World of Lies

Chapter 2

Later that day, James sat in the Great Hall. Peter sat across from him, Sirius was to his right, and Remus was in front of Sirius. Professor Dumbledore was giving some sort of speech, but none of the four were paying much attention. As seventh years, they felt it was their natural duty to stop caring about the beginning of the year speech. When the sorting started, the four began to talk under the applause.

James looked around and found Lily down the table from them. She had been listening to the speech full-heartedly and clapped loud for all the first-years, especially the new Gryffindors. James smiled. She's so great with kids, he thought. She'll make a great mother to our three kids. James Potter, Jr, Lily Potter, Jr, and... James thought for a moment. And to our other child, who I have yet to name yet. He looked to his friends. After this year, our life together begins. We'll all be together forever, till we're old and gray and look like Professor Dippet.

Professor Dumbledore finished his speech and the Hall filled with food and mindless chatter. Topics included who was dating who, who was no longer dating who, who could beat who in wizard's chess, who was the best looking ("Sirius bloody sexy Black!"), who was best in Quidditch ("James, of course") , and a range of other topics ("No, really, think about it. Severus has to buy a lot of oil and grease to do that to his hair. So you gotta figure, 7 sickles a jar, times 4 jars a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year... that must add up! I'm telling you, he's probably rich or something!").

The four friends ate everything in site and then some. Sirius walked over to the Hufflepuff table to ask for their mashed potatoes. The fourth year who handed the plate over nearly fainted when Sirius smiled a thank you.

"Girls...," Sirius said when he was back at the table. "I don't understand them at all sometimes."

"Me either," Remus said, grinning.

"But of course James does, right Remus?"

"Oh, yes, of course James does, Siri. He's the 'King of All Things Female'."

James did not looked amused. "What are you talking about? Of course I am, drop the sarcasm!"

"Sarcasm?" Sirius' grin turned more evil. "No sarcasm here. I mean, it's great when a guy proves a girl right. First the girl will call him big-headed, and then, just to make this girl feel like she's right, he turns a totally defenseless guy upside-down. I think it's really sweet."

James glared. "I am not big-headed!"

"Of course not, Prongs, of course not." Sirius shook his head. "You should ask her out tonight."

"Tonight?" James turned red. "I-I can't. Not after what she said!" He pouted like a little kid.

"Look, it can't be any worse than 'no', right?" Remus said. "And I know you'll take the 'no' to mean 'Not right now, Mr. Potter, but secretly I love you and I want you to ask me again tomorrow cuz your just so cute!', right?"

"Of course." James nodded.

Sirius buried his head in his arms. "You really are clueless, aren't you?"

James didn't answer that, just started to eat more quickly. After a while, the meal was clear from the table and everyone headed for the common rooms. James looked for Lily, but saw her and the Headmaster leave through the back towards his office. James scowled. Damn it, I was going to ask her out, and now Dumbledore calls her away! What I have to say is much more important that him! Why can’t he wait!

He grinned. Maybe Sirius and Remus were right. Maybe he was big-headed. But his big-headed brain did not allow for such ridiculous non-sense, and the thought was soon forgotten as he arrived at the common room and watched a heated Wizard's Chess battle between Sirius and Remus.

Lily didn't arrive until much later with a scared looking first year. Apparently the young boy had wandered away from the prefects leading him to the common room, and the prefects hadn't wanted to look bad and tried to find the kid themselves. When Lily had been told, it was a few minutes before she was able to find the kid, who claimed to have just left to investigate a light at the end of a hallway. After a stern reprimand from Lily (She is so beautiful when her eyes are like that, thought James), the boy walked blushingly over to his dormitory and didn't come out until morning.

Lily, on the other hand, looked around the common room. She spotted James, and he quickly looked back to the game at hand. After a few minutes of listening to a strong fought battle between his two best friends, he looked around for her again. She was talking to a group of second years. She'll be great with our kids. James thought. I think I'll name our first kid... Somebody James Potter. I just have to figure out what will stand in place of 'Somebody'. Maybe she has some ideas... He smiled again.

Sirius noticed his friend's glance. "What is she saying to the kids?"

"Dunno."

"Well, why don't you go on and find out ," Sirius said in a right-now tone of voice.

James sighed and was about to get up when Lily left the common room. She walked out through the portrait of the Fat Lady. Sirius looked at James, who was watching the door, hoping Lily would come back.

Sirius gave him a shove in the back and told him to scram. James left.

After James left, Peter walked back to his dormitory. Nobody noticed. Nobody ever noticed Peter.

"Think he'll get her?" Sirius asked.

"Siri, you know he won't," Remus said, concentrating on the game board.

Sirius grinned at Remus. "You called me Siri in front of James today, you know?"

Remus looked up from the game. "I did? Oh, sorry, I, uh..."

Sirius laughed and shook his head. "It's not big deal. James is so caught up with Lily I don't think he noticed. And Peter wouldn't notice anything unless... unless it snuck out of the common room to his room after a quick glance around to be sure of a clean get away."

Remus looked quizzically to Sirius. "That was pretty detailed. Any reason why?" Sirius nodded in the direction of the boys' dormitory, where Avril had just walked up the stairs. "Come on, there's no way she's going to Peter. It's Pettigrew we're talking about."

"Aw, I think it'd be cute. It's not like we care about him. He needs someone to talk to, I suppose."

"That was harsh, Siri. We do care about him."

"Really? I think he's really annoying, to be honest."

Remus shot a smug look at Sirius. "You don't think I’m annoying."

Sirius' grin widened. "Your not annoying."

"Leading you away all the time and everything..."

"You know I don’t mind."

The two broke into smiles and finished their game. Sirius glanced toward the door. "James has been gone for a while. We should go see what happened."

A small explosion took place outside of the Gryffindor tower. Remus and Sirius looked to each other, nodded, and muttered together.

"James..."