Seventh Year: The Defining Moment

Epilogue

Snape's Debt

James looked out his window onto the grounds of Hogwarts, which were bathed in the light of dusk. He knew what he had to do. He went over to his trunk and pulled out his invisibility cloak. Madam Pomfrey would shortly lead Remus out to the Whomping Willow. From some snooping he had done, James had learned that Sirius had told Snape that if he took a long stick and poked the knot at the base of the tree, he could slip through the small opening that led to the Shrieking Shack.

James pulled on the cloak and slipped into the common room. He waited by the portrait hole till someone left or came in. After a minute or two, a second year left the room and James followed. He hurried down to the Entrance Hall and thought, 'Remus should have already been led out onto the grounds by now...' He arrived in the Hall just in time to see Snape slip through the doors.

James quickly went after him, seeing Snape duck into the hole. He used the branch Snape had used to freeze the tree, and followed Snape into the tree. James was now at a full run. He could now see the back of Snape's greasy head.

Snape stopped, struggling against seemingly invisible bonds. Actually, he was struggling against James. Suddenly, Snape stopped fighting against James' grip around his waist. He had gotten a glimpse of something furry and wolf-like. Luckily, Remus had yet to notice Snape, and James used that moment to get Snape out of the tunnel. Only when James had both him and Snape safely on the castle grounds, outside of the tunnel, did he realize Snape had actually seen Remus. 'Uh oh,' James thought as Snape looked around, spooked that he had just seen a werewolf and was saved by something he couldn't see.

James pulled off the invisibility cloak and Snape gasped. "You!" he yelped in disbelief. "Y-you just s-saved my life!"

James nodded and replied, "You so owe me."

.:*:.

"Mr. Snape, you are not to tell anyone about what you just saw," Dumbledore told Snape firmly. "Fifty points from Slytherin for even going through with such a thing." Snape nodded weakly. "Mr. Black," Dumbledore continued. "I am amazed that you did such a thing. You have detention for a month and fifty points from Gryffindor." Sirius also nodded weakly. "Now," Dumbledore said as he rounded on James. "I am very proud of what you did." James sighed, glad that he wasn't in trouble... yet. "I am very much aware of you Mr. Snape's... differences, but I am glad that you saved him none the less. It takes a very courageous person to risk their lives even for that of their enemy's. For that, I give Gryffindor one-hundred points."

The three boys left Dumbledore's office silently. Before going their separate ways, Snape stopped and said in a very forced voice to James, "Thanks." With that, he headed off to the dungeons, toward the Slytherin common room. James and Sirius continued to Gryffindor Tower in silence.

After a few minutes Sirius said, "I'm sorry. I really shouldn't have done that. You could've been killed rescuing Snape and now he knows about Moony. Worst of all, it's all my fault. Can you forgive me?"

James didn't answer until they got to the Fat Lady's portrait. He looked at Sirius and said, "Still friends Padfoot, we're still friends." The two boys smiled at each other and gave the password to the Fat Lady.

*Four Years Later*

"So you and Lily are finally married," Sirius said to a smiling James. James looked about the room containing his and Lily's wedding reception and smiled.

"Yep," was all he said in reply to his best man. Lily, in all her white, wedding splendor, came over to James and Sirius smiling, like just about everyone else in the room. James beamed at his new wife, thinking that he couldn't have been happier.

"If someone told me I'd end up married to James five years ago, I would've laughed in their face and called St. Mungo's," Lily said in disbelief. All three of them laughed, knowing that she was right.

"Come on James," Lily continued. "We've got to go cut the cake." James smiled and allowed Lily to pull him over to the table that held their six-layer cake.

Sirius chuckled to himself as he read what the cake said. In blue letters, were the words, "Lily and James: Believe it or not Lils, James was right! He would get you someday!"