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 85: Ready to Boil Over
"Where do think she is?" asked Lily, looking around the Great Hall.
"I have no clue," said Marlene. "The last time I saw her, she was on her way to the loo."
"She shouldn't be by herself," said Lily, finding a spot in the middle of the Gryffindor table. "She just had her heart ripped out."
Marlene sat across from her and glanced toward the Hufflepuff table. "Well, it doesn't look like Amy's having a great day, either."
"Considering she saw her boyfriend kissing another girl, I'd say she's taking it pretty well," Lily commented as Amy dropped her head on the table and started sobbing.
"There she is!" said Marlene, pointing toward the entrance to the Great Hall. "That's strange…"
"What?" asked Lily, looking to see where Alice was, finally finding her wandering toward the table with an odd expression on her face.
"She looks dopey," said Marlene, "and she doesn't look upset like she did earlier. That's it…she has officially lost her mind."
Alice sat next to Lily and gave them each a serene smile. "Hiya," she chirped.
Marlene gave her an incredulous look and said, "Hiya?? You have this big drama with Frank at the station and disappear for hours and all you have to say is hiya? Isn't your heart supposed to be broken right now?"
Alice blushed and shrugged, saying, "Ah, well, there's no sense crying over spilt milk, right?"
Lily watched Alice, wondering if Marlene's theory about Alice's mental state was true. Before she had a chance to grill Alice about her whereabouts for the past few hours, she froze as she saw James and his friends walking by them to a spot further down the table. She wasn't sure what to expect from him after she had yelled at him after the DADA O.W.L. the previous year. Would he act like nothing had happened and go back to asking her out all the time, or would he finally give up on her and give her the cold shoulder?
"Frank's looking at you," Marlene said to Alice.
"No he's not," said Alice, not daring to glance down the table for fear that she would see him and start getting that lovesick smile she had had to get rid of before entering the Great Hall. She and Frank had agreed that they should keep their newfound relationship a secret for a few weeks since Frank had been dating Amy until that morning. Frank didn't want to embarrass Amy any more than necessary, and Alice didn't want to be considered the 'scarlet woman' who broke them up.
"He's looked at you at least three times since you sat down five minutes ago," insisted Marlene. "Maybe you should talk to him about what happened earlier."
"Maybe," muttered Alice, thinking that 'talking' might be a good excuse to find some alone time with Frank. Marlene gave Alice an incredulous look, having expected her to put up more of a fight about having to face Frank. Before she could say anything, Alice pointed at the entrance and said, "Here come the first years!"
The girls watched the Sorting, and every so often Lily felt as though someone was watching her, the same feeling she had gotten in the past whenever she had caught James staring at her in class or in the common room. Every time she glanced down the Gryffindor table, she found that James was not looking at her. Instead she saw him staring at the Snitch he had probably been playing with the previous year, a bored look on his face as the new students were placed into their respective houses.
As the Sorting finished, Professor Dumbledore stood and made his usual brief comments before commencing the feast. Partway through the meal, the Great Hall doors opened and a woman dressed in elegant dark blue robes strode in, walking toward the staff table. Her dark brown hair was swept up into a twist with a few curls draping down and framing her slender face. She was petite, almost bird-like as she moved. Several whispers could be heard, each pondering who the lady was as she shook Dumbledore's hand before walking around the table to sit and join the rest of the staff.
After the meal, the students finally got their answer. Professor Dumbledore stood up, reiterating the yearly warning about the Forbidden Forest, and adding Whoopee Cushions and Paisley Paint Potion to Filch's list of forbidden items. He then said, "Professor Darme has been called back to duty in France due to the recent encroachment of giants on the border with Germany. As many of you noticed, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor arrived during the meal. Her name is Professor Salomea Grazynska. Please extend a warm Hogwarts welcome to her." He nodded toward Professor Grazynska as the students clapped, and she in turn gave him a regal nod.
"She's pretty," said Marlene.
"And she looks so elegant," added Alice, admiring the professor's robes.
"Do you think she'll be a good teacher?" asked Lily.
"I dunno," said Marlene, "but she doesn't look very old. I doubt she's older than 30."
Hearing Professor Dumbledore's dismissal, the students started to make their way toward their respective common rooms, the prefects in a frenzy to make certain no first years would get lost.
As Marlene and Alice left Lily behind to do her duties, Alice stopped once they were outside the Great Hall and exclaimed, "Oh, bugger! I think I left my wand in the Great Hall." Seeing that Marlene was about to follow her back inside, she added, "I'll meet you upstairs in the common room as soon as I find it."
"You sure you don't want help finding it?" asked Marlene.
"I'm sure," Alice said quickly, sending a fleeting glance inside the Great Hall. "I'm pretty sure I know where I left it."
"Suit yourself," replied Marlene as she walked toward the stairs. As she started the long journey upstairs amidst the crowd of students, she felt somebody slam into her shoulder as he passed. Seeing who it was, she rolled her eyes and called out, "Hey, Black! Watch where you're going!" Seeing him continuing up the stairs without even acknowledging her made her fume, and she ran up the steps to catch up with him, reaching to grab his elbow. "Haven't you heard of manners?"
Sirius stopped short and whirled around, almost causing Marlene to run into him. Seeing as he was already a few inches taller than her and a step higher, his height was slightly imposing. "Don't start with me, McKinnon!"
Marlene backed up a step, surprised at the fierce look in his eyes. She had seen him annoyed with her, but this look was darker and filled with an anger she had never seen from him. Seeing him turn around to walk away and not being one to back down, she started to go after him to give him a piece of her mind for yelling at her like that, but was stopped by someone's grasp of her shoulder. Looking behind her, she saw James.
"Just let him go," he said.
"What's his problem?" asked Marlene.
James hesitated before replying, "He had a run-in with Snape."
"That's all?" said Marlene, unimpressed. "I thought he usually got a kick out of finding ways to make Snape's life miserable."
"Just let this one go, okay?" asked James. Before giving her a chance to reply James walked past her to catch up with his friends.
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"Do you think there's any way we could convince Dumbledore to skip the Sorting and go straight to the feast?" asked Sirius as they stepped out of the carriage.
"Don't you ask that every year?" asked Peter.
As they made their way into the castle, Remus said, "Somehow I doubt that Dumbledore would change that tradition after all these years."
"Look!" said James, staring down the corridor. "It's Mrs. Norris."
Sirius's ears perked, causing him to grin and reach inside his pocket, withdrawing a small vial. "What do you say, Prongs? Shall we test this out?"
"I've wanted to try it out ever since we saw it in Diagon Alley," replied James.
"Maybe we should wait until later, when there aren't as many people around," suggested Remus.
"No time like the present, Moony," said Sirius.
James led them over to a spot around the corner out of sight. Taking the uncorked vial from Sirius, he waved his wand and incanted, "Wingardium leviosa," causing the vial to float. He carefully directed the vial toward Mrs. Norris, grateful that she was distracted by some unruly third year students on their way to the Great Hall. Once the vial was directly over the feline, James released the spell, causing it to turn over as it fell. The contents splashed onto the kitty, causing a surprised shriek to escape her.
Filch came out of the Great Hall just in time to witness the potion taking its effect. The Marauders desperately tried to contain their laughter as Filch let out an angry growl and picked up his cat, along with the empty vial. Some of the potion had spilled onto the outside of the vial, and when Filch touched it his entire hand turned a paisley pattern. He angrily stormed back into the Great Hall, presumably to show Professor Dumbledore what had happened and demand an addition to the list of forbidden items.
Once Filch was out of earshot, Sirius let out a loud guffaw and said, "It's good to be back. I forgot how much I missed that."
The boys made their way into the Great Hall and toward their usual seats. As the boys' attention was drawn to Filch angrily waving his paint covered hand to Dumbledore, James's attention was distracted by the flash of red hair already seated. He suddenly felt his stomach flip and he felt himself reverting from the arrogant teenager who constantly hit on her to the nervous eleven year old boy who was unable to form words in front of her. He saw her look in his direction and he couldn't help but look away, suddenly nervous about how to act in front of her.
Throughout the Sorting, he kept feeling himself drawn to look toward Lily, a myriad of confusing thoughts running through his head. It almost was like an old habit wanting to watch her, yet he couldn't help but feel the same warmth from the sight of her. He also felt a tight knot in his stomach, the words she had yelled at him running through his head over and over, 'You make me sick!' He took the Snitch he still carried with him out of his pocket and stared at it, trying to will himself not to look toward her.
What had he done to really offend her, he wondered. James felt he was perfectly justified with how he had acted. Snape was a Slytherin who had his nose in the Dark Arts, and he was constantly hinting that he knew something about Remus's condition. He wondered why he kept trying to impress her if she kept yelling at him or ignoring him. He had done everything he could think of to get her attention.
James also realized that there were a lot of people who were aware of his crush on Lily. They had witnessed his behavior the previous year and he knew that many of those people would wonder how he would act after she had yelled at him in front of so many people. He knew that if he completely avoided her everyone would know that she had gotten to him, and he didn't want them to know how hurt he had been. He resolved to himself that while he wouldn't seek out her attention, perhaps it would be better to hit on her every so often just to show that she hadn't gotten the better of him. It didn't really matter, he thought, since to him it no longer seemed like she would ever give him the time of day.
"Prongs!"
James tore his attention away from the Snitch and looked up to see his three closest friends watching him.
"What's with you, tonight?" asked Sirius. "You've been acting weird."
"Nothing," lied James. He glanced at the Snitch again before replying, "I was just thinking about when we should hold Quidditch tryouts."
Remus looked at him dubiously and said, "That's all?"
"What do you mean, 'that's all'?" said Sirius. "Prongs has a big job on his shoulders. We have a reputation to keep up, and our first game will be against the Slytherins."
"Do you think I should try out this year?" asked Peter.
James and Sirius glanced at each other before James replied, "We'll see, Wormtail, but I'm pretty sure that competition will be pretty tight this year."
Peter grimaced and shrugged his shoulders.
"I need to go help Lily," said Remus, as Professor Dumbledore closed the feast.
James watched as Remus walked over and greeted Lily, who smiled and got up to help him with prefect duties.
"C'mon Prongs," said Sirius, urging him along. "I think I see something that'll cheer you up."
James watched as Sirius walked through the crowd and finally saw what Sirius was talking about - Severus Snape. He saw Sirius wearing a cocky grin as he was presumably taunting Snape, however James was unable to hear what he was saying though the noisy din of the students leaving the Great Hall. James, curious about what Sirius was up to, approached, pushing his way through the crowd.
James soon noticed that Snape was not wearing his usual disgusted scowl but rather a triumphant one. James realized that Snape was no longer alone, but instead flanked by Regulus and Narcissa. As he got closer he could see that Sirius was no longer grinning, but rather getting more and more enraged.
As he reached his friend, James caught the tail end of what Snape was saying, "…then perhaps they'll lock you up in a small cell like your daddy used to do." The corners of Snape's mouth twisted upward as he added, "And where is your father, Black?"
Sirius paled for a moment, causing James to whip out his wand and point it at Snape's forehead. "I'd watch your mouth if I were you, Snivellus," said James with a dangerous voice. "You wouldn't want a replay of what happened after the DADA O.W.L. now would you?"
"What?" taunted Snape. "You mean when the Mudblood turned you down again in front of everyone?"
"Don't use that disgusting word!" yelled James, red and gold sparks shooting out of his wand. He was thinking of an appropriate hex to use when Snape turned back to Sirius.
"I heard you no longer live at home, Black," spat Snape. "What? Did your family finally have enough of you?"
Regulus let out a snort behind Snape.
Neither James nor Sirius noticed Peter's arrival as he had chosen to stay safely behind them, and they were both getting ready to curse the Slytherins standing in front of them.
"What is going on here?!" demanded a stern voice.
James turned to see Professor Pilon hovering next to them, her greenish-hued hands on her hips. Sirius, however, was still intent on hexing Snape. He started to wave his wand when he felt it slip out of his grasp and fly toward the Potions professor, who had decided to disarm him.
"Twenty points from Gryffindor!" she said. "I should probably congratulate you boys for being the first to lose points this year for your house, and for getting Gryffindor into a negative score. Now get to your tower, before I add detention!"
Sirius was breathing hard, his anger continuing to build but unable to find an outlet. All he could mutter was, "My wand."
Professor Pilon tucked his wand into her robe pocket and said, "I don't think that's wise. You'll get your wand back when you've calmed down. Now get back to your house!"
Sirius looked like he didn't want to move, and Peter looked torn between waiting for him and scurrying away toward Gryffindor tower. James finally nudged Sirius in the elbow and said, "C'mon, let's go," causing Sirius to give Snape one more nasty look before turning around and rushing off toward the tower.
James and Peter rushed to catch up with him, James accidentally knocking into Alice as she walked down the corridor away from stairwell. He didn't have time to process where she was going because he soon saw another potential disaster forming on the stairwell. Marlene had caught Sirius at the most opportune moment and had decided to start another one of their arguments, not knowing Sirius's current mood.
James hurried up the stairs, seeing Marlene about to go after Sirius, and grabbed her shoulder to prevent what he calculated to be World War LVI. "Just let him go," he said.
"What's his problem?" asked Marlene.
James hesitated before replying, wanting to get the idea across that she had to leave him alone, but not wanting to reveal the source of Sirius's troubles. "He had a run-in with Snape."
"That's all?" said Marlene, unimpressed. "I thought he usually got a kick out of finding ways to make Snape's life miserable."
"Just let this one go, okay?" asked James. Before giving her a chance to reply James walked past her to catch up with his friends. He found Sirius in the dorm room pacing around, occasionally pausing to hit something like a pillow or patch of wall. "Padfoot?"
Sirius's face was deep red with anger as he spat, "That sniveling little snake! He is not going to know what hit him. I mean it, Prongs, he's got to pay!"
"What do you have in mind?" asked James, ready to plan an elaborate prank against his least favorite Slytherin.
"I'm not sure yet," replied Sirius, "but he won't know what hit him."
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A/N: What can I say but I'm so, so, so, so sorry for the delay? My excuses - going out of the country, reading Half Blood Prince and deciding what to do about this story. I got a little blocked about how to continue, though I know what I want to happen. Plus, my free time has been sucked away by a relatively new long-distance relationship. Those are my excuses, but I know it still sucks it was over 2 months before I could add on a new chapter. Sorry it's shorter than my latest ones, but I wanted to get something up sooner rather than later, and this one took long enough as it is.
Obviously, now that HBP is out, this fic will be even more AU (not dramatically, but in some ways). I'm trying to decide if I should add certain elements to this story, such as a certain professor that was in that book. Any thoughts? This character would probably not play a big part just because there's so much else I need to add to these last two years, but I've been toying with the idea.
I'm giving a blanket 'Thank you' to all my reviewers. Normally I take the time to list everyone, however I just want to get this chapter up ASAP. I really appreciate all the encouragement though. I hope you stick with the story.
Coming up: We'll see a little more of the new DADA professor.