Then suddenly, a loud, cackling laugh split the air within his dream, and with a flash of green…
…James awoke. He sat up on the couch in the cool blue light of early morning and took a few deep breaths. He closed his eyes and shook his head in an attempt to get rid of the last moments of the dream. “Nightmare” would probably describe it better.
A sound from beside him made James look down; Lily had also jolted awake. When she saw him, she looked surprised and slightly confused to find that they had slept on the couch side-by-side. In truth, the idea startled him also. However, she pushed away her confusion and shock to ask, a bit groggily, “James? What was it?”
“Nothing, just a dream.”
“Are you sure?”
“No. But I’ll be fine.” It hadn’t felt like a dream. The cackle had cut into him, and he felt like the green light had blinded him.
“James?” Lily sat up on the couch, onto which they both somehow fit, and put her hand on James’s back. James turned his head to look at Lily, but he couldn’t look long into her eyes.
“It just felt so real, that’s all.” James shook his head again, but felt soothed by the gentle circles Lily’s hand was making on his back. “I saw the face of some kid. He looked like me, but he had different eyes.”
“Different eyes?” asked Lily, gently.
James looked at Lily, knowing that she could see his confusion. “They were green.”
Lily’s eyes widened. “Green?” she asked, tentatively.
He nodded, looking into her emerald irises long enough for her to understand what he thought.
She rolled her shoulders uncomfortably. “Well, if you think they were green like mine, as if this boy was our… um…” She stumbled a bit, before finishing with: “I’m sure your imagination was just acting up, what with what happened last night… between us...”
She glanced at him, but only for an instant. “You know, your mind was probably just taking bits and pieces of what had actually happened to you and mixing them with your own wants…”
“I know what you meant. Don’t make yourself uncomfortable by trying to explain it,” James said, smirking. “After all, the idea of you and me having a kid is-”
“I wasn’t uncomfortable,” she spurted.
James snorted softly. She was squeezing her hands together, and a blush had risen on her cheeks.
“Of course you weren’t.”
“Ridiculous,” Lily said, finally finishing James’s sentence. “The idea of us having a child together is ridiculous, so it doesn’t affect me. Therefore I wasn’t uncomfortable.”
“Oh, Evans,” James sighed, hoping she caught his teasing tone. “You definitely enjoyed that kiss, and we did sleep together after all.”
With this, her eyes widened to their fullest, and she immediately got off the couch. She readjusted the blanket in which she had slept, and bit her lip.
James merely continued to smirk.
“Yes, well…” she stammered.
He stood and stepped toward her. His smirk changed to a true smile, and he touched her cheek. “Yes, well, I hope you’ll allow me to kiss you again.”
“James…” she said, the blush deepening. She glanced up at him, and he held her gaze.
He leaned down, and gently kissed placed his lips on hers. It was as sweet a kiss as their first, and lasted just a bit longer.
She smiled almost giddily up at him when they separated, and James loved the look.
However, in the space a second, her expression changed and her knees buckled. He caught her and pulled her back up.
“I’m sorry, I guess I was supposed to catch you first, then kiss you, if you want to make a tradition of it.”
“No, James…” she whispered. “We… Stacey. She betrayed us last night…”
James’s own expression melted into horror, and he pulled Lily down onto the couch.
They were silent, both caught in their own thoughts of their classmate who had not only fallen in love with a member of their rival house, but had expressed a deep desire to follow Voldemort.
James was the first to recover. He breathed deep, then said, “Well. She did what she did. There might still be time for her to change.” He glanced out of the window. “There’s also time for us to catch a bit more sleep.”
Lily seemed confused at his sudden shift in thought, and didn’t show much other emotion as he stretched out again on the couch, pulling the blanket over his shoulder.
“Hey”this couch is really wide. I mean, it was wide before, but now it’s almost as wide as a bed.”
Lily shook her head to clear her confusion, and looked down. “I… I guess I had noticed that.”
“You didn’t place an enlargement charm on it, did you?”
Lily shook her head.
James laughed. “Must’ve been those house elves. Blimey, they’re good.”
Lily chuckled, and stood again. “I think I’ll go to my room and sleep a bit more, um…”
She started to turn away, but James reached out an arm. “Come on. There’s room on the couch. Plus, I’ve had a nightmare. Don’t you care?”
He attempted to put on his more pathetic expression possible, and by Lily’s raised eyebrow and twitching lips, he succeeded.
“No, I don’t care,” she said.
James pouted.
“Potter, you’ll be fine. You don’t need me to fall back asleep.”
“You don’t really want to leave this couch, and go lay down on your cold bed, do you?” James’ eyes abandoned the “pathetic” card, and played the “puppy-dog eyes” card.
“Yes, actually, I do. It was odd enough to wake up next to you; to fall back to sleep next to you again would be… It would be a conscious decision; last night I was a bit confused and distraught. I thought nothing of sleeping beside you.”
“Will you stop making excuses?” moaned James. “Just lie down. It’s Saturday. Stop thinking.”
She narrowed her eyes at him and he closed his own. He heard her sigh.
“And, if you really do want to go, will you at least rub my back like you were doing? It felt really nice.”
She scoffed softly, but he also heard her chuckle. He felt her hand touch his back, and it started making lazy circles again.
“You are such a child sometimes.”
He declined further comment.
He smirked to himself when he felt her lay down again, even while continuing to run his back. He opened his eyes to look at her and winked once. She lightly flicked the back of his head, before closing her eyes. He mimicked her, enjoying the warmth that was flooding his heart.
As James drifted, he wondered about the dream. Could it have just been a figment of his imagination”overactive thoughts making up the face of child that would have him and Lily as his parents”or was there the possibility that it was actually the future? He didn’t think there were any Seers in his family, and he didn’t think getting the Sight happened on a…
He fell asleep.
James and Lily walked into the Great Hall, holding hands. Whispers started spreading, and there were even a few sniffles. As the two Head students made their way to their table, the other students continued to talk over their breakfast.
The two Heads sat down next to their usual crowd, all of who smiled greetings.
Sirius raised his eyebrows suggestively, and James punched him from across the table. Sirius rubbed it briskly and looked over to Nikeia, who made a face as if saying “Oh, you poor thing!”
As Lily spooned some porridge into her bowl, she glanced up and froze. There, walking toward her was Stacey. Lily forced a smile and added another spoonful. James, who had also noticed the girl, followed Lily’s lead. However, Lily noticed that his mouth was set in a taut line. Lily herself struggled to keep her own face blank from her rather hostile feelings.
Stacey sat down next to them, smiling and greeting the others. Lily found her nonchalance rather enviable, considering.
Later on, Dumbledore stood and made an announcement about Quidditch. Tryouts would be held whenever the captains felt necessary for their teams, and if anyone second year and above wanted to try out, they were to report to their Head of House.
“Oh, that means I have to make up a list of the open positions,” muttered James, as he layered strawberry jam on his toast. Unfortunately, everyone heard him.
“You’re captain?” asked Sirius, slamming his palms down on the table.
“Yeah,” said James, somewhat hesitantly. He didn’t like the look in Sirius’s eyes. The latter just stared for a bit.
“That rat!” he exclaimed, slamming the table again. Peter sat up straight and glared at Padfoot.
“No, not you.” Sirius batted a hand at the short young man. Peter sighed in relief and went back to his cereal.
Sirius ignored the stares he got from those that didn’t know the Marauder’s secret… which was just about everyone near him.
“What rat?” asked James, confused.
“Spinnet. He told me he got captain.”
“What?” cried James. He spun in his seat and located Joshua Spinnet. “Oi! Spinnet!”
The Chaser leaned back into the aisle and turned toward James’ voice. “What?” he called.
“How many people have you told that you got captain this year?”
“Just Sirius. I was joking around; I figured he would be smart enough to figure out that I was just having a laugh. Besides, what better choice for captain is there?” stated Joshua, shrugging.
James laughed, “Flattery gets you nowhere!” Joshua Spinnet grinned and shrugged.
James turned back to Sirius and raised an eyebrow.
“You couldn’t tell that Josh was just goofing off? He is only a sixth year; I do have precedent, being older.”
“Well… He’s…” Sirius stuttered. “He’s usually a very truthful bloke!” The last bit was shouted, meant for Spinnet to overhear. A laugh told the Marauders and company that it was heard. Sirius turned back to James and shrugged.
“Sirius, you should have been smart enough to figure out that James would be Captain,” stated Remus, shaking his head. “It’s just makes sense. Though you don’t, so maybe that has something to do about it.”
“Oh ha ha. Funny, mate,” Sirius stated, being sarcastic. “Congratulations, then, Prongs. You deserve it.”
“Thanks Padfoot,” smiled James.
Sirius suddenly slammed his hands on the table. “Hey! You never told us that you got it… I’ve been at your house all summer, thanks to my snake pit of a family, and you never even mentioned getting the letter. That’s not like you.”
“Well,” James said, stammering slightly. “You didn’t ask and I figured it would’ve been a waste of breath.”
Remus, however, seemed to know just what James had been thinking. “Translation, Sirius: he didn’t want to brag about it. He is trying to change for a certain girl, after all.”
Lily cleared her throat, but didn’t look up from her porridge. James just glared daggers at Remus, who snickered. The others at the table chuckled.
James let the topic drop, then noticed the scowl on Sam’s face. “Oi, Sam, what’s wrong?”
“Oh, he’s just angry because he can’t try out for the team,” said Monica, looking teasingly at Samuel, who glared at his fellow classmate. James chuckled.
“Well, next year you can try out.”
Samuel’s stopped scowling and nodded. “Yeah, I know. Could I watch them, though? The tryouts?” His eyes took on a look of a sad puppy. James nodded, not fazed by the exact expression that he also had employed only this morning.
Of course, the older girls all sighed.
“We better watch what Samuel asks for; those eyes are torture!” said Josey, with a smile. Sam sat up a bit straighter and smirked, apparently pleased with himself.
“I try,” he said matter-of-factly and in return, Monica poked him. Everyone chuckled, even Stacey.
After breakfast, they removed themselves to the lakeside. Most of them, anyway. Stacey had “somewhere else to be”. Samuel and Monica, too, left to go and do homework in the Library. Lily smiled satisfyingly when she heard of their destination.
They arrayed themselves along the length of the pier that James recreated, and he and Lily somehow found themselves the center of attention. Really, neither of them was surprised.
“All right,” started Remus, “What happened between you and Stacey? You smiled forced smiles and talked forced words. What is going on?” Remus glanced down and James and Lily’s entwined fingers and quirked and eyebrow. “And what happened last night between you two?”
James and Lily only found it necessary to answer the first question at the moment.
“Well, we were on patrol last night,” started James, “and came across a couple snogging in the hallway. It was Stacey and Snape.”
Everyone gaped and the silence was quite astonishing. It was broken by one loud splash. Sirius had somehow managed to fall into the lake, and bring Nikeia and Peter along with him. As soon as they surfaced, Nikeia punched Sirius’s shoulder, the same one that James punched earlier.
“Sirius, did you have to grab onto my arm?”
“I was trying to keep myself from falling,” he explained, flicking his hair off his face.
“Fat lot of good that did you,” she muttered.
“Forget about what I did!” sputtered Sirius, watching Josey and Remus give Nikeia a hand out of the lake. “Stacey and Snivellus were snogging?”
Peter was pulled out next, and he ‘accidentally’ kicked Sirius’s other shoulder.
“Yeah. Now shut up, so I can finish talking!” said James.
“Okay,” said Sirius meekly. He propped his arms up on the pier, but stayed in the water.
“Well, Stacey said she was in love and that Snape had showed her ‘a path to greatness’. She didn’t care that he believed in an evil more evil than anything else, because she now believes it. She seemed stuck to the idea that Voldemort can give her greatness. Sooner or later, wands came out, and they weren’t ours. They both stated some things about our side, but all-in-all Stacey is no longer on the side of good. I would say she’ll be a Death Eater sometime soon.”
“Stacey? Following You-Know-Who? I don’t believe it!” declared Josephine. Remus nodded. “Why would she want to be a Death Eater?” she asked.
“She said that because her family is so great she needed greatness; the greatness that Slytherin house and Voldemort have to give,” offered Lily, to the gaze of absolutely flabbergasted faces. Remus snorted.
“Gryffindor is just as powerful, those darned...” His voice trailed off for lack of an evocative enough word.
“That was what we told them but they didn’t believe us, or if they did, they didn’t show it,” declared James. Remus again snorted.
“I still can’t believe that Stacey Wilson would be a Death Eater, though that might actually be more believable then falling in love with Snape!” Josey grimaced. “Urgh!”
“And the weirdest thing about it… they seemed to actually be in love,” Lily uttered.
“I think I did notice that his robes weren’t pink anymore,” admitted Nikeia.
Lily nodded and Nikeia grimaced. A sound of disgust accompanied her expression.
Sirius asked: “Why didn’t you do something? Go to Dumbledore? He would’ve been able to do something!”
“Yeah, he would’ve!” admitted James fiercely. “He would’ve given us that look and stated that he couldn’t do anything without enough proof. That Snape and Stacey are good students. Besides, as Lily reminded me: what Ministry official is going to believe two teenagers? Especially two teenagers under Dumbledore’s eye. They respect him, but even they have their doubts. Don’t you think that I had already thought about that, Padfoot?” asked James. Sirius lowered his eyes and nodded, understanding.
Then, he asked about what happened between James and Lily. Sometimes James loved that Sirius remembered stuff. Stuff like tricky spells, or an extra handful of dumgbombs or firecrackers. At other times, he wished Sirius would have short-term memory loss. He looked to Lily, who raised her eyebrow and shrugged.
“We discovered that couch in our common room was charmed,” said James. Lily held back a snort of laughter.
They received very blank looks.
“We discovered it only this morning when we woke up.”
Deviousness came over her, and Lily added, “Indeed, it made it quite comfortable for… cuddling.”
James’s lips twitched.
Sirius shook his head in confusion. “Cuddling? On the same couch? In the morning?”
“I think there’s something you’re not telling us,” opined Remus, looking hard at his two friends.
They looked at each other, and bit their lips. James spoke first, “What else could there be?”
“We don’t know,” said Frank. “That’s why we’re asking.”
“Lily, do you think I could be forgetting to mention the bit where I kissed you?” James was looking at Lily with such an expression that she had a tough time of keeping her smile at bay.
“Yes, Potter, that might just be the part that they’re missing.”
“But I don’t see any reason to explain.”
Everyone still gaped at them.
Remus looked at Lily. “Prongs is being an idiot. Lily, will you please explain?”
She chuckled, and took pity on them. “We were patrolling, and just started talking. James mentioned a secret that he had and well…”
“That secret was that I wanted to kiss her again.” A rare blush faintly tinted James’s face. “So I did.”
Everyone was just looking at them, silently, as if asking for more.
“There’s not much else; we saw Snape and Stacey after that, came back to our common room after that and slept together on the couch,” finished Lily, allowing James to take her hand in his.
“Slept together?” asked Sirius, finally pulling himself from the water.
The two people under investigation nodded solemnly.
“Slept together?” Sirius asked, putting special emphasis on the first word.
Lily again took pity. “Yes. We were so tired and on edge that we didn’t want to go any father than the couch in the common room.”
“So,” Nikeia started slowly. “You two really just slept? Like snoring slept?”
“Yes, Nikeia. We were tired and all we could think of to do was to sleep,” said Lily.
“Oh,” uttered Sirius and shook his head free of some water, and Lily was forcibly reminded of his illegal Animagus form. He looked a great deal like a dog when he did that, so much that Lily just had to smile. “Well, that’s a load off of my mind. I don’t know even know why I would have thought you had done anything else. Did I think of anything else?” he asked, as if other people had access to his mind.
“Yeah, you did,” accused Nikeia.
“You thought of it, too!” he shot back.
She raised her eyebrow. The black-haired young man looked sideways at the water. Then, he glanced back to Nikeia, as if telling her something. She understood. She probably understood a bit too well. So, before Sirius could push her in, she smirked and…
The next thing Sirius knew was that the water was even more refreshing and cool the second time one fell in.