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 34: In Sirius Trouble
Sirius convinced James that he alone should go to the headmaster's office. James had his first quidditch match coming up and Sirius refused to allow James to risk missing it due to a punishment. The match would be against Slytherin.
Although James was doing quite well in practice he felt a knot of nervousness starting to build in the pit of his stomach. Last year Gryffindor had lost to Slytherin. In fact, it had been six years since the Gryffindors had beaten the Slytherins. That had been the year Gryffindor had last won the Quidditch Cup. Carlton Wood, the team captain, spent most of his time in a panic trying to put together more practice time.
A few days after James agreed to allow Sirius to acquire the phoenix ashes on his own, he was walking with Peter and Remus along a second floor corridor when all of a sudden they heard a group of high-pitched screams. Shortly thereafter Sirius came flying down the hall trying to avoid several curses aimed at him. He had a huge mischievous grin on his face as he rushed past the rest of the Marauders, throwing them a thumbs up.
"MISTER BLACK!" came a booming voice from down the hallway where Sirius had run from. "SIRIUS BLACK! STOP RUNNING THIS INSTANT!"
Sirius stopped and, though panting from running, casually turned around and threw on a charm-filled smile. "Professor McGonagall! How lovely to see you this evening!"
Professor McGonagall strode up to him, her face almost purple. "How DARE you! Sneaking into the girl's bathroom?! WHAT were you thinking?!"
Sirius shook his head and put on his most innocent face as he threw out his arms and said, "It wasn't my fault, Professor! I'm a boy about to turn 13 years old. My hormones are going crazy. I just couldn't help it! Don't you see? My hormones forced me to do it!"
James, Remus, and Peter all tried to suppress their laughter at the show Sirius was performing. Professor McGonagall's lips pressed into a thin line - James wasn't sure if it was from anger or amusement.
"Mister Black, you have been back barely a week and you are already getting yourself into a load of trouble. Do you want to get yourself expelled again? What would your parents say?" she lectured. Sirius couldn't help rolling his eyes at her last comment. She shook her head and grabbed his arm. "Perhaps if I cannot get across the serious nature of what you have just done, then I will have the headmaster do it." As she led him away she said, "Thirty points from Gryffindor!"
After they were out of sight James couldn't hold in his laughter anymore. Remus looked amused, however Peter was nervous.
"Do you think he'll get expelled for this?" asked Peter.
Once James was able to catch his breath he said, "Of course not. He'll get a lecture, find a way of getting the ashes, then we'll be all set to brew the potion."
"Leave it to Sirius to purposely get into trouble just to pull this off," said Remus.
James smirked. "I wouldn't fret about it. Somehow I think he had the time of his life."
"That figures!" said a voice from behind them. They turned around to see Marlene looking rather irked, with Lily standing next to her.
"Lily!" exclaimed James. His heart skipped a couple of beats, wondering how much of the conversation she had just heard. He ran a hand through his messy hair and tried to put on a casual grin to cover up any suspicion. "Alright there, Lily?"
Her face looked like it was set in stone. She looked annoyed. She cast him a quick glance though it didn't quite meet his eyes. "Save it, Potter! Let's go, Marlene."
As they walked away James felt the impulse to run and catch up, walking alongside them. "So, Lily? We were just going to dinner. Do you want to join us?"
"No," she replied, still refusing to look directly at him. It had been like this all year - James trying to get Lily's attention and her trying to ignore him.
"Alright, then - how about going outside later for an evening flight?" he asked hopefully.
Lily paused for a moment before she whirled to face him and said, "No! Please just leave me alone, Potter!"
James froze for a moment, then stiffly replied, "Alright then, Evans. I'll see you around." He turned and walked toward his friends. They watched him nervously but he smiled at them, trying to brush off the footprints Lily had left from stomping on his heart. Remus was about to say something but James interrupted. "Let's go! I'm starving." He turned and headed toward the Great Hall with his two friends trying to keep up. Remus could tell that James was hurt by what Lily had said and that he was trying to cover it up.
As they neared the Great Hall they almost stumbled over Snape, who was sitting at the top of the stairs, absorbed in a book. James paused in front of the greasy-haired Slytherin and gazed down at the book he was reading - Dark Arts Volume One: Cursing your Enemy. James felt a surge of hatred seeing Snape reading that book. It was one thing to study DADA, but it was quite another thing to seek out information on the Dark Arts. James thought of Riddle who was probably somewhere working for Voldemort, using curses that were found in the book Snape was holding. As the anger built, James wondered if a curse from that book had been responsible for the explosion that killed his father.
Snape suddenly realized that someone was hovering above him. He slowly pulled his nose out of the book and looked up at James. His eyes widened at the severe expression on James' face. Snape's cold dark eyes focused on James' as he spat, "What is it, Potter?"
The way Snape said James' name, dripping with disdain, set off a trigger in James. It was similar to the one that had led him to destroy his room after his father's death, only it was slightly more controlled. After Lily's rejection, and seeing Snape immersed in the Dark Arts text James felt the need to do something. Remus and Peter watched in astonishment as James raised his wand and hexed Snape so that boils covered his skin.
Snape thought about retaliating, but thought better of it after seeing the crazed look in Potter's eyes and seeing his two friends behind him. He grabbed his book and stumbled away to the hospital wing.
Remus and Peter stood there in shock. Sure, they all played pranks on the Slytherins but that was the first time any of them had thrown a hex like that unprovoked. They glanced at each other nervously while James stared at the spot where Snape had been sitting.
"Erm, James?" asked Remus. "Are you-"
He was interrupted by a chuckle. It started out soft but grew into a side-splitting guffaw. Remus and Peter watched as their friend continued to roar with laughter.
"D-did you see…" James started in between the laughs, "…his face?"
Peter, seeing James laughing so hard, giggled a little and said, "Yeah, James. That was…erm…very funny."
"Maybe we should go eat," said Remus, looking a little worried about his friend.
Sirius appeared halfway through the meal and sat down with a triumphant smile on his face. He looked around at his friends, noticing the sober look on Remus and Peter and the strange expression on James' face. His eyes met Remus', about to ask what was going on. Remus threw Sirius a cautionary look that silently said not to ask.
"What happened with Dumbledore?" asked James, not having noticed the silent conversation between Remus and Sirius.
Sirius grinned and said, "Mission accomplished! McGonagall left me in Dumbledore's office alone to wait for him. I was able to approach Fawkes and scoop up some of the ashes that sat at the base of his perch before Dumbledore arrived."
"Did you get expelled?" squeaked Peter.
Sirius snorted and said, "No. I'm here, aren't I? I got a lecture on how to behave around girls, though I got the feeling that Dumbledore was amused by the entire situation. He gave me a week's worth of detention and get this! I have to report to Pilon for my detention. That means I'll have the opportunity to nick the other ingredients we'll need."
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Marlene watched Lily curiously throughout dinner. Lily had been quiet after her encounter with Potter. It was true that Marlene detested Black, but she didn't hold much of a grudge against Potter. At the end of first year he had been quite the gentleman with Lily and Marlene had learned to tolerate him. She almost considered him a friend. After she had found out about his father she had felt compelled to owl him, sending her sympathy and condolences.
As they walked back to the common room Marlene finally spoke up. "That was kind of rude, you know?"
Lily gave Marlene a curious look before asking, "What are you talking about?"
"What you said to Potter earlier. That's not like you," she said.
Lily looked ahead and shrugged. "Maybe not, but he keeps bugging me, trying to get me to spend time with him."
"Would that be so horrible?" asked Marlene.
"He keeps looking at me like he expects me to remember things I'll never remember. It's too weird," Lily said quietly.
Marlene knew she was testing Lily's patience but felt the need to prod further. "Maybe he just wants to spend a little time with you so you can get to know him again."
Lily gave a frustrated sigh and turned to Marlene, her voice filled with annoyance. "Why do you keep pushing this? I don't remember you being a big fan of the Marauders! Why don't you spend some time with Sirius?"
"That's different. I've always hated him!" protested Marlene. "You really liked Potter!"
"It's not that different, Marlene. Before this year, the only thing I remember about Potter was that he was a strange boy who could hardly speak and who played a mean prank on you at the beginning of first year," said Lily. "Maybe I didn't hate him, but the more he pesters me the more annoyed I get!" Lily turned away and stormed toward the common room.
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That night after the Marauders had decided to go to sleep James lay in his bed thinking about the events of the day. He thought about how Lily could hardly stand to look at him anymore. He thought about Snape and what he had been reading. He felt a pang of satisfaction thinking about the hex he had thrown at Snivellus and how the Slytherin had run away.
Suddenly James felt a slight breeze as the curtains surrounding his bed were opened. Sirius jumped onto the bed and said, "So, Jamsie, I heard you had an interesting time after I went for my visit to Dumbledore." Seeing the question in James' eyes he added, "Remus told me - 'bout Evans then about Snivellus."
"So are you going to lecture me on hexing in the hallways?" asked James sarcastically.
Sirius smirked and said, "Hardly! I just wish I had been there to witness the look on Snivellus' face when the hex hit him." He paused and looked at his friend. "Not that I mind Snape getting what he deserves…but since when do you throw hexes like that? Usually we reserve that for our pranks, unless they provoke us."
James looked away and said, "He deserved it. Do you know what he was reading about?"
"Hair care?" joked Sirius.
"Dark Arts! Can you believe it? I thought if he was into cursing people that maybe he would want to study the 'furunculus hex' more closely," said James.
Sirius studied James for a moment before asking, "And what about Evans?"
"What about her?" asked James.
"I heard she was pretty harsh with you earlier," said Sirius.
"Yeah…maybe she was," he said. "I don't know what to do about her anymore. Maybe I should just forget about the whole thing!"
Sirius looked at James in doubt. For as long as he'd known him, James had been completely smitten with Evans. "So you're going to give up on her, just like that?" he asked, snapping his fingers.
"I dunno," muttered James. "I just don't know."
After another moment Sirius said, "You'd better get some sleep, mate. The match against Slytherin is in two days and you need to be ready to catch that Snitch!"
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A/N: Thanks to the latest reviewers: sweetie513, DobbyGrl, Remus'sweetie, Harrysgrl, Golden Phoenix, urSweetiemSmia, Watermelon!, itsme63 (x2), and PottersPrincess.
Next chapter: James' popularity increases. The Marauders set off on a new adventure.