Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and events from J.K. Rowling's wonderful Harry Potter books. I am writing this for my own enjoyment and hopefully for the enjoyment of readers. Anything you recognize belongs to JKR. The rest belongs to me.
Chapter 16: Shattered Glass
"What in Merlin's name happened here?!" Sirius shouted.
The Marauders had just returned to their dormitory room after Gryffindor's loss to Slytherin in the Quidditch match. When they opened the door they had found their room trashed. The bedding had been torn off and the mattresses pulled off of the bed. Their trunks had been opened and the contents thrown about the floor. The food and butterbeer which had been stashed under the beds had been taken out and thrown about. Butterbeer bottles had broken as they had been tossed aside and the sweet liquid had leaked out onto the floor. When they walked into their bathroom they found their belongings had been thrown about in there as well.
Peter finally squeaked out, "We had better find Professor McGonagall and let her know about this." He started to leave to find her when James grabbed his arm.
"Wait, Peter. If we bring her up here she'll see the food and butterbeer and then know we have been stealing from the kitchens AND have been out after curfew," he said. James paused a moment, then suddenly turned and raced to his trunk. He frantically searched through the scattered contents and sighed in relief as he found his invisibility cloak, no damage done to it.
"What do you suggest we do about all this damage, then?" Peter asked.
"We'll just have to clean it up ourselves," grunted Sirius.
"But HOW? Look at all the damage! It will take all night," whined Peter.
"There may be a quicker way," replied Remus. The other boys turned to him with questioning looks. Remus shrugged. "Hey, I study with Lily almost every day, who is great at Charms and likes to read ahead. She was looking at the chapter on repair and cleaning spells the other day and I may have picked up on a few charms."
"Well, by all means Remus," started Sirius, "don't keep us in suspense. Please take care of this so we can find the idiots who did this!"
"Alright, here goes." Remus pulled out his wand and pointed it at one of the broken butterbeer bottles. "Reparo!" he exclaimed as he waved his wand. The liquid surrounding the glass coalesced until it formed the shape of a bottle, as the shards of broken glass melded together around it forming an intact bottle.
"Not bad. Now let me try," said Peter. He whipped out his wand and waved it at another broken bottle. "Reparo!" he exclaimed, causing the broken glass to fly up into the air, just missing hitting James in the face as they flew across the room and stuck in the wall.
"Peter! Just stand over there and stay out of the way while we fix this!" James shouted, a little shaken from nearly having his face cut up. Peter scurried to the corner of the room and watched as the other boys went around the room fixing items that had been broken. A few of the bottles could not be fixed. It was almost like there was not enough glass to form an entire bottle. After a few hours the rooms were back to the way they were before.
"This is odd. Nothing is missing. Why would someone do this?" James asked.
"Probably one of those Slytherins. You think they found a way through the portrait?" asked Sirius.
"I doubt it, but it's not impossible. It seemed like all of the Slytherins were at the game," Remus replied.
James thought for a moment. "Wait a minute!" he shouted. "Did any of you notice if Snape was there?"
The boys thought about it before Remus answered, "No, I didn't see him, but that doesn't mean he wasn't at the game. Why, do you think he could have done this?"
James replied, "Everyone was leaving to get to the game when he walked into the Great Hall for breakfast. He didn't have his cloak or any Slytherin paraphernalia to cheer his team with. He didn't seem to be in any hurry to go anywhere."
Sirius snarled, "If that hook-nosed grease ball had anything to do with this,…"
"Don't worry, we'll get him back," James said.
The boys decided to head back down to the common room to blow off some steam before dinner. Alice and Marlene were chatting on one of the overstuffed couches by the fire. The girls noticed the subdued looks on the faces of the Marauders as they approached the couch.
"What's got your knickers in a bunch?" Marlene asked Sirius.
Peter opened his mouth to reply when James elbowed him and said, "We're just down about the loss to Slytherin."
Marlene eyed him suspiciously and was about to say something when she noticed Lily coming down the stairs from the girls dormitory. "Hey, Lily!" Everyone turned toward her as she walked their way.
"Hey, Evans. Well, was it worth it?" Sirius asked sarcastically.
Lily gave him a questioning look. "What do you mean?"
"Missing the game. Was it worth it?" Sirius asked.
"Did you finish your studying?" added Remus.
Lily looked at both of them for a moment and nodded vaguely before reaching up and rubbing at her temple. As she did this the sleeve of her robe slipped to her elbow and James gasped, "Evans! What happened to your arm?"
Lily looked at James then down to the area of her arm where he was pointing. There was a small gash on her forearm. After a moment she muttered, "Oh, I guess I cut it."
Alice spoke up. "Cut it? How?"
"I…tripped," she replied. "I guess I didn't realize I had hurt myself when I fell. Don't worry about it, it doesn't really hurt."
Remus looked at her doubtfully, noticing that she was a bit pale. "Are you sure you're okay, Lily? You're not getting another migraine are you?"
Lily smiled although it did not seem to reach her eyes. "I'm just stressed out over studying, that's all. I took a little nap and I'm already feeling better."
Everyone watched her for a moment before Remus decided to lighten the mood. "Well, I don't know about the rest of you but I'm hungry." Everyone agreed and headed toward the portrait hole. Remus turned to Lily who was lingering behind and asked, "Coming, Lils?" He had a grin on his face as Lily grimaced.
"Still teasing me about that nickname, eh? Alright, then," she said as she followed him to catch up with their friends.
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The mood at the Gryffindor table that evening was subdued due to their defeat in Quidditch. Trying to ignore the taunts coming from the Slytherin table, Sirius and James tried to lighten the mood with jokes and stories. Everyone in their group was soon laughing. One girl in the group, although she laughed with her friends, was actually deep in thought.
Lily had been feeling unsettled since she had awoken from her nap. She had been getting dressed when she found something odd. She felt something sharp on the bottom of her shoes. When she inspected them more closely it looked like there was a piece of glass embedded in the sole. She looked at her other shoe and noticed a few more tiny pieces embedded there as well. Confused as to how they had gotten there, she carefully pulled out the pieces and threw them into the trash.
She walked down to the common room feeling another headache arriving, though not as bad as the one that had sent her to the hospital wing weeks earlier. She had found her friends and they had asked her about how her studying had gone. She had to think for a moment before seeing images of herself sitting at one of the tables in the library. Her headache throbbed a little as she rubbed her temple. She heard James ask her about her arm. When she looked at it she was shocked to see the gash with blood dried to it. She couldn't remember how she had gotten it but for some reason she was unable to tell her friends the truth. 'I'm probably just embarrassed that I don't remember, that's all,' she thought.
When dinner was finished they headed outside for a walk by the lake.
"Hey, Evans!" Lily turned to see Potter walking beside her.
"Yes, Potter?" she asked.
"You said you were napping in your room right?" he asked.
"Uh-yeah. Why do you ask?" she replied.
"Well, I was wondering if you, erm, if you heard anything - out of the ordinary - when you were in your room," he inquired.
Lily thought for a moment. She couldn't remember much about earlier- just that her headache was returning and she had to take a nap. "No, I didn't. Why, did something happen?"
James saw Sirius frowning at him before he replied, "Never mind. It's not important."
Lily looked back and forth at the two boys before Sirius decided to change the subject. "I still can't believe you missed the match, Evans. You must have been the only student that didn't show up."
"Well, that's not really true, Sirius," Lily replied. "Severus was in the library, too."
James and Sirius looked at each other briefly before James said, "Are you sure you saw him there? Today?"
Lily paused as a memory flashed in her head. "Yes, I'm sure. I remember seeing him lingering around the Restricted Section. Madam Pince eventually caught him and kicked him out."
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As the last half of November came about the Marauders thought up different ways to exact revenge on Snape. James, Sirius, and Peter were certain that Snape was responsible for the upheaval in their room. Remus agreed that Snape was the likely suspect however he was hesitant to start a war with the Slytherin boy based on circumstantial evidence.
One of James and Sirius' favorite things to do was mess with Snape during Potions. Potions was Snape's best class and he always had an arrogant look as he scored points for his house. James and Sirius decided to set up their cauldrons at the table next to Snape's. Whenever the Slytherin boy had his back turned one of the two Gryffindors would throw something extra into his cauldron, messing up the potion. At one point the cauldron started to quiver and sputter. James and Sirius made a run for it while the potion exploded out of the cauldron and splattered all over Snape. He had to go to the hospital wing to have Madame Pomfrey heal the large green boils that formed wherever the potion had stuck. Professor Pilon held James and Sirius after class and assigned them 2 detentions each.
James and Sirius grinned at each other as they walked up to their dorm room. "This could turn into a hobby, James! Did you see the look on his face?" barked Sirius.
They walked into their room to see Remus packing. "Don't tell me you're mum is sick, AGAIN!" said James.
Remus smiled. "Glad to say she is feeling well. My great-uncle Eugene is American. He's visiting my parents and wants to celebrate the American Muggle holiday Thanksgiving. Mum and Dad want me to come home to join them. I'll be gone for a few days."
"You are leaving in the middle of the week? How are you going to get away with missing class?" asked James.
"Oh, Dumbledore said it would be okay seeing as how my grades are up. He made me promise to bring him some turkey. I got he impression he likes Muggle holidays," said Remus.
"Turkey? Why turkey?" asked Sirius.
"That's what the Americans eat during Thanksgiving. It's supposed to be a big feast," he replied.
"This is not fair. You get to miss class AND get well fed for it while we're stuck here," whined Sirius.
"What, Sirius, don't you have any long-lost American relatives?" James asked.
Sirius scowled. "If there's one thing my family dislikes more than Muggles it's Americans."
Remus shrugged as he picked up his bag. "I have to go. I'm catching the Knight Bus. See you in a few days."
After he left James and Sirius stood there deep in thought. "Hey, Sirius?"
"Yeah, James?"
"Have you noticed how much Remus has been gone since we started here?" James asked.
"Yeah, I was just thinking about that," replied Sirius.
They looked at each other a moment before smirking. They shrugged it off and headed down to dinner.
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Thanks to Shelekene (x4!!!), Remus'sweetie, sweetie513, Anonymous (x2), Amber eyes, itsme63, and redhead101 for the latest reviews. I was thrilled beyond words at getting more reviews than usual. Hmmm, maybe I'll have to insert cliffhangers more frequently! (evil snicker) Replies are in the usual spot - in the review section. Anyhoo, I was going to wait a little longer to post this chapter, but thought I'd reward my reviewers for the feedback.
Next chapter: Winter arrives with more Lily and James moments.
Review and I'll post more!