Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Once a Marauder, Always a Marauder ❯ It's Out, Way Out ( Chapter 3 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

By: FVH721

It's Out... Way Out

James and Lily went through that statue to a long, narrow passage way. It seemed about a mile long. When they came to the end Sirius, Remus, and James disappeared. "Lily, we're under my cloak. Wait here!" James voice ordered, seemingly from nowhere. Lily shot James a look, but she wasn't sure he could see it in the dark. They lifted up a trap door and looked around. 'It's clear, follow us."

Lily climbed along a ladder. She expected to open up to a street or some place in the woods like in the movies, but no. All she saw was a bunch of cardboard boxes and some jars. Stamped on to many of the boxes was HONEYDUKES. The three original Marauders started up the stairs. They ducked behind the counter and the young boy behind it winked at them. "Go 'head. No one in the special tastes section."

They ducked behind a rack of cockroach clusters. Even without the usual Hogwarts students, the store was still somewhat crowded. A few pale, sticky people started towards the blood pops and they dodged out of the shop. Sirius smiled and she could tell he was laughing inside. She could clearly remember at one point in her Hogwarts career him comparing the other Black family members to vampires before. Lily stared around the village. She'd never seen Hogsmeade so empty, in fact, the only time that she'd ever seen it was when there were about two hundred Hogwarts students on the loose. Now, only the solitary wizard or witch wandered around the post office or Shrieking Shack. The Three Broomsticks was as lively as ever though. There were maybe fifty people sitting around the tables drinking butter beer or any of the other things that Madam Lola served.

"Do you always go here on the weekends?" Lily asked. It made sense, though. James and Sirius were always in detention while the other students went, but now that the place was quiet (or at least as quiet as Hogsmeade would ever be) they had their chance to do what they wanted. All of the Marauders had friends outside the Marauders, like Lily and Remus only several days earlier, but this was for them and only them. It felt sacred for her to be invited. She shot a look at James and gave him a little smile.

"Most of the time Slughorn's enormous essays keep us home or McGonagall wants us in detention, but I haven't gotten a detention all week and James is only skipping Flikwick's. He really won't mind. He's a bit better than the rest of our teachers. Dumbleydore really only keeps us here out of the kindness of his over sized heart. What would've happened if Dippit had still been Head Master when the Marauders came into the school, only god knows. Our wands would've been snapped in half before we even sat our bottoms on the stool and heads under the sorting hat," Remus chuckled. His gaze wandered over to the Shrieking Shack and he gave an involuntary shudder.

"Let's go get a butter beer at the Three Broomsticks. It'll be a bit warmer in there," James suggested. There was an awkward silence between all of the three old Marauders and Lily, the newest one. She gave James a quick look and he shrugged, as if to say, "Hey, not my fault they're afraid of a girl. If I were Sirius, I'd be making out with you right now." Okay, maybe it didn't say the last part, but it suggested it in Lily's mind. Plus, it was a hundred percent right.

Three bells jingled overhead as they walked in. Lily felt left out, being the only girl with three boys, but there was something else. There was something that she didn't know that the rest of them did. She considered confronting them with it, but she knew that it wasn't right to do to James and it wasn't fair that she should just barge in and expect them to tell her everything. She was the beginner here, and she didn't like not being in total control. They sat down at one of the large red booths ad all ordered butter beers, although Sirius had to be convinced out of ordering Fire Whiskey by Remus.

When they all had steaming hot cups of butter beer in their hands, James started to talk. He could see that Lily was pretty much ruining it, but it wasn't her fault. "Remus, we've got to tell her. She's got a right to know," he said, completely ignoring Lily.

Sirius choked on a mouthful of butter beer and Remus smiled. "I'm fine with it. You, Padfoot?"

"No bloody way! You don't want that kind of thing to get out. You trust her too much and you don't even know her that well," Sirius whispered urgently. Remus gave him a sad look.

James fought back, "I trust Lily. She's not like one of you're bimbo girlfriends. Get over yourself."

"James, I'll tell her. It's not your fault, Lily. When you hear it, you might wish you didn't. I won't let my best friend get in trouble over something so stupid that Lily will find out anyway. Lily, I'm a werewolf," he whispered quietly.

Lily nearly fell off her chair and James shot him a grateful look. "You're a what?" she said. He wouldn't tell her this if it wasn't true, but she couldn't picture poor Remus in the woods or anywhere as a werewolf. She could easily picture James accidentally transforming him into one in class, but not an actual werewolf. He wouldn't kill anyone, would he? Is that why his family, like hers, didn't have much money? Remus was so nice and so smart! He didn't deserve anything like that.

"Shhh. Lily, you're only the fourth person that knows outside his family. He's kept it quiet for seven years, you've got to keep a secret now too," James said. "It's fine, he transforms outside Hogwarts and comes back a day or two later and he's usually under the influence of some weakening spells. It's still vicious, it's still horrible, and it's still not right, but what can we do about it? Tell no one, understand?" For once his voice was firm and a little louder. James sighed, "Not even Star."

"I get it. I won't tell anyone. You can trust me," Sirius snickered as she said this, "I won't tell anyone about your erm..." she bit her tongue trying to figure out what is werewolf problem could be called without anyone else knowing what it was.

James laughed, "Furry little problem?" It made a lot of sense though. In her fifth year James had asked her out and she'd told him, "Not if it was the choice between you or a werewolf." Now she understood why Sirius and Peter had busted out laughing and Remus had just looked depressed. James had then come back with, "Well, what if the werewolf was transformed into his wolf shape and could easily kill you?" Lily shot back, "Then you might have a chance."

She smiled, but it looked more like one of James's smiles, the one that said I'm-breaking-the-rules-and-causing-trouble-and-there's-nothing-anyone-can-d o-about-it. She was sitting there with a werewolf and the two people that she used to hate more than anything in the world and now was in love with one of them. James was grinning at her. "Hey James, I think you've become a bad influence to this girl," Remus winked. They drank their butter beer and left.

James and Sirius ran to the more rural part of Hogsmeade. Remus and her trailed behind. “So—have you ever,” she paused, trying to gather up her nerve, “bitten anyone?”

“No. Lily, I don't really want to talk about it, okay? I can't remember what happened after I'm back in human form…the worst part is waking up with little bits of hair under your fingernail, blood stains on your hands, and knowing that—that you killed something. It'd scare anyone half to death.”

Remus grabbed the bag of brooms and they started off the clearing behind the Shrieking Shack. James pulled a little, gold snitch out of his pocket and started letting it go and catching it again. Sirius tossed her a Shooting Arrow broom. "You're chaser and keeper for James's team. He's seeker and I'm seeker for my team and Remus is chaser and keeper for my team. Have fun," Sirius said coldly.

Lily stared at the Shooting Arrow broom. "You want me to play Quidditch?" her eyes bugged up, "With you?"

Sirius laughed at her, "Hey James, your girlfriend doesn't know how to mount a broom! What's wrong with you, Evans?" Remus emptied the bag and a soccer ball and a few brooms fell out. Sirius muttered something to James. James said something about shutting up, but he just laughed and winked back at him. James pushed Sirius and he punched James in his nose. "Shut up!" he said again as he clenched his nose. Sirius pushed James over just as Remus grabbed him.

"Stop it, you two! Lily, here," Remus handed her the Marauders map. "When you're done with it, say 'Mischief managed' and give it back to James. You'd better go." Lily shot Remus a look, but James and Sirius were fully fighting now. James was winning, but Lily felt terrible.

"Stop it you idiots! I'm leaving," she shouted. James started to follow her, but she ignored him and went right to Honey Dukes. Unfortunately, it wasn't the boy behind the register anymore; it was another, older man. James grabbed the sleeve of her shirt and pulled her into an empty corner of the store.

"Lily, just listen to me. Sirius said something about you and..." he stopped because Lily was already walking away.

James tried to grab her again, but Lily turned around. "You can say what you want and blame it on Sirius, but it's your fault. I gave you a chance and the whole time I was here with you, he's treated me like crap. Step up to your friends or leave me alone." Remus had caught up with them, but Sirius was nowhere in sight. "Sirius is going to use the other passage way and it's out... way out," Remus said. The cashier was gone, so they ducked behind the door and into the cellar. James's mouth fell open.

"What's out?"

"Us," Lily said. "His big revenge is to tell the school that I've finally said yes," she swallowed, "But I don't care anymore. He can tell whoever he wants. Do you know why, James? Because it's OVER!”

James bit his lip, "Look Lily, I'm sorry. Sirius always acts stupid after breaks and stuff like that. I didn't know it'd turn out like this." Lily just nodded coldly. They nearly sprinted down the underground corridor back up to Hogwarts. They only stopped once when James dropped his cloak, but waited for him patiently until he found it (it's not easy to find an invisibility cloak in the pitch black). When they got to the top, James nodded glumly. "Let's go," he said and they started climb through trap door. As she was just about to go through the statue, James pulled her foot down and she fell with a THUMP on the stone floor. He pulled the cloak out of his pocket. "Here, you can't afford to get in trouble. We're way late."

"No, I've got the map. Check and see if there's anyone near here. Lumos," her wand sprang to life and let of an emerald green light. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Two little dots appeared right in front of the statue. One was Professor McGonagall and the other was the head of Slytherin, Professor Slughorn. They appeared to be talking or something because the two dots were very close to each other. It was nearly seven o' clock and dinner had ended in the great hall nearly an hour ago. When they got to the end of the passage way, they heard voices. "Professor, have you seen James Potter and Lily Evans? I called for them at dinner, but they didn't show up at my office. It's about the..." McGonagall trailed off. "Well, you know. I don't think they skipped because Black and Remus were not there either and Lily isn't exactly the type to stay anywhere with James for more than thirty seconds," she joked.

A voice that sounded like Slughorn sounded through the statue, "I haven't seen Lily all day today and there haven't been too many incidents that we can't blame on Peeves so Potter might not be here either. You don't think that they went into the forest, do you? I know James might be out on the Quidditch field, but Lily... she's a whole different problem. She's never broken a rule in her life. You do know who told me she'd gone missing, correct?"

"Not exactly."

McGonagall gasped, "Why it was Star Lunis herself. Lily's best friend and if she doesn't know, I truly doubt that anyone knows."

"Hmm, I see. Still, if those two don't show up by tomorrow, we've got to interrogate Mr. Black. We may even need veritaserum if he's intent on keeping it a secret."

"Oh Slughorn, you really are a potion addicted git sometimes. If Lily and James haven't returned by tomorrow, then Star or Sirius probably don't know where they are. Should I get Dumbledore?" McGonagall asked.

"No, no, no. McGonagall, students will run loose a bit in the castle. For all we know, James and Lily finally hooked up or James slipped her a love potion. That they're both a dab hand in my class."

If they could see the head of the Gryffindor, she'd have been laughing and bouncing her wavy black hair, "James? The boys clever, no denying it, but he transforms his friends into teacups instead of his teacup to a mouse! Did I tell you that last Friday Remus Lupin totally disappeared from my class? I went to see how Potter was doing and there were two teacups on his desk. I reversed the spell and what do you know, Remus suddenly appeared sitting on Mr. Potter's desk. I wouldn't like to be one of his friends. It's more dangerous than being an auror or working for the ministry any day!"

"Aww Minerva, don't be too hard on the boy. He's just a bit over creative and clever. When those two mix together, you get an overly powerful wizard or a trouble maker. I'd say Dumbledore's an overly powerful wizard in a good way. Well, with You-Know-Who rising to power, people like James and Dumbledore will save us. I just hope that we don't need him anytime soon," Slughorn said, "Good night to you, Minerva. Good luck finding your missing in action students."

McGonagall laughed a young, girlish laugh that was rather unnatural for her thirty-eight years, "Well good riddance to the darn Slytherins that always stay put! Night to you, Horace." On the Marauders map, the two tiny dots walked in opposite directions. Lily sighed in relief.

"Mischief managed."

"What do you think they want us for? Sirius couldn't have gotten back to the castle that quick with out... Remus, did he have the brooms with him when he left?" James pushed his glasses up on his face.

"Well yeah. He grabbed them and headed to the one near the Whomping Willow."

"Are you thick? He probably flew down the passage way and took maybe, five minutes! He got back ages before us and might've even told McGonagall where we've been. Merlin, Lily, run straight to the library and if anyone asks you, we're studying together and I'm in the bathroom. Remus, run up to the dormitory and read something or do something book wormy. You haven't seen me since this morning. Lily, take the cloak. I'll follow you in about... ten minutes or when ever the hallway is empty."

Lily grabbed it and hid herself. As soon as the hallway was cleared, they all crawled out. Lily ran to the library and James ran into a bathroom. Remus apparently disappeared, but Lily caught him winking at James in the middle of a crowd of boys. She tore off the cloak and stuffed into her pocket. Where should she go in the library? The Hogwarts school library was huge; if she wanted to hide from James in there it wouldn't be hard. There were hundreds of shelves and thousands of books. In the end, she just sat at one of the tables next to a cart of ink and extra quills.

Too late, she realized Star was there. She tried to hide her face behind a volume of Standard Book of Spells Grade 7, but she was already running over. The new librarian clicked her tongue as she ran by, but didn't say anything. She was generally nice towards many of the students. Rumor was that she was only two years out of Durmstrang herself.
She had thick, brown hair and Sirius had a crush on this 'older woman'.

"Lily Anna Evans, where have you been?" Star scolded quietly. In a flash, she saw James walk in and lean against a book shelf. Every couple seconds he looked at Star as if she was irritating him.

To tell the truth or not to tell the truth? She had no idea. Finally she just swallowed loudly and whispered, "With James. I can't talk about it right now. I promise I'll tell you everything later."

Star's mouth dropped open, "I'm getting McGonagall. Are you under the Imperious curse or confounded or... did you accept any unknown liquids in the past twenty four hours?"

"I haven't drunk a love potion if that's what you mean. Star, right now I just really need you to leave. When I get somewhere private, I'll tell you everything; there's a lot to say, but long story really, really short, I'm in love with James. Now hurry up and go!" she whispered urgently.

The second Star walked away, James sat down in that very seat. "I'd like my cloak and my map back now," Lily handed the grubby parchment over and the shimmering cloak. "Thanks for getting rid of Star, I owe you one."

"Well, you might find this interesting," Lily said quietly, "Star didn't believe me. She asked me if I was under the imperious curse and whether or not I drank any strange liquids. She doesn't trust you, James, but I'll talk to her tonight. Have you seen Sirius?"

James shook his messy haired head, "No, Remus did. He acted like a right foul git ever since break ended. He usually is after a visit from home. Summer break is the worst; it takes him nearly a month to get over visiting his house. I wouldn't have flipped, but it wasn't the first time he's said something like that and god knows it won't be that last. He's gone out with every girl in the school," he said, "except you," he added shyly. "Remus and I never said a thing. I fall in love with the one person that totally hates my guts and he's all over me saying..." he turned red, "never mind. You don't need to hear
that. Anyway, if I could have decided who I'd fall in love with, do you think I would've picked the girl who hates me?"

"James, I never totally hated you. I just didn't like some of the stuff you did." James had started combing his fingers through her auburn hair. She caught Star's glance and shrugged as if to say, I told you. He pulled her hair away from her face and kissed her lightly on the lips in front of everyone in the library. Lily's mind went crazy. She wanted him to kiss her more, but she knew he wouldn't. She wanted him to be ruthless and fun and at the same time, be like this. Most of all, she never wanted to leave him.

"Oh my god... James and Lily!" whispered one of Lily's friends, Genevieve or Jen for short. It wasn't strange to see them sitting near each other, most of the time James wasn't wanted, but Lily wouldn't ever let a guy she didn't like get away with kissing her.

"Come on, let's go somewhere else." James pulled Lily into one of the shelves near the window. It was completely empty and there was a window seat. Dreamily, Lily sat down next to James on the seat. She could see Star moving her seat for a better look. Lily started to kiss James, but he stopped her. "Too many people watching. I wish there was somewhere private in this darn place so people could stop watching us." Instead, he held her hand tight. "I'm really sorry 'bout Sirius. He isn't usually such a jerk, but you're the only girl in the school he hasn't gone out with because you said no. There's other girls the liked him that he said no to, but in your third year, he asked you out and you said no so he's kind of marked you as his enemy for life. Not to mention the fact he hated how I always obsessed over you." James took a single lock of her hair and curled it around his finger. How she wanted to kiss him! This was even worse than all the times he made Snape levitate and tried to bribe her to go out with him. His face was inches away from hers, her hand was in his, and he hadn't needed the Imperious curse to get her here.

"People are going to be talking about us," he said simply.

"I don't care anymore. This is more important than what some losers have to say."

"You have really pretty eyes," James stated bluntly, but it didn't come out that way. Face to face, it looked as his he was just realizing something about her, something that he didn't see before. Lily stared at James and saw all the emotions flowing through him. He was angry because of whatever Sirius had said, he was confused on what to do next, and he was in love with her. His hand and hers were dependant on each other. James was lost and Lily was confused. The only thing that was ever the same was the two hands holding on to each other for support.

“Meet me in the common room in about half an hour. Professor McGonagall wants to talk to me and I owe Star a short explanation. I'll be there soon, okay?”

“Of course!” James said. Like he'd miss a chance to go anywhere with her. “Don't tell Star a lot, okay?”

“Please, I've already promised against that.” She quickly kissed his cheek and ran out of the library in a hurry. Whatever McGonagall had to say must be important so it might take a while.