How It All Happened

Lily stood in her dorm and gazed into the mirror on the wall. She watched her hair tumble down her shoulders every time she pulled her hairbrush through. She looked into her dreamy green eyes and sighed with the smallest of smiles on her lips... her lips, the lips that had just been kissed, and it wasn't just any old kiss, it was her first kiss. Perhaps that was the reason her eyes were so dreamy, or maybe it was because she was daydreaming about her prince, the prince who had woken her up from the enchanted sleep with true loves first kiss...

"James..." Lily whispered the name, like she was afraid it would brake if it was said to loudly.

"Dear, haven't you stared enough?"

Lily crashed back to earth, she looked around for the source of the voice.

Then she realized it was just the mirror.

"Sorry..."

"it's quite all right dear, but you should talk to your friend, you know... about this 'James'"

At that moment Celestina ran in to the room.

"Lily! Are you okay? I just talked to James, and he was acting weird, just smiling like he just..." Celestina broke off when she noticed the look on Lily's face.

"Oh NO! Not you too! I want to know what happened!"

Lily felt the familiar feeling in her throat and stomach, and the burning sensation in her eyes.

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you... let's sit down on my bed"

Lily allowed herself to be dragged down on Celestina's bed, Celestina left briefly and returned with a box of tissues.

Although Lily had already talked to James it wasn't like talking to her best friend, she hugged Celestina sobbing freely into her robes, telling her the whole story, from when she got the letter at breakfast to when James comforted her. By then she had stopped crying and was smiling.

"I can't believe you had your first kiss before me..."

"I didn't know there was a race... Is there a prize?"

"No I was just joking..."

"I know!"

"So is he your boyfriend now?"

"I don't know"

"Well go find out!"

"No! I can't... I don't want to scare him away"

"Well I guess you have time"

*

James sat on the Hogwarts Express staring out the window. He was thinking about all the Death Eater attacks that had ruined his summer vacation, and now, here he was. On his way to his sixth year at Hogwarts. He looked down at his girlfriend Lily who was sleeping in his lap, he was fiddling with her thick red hair, she always said that she couldn't stand when he did that because it would tangle her hair, she hated when her hair was tangled ('it hurts to brush it when it's tangled!') But he knew she enjoyed it just as much as he did... he sighed and looked out the window again. He had spent the entire summer at Sirius's place, which was fun, Sirius's mother always reminded him of his own mother, strict but incredibly nice, he missed his father the most, they had never really gotten along, James always had to meet his fathers standards, which was very difficult, but when he did it was awarding. He'd never yell at James, it was enough to look disappointed... James would never forget how proud his father was when he got to be Prefect. James looked down at his Prefect badge, it needed polishing James noted. James just wished his father had been around to see his OWL marks he had twelve OWL's, and now he was Quidditch captain...

"Aw, what a cute couple"

"Sod off Padfoot"

"Prongs, I'm hurt... taking your girlfriend over us Marauders..."

"Sod off"

"But I need your advice lover boy"

"What?" James groaned, is it too much to ask for some peace? He mentally added.

"Well, since five minutes ago, the entire female population at Hogwarts decided I was cute, I can't choose! Grace, Sybill, even Rita have asked me out to Hogsmeade! Not to mention all the Hufflepuff girls!"

"What about Celestina?"

"I think she likes Moony..."

"Moony thinks she likes you"

"Really?"

"Yes really, now sod off!"

"thanks bye - ...lover boy"

James sighed and looked out the window again.

*

"you're stepping on my foot!"

"shhh, do you want Filch to hear?"

"sorry, but get off my foot"

James muttered something rude under his breath after Sirius finally removed his foot, "where are we, I can't see anything!"

"hold on a sec, I'll find the map..." James heard the shuffling of robes and then the rustling of the marauder map, "we're close to Hufflepuff common room"

"Why did you drag me along? Cynthia is your girlfriend!"

"I'm not going to the Hufflepuff common room, stupid!"

"Then why are we here?"

"I don't know..."

James rolled his eyes, trust Sirius to get lost at the place they had been living in for almost six years! James wasn't particularly bothered by the fact that Sirius got lost easily, it was the not-admitting-he-was-lost that really annoyed James.

"We can take a shortcut over there and then here, we'll be in the Slytherin common room with in minutes" James suggested as he pointed at various locations on the map.

"Wait, I think I will go and say hello to Cynthia, you know... since we're already here and all..."

"Things would be a lot simpler if you had taken my advice and asked Celestina out"

"Easy for you to say, you didn't walk in on her and Remus, talking"

"How often do we have to tell you that they were just talking?"

"They weren't just talking, they were laughing and smiling and... what was that?"

The two boys frantically looked around for the source of the noise, they didn't see anything, but they could hear it...

Sirius and James groaned, "Peeves"

The poltergeist came into view and cackled gleefully, "who are you? A student out of bed perhaps?" more insane laughter. The ghost was circling them, guessing who they were.

"do something" Sirius whispered desperately.

"like what?" James whispered back, equally desperate.

Then they heard someone call out furiously, "PEEVES" James heard footsteps, nearing them, closer and closer, then he could see the owner of the voice, it was Filch.

"get away from here! You're disrupting the Hufflepuffs!"

Peeves cackled even higher, then he turned and swooped away, Filch, cursing, on his tail.

James and Sirius waited until they couldn't hear Filches cursing anymore, then they hurried along to the Slytherin common room.

Once the boys were in the common room, James turned around to face Sirius and asked, "What now?"

"Yes Black, what now?"

Sirius and James both closed their eyes, James could hear Sirius saying something that sounded like, "Oh no, Snape"

James opened his eyes, only to find Snape standing directly in front of him with a smug smirk an his face.

"Well, well, what do we have here?"

"Sod it Snape" was the reply Snape got from Sirius, along with a rude gesture.

"Now, I wouldn't behave like that in your situation Black"

Before James could blink an eye, Sirius had aimed a punch at Snape's face.

James threw the invisibility cloak over Sirius and himself then they ran for it.

*

"James Potter! I can not believe you did that!"

"It was Sirius..."

"You were there too, you're a Prefect, you should know better!"

"Lily, please don't be angry at me, it was his idea"

"I don't care, If you insist on being a prankster, can't you at least be careful?"

"I'm sorry, we were being careful..."

"No! You were not being careful, if you had been careful you wouldn't have gotten caught!"

James put a finger on her mouth, silencing her. Then he kissed her briefly on the lips, leaving her with that cute half smile he adored.

"That's not fair..." she whispered, still smiling.

James answered her with another, deeper kiss.

"Jeez, you two! Get a room!"

They broke apart, "Why is it, that every time we start kissing, someone interrupts us?" James said to no one in particular.

Celestina giggled, "I don't know, maybe fate is against you two kissing"

"You and your Divination obsession..."

Celestina swatted Lily with a pillow, "I am not obsessed, Sybill is obsessed, I'm interested"

"She has a point"

"James Potter, don't you dare take her side" Lily said, pretending to be angry.

"Or what?"

"Or this!"

Lily attacked James, tickling him, making him laugh hysterically and squirm.

"No fair" He managed to say before starting the biggest pillow fight in the history of Griffindor tower, by throwing a pillow at Celestina who had just put the finishing touch on her hairdo.

*

Remus looked around the Potion classroom, mostly to avoid eye contact with his partner, he could see Lily, she was doing most of the work, paired up with some blond Slytherin boy, who didn't seem to happy about being pared up with Lily.

Sirius was paired up with a pretty Slytherin girl, she had long Veela blond hair, and she looked extremely bored. James was trying to work with a Slytherin boy who looked like he had permanently misplaced his brain, and Peter was covering under the table, scared no doubt of the thug he was working with.

"Sirius has all the luck..." Remus sighed out loud.

"Get to work Lupin" his own partner ordered him.

"I am working Snape" Remus snapped.

"I had to do all the work last class, and you better do your part now"

"I was sick!"

"You're always sick!"

Professor Nott walked over and told Remus off for shouting and took five points from Gryffindor.

"Why are you sick so often?" Snape hissed at him "do you have PMS?"

"It isn't of your concern" Remus said through gritted teeth.

"I think it is, miss Lupin" Snape said, the edges of his mouth twisting into a malevolent smirk.

"SHUT UP!"

Professor Nott came over to their table, looking furious. "Mr. Lupin! That will be twenty points from Gryffindor for disrupting class, now get to work"

All the Slytherins snickered, except the girl who was working with Sirius, she was smiling at the boy Lily was working with, but the boy was totally oblivious to her and just sniggered along with the other Slytherins. Remus decided to help her, even if she was a Slytherin, she didn't deserve being ignored, then he heard an annoying voice in head saying, "are you sure this is entirely selfless, she is very pretty..." Remus ignored it, and went back to work. When the bell (finally) rang, signaling the end of class, Remus told the other Marauders, to go and that he'd catch up. He walked over to the girl and waited for her to notice him.

"What do you want?"

"Hi, I'm Remus... what's your name?"

"Narcissa, what do you want?"

"I saw you looking at this boy"

"So"

"you like him, don't you?"

"What's it to you?"

"I just wanted to help you"

"But, you do know I'm in Slytherin, don't you?"

"yes, but I'd still like to help"

"How could you possibly help me?"

"I don't know I just thought..."

It was no use, she had already walked away. Remus sighed and hurried off to Herbology.

Narcissa watched him leave, and turned around to find the best friend of the object of her affection.

"Severus..."

"What did he want?" Severus asked

"He wanted to help me..."

"Help you with what?"

"Nothing..."

"Let me guess, your obsession with Lucius?"

"How did you..."

"know? It's obvious, I mean miss Lupin over there figured it out in one potion class, I live in the same house as you, you stare at him like he is the most lovable puppy in the universe! But where he can't help you, I can... I'll tell the prat to open his eyes, you're the prettiest girl in our year, all I have to do is tell him to notice"

"There has got to be a downside..."

"Not at all, just let Lupin 'help' you and find out why he's sick all the time"

"You promise to put in a good word for me with Lucius?"

"Of course"

"All right"

They shook hands and both went to do their part of the deal.

Narcissa wondered around looking for Remus, all she could think about was Lucius. Why did it have to come to this... she silently asked herself, making deals with Severus... everyone knows by now that deals with Severus never pay... so why? But Narcissa knew the answer to that question, she had known the answer since third year... she was in love.

"I'm in love with the devil" she whispered, before she backed up against a cold stone wall and allowed herself to slide down to the floor, where she started to cry silently.

"Lady's never make scenes, never raise there voices and never cry in public" Her grandmothers words came to her as she sat there, letting her silent tears spill down her pale face.

"Are you okay?" Someone said and handed her a handkerchief.

She took it and dried her face, then she looked up at the owner of the white piece of cloth she held in her hand.

"Help me" she begged.

Remus nodded and sat down beside her.

"All you have to do is walk up to him and tell him how you feel, only a fool wouldn't appreciate such beauty"

Words, just empty words, he didn't know what he was like. Lucius lived up to his name. She didn't know why she loved him, she just knew, that if she couldn't have him she would die.

"It's not that simple"

Nothing ever is, how am I supposed to get him to tell me why he's sick a lot?

"Nothing ever is"

It was as if he could read her mind, she noticed how sad his eyes were when he said that.

"Have you felt trapped, like you had this feeling and you'd give anything to get rid of it, but couldn't?"

Of course he hasn't, he probably didn't even understand what I said... she thought sadly.

"All the time"

His answer surprised her, surely he wasn't telling the truth.

"Really?"

"Yes, it's the reason I'm always getting sick"

There, here's my chance, But I don't want to hurt him he's so sweet... the annoying voice showed up again, "Think of Lucius, you don't know this Remus guy, who cares if you hurt him, you'll have Lucius!" she came to her decision "Love makes you sick?"

"No, it isn't love... love is different, love is beautiful, not a painful curse you can't run neither hide from"

No, that's where you're wrong, love is a curse, it isn't beautiful, well not for me anyway...

"You are cursed?"

"Yes, I suppose you could say I'm cursed"

"How so?"

"I can't tell you, I'm not allowed to"

Who would forbid him to tell of his curse, surely his gang knows?

"Please, I promise I wont tell anyone" she said while thinking, 'That's a lie, I'll have to tell Severus.'

"I'm sorry, I can't" he said and was starting to look suspicious of her...

"Can you tell me something else then?"

"Like what?" he said, definitely suspicious now.

"What do you do in the Hospital Wing, I've been there a few times and I always get so bored."

"I don't get bored" he was smiling, as if he was remembering a memory he was fond of, "and I don't stay at the Hospital Wing"

*

Sirius was pacing, one, two, three, four, five... twenty back and forth, I'll get that Slytherin, if it's the last thing I do! Wants to find out about Remus, well hah! He'll never know... if he found out he'd run straight into the Great Hall and yell it out for everyone to know! Stupid prat he is, he'd probably run into the Whomping Willow just to see if it's true! Stupid git... PMS my arse! I wonder how Remus puts up with it... He never asked for any of this, it's so unfair. He doesn't need one more thing to worry about... we'll see, I'll get him, I'll get him if it's the last thing I do!

Sirius got snapped out of his reverie by a voice that belonged to Celestina, she was pretty, very pretty, even beautiful, but she didn't like him the way he liked her.

"Sirius, do you know where James is?"

"Yeah, he's gone off with Lily... Prefect meeting or something"

"Oh, can you help me then?"

"Are you kidding, I live for helping you!"

She smiled and sat down in one of the sofas in the common room, then she patted the seat next to her, telling him without words to sit down beside her.

He did as she asked, and looked into her eyes.

"I plead guilty"

She looked confused, "what? Guilty of what?"

"I'm guilty of daydreaming about kissing you..."

She laughed and swatted his arm playfully.

But she didn't realize he was telling the truth...

*

"He doesn't go to the Hospital Wing?"

"That's all he would tell me"

"It will do, I'll talk to Lucius"

"Thank you"

*

"Black!"

"Snape."

"Where's your girlfriend?"

"Cynthia?"

"No, Lupin"

Sirius tried to punch him, but Snape caught his fist in midair, twisting his arm painfully and pointing his wand at him.

Sirius was about to go on another moonlit adventure as Padfoot, he was early, James was busy trying to get away from Lily without her suspecting anything, and Peter was finishing his homework, as well as his dinner.

"Let me go Snape"

"Tell me where Lupin is"

Sirius was about to open his mouth to lie, when he had a great idea

"In the Shrieking Shack"

"Don't get smart with me Black"

"I'm telling you the truth, there is a secret tunnel under the Whomping Willow which leads to the Shrieking Shack"

"You can't even get close to the Willow, stupid, it will knock your lights out! Remember Davey Gudgeon! He nearly lost an eye because of that stupid tree!"

"Well there is a way to get passed it, you just have to find a long stick and press the knot at the base of the tree"

"Why should I believe you?"

"Because I'm telling the truth, just go see for yourself!"

Snape was out the door, Sirius walked after him, this was something he did not want to miss! He could just imagine the look on his face once he saw Remus as a fully grown werewolf... he snickered. Then he stopped dead.

"I have to get James! He has to see this!"

Sirius turned around and ran as fast as he could to Gryffindor common room, when he got there, panting and feeling like his chest was about to explode, he spotted James in a corner with Lily, they were about to kiss, but this was too important.

"James! I told Snape how to get into the Whomping Willow, come see!"

"Padfoot! Are you insane?!" James yelled, silencing the room and scaring Lily.

Then James ran, Lily followed and so did Sirius.

Then James shifted to his Animagus form, Lily screamed and fainted, Sirius followed in his human form, but he couldn't keep up with the stag.

When Sirius finally got outside, James was in his human form, dragging a very hysterical Snape out of the tunnel.

"HE'S A WEREWOLF!!! GET OFF ME!! LET ME GO!"

"Get a teacher!" James ordered.

Sirius started to get a teacher but he ran right into the headmaster in the Entrance Hall.

Dumbledore gave Sirius a piercing stare.

By now Sirius was clutching his stomach in pane from running, but he got Dumbledor to follow him outside, where Snape was still yelling at James.

When Snape saw the headmaster, he calmed down somewhat,

"Black tried to kill me, Lupin is a werewolf and... did you know Lupin is a werewolf?"

"Mr. Snape, I am aware of Mr. Lupin's curse, but we will not discuss this any further out here, follow me please"

Snape glared at Sirius and James in turn the whole way up to Dumbledore's office, once there, they all sat down, Dumbledore at his desk, the three boys in front of the desk.

"Now, Mr. Snape, tell me exactly what happened."

"This is how it all happened, Black tried to kill me by getting his werewolf friend to eat me!"

"Mr. Snape, please calm down, tell me, how did you find out about Mr. Lupin's curse?"

Snape flushed from all the excitement, went even redder if possible, "I nearly got killed and you're asking me how I know it was Lupin?"

"yes, now please, do tell"

"I got someone I know to talk to Lupin, so then I knew he doesn't go to the Hospital Wing when he turns into a werewolf, then I just asked Black here"

"Mr. Black, how do you know about Mr. Lupin's curse, may I ask?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes resuming their normal twinkle

"we've known since first year" Sirius answered shortly "We noticed he was always gone at the full moon"

"When you say 'we', who are you talking about?" Dumbledore asked, amusement in his voice, despite the circumstances.

"me, Prongs and... I mean me James and Wor... Peter." Sirius said nervously.

"Ah, the Marauders, am I correct?"

"yeah"

"He tries to kill me and you have a friendly chat about their stupid gang, if I had done something like he did I'd be sent packing by now!"

Some of the warmth disappeared from Dumbledores eyes.

"Give me a good reason not to do just that"

Snape started doing a good impression of a goldfish on dry land, opening and closing his mouth, a look of disbelief on his face.

"I'm the victim here! I was the one who nearly got killed! This is favoritism!"

"Mr. Snape, I'm not saying Mr. Black here will go unpunished, but unlike you he had a good reason to know about his friends state, you had no right to pry into Mr. Lupin's personal business, Mr. Potter, what was your part in this charade? May I ask?"

"I saved his ungrateful skin, that's what I did, er sir"

"I see, well you have done nothing wrong, but Mr. Black has, Mr. Black you shall report to Filch every evening at eight o'clock for the next month for detention and fifty points from Gryffindor, I want you to know Mr. Black that I'm very disappointed in you, he looked at Sirius with a sad look in his eyes."

Sirius wished he had yelled at him instead, he hated letting Dumbledore down.

"Mr. Potter, for being a compassionate student and saving your classmates life fifty points for Gryffindor, you may go"

They all got up to leave, Snape was fuming, gritting his teeth and glaring at Sirius and James.

"Mr. Snape, a word, if you please"

Snape muttered something under his breath and sat down.

"Mr. Snape, you will not tell anyone, not a single soul about what you saw in the Whomping Willow"

"That's not fa-"

"You will not tell anyone"

"Fine, I won't"

"If you do I will suspend you from this school, understood?"

"Understood."