After They Disgraced Themselves

Chapter 7

James was in the Charms classroom. He just was about to give Professor Flitwick some stilts for Christmas when he saw another figure in the classroom. A girl with beautiful auburn hair and brilliant green eyes...

"I hate you, James!" Lily cried. James was puzzled.

"Didn't you tell me that before?" he shouted, over Sirius, who was behind him playing bagpipes loudly while sitting on his motorcycle.

"Well, I really hate you!" she screamed again, advancing towards him.

"Er..." James tried to move but his feet were glued to the floor with Super Spellotape. He turned to Sirius.

"Help me! She's going to get me!"

Sirius stopped playing. "Trust me James. I'm the expert on love."

"Well help me then!"

Sirius continued smiling and resumed playing on the bagpipes. Lily was getting closer.

"Come on, now, Potter," Flitwick spoke out, "You can do it. Remember, swish and flick!"

"Aha!" James dug his hand into his robes and pulled out his wand. He aimed it at Lily. "Protego!"

Lily loomed closer and James watched in horror as his wand immediately turned to ashes.

"Gah!" he shouted in frustration. Lily marched right up to him. "Er... is this a good time to apologize?"

"No," Lily scowled. She plunged her hand into James' chest and brought out a glowing red rose.

"Ouch- Hey, I didn't know I had one of those in me!"

Lily smirked and ripped up the rose until its now dull fragments littered the floor of the Charms classroom. Just then, McGonagall burst in, wearing a frilly pink dress with a tiara.

"Potter! Are you littering the Charms classroom? Detention for you!"

James tried to protest that it was Lily's fault but then Dumbledore burst in with a hairnet on and started shouting something about Voldemort doing the salsa in St Mungo's...

"AAAAAH!"

"James? You alright, mate?"

James blinked. He was in his bed, with Sirius, Remus, and Peter looking at him as he nothing would please them more than to haul him to St. Mungo's for a check-up.

"Yeah... I'm okay... I think...."

"You sure?" Remus asked with his worried looked on his face.

"Yes, I-I just need rest..."

"Well, too bad because we should be getting ready now," Sirius said, "You make a loud alarm clock, James. Good thing I'm used to it with that old hag at home...." He trailed off, but they all knew he was talking about his mother, who always seemed to delight in scorning him.

"All right, we better start getting ready," Remus chimed in, trying to steer the conversation away before Sirius starting swearing and brandishing sharp objects again.

"Yeah, don't we have an exam in Flitwick today?" Peter asked.

"I forgot about it! Oh well... it's not like I don't know the stuff already," Sirius said. Remus gave James a very pained look, although James had no clue why.

"Right." said James as he proceeded to change into new robes.

"Okay, Prongs, I've been thinking about yesterday and I've decided what you're going to do," Sirius said in a business-like voice.

"Does your plan include apologizing?" Remus asked. James, who was still fretting over his dream, jumped; none of his friends seemed to notice.

"Now why should Prongs apologize to Evans? It's not his fault he has a short-term memory... okay, well, it actually is, but I don't think that we should go about blaming a two-year-old James with a faulty broomstick for all of this."

"Hey, how did you know about that?" James demanded.

Sirius grinned sheepishly. "Your mum felt the need to explain your... abnormality."

James made a note to himself to interrogate his mother when the summer holidays came.

"Anyway, as I was saying, I have a plan. Step one, we'll find you a new girlfriend. Step two, you two will go together to Hogsmeade. Step three, we'll make fun of you on your date and you can finally return to you normal life of misery!"

"Exactly how is that supposed to help me?" James asked. Sirius grinned and shrugged.

"Dunno, but it sure will be a fun plan."

"Well, if you don't mind, I'll be heading to the Great Hall," James retorted in a mock-curt voice and opened the dorm door to head down to the common room.

"I'm coming with you," muttered Remus and followed him. They both headed out the portrait hole and started towards the Great Hall.

"You know," Remus commented as they ducked from a fountain of ink that was showered by a giggling Peeves, "I think Padfoot did hit upon one truth. You need to get you mind on something else."

"I won't be needing help on that, considering all the homework the teachers are piling."

"Well you're so good at everything that you don't need to even think about what you're doing."

"Still, all the work cuts off my leisure time."

"Whatever you say, Prongs," said Remus, not sounding convinced, "So, are you getting ready for the game against Ravenclaw?"

"I've been training for it since the snow for winter cleared up."

"Maybe if you train extra hard, it'll help you forget."

James and Remus entered the Great Hall, which was filled with mostly teachers and early risers.

"You have a point," commented James as he sat down between Remus and seventh-year Frank Longbottom.

"What are you two talking about?"

"The game we have against Ravenclaw."

"Yeah, we need a lot of practice for that one. Should I book the field this Saturday?" Frank was a Gryffindor Chaser and the Captain.

"That'd be great!" James replied.

"Great. I've been reading Quidditch through the Ages and there are a couple moves I'd love to try out."

"That would be cool" James responded.

"Yeah, I'll go tell the rest of the team," said Frank and he finished the rest of his bacon at record speed to leave the Great Hall. James turned to Remus and grinned.

"You know, this isn't so bad. I think I can do this."

James happily slurped his porridge, blissfully unaware of what was ahead...

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Lily slumped out of bed and groaned. Her legs felt horribly sore and she could hardly keep her eyes open. Then everything came back to her...

Damn James... he's always bothering me... why can't he be... like before?

Lily remembered the days back in first year when James was a lot less immature... well, up to the standards of eleven-year-old maturity anyway... and he was a lot more polite and kind. He had helped her overcome her acrophobia during Flying class and had helped her maintain a steady control over the broom without fainting. She remembered the time when James had stood up against the Potions master, Professor Clinch, while the teacher had been mercilessly taking points from Gryffindor. The move had earned him a week's worth of detention, but James had always been nonchalant about detentions... he still was, for that matter... but back then... he had seemed a lot more... caring.... or maybe it was just Lily...

No, he was definitely better before... I think he was corrupted by Sirius... Remus is too nice and Peter is... well, he's not exactly the brightest salamander in the fire, is he? But, even Sirius seems pleasant compared to James now...

"Lily, why are you putting your robes on backwards?"

Lily jerked out of her thoughts and found Clara looking at her with a mixture of pity and amusement.

"What? Oh... sorry," Lily mumbled, and put on her robes properly.

"So, Lily... do you want to talk about yesterday?"

"Yeah, I failed that Potions lesson.... Clinch just was-"

"I'm not talking about Clinch's class," Clara retorted.

"Th-then what?" Lily stammered, knowing the answer only too well.

"Why can't you and James get along anymore? I mean you are always jumping down his throat! What could he possibly do that would make you hate so much? You're worse to him than Clinch on the day before a Slytherin-Gryffindor game. Why do you have to be so... mean?"

"Er... what are you talking about?"

"Blimey, you don't remember attacking him yesterday with your Hogwarts, A History book?"

"I wasn't attacking him... I was just... very angry..." Lily admitted. Behind Clara, she heard Ann trying to smother her giggles by coughing loudly. Sighing loudly, Lily turned around and walked out, hoping they didn't try to follow her. As she walked out of the portrait hole, she was deep in thought.

Sometimes, even Sirius seemed better than James... at least he didn't always ruin my day... well, intentionally anyway... James was always getting under my skin... I don't even know why Remus hangs out with him... Remus was always the courteous one... he isn't quite the boyfriend type for me, but he is one of the closest friends I've got... and I still don't know why he hangs around with James... The two of them would be total opposites if they both didn't hate Snape or weren't two of the smartest people in this school. I mean, even if Remus is a werewolf, he is so much more mature than Sirius and James combined. But why am I always thinking about these three? Why can't I think about normal things like today's Charms exam?

Lily gave herself a whack in the head as if to straighten her thoughts out and reached the entrance to the Great Hall.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

James and Remus quickly finished their breakfast and left the Great Hall. They found Sirius and Peter near the marble steps. Both of them were examining a large silver ovular object.

"What that?" James asked. Sirius grimaced.

"Easter egg from my folks."

"Oh."

An understanding silence intertwined among the four friends.

"There's a note," Sirius continued.

"What does it say?"

Sirius didn't say anything but he handed the note to Remus and James.

Sirius,

Your father, Regulus, Narcissa, and I will be having our holidays this year in Transylvania. I hope you will not mind spending your Easter holidays at Hogwarts. We expect you to be on your best behaviour and refrain from mingling with inappropriate people. Remember to share your egg with Bellatrix.

Mother

"Well, you've gotten worse," James reminded his best friend.

"True," Sirius admitted.

"What exactly are they planning to do in Transylvania?" Remus asked, looking puzzled.

"Oh the usual... Dark Arts shopping, poison brewing classes, voice lessons-" Sirius muttered, looking very bored.

"Voice lessons?"

"You know... getting the right wicked accent, polishing your evil laugh... that sort of thing."

"Have you ever been to Transylvania?"

Sirius tightened his jaw and gave an involuntary shudder.

"That was the first time I saw someone die. It was some poor Muggle that had accidentally seen the wizarding village. They brought him into the castle and...." he trailed off, seeming unable to continue the account.

Just then, an overexcited first year tumbled through the marble stairs and collided with James, spilling large amounts of an unknown potion on James's robes.

"DAMN!" James cried out in outrage. He swivelled around and aimed a Jelly-Legs Jinx at the boy. The boy then wobbled to the Great Hall, splattering the potion all over the floor.

"Oh shit, we better run!" Sirius exclaimed and the four of them ran away from the scene before McGonagall of Filch caught up with them.

"James, why the HELL did you do that?" Remus shouted as they stopped running and walked t their first class.

"It's not my fault. He's the one who spilled all this foul stuff over my robes," James cried out, wringing out the remaining potion from his robes.

"James, he was a first-year! Even I'm not that pathetic!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Will everybody stop calling me pathetic!"

"No," Peter whispered.

They entered the Transfiguration classroom and found the room empty except for the Professor, who seemed to be doing some last-minute grading of the homework. She looked up at them.

"What are you boys doing here?"

"Er... hello Professor McGonagall," James greeted her nervously.

McGonagall smiled at James, but then turned her sharp eyes towards Sirius, who was still carrying his Easter egg.

"Black, you know I do not allow candy in my classroom. Go quickly and put it away before class begins."

Sirius scowled at his egg, but went away immediately in the direction of the Gryffindor Tower. James, Remus, and Peter nervously sat down in the seats and got out their textbooks.

"What are we doing today, Professor?"

McGonagall looked up from her writing.

"Well, we still need to prepare for the O.W.L.s."

The three boys let out a mutual groan.

"Professor, we've been studying for that thing since last year! Can't we just do something fun today?"

"Well, unless this entire class can master the concepts that will be presented in the examination, which it has yet to accomplish, I doubt we'll be doing anything 'fun' in the curriculum. As easy as Transfiguration may seem to you, Potter, others find this course challenging."

"Gah," James groaned.

"Precisely," McGonagall commented and straightened her papers, apparently finished with her grading. Soon, the other Gryffindors began to arrive. When all the students arrived, including an egg-less Sirius, Professor McGonagall cleared her throat. The students immediately became quiet. The young, but stern professor began her lesson.

"Well, we are still continuing our preparations for the O.W.L.s"-she paused for the numerous groans to subside-"and I want all of you to practice those Switching Spells. You may work with a partner if you wish."

James grinned at Sirius. For the two of them, this was basically a free class; the two of them had already mastered the spell. Remus, however, look concerned, but he almost always was like that, and James had learned to view his expression during classes as one of concentration rather than worry. Peter, who was sitting next to Remus, did look worried. His tendency to fumble in his wand work, along with a general phobia of Professor McGonagall, had caused him to be especially apprehensive during Transfiguration classes. In addition, he always had this fear that McGonagall would find out about how James, Sirius and him were Animagi, which caused him to try to be as inconspicuous as possible in her class. James found the whole idea was laughable. Not even Dumbledore could have known about Sirius sneaking in the Guide to Animagi Transformation from his parents' library to Hogwarts so that the three of them could prepare to become Animagi. The plan was just so foolproof. Even Snape, who knew about Remus, couldn't have guessed it in his wildest dreams.

"So, Padfoot, what are you going to do?"

Sirius grinned at him slyly.

"What am I going to do about what?"

"The Easter egg."

"That load of garbage? I don't know."

"You're not going to 'share' it, are you?"

"With my dear cousin Bellatrix? Hell no. Imagine me walking over to the Slytherin table to give her a piece of chocolate... If I don't get clobbered by the Quidditch team, I'll get tortured by Bellatrix and her posse."

James snorted.

"Sometimes I wish I were in your family, Padfoot..."

"Why the hell would you want that?"

"Well, I'd be related to you... and it'd just be fun to take the mickey out of all my family members. My family is way too boring..."

"Yeah, my family's real interesting," Sirius muttered bitterly, "You trip on any fancy Oriental rug and get a face plant in a randomly scattered pointy object... The swords are brutal..."

"Well, it's definitely better than my Christmas dinner. You get all these freaky relatives to come over your house, and they just comment about 'what a big boy' I've become and how wonderfully 'cute' I am. Personally, I hate the aunts. They have the tendency to pull my cheeks until I lose all feeling in my face."

"That sounds like something you wish Evans would do to you...," Sirius casually remarked.

James was unable to control his reddening and tried very hard to not look at Lily, who was consulting her Transfiguration text at the other side of the room. Sirius sniggered.

"Padfoot, you're hopeless at romance..."

James scowled, but he knew that it was true. He had no idea how to get Evans to talk to him... or even acknowledge him, for that matter.

"Gah!"