When Lily returned to Hogwarts after the holidays she wished, not for the first time, that she had more contact with the Wizarding world when she was at home. Normally, she tried to keep any mention of magic as low as possible, not wanting to upset Petunia, but when she entered Gryffindor Tower that first night before the start of term, she regretted not subscribing to the Daily Prophet. The mood was so sober and tense that she was sure something awful had happened over the winter holidays.
Sure enough, when she reached her dorm room, she found Mary, Leda Wood, and Amelia Bones all sitting on the floor together, talking quietly. The opened their circle as she approached them, letting her in. “Did you hear?” Mary asked, grasping her hand.
Lily shook her head. “I haven’t heard anything. What happened?”
Mary bit her lip, and Leda looked on the verge of tears. It was Amelia, her voice flat, who said “You-Know-Who has been gathering supporters. Actively, I mean, more than usual. And he isn’t hesitating to cut down those who refuse him.”
Lily inhaled sharply, remembering, suddenly, the end of the previous year, when Amelia and her brother Stephen had been pulled out of school because their parents had died. She wanted to reach for Amelia’s hand, but the other girl looked so controlled, so imposing, that Lily didn’t dare.
“Marlene’s uncle has disappeared,” Mary said softly, “and the rest of her family has gone into hiding, afraid they’ll be next. Marlene came back to Hogwarts though”it’s as safe here as it is anywhere”but people are losing family left and right.”
Amelia nodded. “My brother”not Stephen, my older brother, Edgar”wants to do something about it. He reckons we should fight back, but I don’t…I don’t know what that would accomplish. And I don’t want to lose any more family.”
Lily swallowed hard and nodded. “We should go down to the common room,” she said, standing. “I think people are gathering.”
One by one, the others rose to follow her. As they entered the common room, Lily saw that there was indeed a group of people gathered by the fireplace. It was mostly sixth- and seventh-years, among them Marlene Mckinnon. Lily rushed to hug the older girl, who seemed to have grown older in the past few weeks. She was sitting beside her fellow seventh-year prefect, Frank Longbottom, and they appeared to have been in deep discussion.
Lily turned to see that all four of the boys her year were there, and that her friends had settled in beside them. She joined them, seating herself on the floor between Mary and Remus Lupin, who gave her a sad smile. In the back of her mind, she noticed that James Potter was resolutely not looking at her. She was immediately disgusted with herself for noticing”much bigger things were happening now.
From where she was perched on the arm of a large chair, Marlene cleared her throat, and the rest of them looked up at her.
“Frank and I were just thinking,” Marlene said, her voice clear and strong, “about how we need to do something.”
“What could we possibly do?” Leda scoffed from the floor. “We’re students. Most of us aren’t even of age.”
“Maybe there’s nothing we could really do yet,” Marlene said seriously, “but we can be prepared. We can know what’s going on, and we can get ourselves ready to face the world outside of Hogwarts.”
“But what’s the point of that?” Leda asked. “I’m sorry to say it, but we aren’t going to change anything. So we make it obvious that we oppose You-Know-Who. What happens next? We all disappear too.”
Marlene blanched, and out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw James throw Leda a nasty look. She felt like doing the same.
“If that’s how you feel,” Marlene said coolly, “then go. You don’t have to stay here; we’re not forcing anyone to be a part of this. If you don’t think there’s a point to standing up for what’s right, then leave.”
Leda looked uneasy for a second, and then she got to her feet. To Lily’s dismay, Mary stood up a beat behind her.
“What are you doing?” Lily hissed.
Mary looked down at her sadly. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly, “but I just can’t.”
Lily watched open-mouthed as the two girls headed back towards their room. A few others got to their feet as well and departed the common room, whispering together. Lily looked down the row to where Amelia was still sitting, looking resolute.
“I thought you didn’t want to fight?” Lily murmured to her.
“I don’t,” Amelia responded. “But I can’t sit by and do nothing either.”
Lily nodded, understanding, and then turned back to survey the group of remaining students. Marlene and Frank had stayed, as well as another seventh-year boy, who Lily recognized as Benjy Fenwick. James, Sirius, and Remus remained in their seats on the floor, looking impassive. Peter Pettigrew had stayed as well”he was trembling nervously, but showed no desire to move. There was also one fifth-year girl who Lily didn’t recognize.
“What do we do now?” Lily asked, looking up at Marlene.
Marlene glanced down at her affectionately. “I’m not sure,” she admitted. “But I talked to Dumbledore when I first got back, and he hinted that he has a place for people who resist You-Know-Who once we’ve left school. For now, I think we just have to stick together. Keep our eyes open. And practicing Defense Against the Dark Arts probably wouldn’t be a bad idea.”
Lily nodded. The group of them sat in the common room for awhile longer, discussing what they thought You-Know-Who’s plans were and wondering aloud what Dumbledore’s secret group was, but eventually someone pointed out that classes started in the morning, and they all headed up to bed.
---
If Lily expected the somber mood to hang about the castle, she was wrong; with classes starting up again, things soon returned to business as usual. Since that first meeting in the Gryffindor common room, however, Lily noticed a distinct change. The sixth-year girls were firmly divided, with Mary and Leda on one side and Lily and Amelia on the other, and things were tense between Lily and Mary as a result. Their conversations were stiff and awkward, and Mary started going down to meals early with Leda instead of waiting for Lily. Lily didn’t know how to fix things”sometimes, remembering how opposed Mary had been to fighting, she wasn’t sure she wanted to.
But it wasn’t just with Mary. Lily felt as though things were falling apart all through her life. The letters from her mysterious friend, the ones she had so looked forward to, had stopped coming. Every morning when the mail arrived she looked for one eagerly, but to no avail.
And James Potter was ignoring her as well. Lily hated to admit to herself that this bothered her”she didn’t want it to bother her”but she could barely stand the silence. I just got used to him, she told herself. He was always around, annoying me, getting in the way. It’s not like I miss him.
She threw herself into her schoolwork, but even that didn’t occupy her like it used to. I shouldn’t have pulled all those pranks earlier in the year, she thought miserably. It makes everything less exciting now.
But rebellious streak or not, Lily Evans knew that, sooner or later, things in her life were going to have to change.
---
“I’m bored,” Sirius said one evening, flopping dramatically across his bed.
“Do your homework,” James suggested dully from his own four-poster, where he was immersed in his own Transfiguration book.
Sirius looked at him in disgust. “I can’t believe you’re suggesting that,” he said. “Furthermore, I can’t believe you’re reading that book.”
“Don’t want to get behind,” James said vaguely, turning a page.
Sirius propped himself up on an elbow and stared intently at his best friend. “Prongs?” he said.
“Yeah?”
“Can I make a suggestion?”
James looked up at him. “Can I stop you?” he asked warily.
Sirius ignored him. “Get over it,” he said.
“What?” James said, startled.
“Whatever mood you’re in right now,” Sirius said irritably. “You were in it all of break, and you haven’t snapped out of it. You just lay around moping about something, and you’re refusing to talk about it. I don’t know what it is, and I’m not even going to make you tell me what it is. But get over it. Because it’s getting really old.”
James put the book down. “Where do you get off”” he began hotly, but Sirius put a hand up to silence him.
“I don’t want to fight,” he said. “I’m just making a suggestion.” And he got to his feet and bounded from the room.
Remus tried a different tactic. A few days later, when James was sitting in an armchair in the common room, gazing moodily into the fire, Remus plopped down beside him briskly and said, “So do you want to talk about it?”
“No,” James said, not looking at him.
Remus didn’t falter. “Well, do you need to talk about it?” he pressed.
“No.”
Remus sighed heavily. “Come on, Prongs,” he chided. “You can’t spend the rest of your life in this mood.”
“Just leave me alone, Moony.”
After a few more minutes, Remus resigned himself to the fact that James wasn’t going to talk, and left.
He tried again the next day, though, and James soon took to hiding out in the library to avoid him. He was pretty proud of himself for the hiding place”Sirius rarely set foot in the library if he could help it, and Remus would never think to look for him there.
He had forgotten about the one person who never seemed to leave the library, however, and was abruptly reminded when Lily Evans parked herself at his table one night.
“What are you doing here?” he muttered, his gaze focused on the point of his quill.
“Charms,” she said briskly. He didn’t respond, and there was a long, awkward pause. She was unfazed, however, and said, “Look, James. Why are you mad at me?”
He had to respect, however grudgingly, that she didn’t waste time asking him if he was mad at her. She was direct. He’d always liked that about her.
Although he didn’t particularly like her at all right now. He didn’t really like much of anyone lately. But she seemed to be waiting for an answer, so he looked up at her, one eyebrow raised.
“Oh come on,” Lily said, exasperated. “You’re still angry about what happened before the holidays? I apologized for that! Anyway, I told you, I didn’t mean it.”
He grunted noncommittally and looked back at his homework, hoping she would take the hint. She didn’t.
“Okay,” James said under his breath, “then I’ll go.” And he gathered his books and stormed from the library.
When he reached Gryffindor Tower, he was relieved to find that the dormitory was empty. He threw himself across the bed and occupied himself by staring at the ceiling for a good ten minutes. He was interrupted, however, when Peter entered the room.
“Oh,” Peter squeaked, “sorry, James. I’ll go.”
James sat up, surprisingly glad to see him. “No, no, don’t leave!” he said. “You’re the only person I’m not avoiding right now.”
Peter sighed in relief. “Good,” he said. “It’s kind of crowded down there.
James grinned crookedly at him as Peter headed towards his four-poster. As he passed James, Peter hesitated.
“Hey Prongs?” he asked tentatively. “Are you…really just upset about Lily?”
James sighed heavily, and looked at him for a long moment. “No,” he said finally. “It’s not really that at all. I mean, yeah, that has something to do with it, but mostly…” he trailed off, trying to collect his thoughts.
“You remember that thing that happened last year?” James started. “The one we don’t talk about, because it upsets Remus and makes Sirius mad?”
“The…you-saving-Snape-from-werewolf-Moony thing?” Peter asked.
“Yeah,” James said. “That thing.”
“Vaguely,” Peter shrugged.
James looked up at him, fully appreciating Peter in that moment”the fact that he was the only one uninvolved in that situation meant that he was the only one James could talk to now.
“Mind if I refresh your memory?” James asked.
---
“I’m bored,” Sirius sighed, flopping across his bed.
James looked up, grinning. “It’s full moon tonight Padfoot. Can’t you control yourself for like, an hour?”
“No,” Sirius said sullenly. “O.W.L.s are over, summer starts in a few days, and it’s not dark out yet for at least another two hours. I’m restless!”
“You could pack,” James suggested. “Or go find Wormtail, I can’t think where he’s got to.”
Sirius rolled his eyes. “He’s probably still in the library going over the exam papers and convincing himself he failed everything.” He thrust a hand beneath his pillow and pulled out a sheet of parchment. Putting his wand tip to it, he muttered, “I solemnly swear I am up to no good.” He scanned the map for a moment, then said, “Yep, library. Just like I thought. Oh hey, wait…Snivellus is hanging around outside.”
James looked up, grinning, as Sirius hopped to his feet. “What are you going to do?” he asked.
“I’ll think of something. What”you’re not coming?”
James shrugged evasively.
Sirius eyed him thoughtfully. “This is because of what happened with Evans the other day, isn’t it?” he asked shrewdly.
James winced. “Yeah,” he said. “Better not risk it just this yet. Do something good, though, I’ll be living vicariously!
Sirius winked at him and went off. A few minutes later, he was back. James looked up in surprise.
“That didn’t take long,” he said.
Sirius was already peering out the window onto the grounds. “Don’t worry,” he said, “I’m teaching him a lesson. Little scumball was sniffing around, trying to find out what’s up with Remus. I’m telling you, we’re going to have to be careful with that, he might figure it out.”
James grinned lopsidedly. “What’d you do to him?” he asked lazily.
“Oh, nothing much,” Sirius said. “I just may have told him how to get past the Whomping Willow”and that he’ll find something interesting if he tries it.
James sat bolt upright, the color draining from his face. “You didn’t,” he said hoarsely.
“Well, yeah,” Sirius said, cocking his head.
“Moony could kill him, Sirius!”
Something hard flickered across Sirius’s face. “Snivellus can take care of himself,” he scoffed. “Besides, he probably won’t even go.”
James fumbled for the map and scanned it feverishly. “He’s halfway across the grounds already,” he moaned. “You idiot, Sirius! Forget about Snape, what do you think this will mean for Remus if he kills someone?”
For the first time, Sirius looked alarmed. “You don’t think…” he started to say. “James, I didn’t mean””
James threw the map down on his bed. “I don’t have time for this,” he snapped, and took off running.
By the time he reached the Whomping Willow, he was panting heavily and clutching at a stitch in his side. He seized the long stick that Snape must have used and prodded the knothole that stopped the flailing branches, then lit his wand and sprinted down the passageway.
The closer he got to the Shrieking Shack without finding Snape, the more panic-stricken he became. What if I’m too late? he thought desperately, running faster. And finally, finally, just as he was about to reach the shack, he saw the slight figure creeping down the path before him.
Hissing a sigh of relief, he leapt forward, seizing Snape around the arm. Snape whirled, his wand in his hand, a scowl darkening his face as he saw James. He opened his mouth”whether to speak or to cast a spell, James neither knew nor cared.
“You have to get out of here,” James panted.
Snape sneered at him. “Another trick, Potter?”
“No!” James said in frustration. “Just trust me, you don’t want to know what’s at the end of the tunnel, and you have to get out NOW.”
“Trust you?” Snape scoffed. “Not bloody likely.” And he jerked his arm from James’s grip and bolted towards the Shrieking Shack.
James ran after him, but the chase was short”the path turned a sharp corner, and Snape had come to an abrupt stop in full view of the shack and the fully-grown werewolf that raged inside.
James swore as the werewolf raised his head, sniffing the air. He grabbed Snape again and started shoving him back the way they had come”within a few seconds, Snape had come to his senses and was tearing along the path, back towards the castle grounds. James spared the werewolf one glance, and then ran after him.
Minutes later, the two boys collapsed, breathing hard, onto the castle grounds. James lay on his back, legs shaking from exertion, for a few long moments before finally pushing himself up. To his shock, Snape was standing there, his wand out.
“What are you doing?” James asked warily.
“So, what,” Snape said, ignoring him, “you and your friends decided to up the stakes, did you? Pull a prank that will just finish me off? And you couldn’t go through with it. Get cold feet, Potter?”
“What?” James said, outraged, scrambling to his feet. “I just saved your life, you””
His retort was cut short as Snape muttered something, and James was blasted off his feet. Standing, he grabbed for his own wand, but lowered it almost instantly; Dumbledore was now striding across the grounds towards them. Snape put his own wand down as Dumbledore approached, the headmaster looking as grave as James had ever seen him…
---
“And then Dumbledore hauled us all into his office,” James finished. “Snape told him we were all trying to kill him, I told him that it was a prank gone wrong, Sirius told him I had nothing to do with it. In the end Sirius got detentions and Dumbledore made Snape swear not to tell anyone what he knew.”
Peter, who had listened quietly through the whole thing, now said, “So why is this bothering you now? I mean, it was months ago.”
James looked out the window. “I guess,” he said slowly, “I’m just wondering if I did the right thing.”
Peter looked at him in alarm. “Are you wishing you’d let Snape die?”
“No! No, not that,” James said hastily. “It’s just, after overhearing him almost tell Lily about Remus, I’m wondering if it was naïve of me to think Snivellus’d keep his promise to Dumbledore. How many Slytherins do you think know about Remus by now?”
“Come on,” Peter said reasonably. “What could you have done that Dumbledore didn’t?”
“I don’t know!” James said. “I could have…threatened him or, hell, erased his memory or something…it would have been worth a whole month of detention…” he trailed of, sighing.
“I think it’s good that you didn’t,” Peter said quietly.
James shrugged. “That,” he said, “and I am kind of upset that Snape was using information about us to try to get Lily to be his friend again. Is…is she really that much like him?”
“Well,” said a voice from the doorway, “this explains a lot.”
James turned around in alarm. Sirius was leaning casually against the doorframe, smirking. As James locked eyes with him, he strolled casually into the room. “I mean, really James,” Sirius continued. “I was beginning to think you were having some sort of mental breakdown. Turns out you’re just having a crisis of faith.”
“How long have you been here?” James asked, exasperated.
“Long enough,” Remus said, following Sirius into the dorm and grinning.
James groaned and flopped, facedown, into his pillow. “Great,” he muttered, his voice muffled. Sirius jumped on him.
“Come on, Prongsy!” he sang. “Now that you’ve gotten that off your chest, you can get back to normal.”
Across the room, Remus rolled his eyes.
“I guess,” James said, rolling over and looking unconvinced.
“You did the right thing,” Peter said suddenly, and James looked over at him.
“He’s right,” Remus agreed. “And I think it changed you, saving Snape’s life. Don’t you realize that that was when you stopped jinxing people just because you could? And as for Lily…she and Snape haven’t been friends for a long time. I think she’s changed, too.”
James brightened slightly. “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah. You’re right. Things are different now, aren’t they?”
Sirius looked skywards. “You have no idea,” he said, sounding long-suffering.
James grinned and tackled him.
---
James Potter was back to his normal, swaggering self, as far as Lily could tell. She saw him often”tussling with his friends at meals, goofing around in classes, in and out of Gryffindor Tower”but he didn’t appear to be seeing her. Every so often, if their paths crossed directly, he would acknowledge her with a brisk nod, but most of the time, he ignored her. Whether he was pretending not to see her or she had simply become invisible she didn’t know, but Lily Evans did not take well to being ignored.
Remus found this out the hard way. He and Lily were on prefect duty together, and as they patrolled the halls together, he made the mistake of asking her if something was wrong. Five minutes later, Lily was just warming up.
“And he just ignores me now!” she was ranting. “He never used to ignore me. He made me want to curse his bloody brains out sometimes, but he never ignored me. Now he’s polite. And I can’t stand a polite James Potter, it’s just not the way the world works. And, all right, it’s not like we were ever friends or anything, but this constant pretending I don’t exist, it’s driving me mad! And I don’t know what it could be. I mean, all right, I know what it could be, it’s what he overhead me saying about him. But how many times can I apologize for that? He has to grow up and let me off the hook for that, or so help me, I’m going to jinx his””
Lily paused for breath just as Remus was unable to control his laughter any longer.
“What?” she snapped at him.
Remus looked at her, grinning. “You miss him,” he said.
Lily looked aghast. “I most certainly do not,” she said, sounding offended. “I just…I just got used to him hanging around, making a mess of everything. It was annoying, but entertaining. Sometimes. I’m just bored. I absolutely do not miss him.”
Remus’s smile grew. “You miss him!” he repeated.
Lily scowled at him and stormed off down the corridor, leaving Remus chucking behind her. A few seconds later, though, she was back.
“Okay,” she said, still scowling. “So maybe I do miss him. A little bit. Barely. But I don’t want to miss him!”
Remus regarded her for a long moment. “So,” he said finally, “what are you going to do about it?”
She made an irritated noise in the back of her throat. “Nothing!” she said shrilly. “He’s making me mad!”
Not for the first time, Remus rolled his eyes. “The pair of you,” he said tiredly. “You’re just too stubborn.”
---
“Are you going to forgive Lily any time in the near future?” Remus asked James when he returned to their room later that night.
James looked at him in surprise. “I have,” he said.
“Well you might want to tell her that,” Remus snarled.
“Nah,” James said, grinning wickedly. “I kind of just want to let her sweat it out. I’m not used to having the upper hand with Evans.”
“Right,” Remus muttered to himself. “Well then. I might beg off sick for the next few weeks, because, trust me, I don’t want to be around when this explosion hits.”
---
The explosion, as Remus put it, came even sooner than he could have predicted.
Lily was at breakfast early the next morning, her nose buried in her Potions book as she ate. She was so immersed that she didn’t realize, for a moment, that James and Sirius had seated themselves across from her. She peered over the edge of her book at them suspiciously.
After a moment, James realized she was looking. “What?” he said.
She raised an eyebrow. “Oh, are you speaking to me now?”
“I was never not speaking to you,” James said coolly, reaching for a piece of toast as Peter slid into the seat next to him.
Lily closed her book with a snap. All three boys across the table looked up at her. Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw Remus enter the Great Hall. He noticed them sitting together and promptly did an about-face and left the room.
“You know what, Potter?” she said tensely. “I’m sick of this.”
Sirius and Peter both began to edge away, but James stared right back at her, looking bored. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Evans,” he said. “Pass the jam?”
She made a face at him, and reached for the plate of grape jam. She picked it up, hesitated for a fraction of a second, and then leaned across the table and smashed it into his face.
His jaw dropped. For a moment, he just sat there, staring at her, the purple jam dripping slowly from his hair, and then he stood, picked up his goblet of pumpkin juice, and dumped it over her head.
Within seconds, she was pelting him with muffins. He dodged, leaping across the table to fling handfuls of scrambled eggs at her, chasing her down the table as she grabbed for ammunition. Around them, sleepy students were ducking under the tables for cover, and in the back of her mind, Lily realized that she had never, ever done anything like this before. But before that thought had even finished formulating, Professor McGonagall had stepped in front of her.
Lily stopped abruptly. James skidded up beside her, and instantly tried to hide his handful of bacon behind his back.
“Do you have an explanation for this, Miss Evans?” she asked imperiously.
“Um,” Lily said, searching desperately for a plausible explanation.
“I thought not,” McGonagall said. “Detention, both of you.”
Lily gaped at her, unable to recall a previous experience where she had received a detention. McGonagall turned on her heel and returned to the head table, where, Lily noticed, Dumbledore sat, looking amused.
Helplessly, she turned to James, who blinked down at her. “Don’t look at me,” he said. “You started it.”
Trickster by Willow Rosenberg
Chapter Notes: So this is maybe one of the more Serious Chapters in this whole thing. Don't worry though, there are still plenty of hijinks left!------------