Late on the last Friday of classes before break, James was heading up alone to the Gryffindor common room, idly wondering if there was anything he had forgotten to He had been out on the grounds, flying; now that it was starting to get warm again, it was all he could do to keep his feet on the ground. But now the corridors were deserted, with most students either packing or relaxing in their common rooms. Certainly no one was thinking about homework. And so he was completely off-guard when the jinx caught him around the ankles, sending him crashing forward.
His temple smacked hard against the ground. Swearing and disoriented, he shook his head to clear it before glancing around. “”the hell?” he said, getting somewhat shakily to his feet, and then his eyes narrowed as Severus Snape sidled out of an empty classroom.
“Trip Jinx,” Snape said casually, twirling his wand through his fingers. “I learned that one from you. You used it on me quite a lot in the third year.”
There was something different about him, although James couldn’t put his finger on what it was. He was standing straighter, and perhaps his eyes were colder, if that was possible. But there was a cool, measured confidence about him, that James didn’t recall ever seeing there before. It’s like he has power on his side.
His silence seemed to throw Snape, who, after a moment, taunted, “What’s the matter, Potter, don’t know what to do without your friends behind you?”
James almost laughed. “Hardly,” he said, with as much scorn as he could muster. “Just trying to figure out what this is all about.
This, too, surprised Snape. “You really don’t know?” he scoffed.
“No,” James said. His tone was light and pleasant, but the two boys had begun to slowly circle each other, wands at the ready. “I mean, we’ve hardly touched you at all this year, I had just assumed this was a thing of the past.”
Snape’s eyes were bright with loathing as he sneered, “Well, I don’t really need a reason, do I? It’s more of the fact that you exist, if you know what I mean.”
James winced to hear his own words parroted back at him. That day in the fifth year”it felt so long ago now”was not one of his proudest memories, and he did what he could to forget about it, as he often forgot, nowadays, that Snape and Lily had once been friends. But quite suddenly, James realized what that day had meant for Snape”it wasn’t the humiliation that made it such a fresh wound, it was the fact that on that day, he had lost his best friend. Lily. And for the first time in his life, James felt a flash of sympathy for the scrawny, stubborn Slytherin that stood before him.
“Is this still about”” he began to ask, but before he could say her name, Snape’s face twisted and he launched another curse at James.
This time, however, James was ready for him; throwing himself to the side, he whipped his own wand through the air. His spell sent Snape flying backwards into a nearby portrait of a group of nuns, who, hoisting up their skirts, ran for it, giving both boys dirty looks as they went.
Wand out, James advanced on Snape, who had slumped to the ground. It would be so easy to finish him off now”to Stun him, or Body Bind him, to tie him up and leave him for someone else to find. But the memory from his fifth year was fresh in his mind, and he couldn’t stop remembering the look on Lily’s face when he had tormented Snape…the way she had looked at him every time the two of them had had an altercation…
Snape had his wand in hand now, and was staggering to his feet. James looked at him, bouncing on the balls of his feet, his own wand in his fingers…and then, for the first time in his life, he turned and ran.
He rounded the corner and burst into a secret passage hidden behind a tapestry there, breathing hard, and waiting for Snape to pass by. Coward, he berated himself, replaying the last five minutes in his head. What was that?
“So…whatcha doing?”
James jumped violently at the sound of the voice, his heart racing. Turning, one hand on his chest, he saw Sirius standing beside him, smiling innocently.
“Merlin, Padfoot,” James wheezed. “Don’t sneak up on me like that, you nearly killed me…and how on earth did you know I was here?”
In answer, Sirius wiggled a piece of parchment at him. After a moment, James recognized the Marauder’s Map. “I was bored,” Sirius said. “So I was coming to find you. See, look!” Beaming, he pointed at their dots on the map. “I found you.”
“I noticed that,” James said dryly.
“I was wondering about this, though,” Sirius said, pointing his wand at another dot, barely ten feet away. Severus Snape, according to the map, was moving towards them.
“Shut up a second,” James hissed, and he held his breath, watching the dot until he heard footsteps in the corridor outside their hiding place. A few moments later, Snape had passed them, his footsteps growing fainter.
“Just having a chat?” said Sirius emotionlessly.
James squirmed. “He sort of…jumped me in the corridor as I was coming back.”
“Really,” said Sirius. “Well. That’s unexpected. We haven’t done anything to Snivelly at all this term, oddly.”
“That’s what I said,” James said. “It’s weird though. He’s a lot more sure of himself lately.”
“Huh,” shrugged Sirius. “So, what, you took him out in two minutes instead of one?”
“Actually,” James said, not looking at him. “I sort of…ran.”
Sirius choked. “You what?”
“Well, not right away,” James said. “But I just…couldn’t do it. Not without feeling like I was betraying Lily somehow.”
Sirius’s eyebrows shot up so high that to James, it looked like they had disappeared into his hairline. “Wow,” he said. “That’s so…Head Boy of you.”
James groaned. “It is not,” he said.
Sirius grinned. “Is so,” he said. “It’s also mature.”
James looked at him. A brief scuffle later, he had him in a headlock and was saying, “Take that back!”
“Never!” cried Sirius, elbowing him in the solar plexus and wriggling free. Then, sobering, he said, “I don’t know if I could have done it.”
“What,” James asked bitterly, “run from a fight?”
“That’s not what you did,” Sirius said, sounding surprised.
“What?” James asked, looking over at him.
Sirius shrugged, and they both began to head towards Gryffindor Tower. “It’s not, really,” Sirius said. “It’s more like….you realized it wasn’t a fight worth having, and removed yourself from the situation.”
James muttered something under his breath.
“What was that?” asked Sirius.
James sighed. “Well it does sound mature when you put it like that,” he grumbled.
Sirius smirked. “So are you going to tell Lily?”
“Oh, hell no,” James said immediately. “I may have done ‘The Right Thing’ here, but that doesn’t mean she’d want to hear anything about any kind of fight I have with Snivellus, my fault or not.”
Sirius made a face. “Yeah,” he said. “Good plan. Besides, it’s the holidays, so maybe just put that behind you.”
James nodded fervently as they rounded a corner. Sirius sidestepped to avoid a suit of armor, and as he did so, James notice him wince ever so slightly, and put a hand on his ribs.
“How are you doing?” James asked cautiously.
“What?” Sirius looked up at him, then noticed the direction of his gaze. “I”oh, fine,” he said. “It’s not really a big deal, it just twinges a little sometimes. I’m nearly all better.”
James shook his head though. “It’s not okay though,” he growled. “I hate that that happened, I hate that you went through it, and just for me.”
“Of course I did,” Sirius said fiercely, stopping in his tracks, and the intensity of his voice made James turn, startled, to face him. “Of course I did, any of us would have.”
“And I’d do the same thing for you in a heartbeat,” James argued, and the look in his eyes made him look ten years older. “But that doesn’t mean that I can’t hate it, that I can’t wish I could do something!”
“You are doing something,” Sirius said, almost laughing. “You’re here, you’re walking around, and for whatever reason they wanted it, they don’t have any more information on you than they did before. So we’re winning. And you need to stop beating yourself up over something that you had no control over.”
“Yeah, well,” James muttered, “if I ever meet them, they’re going down.”
Sirius rolled his eyes and clapped him on the shoulder. “I know, I know,” he said. “Now change the subject.”
“Okay,” said James mischievously. “Seen Annabelle recently?”
Sirius sighed, heavily and pointedly. “I wish you’d all drop that,” he said. “First of all, she’s already dating Michael Kingsbury, or have you forgotten? So no chance there.”
“That doesn’t mean”” James started to say, but Sirius interrupted him.
“Second of all,” he said, “she’s like, fifteen. Barely.”
James shrugged. “That’s only like three years difference,” he said. “In a couple of years it won’t be a big deal at all.”
“Maybe not, but right now, it would make me feel kind of pervy,” Sirius said. “And anyway, thirdly, she’s obnoxious. She may have proved that she is, in fact, a Gryffindor, but that doesn’t make her any less insufferable. And would you really want her around all the time?”
“You know,” James said thoughtfully, “that’s a good point.”
“Thank you,” Sirius said. “So are you going to stop with that nonsense?”
“Yeah, yeah,” James laughed. “Although I can’t promise that Moony will.”
They had reached Gryffindor Tower. Sirius, frowning, gave the password, and they clambered in.
“He does seem to be extremely interested in that completely fictional relationship,” Sirius said.
“Maybe he’s covering something up,” James said dryly, and Sirius shrugged.
“Could happen.”
“No way,” James said.
“Could too!” Sirius insisted.
“Does he even talk to girls?” James said. “No.”
“Maybe,” Sirius said, “he’s just very sneaky about it.”
James shook his head. “I don’t buy it.”
“Want to bet on in?” Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow.
James pondered this a moment. “You’re on.”
---
Early the next morning, the five Gryffindors, plus Alice Rourke, arrived at Dumbledore’s office to Floo to the Mckinnon’s house. Marlene was the first one to greet them at the fireplace.
“It’s so good to see you!” she cried, grabbing Lily in a hung that rather made the younger girl feel as though she had broken several ribs.
“You, too,” she coughed, stepping back and smiling as Marlene descended upon the rest of them just as enthusiastically. Peter looked slightly startled, James was laughing, Alice was shy, and Sirius somewhat preoccupied. Remus, for his part, accidentally dropped his bag on his foot.
The Mckinnon’s house wasn’t large, but it was warm; the walls of the room they had just clambered into out of the fireplace were a warm yellow, and Lily could hear laughing voices from a farther room. Everything about the atmosphere of the house was inviting.
“You have to come in and meet everyone,” Marlene was saying happily. “Well, you already know Frank, of course, and some of the professors””
“Oh,” Alice said nonchalantly, “Frank’s here?” Lily smothered a grin.
“Wait,” Sirius said, a little louder, “there are professors here?”
“Of course,” Marlene said. “They’re some of Dumbledore’s best resources, and they help keep tabs on students who might join up later…like all of you!”
“As long as McGonagall isn’t one of them,” Sirius muttered. “I know I didn’t do very well on that last Transfiguration essay.”
Marlene led them into the kitchen, chatting amiably with Alice. Lily had just caught a glimpse of a group of people seated around a long table when Marlene, with a little yelp, slipped and fell backwards. Remus, who had been standing behind her, caught her, but then, looking so surprised at his own abilities, promptly dropped her again. Blushing, he helped her to her feet.
Sirius, who looked as though he was trying not to laugh, quirked an eyebrow at Remus. “You’re not usually that clumsy, Moony,” he said in an undertone, and Remus scowled at him.
Marlene, for her part, was sticking her tongue out good-naturedly at a pair of boys only a few years older than she, with reddish-brown hair. They looked startlingly alike, and Lily guessed that they were at least brothers, if not twins.
“Gideon and Fabian Prewett,” Marlene introduced them, sidestepping a patch on the floor that Lily now saw was slick with butter. “Resident troublemakers. You’ll want to watch out for them.”
“Aw, come on, Marl,” one of the brothers said, “we’re just practicing some Muggle tricks.”
“Yeah,” said the other. “Who needs magic when you can just butter the floor?”
Lily caught Sirius and James exchanging a glance, looking part impressed and part competitive.
“See?” James said, elbowing her in the ribs. “Who says you have to grow up?”
Marlene, meanwhile, was introducing the other people around the table. “It’s not everyone,” she explained. “People come when they can, unless we need to have a meeting, which, of course, you can’t attend yet, I’m sorry”only for full members. We do have to be safe. But these are my parents, and my older brother, Will.” Marlene’s parents waved, and her brother, an attractive blonde boy a few years older than Marlene, dropped a wink at a startled Lily. James cleared his throat loudly, and Marlene continued with the introductions. “In the back there is Dorcas Meadowes” “a small, brown-haired witch who looked to be in her early twenties smiled at them”“and you probably recognize Emmeline.”
Lily nodded; kind-faced Emmeline Vance had been Marlene’s year at Hogwarts. “And of course,” Marlene was finishing now, “you know Frank and Professor McGonagall.”
Frank Longbottom smiled at them, and Professor McGonagall looked over the edge of the Daily Prophet she was reading. Her eyes trained on Sirius a bit sternly, and Sirius gulped audibly. Then she turned to Marlene. “Albus and Elphias should be along for dinner,” she told Marlene.
Sirius edged sideways into a nearby chair, moving to shove aside a pile of rags as he did. A moment later, however, he had leapt backwards with a yelp as the pile shoved him back.
“Oops,” Marlene said as the Prewett brothers roared with laughter. “Sorry, Sirius, I forgot”that’s Mundungus Fletcher.”
Sirius, recovering from his shock, peered curiously at the small ginger man now blinking blearily around the room. Noticing Sirius, Mundungus grumbled at him, then slumped forward again onto the table, seemingly asleep. Across the room, Gideon Prewett mimed drinking something, while Fabian crossed his eyes.
“Right,” said Marlene. “Why don’t we get you all settled in?”
“Fletcher, huh?” James murmured to Sirius as they followed Marlene up the stairs. “Think he’s related to Annabelle?”
“I doubt it, Annabelle’s Muggle born,” Sirius said. He hesitated a brief moment, then turned to look at James. “I saw her again this morning, actually,” he said. “She was even more freaked out than she was the last time.”
“Did she tell you anything?” James asked, his eyebrows knitting together.
“Not really,” Sirius shrugged. “She said she didn’t want to say anything in Hogwarts because anyone could be listening. It was very dramatic. She wanted to know if we would be taking the train back after break, but I told her no, we’d be Apparating, and then she just dropped it.”
“There’s something fishy about all of this, Padfoot,” James said thoughtfully. “I mean, has it occurred to you that maybe she’s…acting or something?”
“I guess,” Sirius said, “but why would she be?”
“I dunno,” said James. “Maybe it’s setup for some elaborate prank, or something. Maybe she and those Ravenclaws are trying to get us off our guard.”
Sirius looked away, his eyes dark. “It seems like an awful lot of effort to go to for a joke,” he said heavily.
---
All that evening and clear through the next day Sirius wrestled with whether or not he needed to talk to Dumbledore about his conversations with Annabelle. There was no new information”he’d already told Dumbledore everything she’d said at their first encounter, and their last had been brief and uninformative. And besides, James theory”that it was all an elaborate prank”was more than plausible. Still, though, something about the whole situation niggled at him, and he couldn’t get it out of his head.
Sirius, however, was not built for melancholy, and as the weekend progressed, he found himself drawn into the sometimes loud, sometimes rambunctious, always warm circle of the Order. Various other members flitted in and out, though that core that they had been introduced to the first night remained relatively constant. Occasionally, some member”often Dumbledore”would come in looking serious, and the Order would retreat to another room to discuss, leaving the Marauders, Lily and Alice to fend for themselves. Often, they spent this time debating what was going on behind closed doors, and planning for the times when they themselves would be full members.
They were all looking forward to it now, even Peter, although his anticipation sometimes disintegrated back into fear. James, of course, talked of gallantry, waving his wand grandly in a mock duel, as if he eleven years old again, brandishing imaginary swords on the Hogwarts Express. Remus spoke almost dreamily of belonging, as if he had expected to disappear into the underbelly of the world after graduation, and now had hope. And Lily earnestly insisted that they would be doing something right, something good for the world. Something that mattered.
All Sirius really wanted was adventure”that, and to make his mother mad. The way he was heading, he thought as he sat at dinner with his friends and the Order, made both of those goals seemed likely. Still, though, something”and perhaps it was Annabelle”made him wonder, uncharacteristically, if they knew what they were getting themselves into. But that was unlike him, and thinking too hard and too long about the future made him uncomfortable, so eventually he let himself Peter drag him over to bother the Prewett brothers, who were teaching them Muggle magic tricks in exchange for information on the secret passages of Hogwarts (“just in case”).
A few feet further down the table, Lily and James were engaged in a much lighter topic of discussion.
“So,” James murmered, leaning towards Lily, “what’s going on over there?” And he nodded towards Frank Longbottom and Alice Rourke, who were sitting next to each other. Frank was gesturing emphatically with his hands, and Alice was giggling.
“Oh,” said Lily dismissively, “they’re in love.”
James grinned. “Really?” he asked. “Because I was kind of wondering…”
Lily laughed. “I don’t actually think anything’s going on,” she said. “But come on. Just look at them. They’re going to be in love eventually.”
Alice was blushing now, as Frank said something. He was not particularly handsome, Frank, but his face was kind, his eyes deep and intelligent, and when he looked at Alice, his smile made his normally plain features suddenly attractive.
James eyed Lily. “Want to put a bet on it?” he asked.
“No!” Lily wrinkled her nose at him playfully. “That never works out.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” James teased. “I can think of at least one occasion where it turned out all right.”
“Yeah,” Lily said, rolling her eyes, “by chance. After long months of heartbreak and confusion on both sides.”
“Drama queen.”
“Prat.”
“Goody-two-shoes.”
“Toerag!”
They looked at each other for a moment, and then both shouted simultaneously, “A galleon on the end of the summer!”
Gideon Prewett looked over as they dissolved into laughter, clutching each other. “Those two are trouble,” he said.
“You have no idea,” Sirius said dryly.
Lily pulled herself together first, sitting up straight and glancing around the table. “Speaking of potential future couples,” she asked, lowering her voice again, “what about those two?”
James followed her gaze to where Remus was sitting beside Marlene Mckinnon, looking nervous. “Moony and Marlene?” he asked doubtfully. “I don’t think so.”
“Why not?” Lily protested. “They write all the time, and he gets so suddenly nervous when he’s around her…I’ve never seen him this awkward and clumsy before.”
“Well, yeah,” James said, “but that’s just because she’s attractive. And Moony spends more time with old books than he does with pretty girls”present company excluded, of course.”
“Oh, thanks,” Lily said sarcastically, sticking out her tongue.
“Yeah, well, you’re off-limits so you’re safe,” James grinned. “But he’s too scared of girls to date one, especially one like Marlene.”
“I guess,” Lily said, looking disappointed.
“Besides,” James continued quietly. “You know him. You know he’d get too concerned about his, eh, furry little problem. He’d spend the whole time debating whether or not he should tell her, being worried about how she’d react, being worried about that even if she did accept him, he’d be putting her in danger, forcing her into a certain way of life. All that.”
“But he can’t possibly be worried about that before anything’s even happen!” Lily protested. “That’s too much for one person.”
“That’s what Moony does,” James said with a shrug. “He worries.”
“Doesn’t sound like much fun,” Lily grumbled.
“Yeah, I know,” James said. “We’re working on him. Trying to. As you know, he’s a little touchy about the subject.”
Lily sighed heavily, and in the silence that fell between them, they heard the tinny opening notes to a song come floating out of the little radio standing in the kitchen. Lily, recognizing it after a minute, groaned and buried her head in her arms. “I hate this song,” she said, her voice muffled.
James looked at her, amused, cocking his heads to better hear the music. “Is this Celestina Warbeck?” he asked doubtfully.
“‘Enchanted To Be Near You,’” Lily confirmed, managing to say the name of the song with both scorn and dejection.
“And do you listen to a lot of Celestina Warbeck?” James asked, fighting to keep from sniggering.
“I live with Mary,” Lily said, not without some disgust. “She loves this song.”
James laughed out loud, throwing back his head and slapping his open palm on the table.
“Oh, I’m sure it’s funny to you,” Lily muttered, but then looked up in surprise as James got to his feet, adjusted the collar of his shirt, and, slowly, held his hand out to her.
“What are you doing?” she asked him.
“What’s it look like I’m doing?” he said. His voice was light and playful, but his eyes were uncommonly serious, and it was perhaps because of this that, despite the table of Order members watching behind them, she found herself placing her hand in his and letting him pull her to her feet.
The song seemed to soften as she stood, the insipid lyrics fading, the pop beats leveling out into only sound. James’s fingers wrapped around hers, his other hand curved around her waist, and she slid her own hand up to rest on his shoulder.
“You dance?” she said.
“I try not to,” he grinned, looking steadily down into her eyes. “Like this song any better yet?”
“You know,” she murmured, “I might.”
For a moment, they just stood like that, swaying slowly from side to side, feeling each other in fingers and in breath, until finally Gideon Prewett stood on his chair and announced, “Oh, come on, my ninety-eight-year-old grandfather could dance better than that. Let’s show ‘em, Fab.”
And he and Fabian vaulted over he dining room table, one on each side of Lily and James, antd began doing a ridiculous sort of jig, completely off-sync with Celestina Warbeck’s crooning.
Lily laughed as Fabian stuck his tongue out and crossed his eyes. James spun her under his arm, and as he did, she saw Alice pull a nervous but excited Frank Longbottom over towards them. And Marlene, she saw with a dash of hope, had sidled up to Remus, but he had looked shyly away. Unbothered by this, Marlene skipped instead up to Fabian, and began imitating his arm-and-leg-flailing dance, her pretty face flushed and giddy. A moment later, Sirius and Peter had appeared, performing a dramatic and over-the-top waltz. The room was full with the warm glow of laughter and cheer, and Lily closed her eyes and turned her head, tucking her face against James’s chest, as, somehow, that horrible song became music.
Stars Apart by Willow Rosenberg
Chapter Notes: Hey everybody. So I had a little bit of writer's block for this chapter. Stuff gets a little more serious in the next chapter, but I didn't want to put it in this one and leave you all with another cliffhanger, so...writer's block! BUT I got it all figured out in the end (I hope I think), so here's the next chapter, cliffie-free! Enjoy, and the next one, which has been in the plans literally for years, should be along shortly.Also. Pottermore, anyone?! I just got my early access account approved and um. So cool.
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