fled the common room. There was a second of silence before the laughter started.
James took his fist out of his mouth and roared with laughter, reaching to high five Lily.
"That was amazing Red! What spell was that?" Lily snorted.
"I didn't think it would work that well! It was the inverse of the hair straightening charm. I always wondered what it would do." James shook his head, smiling at her, impressed.
"I applaud you Evans." She did a mock curtsy and thanked him.
"I do feel a bit bad, although it was hilarious."
"Pfft." James said, swiping a hand through the air. "As long as it's not permanent." Lily looked mock alarmed, causing him to laugh again before informing him that no it would fade in a few hours. It seemed Alice had been called over by Frank and was now chatting with him, James watched suspiciously.
"Hey." Lily said drawing his attention back, she motioned at his chin which had a small trickle of blood running down it from his laughter. "Your lip's bleeding." James swore and swiped at it again with a tissue. "Is that from the Ogres?" She asked, half smiling.
"Avery decided to use a tripping jinx after Ludlow stopped the fight." James explained. "Landed flat on my face. He counts as an ugly ass ogre though so yeah I guess you're right." Lily chewed her lip thoughtfully as he dabbed at the blood. She apparently came to a decision as she told him to look at her. James obeyed, it wasn't exactly a chore, though he did wonder what for. She drew her wand and reached across.
"Hold still," she said quietly.
"I hope you're not going to ruin my hair Evans," James responded, his heart rate rising as she moved closer. She rolled her eyes, smirking.
"I'll fix your lip, just stop moving." James tried but her proximity was making him jittery, she smelt like vanilla and raspberries and he didn't know where to look. He settled on studying her forehead but he apparently wasn't being still enough as her free hand gently grabbed his chin. James froze and couldn't stop himself looking into her eyes, she was staring at his lips and god he really hoped she couldn't feel his pulse.
Lily examined the cut on his lip, it did look pretty sore- all red and swollen. Though she couldn't help noticing that the boy had nice lips. She was aware of the contours of his face and she felt his throat bob as he swallowed. At the edge of her vision she saw that he was staring at her intently. She didn't meet his eyes. She caught a whiff of his cologne. That intoxicating mix of trees and lavender, she had to physically stop herself taking a deep breath. She needed to focus. She really hoped she wasn't blushing. She pointed her wand and quietly but clearly cast the healing spell.
James felt a warm rush over his lips as her spell took action. Lily pulled back and watched in satisfaction as the swelling went down and the cut knitted itself together, leaving only a small mark, which Lily was sure would fade. James took a deep breath, missing the warmth of Lily's hand on his face. He ran his tongue over where the cut had been and couldn't feel anything. Lily looked away for a second. She swallowed and looked back, he was grinning at her.
"Thank you," he said sincerely. "That was great, where did you learn to do that?" Lily blushed.
"I was thinking of studying healing after school so did some reading and stuff." She shrugged. "It's fairly simple. Works for small cuts and things" James was stunned.
"It has never worked that well for me. That was bloody marvellous." Lily arched an eyebrow.
"You get cuts a lot do you?" James tensed, it was so fleeting that Lily doubted she saw it when he continued cool as ever.
"Well, you know we trial a lot of random crap when we're planning pranks and things and over the years we've decided that we're the easiest to use as test subjects."
Lily laughed. "Right, of course." James checked his watch.
"Bugger. I've got to get ready for Quidditch." He started gathering his things together.
"Thank you Lily, I mean it." She smiled at him and he made his way to the stairs. He turned around and started walking backwards. "For the record," he said loudly. "I think you'd be a great healer." She laughed exasperatedly.
"Watch where you're going Potter." He saluted her before bounding up the stairs and disappearing from view.
Sirius slid down the bannister, landing smoothly on the flagstones of the Entrance Hall whilst James jumped the last six stairs.
"Hurry James!" Called Sirius jogging towards the doors.
"Do you want to shut up, Padfoot," Hissed James, attempting to quieten his friend. They had just finished their detention - it hadn't been too bad, Ludlow had had them polish suits of armour on the sixth and seventh floors. They hadn't been able to use magic but he'd let them go after two hours, it was now past nine 'o clock and James and Sirius were heading towards the willow for their second full moon of the term. James grabbed Sirius' arm and yanked him back.
"We need to check Pomfrey is back in the hospital wing." James reached into his robes for the map but stopped short when he heard footsteps. There wasn't time to put on the cloak and he shared a look of alarm with Sirius. Sirius bent down quickly and pretended to tie his shoe. James leant casually against the bannister, pretending to be waiting for his mate. The footsteps rounded the corner and Severus Snape appeared, James groaned under his breath. Snape was carrying a bucket of soapy water and his face was flushed. James and Sirius had their wands out before Snape could grab his, they hung by their sides as the two parties took each other in. Snape's narrowed eyes darted between the two Gryffindors.
"What are you doing?" He asked suspiciously.
"We're about to join an orgy." Sirius replied cheerfully.
"It looks like you're sneaking out to me, Black," Snape said.
James rolled his eyes. "Why don't you just get lost and go clean some toilets, Snape." Snape ignored this.
"Sneaking out on the full moon, no less." The detestable Slytherin said in a low voice. James' heart thudded. Snape had had his suspicions about Remus for a while but so far had been unable to prove anything. James pretended to look interestedly out of the windows. He shrugged.
"Huh. So it is." The set of Sirius' shoulders told James his friend was as worried as he was. Sirius turned to James.
"Well all the better for us. It'll bring out the beast in our multiple sexual partners." He waggled his fingers for emphasis. James swallowed. Sirius' gamble was a risky one. His response could either be construed as a normal response when one mentions the full moon or the way he jumped to it could confirm Snape's suspicions. James didn't know what to do so simply broke out in fake laughter. Sirius shooed Snape. "Why don't you run back to your little death eater friends and carry on sucking them off or whatever it is you do." Snape coloured at the insinuation. He took a step towards Sirius. James tightened his grip on his wand.
"You shouldn't act so mighty, Black." Snape sneered.
"What the hell is that meant to mean, Snivellus?" Sirius replied, examining his nails.
"You'd be amazed at the things I know about you." Snape took another step closer.
"Don't come too close Snivelly." Sirius warned. "I don't want to get my clothes dirty." Snape's hands tightened on the handle of his bucket and the whites of his knuckles became visible.
"Do your friends know about the life your parents prepared you for? The things they've done? Your little brother certainly hasn't been tight lipped about it. In fact your parents must have been very good teachers because Regulus has done…" Snape paused, leering at Sirius as his hand clenched around his wand. "admirably well." James wasn't entirely sure what Snape was on about but Sirius was not reacting well and James knew it was only a matter of time before everything went to hell.
"I really think you should stop talking, you greasy piece of shit." Sirius growled. Snape took another step forwards tauntingly.
"Ah yes." He purred. "You don't like hearing about how your brother is doing do you?" Sirius took a shuddering breath. James was thinking fast. "Let me tell you about that time at the girl's boarding school in Dundee." Snape continued. Sirius shifted and James realised he was about to cast. James quickly fired a spell towards Snape. His bucket whizzed upwards, emptying its contents all over Snape's head, momentarily blinding him. James whipped out his invisibility cloak and threw it over him and Sirius, wrapping one long arm around Sirius' wand arm, clamping it to his body and clapping another hand over his mouth. Snape swiped furiously at his eyes, cursing explosively and whipped around almost losing his footing in the process. He fixed a bloodshot stare on where James and Sirius had disappeared. James slowly began backing away, angling towards the doors, dragging Sirius with him, away from Snape's now outstretched hand. Sirius was tense but didn't fight him, his fists were starting to shake. They were almost backed against the doors and Snape was dangerously close when an angry Filch appeared.
"What do you think you're doing." He demanded of Snape, eyes bugging. "And what is this mess in my hall."
"I slipped." Snape replied loathingly.
"Well go down and get a mop and clean this up!" Snape inclined his head jerkily and after one last suspicious look around the room, retreated back down the stairs. Filch followed him, muttering about 'clumsy, filthy students'. James released his hold on Sirius before he could be shaken off and wordlessly pulled out the map. He wasn't even going to ask, now was definitely not the time. He saw that Pomfrey was in the hospital wing, Snape and Filch were safely in the dungeons and Peter was waiting near the whomping willow where he said he would be. The two marauders cracked open the doors and began walking swiftly towards the Willow.
A/N: Alright next chapter is a marauder full moon. I always wondered what kind of stuff they would get up to and my imagination does run away slightly but hopefully you'll enjoy it :)