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Chapter 2: Trouble, Trouble, and More Trouble
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“Well, the way we see it professor, had we not been meant to behave as we do, we wouldn’t have been born enlightened,” a mock arrogant grin formed across the face of the remarkably attractive 7th year boy, dark hair sweeping elegantly into his eyes.
“Black, I wouldn’t necessarily call these abilities enlightenment. The way I see it, and since it’s my opinion that really counts, what you have been given are more obscurities than anything else,” with one last cold look shot across at the two young transgressors, Professor McGonagall stormed away, fists clenching and unclenching, out of her office. A moment later she stormed back in, sat down calmly at her desk and pointed to the door. Without any hesitation the two stood up, walked across the full expanse of the floor, and out of her office. The door slammed magically shut behind them, the sound reverberating across the stony walls. They turned, walked two feet, and then collapsed into gales of laughter, holding onto one another in a futile attempt to stay upright.
“Did you see her face when Peeves started after Snape?” James gasped, wiping tears from his eyes. He started down the hall then added, “or how she could barely keep from laughing the entire time she was yelling at us? Who’s she kidding? If she doesn’t really love our pranks, than I love Snivilus ”
“So obvious,” Sirius slapped him on the shoulder, "we know her way too well to be ashamed of our--‘obscurities’, shall we say?” They continued their walk in silence for a moment, passing Peeves on the fourth floor. They waved at him, and in return he gave them a thumbs up, before resuming his task of unscrewing all the door-knobs along the corridor. With a satisfied smirk he zoomed off, cackling madly into the opposite direction. They walked on, taking in all the familiar sights--it was late, and the halls were all lit with flaming torches.
Turning a corner they passed by a prefect--she appeared quite irked by their presence, and seemed rather inclined to bestow upon them what most people would dub the evil eye . This of course resulted in Sirius having the sudden and quite undeniable urge to mutter rather uncomplimentary (though impressively creative) comments under his breath, occasionally chuckling and making strange hand-gestures. She gave him a worried look, and began edging cautiously away from them. Encouraged by this response James had joined in, mumbling a number of spontaneous words such as ‘chisel’, ‘dynamite’, and ‘anti-freeze’. She turned and quickened her pace, glancing back every now and then, until she turned around and locked herself into a room. Sirius and James just grinned, exchanged looks, and put a charm onto the door--it would be a while until she figured out how to open it. They continued on, feet moving in an almost automatic fashion--an unsurprising thing considering how often they had been to McGonagall's office on similar circumstances.
“This,” James began, “will be a good year--I can tell.”
“I’ll have to agree with you there, Prongs,” Sirius gave James a piercing look, “but enough of that. What about Lily? A prank right after that lovely speech you gave her on the train, about how you would prove to her you were worthy of another chance--I don’t think she’s going to be all that impressed by this, and I have a strange feeling that she won’t be quite as understanding as McGonagall. And that,” he gave James a serious look, “is saying something.” James stopped abruptly, giving Sirius a feeble smile.
“You know, I never really thought about that,” he confessed idly, causing Sirius to tip precariously backwards, howling with laughter. After a times they started walking again, the ghosts of a man and woman (both bedecked in extravagant Victorian-styled ruffles) passing by without a glance, their glow reflecting on the surface of the highly polished suits of armour, causing an eerie light to encompass the hall. In silence the boys continued, soon finding themselves in front of the portrait. “Flabbergasting Finagles,” James announced brightly. The Fat Lady gave him a nod, yawning widely in the process, and swung the portrait-door open. Carefully they climbed in, Sirius stumbling on his robes.
A loud roar greeted them, students clapped them on their backs and congratulated them on such a magnificent job, for who but this duo could obtain detentions on the very first day back to Hogwarts? Cheery expressions and enormous grins could be seen everywhere across the common room, some people still chuckling over the stunt. One face, however, didn’t look particularly impressed--in fact it looked downright furious. Lily walked over to James, scowled, then opened her mouth to give what would most likely have been a very long and detailed account explaining why he shouldn’t have done such a thing, and to question him if he honestly believed this type of behaviour would get him anywhere. Quick, James, you can think of a way out of this-- he racked his mind desperately for an idea, and then, before Lily could vocalise even a single syllable, James dropped to his knees and dramatically began to beg to the gods for forgiveness, flailing his arms in incredibly exaggerated movements. Lily was too shocked to respond as James stood up, bowed to her, and headed towards the boys’ dormitories. "Close call," he muttered to himself, grinning at the memory of Lily's stunned expression.
Flinging himself onto his bed he stared at the roof, the crescent moon feebly illuminating the assortment of objects already brought up to their dorm. He’d only be there for the night, he knew, for as Head Boy he would be given a separate room--he and Lily would have to get the passwords tomorrow.
Exhaustion washed over him--pranking and Lily were highly tiring things. Her face floated in his mind, mixing with the silhouettes and moonlight--his eyes drooped, and the jumble of images began to move. He was only dimly aware of Remus and Peter walking in, and was fast asleep by the time Sirius entered. His last conscious thought, as he lay in bed, was a sombre question of whether Lily would ever give him the chance to prove himself, and to accept him for who he really was.
Meanwhile in the girls’ dormitories, a fuming redhead sat on her bed, visions of the days events going through her mind. Fee, her best friend, was shooting furtive glances at her--her black-haired companion refused to believe Lily when she said she didn’t like James. In an act of rage she grabbed her hangings and whipped them round, accidentally ripping them in the process.
“You know Lily, if you don’t like their colour, you could always change them,” Fee smiled, her brown eyes full of mirth and her ponytail shaking as she giggled. Blushing, Lily grabbed her wand from her bedside table, muttered “reparo” under her breath, and huffed out a lazy threat to the girls. Using a charm she had taught herself that summer she put the curtains back in place, ignoring Fee’s exasperated statements and the sniggers of everyone else in the room. With the curtains drawn tight around, she lay back and relaxed, knowing that the other occupants couldn’t see the smile slowly caressing her mouth, nor could they hear the tender sigh escape her lips as she thought about James. It was a while before she could suppress her thoughts enough to find sleep.
At breakfast the next morning the tension between James and Lily was nearly palpable. James purposefully avoided eye-contact, despite the knowledge that he couldn’t ignore her forever. Today they would have to visit the Headmaster’s office and be given both the password for their heads’ dorms, and their duties. They would be forced to communicate then, no chance to keep this ‘no talking business’ up. He tentatively looked over--Fee was calming an angry Lily, who in turn appeared to be hissing under her breath, flushed beautifully from her fury, a completely forgotten breakfast of eggs and toast at her side. Undoubtedly she was talking about him.
"Don't worry about it Prongs--this is Lily we’re talking about here. She'll get over it," Remus gave him an encouraging smile. James attempted to return the gesture, but instead only appeared to grimace. He picked up his goblet, took a few sips of pumpkin juice, and then carefully began mulling up the courage to face the furious Lily and ask if it was at all possible for them to even try to have some civility towards each other. Sirius just shook his head, asked whether he need express any further his views on the issue--he had made his opinions rather clear earlier that morning, and seemed of a mind to branch out from the earlier discussion. Thankfully for James however, Sirius was distracted by a box of chocolates, sent by a love-struck fifth-year Ravenclaw (someone Sirius had never met, although he did insist that he knew her name began with either a ‘K’ or a ‘B’). James rolled his eyes as Sirius walked over to the girl and started flirting.
“Pete--stop poking me!” he looked over at him with contempt before realising Peter had been attempting to direct his attention to a nervous Lily standing beside him. “Lily?” he questioned wonderingly--this was new. The dread left his face instantly, replaced by a look of curiosity.
“Erm--James, I’d just like to say that I’m ok with what you did--well, no I’m not--but--but--” she stopped weakly, wondering to herself where all her fury had gone--the fury she had had only moments before. Taking a deep breath, “I think--I think we should just forget what happened, and move on. I mean,” she quickened her speech, “we are going to be working together all year and all--and--and I just thought, you know, that maybe we should give each other a chance to--to, well, become better acquainted.” She stopped suddenly-- what am I thinking? I’m still mad at James! Why did I let Fee talk me into this? .
“Of course, Lily! I mean--” he tried to hide the glee in his voice, slowing down as he replied, “that’s a great idea Lils.” Remus gave them an amused look, and Sirius--who had returned as soon as he noticed Lily walking over (his excuse being that a “growing boy required plenty of nourishment more than he needs the ladies”)--snorted into his cereal beside him.
“Ok, thanks James,” an awkward silence followed, before she added, “and we should probably go up to Dumbledore’s office now--before class starts.” James jumped up while giving a quick "yep", grabbed his remaining piece of toast, and shoved it into his mouth. In one fluid movement, he picked up his bag and slung over his shoulder. Calling a goodbye over his shoulder to the Marauders, he made his way towards the office with Lily.
At first the two attempted to make small talk, but weren't very successful, and eventually silence followed. The awkward feelings slowly ebbed away, however, and by the time they had reached the desired location they were entirely at ease. Standing in front of the statue leading to Dumbledore‘s office they exchanged embarrassed looks--neither had remembered to ask for the password. Walking towards McGonagall’s office together, laughing at their combined lack of common sense, they soon found themselves exchanging friendly banter and small-talk.
As they spoke James kept absentmindedly running his hand through his hair--Lily was slightly shocked to realise herself finding this somewhat appealing versus how irritating she generally thought it was. Maybe he really isn’t so bad, Lily thought to herself, maybe I really was wrong about him. She couldn't help but keep glancing over at James. The words my god has he ever changed over the summer! going through her head.
Despite the fact that James had always had an athletic physique, she could tell that he had become slightly more muscular these past few weeks. His height was a full eight inches above her own 5"6, and he had the nicest hazel eyes, framed by long and rather dark lashes, giving him a combination look of maturity and innocence--a complete turn-on.
They went around a corner, smiling foolishly, and were shocked to find Peeves hurdling fragments of chandelier at their heads. A frantic McGonagall came running down the hall, but before she had time to do anything short of scream “watch out!” at the top of her lungs, a giant bar of flying metal hit Lily in the back of her head. She hardly noticed the warmth of an embrace encircle her, being rendered entirely oblivious to the concerned attention of one particular individual as he called her name, his voice gently fading as the inky blackness closed in.