“Saving a life?” suggested James.
“Yes, but whose?” asked Remus.
“I’ll push Wormy into the lake and then Padfoot can save him,” replied James.
“Do you reckon we’d get fifty points for that?” mused Sirius.
“Fifty? I think we should aim for seventy to make it safe, but you’re right we won’t get fifty for him. Where is he anyway?” asked James.
“He said he’d be here shortly,” answered Remus.
“Can’t exactly be here tall-ly, given his height, can he?” joked James. “Okay, how about we persuade a first year into the Forbidden Forest then rescue him or her?”
“What, and get a first year into trouble? Then they’d get points deducted. That’s not good for us either!” said Remus.
“Not,” said James slyly, “if we use a Ravenclaw!”
“James Potter, that’s worthy of a Slytherin!” exclaimed Sirius. “I swear the Sorting Hat made a mistake.”
“Nah,” said James. “I know how to use shampoo.”
They pondered for a while. Remus’ eyes strayed to where Mary was sitting.
“Flaming Phoenix! This is hard,” snapped Sirius. “Moony, concentrate, give us ideas.”
“Actually,” said Remus. “I do have one idea. I forgot to tell you but Wormy and I got five points today from Slughorn.”
“Why?” said Sirius curiously.
“For returning Snivelly’s wand. It was ‘sportsmanlike behaviour,’” he quoted in Slughorn’s unctuous tones.
“So what you’re saying is, we nick more wands then return them. Is that your big idea?” said Sirius scornfully. “At five points a time that’s fourteen wands we need to pinch.”
“No,” said Remus patiently, “I just think we should try being helpful.”
“Helpful?” yelped James.
“Shh!” whispered Remus, aware that the girls were trying to eavesdrop on their plans.
“Look,” he continued, “it could work. If we offer help to McGonagall and the others, then maybe they’ll reward us.”
“We’d need a big job though,” put in Sirius. “Lots of small jobs won’t amount to much and we’ll run out of time.”
“You think this’ll work?” James was amazed.
“It’s the best plan we’ve got, mate,” replied Sirius. “What, though, shall we do?”
“I dunno, clean up Thestral dung for Hagrid?” suggested Remus.
“Yuck! I’d rather clean bed pans in the hospital wing.”
“Yes, Padfoot, we know why you want to go there but I don’t think scrubbing out potties is going to get you a snog!”
Sirius whacked James over the head with a cushion and wrestled him to the floor. Laughingly, James retaliated then stopped when he saw Peter bounding towards them.
“Bowtruckles!” Peter said excitedly.
“Bless you!” said James.
“No, no, Bowtruckles. I’ve just been to the library to look through some books.”
“Wormy,” said Sirius from beneath James’ armpit. “Have the exams melted your brain? We don’t have homework!”
Peter looked at him. “The Bowtruckle Challenge! One hundred points,” he said slowly.
James released Sirius from his headlock and sat up straight.
“You’re mad!” he exclaimed. “We tried that last year. I nearly lost an eye. We swore we’d never try it again.”
For the Bowtruckle Challenge was very hard.
It was Professor Kettleburn, the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, who had set the challenge. He wanted a breeding pair of Bowtruckles so he could domesticate some for his orchard. His idea was that his Bowtruckles would protect his trees from scrumping but at the same time allow him to pluck the fruit and prune the trees. The problem lay, not with the male of the species who was greedy and easily captured if you lay out enough woodlice, but rather with the female or Queen.
Peter turned to the book he’d brought with him. “The Bowtruckle Queen rarely leaves her tree,” he read in undertone to them.“She cannot be summoned for she lives within the enchantment of the tree. She is very partial to fairy eggs. There is only one Queen for every enchanted tree, for she will kill all other females.”
“Yes, yes,” snapped Sirius. ”We know all that. Last time we took along all the fairy eggs we could carry but she just sent out her minions to collect them, then when we took the eggs away they got nasty.”
He shuddered at the memory of being attacked by five eight inch high twig men who poked, scratched and gouged until he’d dropped all his eggs.
“Ah-ha,” said Peter, with the air of one that was enjoying being the centre of attention, “but I have some extra knowledge.”
“Come on, then. Spit it out,” said Sirius impatiently.
“Well, I’ve also been to see Hagrid. He tells me that there’s a very fine Queen in that horse chestnut tree by the lake. She’s rarely seen on the ground.”
“We know that!” urged Remus. “Get on with it!”
“Hagrid said that the Queen is rather like Padfoot here,” he paused for effect, the Marauders looked bemused. “She likes the sun. So she’ll climb to the top of the tree at noon and bask in it.”
“I see,” said James excitedly. “So what we need to do is get up there? How do we get her, though, if we can’t summon her?”
“Okay,” said Peter seriously. “Whilst she’s touching human flesh she loses the protection from the tree so can be summoned.”
“We’ll need four broomsticks then?” said James thoughtfully.
“No,” said Peter. “Just one. If she sees all four of us she’ll scoot straight back down the trunk. I think you, James, as the best flyer, should be the one to fly up with a box of fairy eggs.”
“So what will you be doing whilst I’m risking life and limb?” retorted James, dramatically.
“We will be distracting the males. Once they realise you’re there they’ll come streaming out to attack,” replied Peter calmly.
“Peter Pettigrew,” said Sirius, in an awed voice. “You are a genius! I take back all the times I’ve called you thick.”
Hmm, thought Peter, until the next time “ but he couldn’t stop grinning.
“Okay, men,” said James, taking charge, “When shall we do this? Tomorrow?”
“No,” said Sirius decisively “We need time to get hold of fairy eggs. How about next Saturday?”
“But that’s the last Hogsmeade weekend,” protested Remus, who’d been thinking about taking Mary.
“Exactly, half the school will be gone and,” he stared at Remus and James, “you two won’t get distracted. Anyway we’re all skint!”
They left the common room and trooped up to their room.
“The trouble is,” said Phyllida conspiratorially, watching them go. “If they are successful and regain the Cup we’ll have to wait on them. I’m not sure I can bear massaging Black’s ego for all that time.”
“But,” added Mary, “if they don’t succeed we lose the Cup and I bet ten Galleons with Otto Bagman at the beginning of the year on Gryffindor.”
“Yes, Mary, we all know it’s the bet you’re most concerned with,” said Sonia sarcastically. “It has nothing to do with wanting to spend time with a certain someone.”
Mary smirked. “He’s finally started to realise I exist. You can’t expect me to give up on Remus now.”
In their room Remus was getting ready for bed. Sirius noticed he was smiling.
“Why so happy, Moony, my old mate?” he asked
“No reason,” replied Remus, still smiling.
“Nothing to do with a certain young witch by the name of Mary MacDonald then?” said Peter, joining in the teasing.
Remus blushed. “Perhaps.”
“Wow!” said James, speaking the thoughts the other two hadn’t uttered, “I’ve never seen you like this about a girl.”
“I’ve never let myself think about it, to be honest,” admitted Remus, “but Professor Dumbledore made me realise that I can’t let my…my…” he faltered, “my condition take over my life. He reckons I’ve been letting it control me rather than me controlling it.”
“So are you going to tell her?” persisted Sirius.
Remus sighed, “No, not yet. I want to see where it goes first, and then if it gets serious I suppose I’ll have to tell her.”
“We were okay with it, Moony,” said Peter warmly. “Why wouldn’t she be?”
“Well for one thing, Wormy, lovely though you are, I don’t want to kiss you!” said Remus, laughing.
Severus Snape was sitting alone in his room. He’d seen Peter in the library and saw the books he’d been reading. Why would Pettigrew be interested in Bowtruckles? he wondered.
Saturday dawned fair. The Marauders clattered down to breakfast, late as usual, and ate heartily. Then, at half past eleven, they set off for the horse chestnut tree, unaware that they were being watched. Lily and Mary had opted to stay behind. Mary was sulking because she felt sure Remus had been about to ask her out and Lily didn’t want to go to Hogsmead in case she bumped into Severus. Phyllida and Sonia had dates with Jacob and Julius Bennet, the Ravenclaw twins.
James headed the procession, carrying his broom. Peter, proudly carrying a box of fairy eggs and some woodlice, followed him. Just behind was Remus, carrying a cage to put the Queen in. Last was Sirius who carried nothing but his wand.
They approached the tree. It was nearly noon so James mounted his broomstick and kicked off clutching the fairy eggs in his left hand. He could see the Queen slowly making her way up to the top of the tree so he signalled to the others that he was ready to start. They began to release the woodlice. The male Bowtruckles came streaming out scrabbling for the grubs.
James hovered at the top. The Queen clambered onto the topmost branch and fixed her gaze on him. With his left hand he held out the fairy eggs. Up his right sleeve was his wand. She was edging towards him, slowly, slowly. He almost had her. As soon as he touched her he could summon her. They were inches apart. She crept closer sniffing the delicacies. Almost there, he thought. His fingertip touched her, he drew out his wand when BANG; he was hit in the face. He fell back onto the edge of the tree and dropped his wand. The Bowtruckles below looked up and saw the intruder. Half returned to the tree swarming up the trunk to protect their Queen; the others remained below attacking the Marauders.
James held onto a thin branch and reached for his broomstick that was still hovering near him. Suddenly it flew off. His hands were slimy from the fairy eggs. He tried to grab another branch but it snapped and he fell into the lake.
The Marauders, fighting the Bowtruckles below, did not realising the danger James was in.
Lily and Mary approached the Marauders giggling at their plight.
“Oh, the Bowtruckle Challenge. Very enterprising,” laughed Lily. Then she stopped. “Where’s Potter?”
Sirius, who was pulling two Bowtruckles out of his hair and trying to stamp on a third, pointed upwards. Lily looked, but could only see James’ wand falling off a branch.
“He’s not there, Sirius,” said Lily urgently. “I can’t see him flying around, either.”
She scanned the lake. There was a ripple on the smooth surface “ it could be the squid or “ she looked closer “ James’ glasses had appeared.
“He’s in the lake. Sirius, he’s in the lake and he doesn’t have his wand!”
“Bloody hell!” swore Sirius. He flung the remaining Bowtruckle back to the tree and ran into the water. Lily followed.
“What are you doing?” he said.
“I’ve been swimming since I was two,” she told him urgently. “Come on, quick.”
She took off her shoes and dived in. There was no sign of James.
“Can he swim?” she asked.
“Not very well,” said Sirius grimly.
Remus, Peter and Mary started rushing in.
“Stop!” ordered Lily. “The water’s very murky. You three will make it worse. Leave it to us.”
It made sense. They obeyed her.
Sirius and Lily dived down under the water. Sirius got out his wand and tried to cast a light but it was very dim. Lily re-appeared for air.
“Go and get help,” screamed Lily. “Mary, go and get Hagrid!”
Sirius came up “ an expression of grim determination on his face. Where was James? Wordlessly, he looked at Lily. Down, again, they went. The mud was swirling around them. It was near impossible to see anything, even by wandlight. Suddenly, Sirius pulled her hand she looked to where he was pointing. There was a shoe in the reeds. They swam towards it. It wasn’t just a shoe. It was James. His eyes were closed and he was ashen white. He’d been underwater for ten minutes.
Between them they dragged his body, a dead weight, to the surface.
“He’s dead! He’s dead!” shouted Peter.
“Shut up!” yelled Sirius, plainly terrified. “Moony, what do we do?”
Remus looked up from James’ lifeless body and into Sirius’ eyes.
“I don’t know. We need Madam Pomfrey. Peter, run and get her and get Professor Dumbledore too.”
Peter sped off, glad for something to do.
Lily pulled herself up onto all fours and leant over James. She rolled him over and hit him hard on the back three times.
“He’s swallowed water. It’s trapped in his lungs. We need to get it out,” she gasped.
She wrenched open his mouth and began breathing hard into it.
“What are you doing?” yelled Sirius, as she started pumping hard over James’ chest. She looked up. She couldn’t do this alone. Sirius was clearly in shock, his face white, whereas Remus seemed more alive to her words.
“Remus,” she said. “Help me. You need to pump his chest like this. She interlocked her fingers and pushed down hard. “It’ll force the water out.”
Remus nodded and started work. She motioned for him to stop then clasped her mouth onto James’ mouth breathing into him all the time.
“Don’t you dare die on us, Potter!” she screamed. She vaguely heard voices around her. Mary had come back with Hagrid. He looked at the scene and gently tried to pull her away.
“Lily, leave him. I’ll get him to Professor Dumbledore. He’ll make him better.” But he sounded doubtful. There was no spell to bring the dead back to life.
“No!” she shouted. “Keep going. Remus, come on.”
Remus pushed at James chest. She resumed her breathing. Sirius knelt by the body, praying silently.
“Breathe, James, come on now. Don’t give up,” she panted this incantation over and over between the breaths she was forcing into his unresponsive mouth.
Suddenly James’ chest heaved. He jerked back to life and was violently sick.
“He’s alive,” whispered Lily.
Sirius was shaking. He clasped James in his arms and looked at Lily. “Bubble Head charms,” he gasped.
“What?” she replied.
“Bubble Head charms. We should have used them.”
“Well, five points off apiece for being so thick,” she gasped.
She heard Sirius and Remus laugh weakly as she blacked out.
Lily came to in the hospital wing. She looked up and saw Mary’s anxious face hovering above her.
“Is he okay?” she asked huskily.
“Madam Pomfrey’s with him now. He’s alive but he was under a long time and…” Mary shook her head unable to continue. “How are you?”
“Okay. Just a bit shaky.” Lily noticed she was wearing a hospital night gown. “God, who undressed me? Not Dumbledore I hope?” she said jokingly but her voice cracked.
Mary didn’t laugh. “No, it was me. I’ll go and get your own things now, if you want.”
There was a pause then Mary spoke again.
“The others are outside and I think they want to see you. Is that okay?”
Lily nodded. Mary left the room and let Sirius, Remus and Peter in.
“Hello,” she said with a lightness she didn’t quite feel. It was odd to see the three of them without James and it was odd to have them here on friendly terms. Sirius, she noticed was wearing dry clothes but his face and hair were grimy with dirt from the lake. They all bore scratches from the Bowtruckles. Remus and Peter pulled up chairs alongside her but Sirius remained at the foot of the bed staring at her. She stared back “ unsure what to say.
Sirius, too, was dumbstruck. He’d always dismissed Lily Evans as being snooty. Pretty, but not worth the aggravation. He’d never understood James’ infatuation with her. She regularly put him down and seemed to hate him but that only seemed to add to the attraction for James. Remus had once said it was because James was so used to unstilted admiration from everyone around him he needed her disinterest to keep his interest. Perhaps Remus was right.
He cleared his throat.
“Err, Lily,” he said. “Thank-you for…” he stopped. Anything he said would sound trite. How could he explain how much he owed her for bringing back his friend without sounding like some dire story from Witches Weekly? He started again. “Lily, um, a thank-you seems kind of inadequate but…”
She looked at him. “It’s okay, Sirius, really.” There was a silence.
“How did you know what to do?” asked Remus.
Lily sat up and hugged her knees close to her chest.
“Back home,” she began, “I live near a river. I could swim almost before I could walk.”
“But the breathing and chest thumping, what was that?” questioned Peter.
“Oh,” she replied. “Well, my dad’s an ambulance driver.”
“A nambyless driver?” asked Peter.
She smiled. “Ambulance, Peter. It’s a Muggle vehicle that takes people to hospital in an emergency. My dad rushes people to see a doctor, that’s a Muggle healer, but sometimes he has to help them first. He saw so many people nearly drown that first he taught us how to swim and then he taught us how to save lives.”
“Us?” asked Remus.
“I have a sister, Petunia.”
“Oh, I didn’t know. How come we’ve never seen her?” Remus was fascinated.
“She’s not magical like me and refuses to leave the car at King’s Cross. She thinks we’re all freaks.”
“And do your parents think that too?” asked Remus gently.
She laughed.
“Not at all. They love my ‘talent’ as they call it and can’t wait for me to do magic legally. Mum said it was so strange watching me grow up because odd things would happen, especially if I was having a tantrum. I once turned Petunia’s nose blue because she took my favourite teddy.”
Madam Pomfrey walked over pleased to hear them all laughing. They stopped when they saw her, remembering why they were there. She smiled straight at Sirius whose face had blanched.
“He’ll be fine, Mr Black. He swallowed a lot of water so needs to stay in for a few days. He was under for some time and there are lots of nasty things lurking in that lake. I need to keep an eye on him.”
She turned to Lily. “Well done, Miss Evans. You should think about becoming a Healer. That was very quick thinking on your part. Now, I want you to stay in overnight because…”
But she didn’t complete the sentence. Remus and Peter had leapt out of their chairs and were whooping madly. Sirius, on the other hand, clutched at the bedpost and seemed whiter than before. He started shaking violently. Lily thought he was about to faint. Madam Pomfrey walked quickly over to him and sat him in a chair. She crouched by him, held his hands in hers and looked him straight in the eye.
“He’s going to be okay, Sirius. You don’t need to worry anymore,” she said softly.
Sirius gazed into her dark brown eyes, warm with compassion, and nodded. He could see wisps of her shiny hair escaping from the tight bun. She had never seemed more approachable. The colour began to return to his cheeks. He wanted to howl, to proclaim his relief to the world and hold her tight. He wondered what she would say if he did so. But wonder was all he could do because in that moment Professor Dumbledore appeared in the doorway.
“Madam Pomfrey, the Potters are on their way and would like to see their son,” he said.
Madam Pomfrey slowly removed her hands from Sirius’ grasp and straightened up.
‘So close, so close,’ thought Sirius. He turned back to see the other three looking at him curiously. He was very pleased that none of them were accomplished Legilimens.
Later, when everyone had left, James lay awake staring at the ceiling. His mother had finally been re-assured that he was no longer in danger. She’d wanted to take him home early but James had refused to go. As a compromise, Madam Pomfrey had promised to send a progress report by owl every day.
“Evans,” he whispered loudly. “Are you awake?”
“Yes,” she replied. “What do you want, Potter?”
“Uh, to talk?”
“Okay, hold on.”
He heard her padding across the ward then she emerged through his bedside curtains. Her hair was unusually messy and fell around her shoulders.
“Hi,” she said softly. “How are you doing?”
“Okay, I suppose. My chest’s a bit sore.”
“Yeah, sorry about that. Remus and I had to thump you a bit.”
“Mmm, Madam Pomfrey told me.” He looked awkward. “Thanks,” he mumbled.
“Think nothing of it,” she mumbled back.
There was a silence. “Well, if that’s everything,” she said. “I’ll go back to bed.”
“Uh huh, okay,” he said.
She turned to go.
“Evans, err, Lily, wait a bit will you?” he pleaded.
She stopped.
“Look,” he said quickly, “I know I’ve behaved like a jerk this year. I realise I’ve pestered you horribly and I, uh, just want to say sorry and it won’t happen again, unless…” he stopped. He wanted to add ‘unless you want it to’ but the words stuck in his throat.
“Oh,” said Lily awkwardly. She was pleased he couldn’t see her face in the gloom of the ward. She looked round for something to break the tension.
“You’ve lost your glasses.”
“Still in the lake, I guess?” he muttered.
“The squid’s probably wearing them as we speak,” she mused.
He laughed weakly then clutched his ribs. “Merlin, that hurts!”
“I’ll leave you to rest,” she said and slipped away.
James lay on his side trying to ignore the ache in his chest. He’d fancied Lily Evans all year. All those things he’d done to impress her and they’d never worked, just increased her scorn. She didn’t deserve the increasingly desperate and embarrassing bids for her attention. James clutched at his pillow as a small trickle of tears leaked from his eyes. He’d come so close to death and now realised how important life was.
Four days later and James was bored out of his brain. Lily had been discharged after that first night and, apart from a second year Hufflepuff who’d had her ears hexed to resemble pixie ears, there was no one else on the ward. She was in such awe of him that she refused to speak and hid her ears under her blanket whenever he looked at her. He had a box of chocolate frogs and a bag of Fizzing Whizzbees on his bedside cabinet courtesy of all his Quidditch team-mates, barring Preston. He recognised Martha’s quillmanship on a large card picturing James aiming a Bludger at a Bowtruckle.
The Marauders were allowed to visit anytime during the day but he was alone at night. He had books and summer holiday homework, as Madam Pomfrey kept reminding him, but it was a poor substitute for the Common Room, midnight prowls under the cloak, and his friends.
Sonia and Phyllida had visited, bringing grapes and pumpkin juice. He let their conversation wash over him. It was comforting that life was going on.
“I don’t know, James,” said Phyllida, munching her way through his chocolate frogs. “The lengths you’ll go to.”
“I was trying to win us the Cup. You wanted me to win the House Cup, didn’t you?” he replied.
“No, I mean nearly getting yourself killed just to avoid being my house-elf!”
James spluttered, his pumpkin juice streaming out of his nose and all over his sheets.
“You’re still holding me to that? C’mon Phyll, for old times’ sake. I nearly drowned. Anyway, I’m sure Sirius is elf enough for both of you!” he insinuated rudely.
They left soon after that both laughing at his discomfort.
He left the hospital wing on Friday evening and headed straight for end of year feast. James stopped in the doorway. The Great Hall was decked in banners of scarlet and gold, which meant only one thing; Gryffindor had won the House Cup.
“What happened?” he exclaimed joyously. “We lost the Bowtruckle Challenge and were about sixty points adrift.”
“Last week’s score, Prongs,” said Sirius as James sat next to him. “Here’s the update. Due to your pathetic attempt at swimming and my heroic rescue I managed to earn twenty points.”
“But,” interrupted Sonia, “you four also managed to lose ten points each for enraging the Bowtruckles so much that they now pelt anyone within range with very hard, unripe conkers.”
James tried to compute this. “So, we’re twenty points down from where we were two weeks ago?”
“No, fifteen,” put in Peter, “because Slughorn gave Remus and me five points for Snivelly’s wand.”
“Okay.” James felt as if he’d been confunded.
“Then,” said Mary, taking up the tale, “Remus earned fifteen points for thumping your chest.”
James felt his ribs protest at the memory. “So, we’re still sixty points adrift of Ravenclaw?”
“Ah-ha, but then Lily, here,” continued Phyllida, “was awarded sixty points for saving you, or rather for ‘snogging your face off’ as Sirius so crudely put it.”
James blushed. “Is it a tie?” he said despairingly.
“Well it would have been except that last Saturday night, or rather early Sunday morning, two Ravenclaws had points deducted for getting home rather late!” said Sirius, laughing.
“Which two?” said James suspiciously.
“Jacob and Julius Bennet,” put in Peter. “They got a bit distracted by Phyllida and Sonia and uh…”
James snorted. “So why didn’t you two lose points?”
“No-one saw us, except for the Fat Lady,” said Sonia simply, “and as it was her idea in the first place…”
“Shh!” said Lily. “Professor Dumbledore’s about to speak.”
“Another exciting year for Hogwarts,” said Professor Dumbledore. “But before we start the feast we have to say our goodbyes. First to Professor Tweddle, our Defence against the Dark Arts teacher, who has decided to rejoin the Ministry.”
“Did Otto have that as an option?” whispered Sonia loudly.
“Dunno,” replied Sirius. “I had ‘eaten by a Manticore’ at 100-1.”
“And,” continued Dumbledore loudly, sweeping his eyes over the Gryffindor table and letting them rest on Sirius and Sonia, “we must say goodbye to Frank Longbottom, our Head Boy and Freya Charlesworth, our Head Girl, and all the year sevens who are leaving us.
“Finally, before I award the House Cup, I wish to pay tribute to someone. For centuries Magical folk and Muggles have lived apart for our own and their safety. Many of us are ignorant of Muggle life. Some redress this by learning what they can; others scorn them. Herein lies the danger. For in our arrogance, in our belief that we are superior, we overlook Muggle ways to our peril.
“Last Saturday, a young wizard fell wandless into the lake.” James jerked his head up. “His friends dragged him to the surface but it seemed they were too late. However, there was a Muggle- born witch there. She used a technique, taught to her by her father, to breathe life back into him. For this I awarded her sixty points. I ask you now to raise your glasses to Lily Evans of Gryffindor and to remember that sometimes magic isn’t enough.”
As Professor Dumbledore and the staff members lifted their glasses to salute her, the students followed suit.
“The Cup, as you know, has gone to Gryffindor and should be collected by Frank Longbottom but he has insisted that Lily should collect it for him. Make your way, Miss Evans.”
Blushing furiously Lily walked up to the teachers’ table and accepted the House Cup. The Gryffindors cheered loudly as she raised it above her head; the scarlet and gold ribbons adorning it falling onto her hair.
Severus Snape at the Slytherin table, watched as the girl he’d lost accepted the Cup for the House he hated. The Slytherins barely applauded and he feigned indifference but inside he felt a part of him die.
James Potter felt incredibly proud to be Gryffindor that night but also sad. He knew now that it wasn’t lust but love that kept him thinking about Lily. He’d told her he would no longer pester her but now he wasn’t sure he could keep away.