The First Two Weeks of November
“You sure you’ll survive?” asked Sirius with mock concern.
James raised his eyebrows sarcastically as if to say, “Very funny”.
The two of them were sitting on a bed in the Hospital Wing as Madam Pomfrey tended to James’ cut arm with some thick, green substance. It was already past curfew, but it wasn’t a big issue for Sirius and James. They were always out past curfew anyway.
“Reparo,” Sirius said casually to mend James’ glasses.
“Thanks. I was starting to wonder when you were going to do that.”
“All you had to do was ask, mate.”
Meanwhile, as they talked, Madam Pomfrey muttered hopelessly to herself under her breath as she observed James’ wound.
“How in Merlin’s beard did you get this?!” she asked flabbergasted.
“Hmm,” started James, “that’s a good question.”
The two walked back together towards the Gryffindor common room after Madam Pomfrey had finished dabbing the green liquid and wrapping James’ arm. Both boys were not the type to “tell” a professor about Severus’ ambush. They had already agreed subconsciously that they would get back at him in a different way.
“Now you’ll have a battle scar to go with that story of yours,” added Sirius smartly.
“Har, har, har.”
Both of them climbed into the portrait hole where they met with Remus and Peter sitting by the fire. Remus’ eyebrows were lifted in inquiry, and Peter immediately got up and raced towards them asking constant questions.
“Where were you guys? Who did you talk to? Why is- “ Peter stopped as he caught site of James’ bloody robes. “What happened to your arm, Prongs?!”
James took the seat Peter had just got up from and sighed tiredly. Inhaling, he told the story of how he had got into a wand-less duel with Severus and ended up getting his arm tended to in the Hospital Wing.
“I told you,” stated Remus glancing at James and Sirius. “You shouldn’t have broadcasted that piece about Prongs’ wand.”
“Yeah, geez,” James added punching the side of Sirius’ shoulder.
Sirius just shrugged and smirked as he defended himself by saying, “Well, what can you do?”
“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m heading to bed, and I’d advise all of you to do the same,” stated Remus darkly, shaking his head as he got up.
The other three Marauders just laughed heartily, and Remus headed upstairs. As soon as he vanished up the staircase though, there was a shout, and he appeared once again at the foot of the stairs.
“Err…Prongs. I think you need to…uhh…”
“What’s the matter, Moony?” asked Peter curiously.
“Dormitory! Now!” yelled Remus incredulously.
The four ran upstairs hurriedly and pushed open the door with lightening speed to see what Remus had been talking about.
The truth was that it wasn’t something horrific, at least for most of them. Peter’s bed remained untouched and perfectly in tact. Everything was the same as he had left it and same with Remus’ and Sirius’ bed. Only James’ bed was stuck to the roof with all his belonging scattered on the floor where his bed should have been. In the middle of his disarranged items was placed a note. Walking over cautiously, James picked it up and unrolled it. It read,
Hello Potter,
I have the pleasure to inform you that you have a prompt detention with Professor McGonagall at 8:00pm tomorrow. I hope you have fun, and that you think twice before stalking me in the halls late at night. I hope this also taught you what it feels like to be an easy “target”.
~Lily Evans
P.S. The bed will fall as soon as you finish reading this note.
With widened eyes, James jumped out of the way just as his bed came down with a crash. The three other Marauders looked at him questionably with astonished struck faces. To their utmost surprise, James erupted into uncontrolled laughter.
“No need to worry,” he reassured them. “It’s just Evans.”
He walked over, gave them the note, and went back to his bed to try to flip it over onto the proper side.
“Wow, she’s got spunk,” remarked Sirius.
“Yeah, I think a little too much spunk,” added Peter with surprise.
“Did she say anything about giving back your wand?” inquired Remus, still staring in disbelief at the fallen bed.
“No, but I bet it’s around here somewhere.”
James had managed to flip over his bed, and he was leaning under it to gather all his things.
“How are you so sure?” asked Remus as he went over to his bed to inspect it.
Sirius and Peter seemed to be doing the same.
“I know Evans,” replied James as he flung a pair of dirty socks out from under his bed. “She wouldn’t leave me stranded like this for classes. She’s too perfect.”
“I- I wouldn’t exactly call that perfect,” stammered Peter, clearly still in shock.
“It’s probably under here somewhere…”
“Accio James’ wand,” sighed Sirius.
A mahogany, 11" wand came flying out from a pile of clothes under the bed and into Sirius’ hand.
“Looking for this?”
“Much obliged, Padfoot.”
Sirius threw him is wand.
James flicked it, and it sent all his items back into their original position. Changing out of his robes, (which he put the Scourgify spell on to clean) he crawled into bed and placed his glasses on the bed-side table.
“Prongs, that is one cold chick,” remarked Sirius, and James just chuckled.
The Great Hall was already full as James stepped inside it the next morning. A large wave of chattering voices and clanging plates drowned his ears as he walked over to sit next to Sirius who appeared to be engaged in conversation with four girls. He recognized two of them, Fiona Wellings and Angela Haynes, who were inevitably on “the list.” Another of the girls was a fourth year Ravenclaw girl named Audrey Filendale. She had short, dark-violet hair that was extremely straight with half-bangs that flopped over her chocolate brown eyes. The other was a fifth year Slytherin named Gina McKee who had flowing blond hair, large breasts, and bright blue eyes that gleamed excitedly. They all seemed to be discussing a very intriguing conversation.
“If I was a tree, I’d be a Christmas tree!” squeaked Gina happily. “The reason is because they are cheerful.”
“I’d be a maple because of the syrup!” peeped Fiona.
“I’d be a dandelion!” put-in Angela.
“Hey Prongs,” said Sirius seeing James sit down across from him. “Any more beds fall on you?”
“Actually, I think you should be more concerned with that question yourself,” replied James in a mocking tone as he grasped some pancakes with a fork.
“Did you- ?”
James just shrugged his shoulders as he poured some syrup, and Sirius quickly got up and raced back to the common room to check if his bed had been tampered with. The girls followed him.
James chuckled.
Audrey, who remained at the table, turned to him shyly, but James hadn’t noticed until he reached for a pear. As he prepared to address her, someone sat down next to him and slapped his back.
“James Potter,” started the girl who just sat next to him, “you are truly the worst.”
Her almond coloured eyes framed by thin, oval-shaped glasses peered at his thin face, and her wavy, semi-long hazel hair barely brushed against her shoulders as she turned to face him.
“I just passed Sirius ripping up the hallway back to the common room with three girls biting as his heels.”
“Well, what can you do?” he asked as he popped a grape into his mouth.
“And what is this I hear about you fighting off Death Eaters?”
He shrugged with a grin. “So, Naomii, what have you been up to? Not getting yourself into trouble are you?”
“Me?” she asked innocently. “No. Where did you ever get a thought like that?”
He smirked at her with one sarcastic eyebrow raised, and she just fluttered her eye lashes. Finally, she leaned in and whispered in his ear,
“What are your plans before Christmas break?”
James rustled his hair and replied, “Nothing, at least of interest.”
“Good, because I am ‘not’ thinking of doing a Christmas party, and holding it on December seventeenth. I am also ‘not’ thinking of doing it in the Gryffindor common room. Also, I am most certainly ‘not’ going to have it lavishly decorated and invite as many people as I can. And another thing, I will definitely ‘not’ have any alcohol present. So, you won’t tell every single soul you know, will you?”
“Of course not,” replied James amused. “I know you are ‘not’ going to do a party anyway, so what would be the point?”
She smirked somewhat smugly as she got up from the table and remarked, “Good to know.”
Just as James turned back to finishing his last piece of pancake, he heard her call, “Oh, yeah, and remember ‘not’ to try to invite the little red-haired girl.”
James rolled his eyes sarcastically at her and turned back to notice that Audrey was no longer present.
The first two weeks of November seemed to fly by as quickly as they came. Something in the air seemed to fuel a partial interest in the students for the subjects being taught. It also might have been because the dreadful scent of mid-term exams loomed nearer each day.
Even so, James remained indifferent. He still exchanged notes with the Marauders in class, thought up “prank” schemes, and slacked off as much as he could. Day-dreaming had become even more common for James than usual as he struggled to pull himself away at the contemplation of a certain red-haired someone. Unfortunately, the mere thought of her was addicting to him. He would imagine joking around in the halls with her, finishing homework by the Gryffindor common room fire together, kissing her at the Christmas party…
“Potter,” came Professor McGonagall’s voice rather displeased.
Sirius shook James’ arm abruptly.
“Wha- “ asked James suddenly aware that his whole Transfiguration class was looking at him.
“I just asked you a question about the current topic: animagi,” stated Professor McGonagall bluntly. “Would you care to answer it?”
“I’m terribly sorry Professor, I misheard the question before,” he replied graciously. “Could you please repeat it?”
“I highly doubt you heard it in the first place,” she remarked.
A few giggles appeared throughout the room.
She sighed and then said, “How does a witch or wizard decide on an animagi form?”
“Well, the wizard or witch doesn’t really choose what form they become, it usually adapts to the animal he/she shares a quality or personality with,” replied James smartly.
A faint smile almost passed through Professor McGonagall’s lips, but she just nodded.
“That is correct, Mr. Potter.” She walked back to her desk. “Alright everybody, that is all for today. Please remember to review chapters five and six for Monday,” she announced.
The class packed up their items and left the classroom.
“If you weren’t one yourself, you wouldn’t have known the answer to that question,” whispered Sirius as he kept pace with James, who was walking unusually fast down the hall.
James did not respond. He was still wishing that his day-dream had not been interrupted.
“Hello? Anybody home?” pressed Sirius once again.
“What?”
“Is there something wrong?”
James shook his head. “No, why would you say something like that?”
He turned a corner briskly.
“It’s just,” started Sirius, “there seems to be something on your mind.”
“Well, there isn’t. So, there is nothing to worry about.”
Sirius grabbed James by the elbow and stopped him.
“What is on your mind?” asked Sirius with a hint of actual seriousness in his tone.
A group of third year students passed by them, and their laughs mixed with the rest of the other voices apparent in the busy hallway. Some students almost bumped into them, and others gave them quizzical glances.
“Nothing, alright,” retorted James as he pulled his arm away.
He glanced at Sirius who seemed to be wearing a face full of suspicion still. “Everything’s fine,” he re-stated. “I was just trying to think who the suckers might be that get our hex we’re planning to do tonight,” he added, knowing that this topic would change Sirius’ curiosity immediately.
“Yeah, maybe if we’re lucky, Snivelly will be one of them,” smirked Sirius as relief that the subject had changed washed over James.
“I still think it is a very bad idea,” remarked Remus disapprovingly as he grabbed a dinner bun. “All you’re going to do is get yourselves into detention.”
The four Marauders were in the Great Hall that evening eating dinner and discussing their discovery of a new hex James and Sirius wanted to try out.
“Oh please, Moony,” sighed Sirius somewhat wearily as he took a sip of pumpkin juice. “Who says we are going to get caught?”
Remus just rolled his eyes and replied bluntly with, “You always get caught.”
“No,” said James slightly offended. “What about full-moon time?”
“Will you keep it down!” implored Remus hastily.
James and Sirius snickered.
“Oh, just don’t talk about it!” stated Peter slightly irritated. “I want to do the hex too tonight, but I have to finish my essay. It’s already two days late!”
“Well, that’s your own fault, Wormtail,” answered Sirius.
“Don’t worry about it, we’ll fill you in later,” James reassured him and then took a bite out of a chicken wing.
That night, James and Sirius lay hidden underneath James’ invisibility cloak. They were huddled together closely, seeing as their growing height was now becoming a major issue as they waited patiently around a dark corner for easy hexing prey coming back from late dinner in the Great Hall. Wands raised, they watched the corridor for people like eagles searching for supper.
Then, as if on cue, Maggie Hutchens, a somewhat “posh” second year, came prancing around the corner. Sirius signaled to James that he would do this one, and a bright flash of blue light shot of his wand to hit Maggie. Her head started to become bloated until it grew to twice as big as normal size. She felt around her head and shrieked as she ran down the hall.
Sirius chuckled.
After five more hexes, and inevitably, five more large heads, James and Sirius were laughing so hard they had to use each other as support.
Word had spread extremely fast about the “mysterious-head-growing-dark-corner” and a crowd, glancing to see who the next victim would be, started to appear from a distance for shear entertainment.
The amount of people and the attention, seemed to fuel James and Sirius with pure confidence, for they started to hex both at the same time to hear an eruption of laughter from the spectators.
“My head! MY HEAD?!” shouted Bertram Aubrey (being the latest victim) as the crowd burst into laughter.
James and Sirius could no longer suppress their snickers and were laughing as hard as the crowd, when suddenly someone had shouted, “What is going on here?!”
James suddenly stopped, his chest going up in down rapidly. Sirius, who didn’t seem to notice, continued to laugh uncontrollably. A few of the on-lookers stopped, while others, like Sirius, were still giggling.
“What IS going on here?!” came the voice again twice as loud and twice as harsh, and this time the whole crowd was silenced immediately.
Sirius, (who obviously had still not heard) was gasping for air, when James elbowed him in the side.
As soon as he had done so though, he wished he hadn’t.
From the bump, Sirius had stepped back onto the edge of the invisibility cloak, and it uncovered all of James to the spectators (who either gasped or screeched with delight), and the person whose voice had come down the hall to silence everyone; the voice of Lily Evans.