Usual Disclaimer: All the characters (well almost all of them) are property of J.K. Rowling and I'm merely borrowing her brilliance and her world with no claim to it at all. I'd like to thank the Harry Potter Lexicon in particular since they're help in filling in the holes of Ms. Rowling's world has been invaluable to making this story as authentic as possible. Please look them up sometime.
As for why I chose to focus on the Lily and James era of things? Well the characters aren't so deeply established (for the most part) that I have to worry about stepping over Ms. Rowling's toes and perverting her thoughtful creations beyond necessity. I hope you enjoy and reviews are always appreciated.
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~ Sonnets and Sarcasm ~
By: Oy! Angelina
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James Potter spent the remaining days of Summer brooding over a means to keep his best friend from perusing Lily Evans. At times he felt guilty about this, wondering if he was sabotaging his friend's happiness all because…well James hadn't exactly worked out why he was so worked up but he was a smart boy and was certain the answer would come to him soon.
James pushed this unpleasant thoughts aside by telling himself that Sirius wasn't IN LOVE with Lily or anything, he was just interested because she was seemingly oblivious of the dashing Sirius Black. James was convinced if his friend DID manage to wrangle Lily to himself he'd lose interest soon enough and might unintentionally hurt Lily's feelings in the process.
"So really I'm protecting them both, I guess." James said to himself in the Potter family estate. He lived there alone now. He hadn't had any family outside the one he acquired through Hogwarts in years, Voldemort and his Death Eaters had seen to that. Potter was a noble surname amongst wizarding folk as many noble people could once claim lineage to it. As the darkness rose, it came as little surprise that the Potters saw fit to face the evil head on and it offered little comfort to know they retained their valor until the bitter end. James often wondered if this was some sort of omen even though he had always snubbed Divinations when at school.
"Maybe I'm meant to share the same fate as the rest of my family." James glumly thought. "Suppose there are worse ways to die than bravely the things you treasure."
As far as James knew, the whole family line was threatening to end with him. James had long since become resolved that he would maintain the honor of his family and avenge what was taken from him if he could. He knew this meant he wouldn't be able to hunt Voldemort; he couldn't have both his family's honor and vengeance that way. James knew he would be forced to sacrifice one and that's not what he wanted to become of the Potter name. He would fight Voldemort just as he faced any threat in his life: with cunning and gallantry, something James was desperate to prove. But for the time being there was little he could do about Voldemort or his thinning bloodline. Not until he graduated Hogwarts.
At age 16, James found reality to be positively crushing at times. All he could do know is learn everything he would need when he came of age and be the best friend he could to those willing to take him on, which seemed to be more people than he could have wildly imagined in his first days at Hogwarts. Popularity mattered in only fleeting portions to James. What he valued most were the precious few he could truly call friends.
Peter Pettigrew vindicated James, made him feel like he was important to someone and that people were right to willingly trust and depend on him. Peter was content to have a friend like James to look out for him and James was more than happy to be that kind of friend for Peter. Because of Peter's insecurities, James saw a potential in his friend that he doubted many would ever know: an ambition to prove himself and the ability to always do what was truly right in the end.
Remus Lupin was a kindred spirit to James. Cursed to become a werewolf during the full moon of each month, Remus showed James the extents of which he himself was capable of showing loyalty to a friend and how much he was willing to sacrifice for those important to him. James and both Peter and Sirius had jumped through endless hoops to help and protect their friend, from becoming illegal animages to keeping Remus company while he was a werewolf to inventing strings of plausible lies to justify his frequent absences. Because of his own personal woes and obligations, Remus was a comfort to James as they could relate to each other, as no one else seemed able to. It made James feel less alone and overwhelmed.
He was perhaps most grateful for happy-go-lucky Sirius and his ability to make James forget what had happened and how much lay before him. Sirius was James's living reminder that they were both still sixteen. That contribution on Sirius's part was often the only thing keeping James's sanity glued together. What would James do without Sirius there to joke around with and prank beside?
"You're such a prat Potter." James muttered to himself. "You're hung up on Lily because you're afraid she's going to steal your best friend from you."
James wondered if that was it. It sounded true, but he had his doubts still. He risked losing so much of himself with Sirius. Lily wasn't a bad person; in fact form what James knew of her, she would probably be the best thing that could ever happen to, well, ANYONE. And he wanted the best for all his friends, especially his closest one. But what if that created a rift between himself and Sirius that would never be repaired. James wanted nothing more than Sirius to resume his usual casual dating practices and not worry him about this anymore.
James felt conflicted all over again as he wondered if he was hindering Sirius's happiness so as not to threaten his own. James sighed and ruffled his dark hair more so than it usually was.
"Okay." James breathed. "Here's what I'll do. If I think Sirius is just chasing Lily because he's after a snog that's a challenge, I'll spare no expense of my cunning to undermine him…for both their own good."
Leaning into his arms, James felt the pangs of depression imbed themselves into his very core at the though to the alternative.
"But if he's in love…truly in love…I'll spare no expense of my cunning to make sure Lily Evans comes to him on silver platter with a bow around her neck." James groaned into the folds of his arm. "Oh, please just be hard up for a shag, Sirius. We're all too young to be in love. Just hold off two more years to be really, truly happy so I can share that feeling with you."
James decided to go to bed. He would need to get some sleep if he was expected to be on the Hogwarts Express by 11 o'clock the next morning.
* * *
By the time he arrived at Platform 9 and ¾, James had devised a plan, which was (in his opinion) brilliant in keeping Sirius and Lily apart.
James would be himself and ensure that Sirius and the other Marauders did the same.
They would continue their pranking, their breaking of school rules and show Lily Evans the same courtesy they extended to every Prefect before her:
None whatsoever.
James was willing to bet all the gold in Gringott's that Lily would be so fed up with them by winter holiday she'd be more inclined to strangle Sirius than she would snog him. Not that he was planning on doing anything horrible to Lily, just a joke here or there to keep her on her toes and an absolute undermining of her authority. James felt confident this would work.
No sooner did he board the Hogwarts Express and locate his friends was James faced with the opportunity to test out his current working plan. In a compartment on the train, Lily Evans was seated across from Sirius and Peter with Remus next to her. They appeared to be talking about classed.
" - I'm just saying, I don't get Muggle Studies is all." Sirius was finishing as James stepped. His friend's faces lit up as they saw him while Lily gave him a polite smile. "Hey, we were wondering when you'd saunter on in."
"What were you four talking about?" James deliberately sat himself between Remus and Lily, throwing an arm around each.
"Sirius seems to find Muggle Studies complicated." Lily explained. James knew for a fact Sirius found Muggle Studies to be BORING but was evidently trying to tone this down with Lily. James decided to take advantage of the situation.
"Well it is!" James agreed. "How Muggles get along without magic if beyond me."
"They improvise." Lily informed with a slightly haughty tone.
James knew Lily was Muggle-Born. Not that he really cared one way or another about parentage since some of the worst sorts of Wizards hailed from the best families and the other way around. Still, he was on a mission to annoy Lily and he had to take the openings as they presented themselves.
"Peter, remember that paper Sirius wrote last term?" James baited Wormtail, knowing he would be naïve enough to keep his conversation rolling. "You know, the one about Muggles and airplanes."
Peter started laughing at the memory of this while Sirius started to grow a bit awkward and Remus shifted his glance between the other four in the compartment.
"I think Lily knows all about airplanes, James." Remus commented while throwing a deliberate look to James. "She's Muggle-Born after all."
James did what he could to appear as though that fact had slipped his mind. Lily got the impression; Remus was deliberately trying to derail the conversation. Lily eyed Peter.
"It wasn't really by best work." Sirius stated. Peter gave him a sharp nudge with his elbow as though he were just trying to be modest.
"Oh come on, it was hilarious!" Peter declared before turning to Lily. "We were in fits for weeks."
"Was it really that amusing?" Lily asked politely, though a foreboding tone had crept into her voice. Peter nodded.
"Oh yeah!" Peter replied. "Sirius couldn't figure out how the Muggles managed to get hunks of steel shaped like big birds off the ground and he had three feet of parchment due on the subject and since he was getting top marks in the class, he decided to float the assignment and turned it into a satyr. His closing statement was 'If Muggles had been intended to fly, they would have been given brooms.' Brilliant!"
"It was just meant as a lark, Lily." Remus assured, Lily nodded though her expression looked as though she had just tasted a particularly sour flavor of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.
Sirius weakly smiled and shrugged. James patted himself on the back in silence. He figured this would get Lily's cauldron boiling and guessed right. Sirius hadn't meant anything by the paper, it was only meant to get a laugh out of people, but if Lily didn't get that about his best friend, James didn't want either to be wasting their time on one another.
"Of Course, I have to admit I thought James's paper was a little more funny." Peter confessed. In James's opinion, the humor had suddenly left the situation. Remus shook his head and covered his face, knowing Peter would inevitably continue. Sirius started laughing wickedly as he looked at James.
"Oh, and what was James's about?" Lily asked curiously through clenched teeth. James shot a panicked look at Peter that he either didn't notice or didn't care about.
"It was a poem actually!" Sirius smirked. "I believe it was called 'The Huggable, Shnuggable, Muggle.' Maybe James can recite it."
"I really don't remember it." James lied, he remembered it a little too well. He glanced to Remus helpfully. "Hadn't I been feverous and binge-drinking butterbeer when I wrote that?"
"You're the one who wanted to be nostalgic, James." Remus put simply. James sighed as he heard Peter clear his throat and his plan begin to backfire.
"'I like Muggles think magic and monsters are fiction
Just because it's not on the telley in their kitchen
I like how Muggles invented Nuclear power
So they can blow us all up at any hour
I like how Muggle pictures don't move
Showing that there isn't an interesting thing they do.'"
Peter broke up into fits of laughter before he could finish, Sirius joined him as well. Remus shook this head, unable to see what would happen next. Wincing, James turned to Lily and offered a shy smile. Her green eyes looked as though they were about to burn a hole through his head.
"It was supposed to be…er…comprehensive of everything we learned that term." James attempted to explain. "And I was looking to get a rise out of the teacher, is all, honest."
"So you made fun of Muggles simply because they're ignorant?" Lily rationalized harshly. "You're such a bigot, James!"
"Oh Come on now, Lily." James pleaded. "It was really just a joke."
"Oh, it was more than that, James. It was an inspiration." Lily said sarcastically. "Why, a poem has just come to me in the wake of its brilliance."
"'James Potter is such a prat
Head as pointed as his hat
House Chaser for Gryffindor
Wouldn't know his arse from a hole in the floor!'"
Remus, Sirius, and Peter where howling with laughter as James's face went scarlet. Lily stormed from the compartment and James was tempted to follow her and attempt to apologize some more but was afraid she'd come up with some more slanderous lyrics for the entire train to listen to. Instead, James turned his frustrations onto his cackling friends.
"You HAD to recite it, didn't you?" James growled at Peter. Peter was too busy laughing to reply. Sirius wiped a tear from his eye.
"I'm glad he did!" Sirius patted Peter on the back. "I thought I was sunk with Lily when you brought up that paper but your poem REALLY was worse than mine."
"Why did you bring that up, James?" Remus raised his eyebrow as James. "You couldn't have forgotten Lily probably wouldn't have found as much humor in Muggle Studies as we did."
"I - I was just trying to show how funny Sirius was." James justified hopefully convincingly enough.
"Yeah well we sure found out how hilarious SHE can be." Sirius laughed. "And here I was worried Lily'd be a wand in the mud."
Embarrassed and livid that Sirius seemed to be even more interested in Lily, James sighed and tried to figure out how he could get Lily to direct a fraction of her anger at him toward his best friend.
* * *
Still angry, Lily made her way to one of the front compartments of the train so she would be with the other Prefects. Randall O'Neil, the Prefect for the Hufflepuffs was speaking with the female one from Ravenclaw whom Lily would have to introduce herself to later. Severus Snape, the Slytherin Prefect, sat alone, thumbing through the Daily Prophet. Lily wasn't sure if he had been so interested in the news that he hadn't noticed her enter or if he simply chose to ignore her.
"Any particular reason you appear so cross today, Evans?" Snape answered Lily's question without looking up.
"James Potter." Lily confessed. "He's just being a wanker is all."
She typically tried to avoid the subject of James on the rare occasions she spoke with Snape. She was reluctant to give Snape an open invitation to character assassinate someone she frequently associated with, but she was still fuming and looking for someone to share a rant with. It took all her restraint not to bring up her new poem, "Ode to a Git."
"You say this as though it should suddenly be on the front page of the Daily Prophet." Snape quipped, evidently unimpressed with her revelation.
Feeling her etiquette return to her, Lily decided to change the subject. She peered over Snape's shoulder to glance at the paper in his hand.
"Speaking of which, what is front page these days?" Lily inquired.
Severus Snape stiffened a little at Lily's close proximity. The only thing he was more uncomfortable with than making casual small talk was someone being so close to his person. Uncomfortably, he thrust the paper toward Lily.
"Help yourself, I'm finished." Snape offered coolly. Lily accepted the paper with a weak smile. She was kind of hoping for a conversation, but decided not to press her luck. Glancing at the front page, Lily felt all her frustration with James pour out of her as she read about Voldemort and his Death Eaters.
"Oh god…the horrible things people can do…" Lily muttered to herself as she sat across from Snape, transfixed on the horrible news. Snape eyed her curiously.
"Its wise not to invest so much emotion into things beyond your power." Snape advised almost helpfully. "It will only bring you worries you can never alleviate."
"You'd have everyone just be apathetic then?" Lily glanced at Snape. "Never offering a care to anything not directly about themselves."
Severus Snape was tempted to agree with that since it was, in fact, how he chose to live his life, but in a rare moment of consideration recognized not was capable of functioning as he did.
"I'm merely suggesting that empathy is a double-edged sword, Evans." Snape replied. "The more you use it, the more you risk bringing unnecessary, if not irreparable, harm to yourself."
"You sincerely believe that, don't you?" Lily asked in a quiet, almost pitying voice. Snape stared at her as though she had said something to deliberately offend him.
"We all can't strut about in rose-colored glasses and let them fog up every time we hear or see something troubling." Snape's evenly replied.
Lily sighed and leaned into her seat, staring at Snape.
"You know, there is a difference between constructive criticism and being out right critical." Lily half-joked. "We're going to need to work on your people skills, Severus if you and I our going to be in anyway productive as Prefects."
Snape seemed to flitch at the sound of her using his first name. After staring hard at her for a moment, Snape offered a stiff nod.
"Very well." He agreed. "I suppose a certain civility will be required considering our positions."
"That's all I'm asking." Lily smiled politely.
* * *
The Great Hall was alive under a blanket of candles. The First Years had all been sorted into their new Houses. The Gryffindors table was filled with the excited conversations of those still catching up and those anticipating the new term. The Marauders all sat together at the Great Feast, Lily was a little down the line talking to Arabella Figg about their respective summers.
James was still brooding about Lily. He didn't know exactly what was pissing him off about the whole scene but it was still grating at him hours later. He debated if it was because she humiliated him in front of his own friends or if it was his perceived failure of getting Sirius and Lily to lose interest in one another. James was assuming the attraction were mutual between them. How could Lily not be in love with the handsome Sirius Black?
Sirius was a little hard to compete with on the dating field but James was by no means jealous or bitter toward his friend for being blessed with features women found attractive. James himself knew that he was reasonably good looking since, to most girls in school, nabbing any of the Marauders (in particular James Potter or Sirius Black) as a steady made for a good catch. James took only a passing interest in dating since most of the girls were nice around Hogwarts but not terribly interesting in his opinion.
He recognized this was more his fault than theirs since James kept a pretty fast paced life going on about him and had become a hard person to catch the attention of, let alone impress. The most James knew about women were they were a challenge to talk to and impossible to figure out. He wondered if this was something innate with him or a natural shortcoming that came with being an adolescent male. It just seemed whenever one in particular caught his eye she'd talk James's ear off about how funny or handsome or incredible Sirius was. Still, James never begrudged Sirius.
Wasn't Sirius's fault he was so popular.
"You look depressed, Prongs." Sirius observed after swallowing a mouthful of food. "Maybe Lily can come up with a poem to cheer you up, hmm?
It WAS Sirius's fault, however, that he was a complete jackass.
Lily rose from her seat next to Arabella and made her way toward the front of the Great Hall. As she passed by the Marauders, James caught the sleeve of her robes. Lily glances at him with a sigh as he stood up. He had to bend his neck slightly to meet her eyes since he was reasonably taller that the five foot something redhead.
"Remembered another amusing antidotes you're dying to share?" Lily asked warily. James shook his head.
"I just wanted to apologize about that properly." James insisted as he awkwardly ran a hand through his mess of hair. "I swear Lily, it was only meant in jest…poor taste be it as it may. I'm a prat, sorry."
Lily nodded.
"All right James." Lily relented. Sirius moved down a section of bench, nearly knocking a 5th year to the ground.
"Why don't you sit with us for a bit, Lily." Sirius offered, but Lily shook her head.
"I'll have to decline." Lily replied, gesturing to her Prefect badge. "I'm expected to show the First Years about."
"Ah." Sirius nodded. "Well, give 'em Hell. Put the fear of God into them and all that. Show any weakness and they'll spend every free hour coming up with new ways to walk all over you."
"They're ELEVEN, Sirius." Lily protested.
"So were we once." Sirius shrugged as he gestured to himself and the other Marauders. "Look how we turned out with soft Prefect."
"I'll be sure to make you a stop on the tour." Lily dryly retorted. "Maybe the children will benefit of from a nice cautionary tale."
Lily strode off without another word. Remus flicked a bit of food onto Sirius's robes.
"You are officially the sinking stone I've attached myself to." Remus huffed.
"Bah, just having a bit of sport with the old girl." Sirius waved Remus off.
"Shaping up to be a marry chase isn't it?" Peter quipped causing Sirius playfully shoved him.
"I take it from Moony because once a month he's something to reckon with." Sirius smiled at Peter. "YOUR other half isn't so much formidable as it is adorable." Sirius poked a little fun at Peter's animage transformation into a rat, Peter and Remus laughed along.
James smiled. If Sirius kept handling his pursuit of Lily like this, James was sure the most he'd contribution he'd have to make to keeping the two apart would be sitting back and watching the carnage unfold from the side-lines.
"First Years this way!" Lily called out to the Gryffindors.
Lily gathered all the 1st Years around her and began leading them to Gryffindor tower, giving them all the introductory knowledge they would need at the beginning of their term at Hogwarts. The Marauders hung toward the back of the Gryffindor pack since Lily was announcing nothing new for those who've been Gryffindors for years. They took the opportunity to joke around a bit and throw their last scowls at the Slytherins until the next morning in potions.
'Must say." Sirius muttered to his fellow Marauders as he watched Lily speak and gesture off ahead. "Love watching that girl on the job."
"Yes, I'm quite sure it's Lily's work ethic you're admiring." Remus nudged Sirius with a smile. "I reckon you're just looking for a woman to boss you around a bit."
Sirius laughed.
"So when shall we open up our usual batch of misfit?" Peter asked.
"Tonight?" Sirius glanced at James. James thought about this for a moment before shaking his head.
"No. Um, tomorrow I think." James replied.
"Fine by me." Sirius shrugged as they heard Lily utter the password into Gryffindor tower and waited for there turn to file in.
In the back of James mind, he wondered how long it would take for the other three Marauders to nod off to sleep and what fun he could have with Lily Evans under the cover of his heirloom Invisibility Cloak.
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How Soon is Now?
By: Love Spit Love
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I am the sonand the heirof a shyness that is criminally vulgarI am the son and the heirof nothing in particular You shut your mouthhow can you sayI go about things the wrong wayI am human and I need to be lovedjust like everybody else, does I am the sonI am the heirof a shyness that is criminally vulgarI am the son and the heirof nothing in particular You shut your mouthhow can you sayI go about things the wrong wayI am human and I need to be lovedjust like everybody else, does There's a club if you´d like to goYou could meet someone, who really loves youSo you go, and you stand on your ownAnd you leave on your ownAnd you go home, and you cryAnd you want to die When you say its gonna happen nowWhen exactly do you mean?See I´ve already waited too longAnd all my hope is gone.