-
For the next two hours, James sat quietly in his desk and Sirius, well; he did the best he could. By the time they were released it was ten thirty at night. The castle was very quiet as most of the occupants were already in bed.
“Hey, James, do you have the-” Sirius began, but James shook his head. Sirius sighed. No invisibility cloak meant no late-night adventures, which in turn meant they would be going directly to bed. As they came upon the Fat Lady’s portrait, they heard voices arguing.
James put his finger to his lips, and motioned for Sirius to follow him a little closer to the voices.
“You didn’t have to walk with me, I’m not a child.”
James detected the voice of Snivellus, and his ears perked up.
“I never said you were, Sev, but I’m your friend and I’m just trying to help.”
James almost jumped out of his skin. That was Lily’s voice. He turned to Sirius and mouthed, “It’s Lily!”
Sirius mouthed back, “I know.” He pushed James behind a standing suit of armor, so they could see what was happening.
There stood Lily, still wearing her school robes, looking stubbornly at Severus with her arms folded across her chest.
Severus stood there also looking equally as stubborn. He had a bandage wrapped around his head and held a small bottle of pain-relief potion in his hand.
Pussy, Sirius thought indignantly. He hadn’t even fallen that hard.
“I never asked for your help!” Severus spat. Lily looked hurt at first, but soon became angry.
“You know what, Severus, you should be grateful that I showed up. If I hadn’t, Potter would probably still have you hanging upside down in the air!”
“No, Lily. I could have taken care of it,” Severus said.
“Oh, please! It was four on one! You didn’t have a chance!” Lily snapped.
Snape sputtered, “No chance? No chance? I’m a better wizard than all of them combined! I know spells you can’t even imagine, Lily!”
“And that’s a problem, Severus. I know who your other friends are. They’re dangerous. So excuse me for trying to keep you out of trouble!” Lily took a deep breath, trying to hold back her tears. “You’re my friend, okay? I care.” That did it. Unable to stop them, salty drops of water stung her eyes and spilled down her face, and broke Severus’s heart as well.
“Lily, I’m sorry.” He leaned into her, but for what, he didn’t know. Not a kiss, not even a hug. Lily didn’t feel that way about him, and probably never would.
“No! Don’t you do that, Sev. I’m mad at you.” Lily wiped her tears away and began to walk towards the portrait of the Fat Lady.
“Well, what can I do to change that?” Snape called after her in desperation.
Lily turned back to him. They gazed at each other a moment. Snape noticed how truly beautiful she was, as he always did every time he saw her. Somehow it still surprised him.
Lily sighed. One more chance, she thought. I’ll give him one more chance. Severus reminded Lily of a sad puppy. She didn’t want to hurt him, but he had to hear this.
“You can start,” she began, “by ditching those loser friends of yours. Avery, Mulciber, all of them. They’re horrible.”
Snape thought a moment. Those were his only friends. They were the only ones who didn’t harass him, except Lily, of course. He would do anything for Lily.
“Okay, Lily.”
“No more dark magic, either,” Lily said, more confident this time.
How did she know about that?
“No more dark magic,” Snape repeated after her.
Lily smiled. “Okay. Goodnight, Severus.”
“Goodnight, Lil-” but she was gone. Severus let out a long breath, his head spinning. She cares about me, she really cares about me! He thought blissfully.
Severus began to walk down the steps, back to the Slytherin house. For the first time that day, he allowed himself to smile.
----
Meanwhile, behind the suit of armor, James’ blood was boiling. Sirius could feel the heat coming off his best friend, and decided to start with some calming words.
“You know, mate, you could probably talk to her now. She’s all happy and whatnot-”
James was furious. “Happy? Do you call that happy, Padfoot? She isn’t happy! Did you see the way he talked to her? He made her cry!”
“Yeah, I know. But-”
“He can’t just talk to her like that! ‘No, Lily. I could’ve taken care of it.’ My ass!” James sat down in a miserable heap on the floor.
“Tell me she’s not happy, Padfoot. Not with a slime-ball like that.”
Sirius sat down next to his friend. “She’s not, Prongs. She just thinks she is.” Sirius punched James in the arm. “But that’s only because she’s never given you a chance.”
“Thanks for the lie, Padfoot,” James said with a sad smile.
“Anytime,” Sirius chuckled.
This was the great thing about James’ and Sirius’s friendship. They could mess with each other all day, but still come back and have a serious conversation. Sirius couldn’t do that with anyone other than the Marauders. The bond that James, Sirius, Remus and Peter shared was sacred. They could always be honest with each other, and weren’t afraid to be either. If you needed to copy an assignment because Quidditch practice kept you out late, there was Remus. If you needed someone to make you laugh, there was James. If you were in a fight, be it with wands or fists, you wanted Sirius on your side. And if you needed someone to just listen, there would always be Peter.
James and Sirius sat in silence, pondering this, until a familiar whisper brought them out of their thoughts.
“James! Sirius! You’ll never guess what I found in the library!” It was Remus, jogging up the steps towards them. He held his book bag against his chest protectively.
“Hmm. I don’t know, Moony. It couldn’t be a book, could it?” Sirius said sarcastically.
“Don’t be such a smartass. It’s more than a book. This,” Remus said importantly, “is what we’ve been looking for.”
The pair hopped to their feet immediately.
“C’mon Moony, let me see it!” James whined.
“Good things come to those who wait,” Remus said mysteriously. “Besides, all Marauders must be present. Let’s go somewhere more private. If McGonagall catches me, I’ll be banned from the library for good.”
Sirius rolled his eyes. “Whatever, Moony.”
James was impatient. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go.”
“What’s his problem?” Remus mumbled to Sirius as they walked through the portrait of the Fat Lady.
“He hates Snivellus,” Sirius said simply. Remus considered this, and decided to just let it go. They had more important things to discuss.
Upon entering the Common Room, James briefly observed that Lily wasn’t there. I don’t care, He told himself. If she wants to go off and dream about Snivellus, she can. I don’t care. But he did care. Seeing Lily and Snape together sickened him. Now, it looked as they were becoming more than friends. That’s the way James saw it, anyway.
“Hey. Look who hasn’t moved since we left him,” Sirius said, pointing to Peter.
Peter was sprawled out on the beanbag, just the way James and Sirius had left him, a small stream of drool trickling down his face.
“Wormy, wake up,” Sirius whispered, nudging the sleeping mass with his foot. “Come on, Peter, rise and shine.”
“Oh, let him sleep, Sirius,” Remus said, “We’ll tell him later.”
“Come on, guys!” James said moodily.
“PETER!” Sirius bellowed, “I haven’t got all night!”
Peter sat up with a yelp. He looked up at his friends. “What was that for?”
“For being a lazy git,” Sirius barked, “Now let’s go.”
Together, James, Sirius and Remus hauled a very sleepy, very heavy Peter to his feet, and guided him up the stairs to the boy’s dormitory.
“Will Douglas be gracing us with his presence tonight?” Remus asked.
“Merlin, I hope not,” said Sirius in disgust as they opened the door to the dormitory. Douglas Johnson would be an okay guy, but he was just so damn annoying. The Marauders could never have a private conversation if he was around. This motivated them to find different hideouts to relocate to if need be, which turned out not to be such a bad thing.
Upon entering, Sirius noticed a bump under Douglas’s blankets. It looked lumpy, so naturally, Sirius had to go and poke it. It was soft. Removing the blankets, he saw that it was only pillows and an extra blanket. Sirius recognized this technique as one he often used at home, but never this sloppy.
Sirius turned to his friends, a grin spreading across his face. “Does he think he’s sneaking out or something? Does he know that we don’t care?” James, Remus and Peter all laughed.
“Alright, I officially call this meeting to order,” Remus said once the group assembled themselves in a circle on the floor. James snorted. They sometimes said this as a joke, but they never actually called them “meetings”. They weren’t girls, after all.
“Gentlemen and Wormtail, I’m pleased to present you with,” Remus paused for drama. “The answer to all our prayers!” Remus laid the book gingerly in the middle of the circle.
The whole group gasped, and Peter said in awe, “It’s beautiful!”
Sirius rolled his eyes, “It’s a book, Wormy.”
“It’s more than a book!” James and Remus said in unison.
Sirius took a second look. It was an ancient looking thing. The cover was made of leather, and some of the pages were hanging out. It looked like a book to Sirius, but he reminded himself that, according to Remus, this was supposed to be “the key to many future adventures”, so he kept his observations to himself.
On the front in green lettering, it said “The Art of Transfiguration”
“Hey, Remus, do you even know how to say the authors name? I’ve never seen it anywhere else, not even in History of Magic or anything,” said James curiously, studying the book.
Remus chortled. “Well, that makes sense. I found it in the Restricted Section.” He looked around for a reaction, but found none. Unbeknownst to Remus, James and Sirius checked books out from the restricted section regularly. Forging teachers’ signatures was one of Sirius Black’s many talents, and the fact that the librarian was near blind made it even easier. Because Remus firmly disapproved of tormenting Snape, James and Sirius saw no reason to tell him.
To avoid explaining this, Sirius continued, “So, Moony, show us what you’ve got.”
“Well,” Remus began, “Let’s see… okay, chapter seven in all about Animagi. Obviously it says what they are and everything, but if you read a little further, it starts to tell you how, if a wizard wanted to, he could become an Animagus. It says all that you need great magical skill-”
“Which we’ve got,” James said irritably, “This sounds exactly like the last book you got, Moony.”
“Well, it’s not!” said Remus, his temper rising, “It gives step-by-step instructions-”
“The last one did too!” James said, frustration building up inside him.
“This is different! If you’d just shut up long enough to let me explain-”
Sirius had had enough. “Okay! James, shut up. Moony, please continue.”
James felt slightly betrayed, then embarrassed by his behavior. It wasn’t his friends’ fault that the last hour had been a bad one for him.
Quietly, the Marauders sat and listened to Remus. “Okay,” Remus began, “This give step-by-step instructions, it also lists the ingredients, just like the last book.”
“And the book before that,” James mumbled.
Remus sighed, and then continued. He didn’t like to be reminded of his previous failures. “Yes. But again, this is different. If you look here, it tells you specifically where to find all the ingredients. That’s something we didn’t know before!” Remus declared triumphantly.
“Yeah, before we thought we were going to have to raid Slughorn’s personal stash,” Peter cackled, though he rather enjoyed the idea.
“And here’s something else we didn’t know. According to this, your Animagus can be the same as your Patronus,” Remus said.
“Everyone here can make a Patronus, right?” James asked of the group. Sirius and Lupin both nodded.
“Um, I don’t mean to sound stupid, but what is a Patronus?” Peter asked, suddenly shy. He hated being “out of the loop” when it came to the Marauders.
“Aw, shit, Peter. I told you to come over to my house this summer! Andromeda was showing us how, wasn’t she guys?” Sirius said in dismay.
“Well, I’m sorry! That’s when you were having your “Black Family Reunion” and I didn’t want to intrude. Besides,” Peter said quietly, “my mum doesn’t want me around Bellatrix.”
“Yeah well… you still should’ve been there. Bellatrix was awful, but that’s why I wanted you guys there. You’re like my family, only better,” Sirius said. The group nodded, fully agreeing. Sirius’s family life sucked, and the guys didn’t blame him for wanting some company in the long weeks of summer.
James sighed. “Well, this presents a problem. We don’t know for sure what Peter’s Patronus is, and we don’t have time to teach him. All the ingredients, by the looks of it, are in season right now, and we can’t wait until next year. You said you wanted to be a rat, didn’t you, Peter? But what if he turns into… I don’t know… a butterfly? What then?”
“Do you honestly think I’m going to turn into a butterfly?” Peter asked, irritated with James’s assumption.
“Of course not, Pete, but I’m just saying, what if it’s something you don’t want?” James said, again, choosing his words carefully.
“Well, it also says here, ‘If the wizard, for any reason, does not want his Animagus form to match his Patronus,’”
Remus winced. “I don’t know, Peter. This sounds pretty gross.”
“Oh, c’mon, he can take it,” Sirius said, urging Remus to continue reading.
“Well, it says that you have to put a piece of that animal in the potion before you drink it.” Remus shuddered. “I’d say a rat is you best option, Peter. Which would you rather eat, a toenail off of a rat, or a toenail off of a bear?”
“We need to consider which is easiest to get. I agree with Moony,” Sirius said. “Unless you want to see what your Patronus is first.”
Peter considered this. His Patronus would probably turn into a butterfly. Even a rat was better than that.
“Do any of us want to wait until next year to do this?” James asked, “Because I sure don’t.”
“Okay,” Peter sighed. “Put me down for rat, I guess.”
“Excellent! So let’s see… we need a rat toenail, some mashed orchids…” Sirius ran to get some parchment and a quill and began making a list as Remus read the ingredients to him.
As his friends talked, James found himself becoming very sleepy. He slowly crawled into his four-poster bed, and found that his spirits had been lifted very much. As he fell back onto is pillow, he felt like the luckiest boy in the world. He had the best friends anyone could ever ask for, he was learning magic at the finest school in the world, and Quidditch practice started in a few days. With Lily pushed far from his mind, he was fast asleep in seconds.
-
I'm With You by TheSilverEagle
Chapter Notes: Thanks to my beta, Dani, for proofreading this!
Chapter Endnotes: As I said before, this is my very first story on mugglenet, and I would really appreciate some feedback. Thanks for reading!