Without Warning

CHAPTER TWO: Apologies

'Oh no, believe me, the pleasure is all mine,' Lily retorted.

'And to what do we owe the pleasure, Potter?' Indigo spoke up.

'Okay, okay, I'll cut to the chase. Look Evans, I'm really sorry about what happened before term break, but that Itchilus charm was totally uncalled for.' James apologised quickly, running his fingers through his already messy hair, remembering how itchy his bed sheets had been.

'We've been over this before Potter, I - don't - care. I don't want to hear your lame excuses or your apology because I know its all full of hot air, just like your head.'

A hurt expression flitted across James' face for a split second before he regained his composure.

'Evans, Evans...where is the love?' James grinned smoothly, advancing into the booth.

'There was no love, there will never be any love, and for the love of god, get out!' Lily pushed James out of the booth and slid the door back into place.

Outside the door Sirius Black let out a low whistle at his best friend's defeat yet again.

'Burn, baby, burn,' Sirius cracked a smile and slapped James on the back.

'She'll come round,' James assured himself.

'Yeah, and I'm Merlin. Prongs, that woman is more stubborn than I am! Maybe you should just let her cool off for a while,' Sirius suggested.

'Padfoot, old friend, that is what makes her so desirable!' James grinned.

They both sighed.

'Whoever came up with the term 'Fiery Redhead' shuld be saluted for their accuracy,' Sirius muttered, as they made their way down the train's hall into their own cabin, where Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew accompanied them.

'No luck then I take it?' Lupin asked from behind his copy of Ancient Runes.

'If she'd only let me explain!' James plonked himself down on a seat and stared moodily out the window.

'By the sound of it mate, you didn't exactly go in there with full manners blazing,' Sirius said, sitting down opposite Lupin.

'Maybe you should just lie low for a while?' Peter suggested.

'Yeah, plenty more fish in the sea,' remarked Sirius.

James grunted in response and continued to look out the window. He had admired Lily from afar since their first year, ever since they'd bee-lined for the same boat to cross the lake with Hagrid the gameskeeper. Now they were in their sixth and he still noticed the magical glint in those stunning green eyes during Charms and the swishing red against her dark robes when they passed each other in the halls, or more to the point, when she was walking away from him at an alarming rate. The whole arrogant prat persona was just a front (well, most of it ... he wasn't about to deny the fact that he was good looking and had legions of fans falling at his feet, awaiting to carry out his every whim, but that was beside the point, right?). The thing was he didn't want just any fish; he wanted the goldfish. He didn't just want her as a trophy girl like every other girlfriend he'd had. He wanted Lily to be his Queen. He knew this meant dropping the whole 'I'm cool and I know it' act, but to tell the truth, what he felt scared him. He felt so strongly about her. There could never be another girl for him from now on. Yet he was pretty sure that if he revealed the real James Potter, she'd laugh him out of the common room.

So would Sirius for that matter.

What he needed was a plan ... a good plan ... a marauder plan.

'We have to corner her,' he said suddenly, 'get her by herself and explain it was all a weird coincidental accident.'

'How are you going to manage that when her and Indigo are joined at the hip? I mean I know you're good Prongs, but I don't think you're up to surgical standards yet.' Sirius laughed at his own joke.

'Ah, Padfoot, that's where you, Moony and Wormtail come in.' Peter nodded furiously, Sirius rolled his eyes, and Remus kept reading.

'I have enough trouble getting my own women, Prongs. I'm not helping you with yours,' Lupin muttered from behind his book again.

'Help you,' Sirius corrected him.

'Help me,' James grinned.

'Well, apart from the fact that I basically decide anyway...okay. Just, just as long as its not too far fetched. I'm supposed to be a prefect, remember?' Remus winked and grinned back.

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

The whole school was gathered in the great hall for the welcoming feast. Lily and Indigo were seated with some of the other girls in their year, who had joined them on the Express, including Grace and Phoebe Parker, who were twins. A little further down the Gryffindor table, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were seated. James was staring at her now, his eyes fixated on her smile as she talked and laughed with her friends. He loved her smile. Well, her lips really.

'Do you really want to be suspended for stalker tendencies, Prongs?' Sirius whispered in his ear.

'I've learned from the best,' James muttered.

'And I'm very proud. Yes, the force is strong in this one,' Sirius announced to Remus and Peter while patting a coy James on the head.

Somebody cleared his throat and the hall fell silent. Everyone turned their heads to the teachers table at the front to listen to Albus Dumbledore, who was wearing turquoise-blue robes with silver stars swimming in them, reflecting the calm night sky of the enchanted ceiling above.

'Welcome, welcome! I trust you have all had a pleasing and relaxing Easter and are now fully rejuvenated for your upcoming exams!' he announced with a twinkle in his eye shining through his half-moon glasses as his news was distinctively met with groans from the student body.

'However, these are not for a number of weeks so I urge you to start revising now for most agreeable results. General notices are the following: I must remind you that the Forbidden Forest is still quite out of bounds. Mr Filch has informed me to remind you again that dung bombs are not permitted anywhere at anytime within the school grounds, neither are 'Zonko's Reusable Banana Skins.' For a full list of banned items, they can be reviewed in full at Mr Filch's office.' Dumbledore paused as Filch whispered something in his ear.

'Oh yes, and 'Cat-Nip' is now officially banned after that unfortunate incident early last term with Mrs. Norris.' Dumbledore's eyes flitted n Sirius, who smiled innocently.

Some Gryffindors distinctively thought they heard him mutter in an undertone, 'She deserved it,' out of the corner of his mouth.

'Now, as a special treat, I am glad to inform you that this year, Hogwarts will be having an end of year celebratory Ball.' There was a sudden murmur from the student body accompanied by a few excited shrieks at Dumbledore's news. Dumbledore smiled and waited patiently until everyone had quietened down again.

'The Ball will be open to 3^rd years and above, however you may bring a partner from a lower year if you wish. You will be given more information as the term progresses. Now that that is over with, I have come to the most important part of my speech - the end! Eat up!' Dumbledore exclaimed, grinning around at his students.

In no time at all platters of roast chicken, steak and kidney pie and roast vegetables had appeared on the tables. The hall was full of noise from students, as their conversations mingled with the clatter of cutlery, then would fall peculiarly silent as everyone ate, only to pick up the conversation again once they'd swallowed.

'So,' James began between a mouthful of steak and kidney pie, 'all we have to do is prove to Lily that we weren't trying to play a practical joke on her or scare her or anything. We were trying to get Snivellus. She just happened to, err, kind of get in the way?' James suggested.

'You're not very good at this are you?' Sirius said, rolling his eyes.

'Oh, so sorry Mr. Dishonesty-is-my-middle-name. I forget you are the liar extraordinaire,' James retorted.

'Harsh words, Prongs, harsh words. Got me right in the heart, that one did.' Sirius grasped his chest as if he was about to have a heartttack.

The others grunted as they shovelled more food into their mouths. James looked over at Peter.

'Wormtail, that really is quite disgusting,' he said disapprovingly as Peter held two forks up to his mouth in a bid to shove more food in at the same time.

Sirius, who was currently sprawled across a good half of the dinner table faking his own heart attack, sprang up to get a good look at Peter. He loved any chance to tease the poor guy.

'Jeez, Wormtail, it isn't as if they aren't feeding you well at home either, by the looks of it.' Sirius snickered and the others followed suit.

'Hey, I'm not fat! My mum says its puppy fat - I'll grow out of it,' he explained, his mouth full of food.

'So what do you have in mind to win Lily's heart?' Remus asked James.

'That's the problem Moony. She doesn't actually have one,' Sirius said in an undertone in between a mouthful of food.

'Well, this Ball seems like the perfect opportunity,' James suggested, ignoring Sirius.

'Prongs, did you just happen to forget the fact that the girl despises the very ground you walk on? I don't think she'd want to touch you with a ten foot pole with a rag on the end, let alone come close enough to dance with you.' Sirius put on a would-be sympathetic face, but was ruined due to the mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

'Actually, contrary to what you may believe, I was trying to avoid that fact,' James groaned, suddenly becoming fascinated with the wood grain of the table.

And, contrary to what James might have believed, Sirius knew this to be an utter lie. He had an inkling that Lily's abhorrence against James was as much of a front as James' arrogance was. Sirius thought for a minute ... okay, bad comparison. He sighed loudly at his best friends gloominess.

'Okay, James, okay. I've had enough of this moping. You're seriously running out of time here. You've got like, a year and a bit left to sort this situation out. That is why I,' he paused, smiling and pointing both thumbs at his chest, 'am going to help you.'

'Oh dear god,' Remus muttered.

' Wh - Hey! What?' Sirius stopped mid sentence to question Remus' remark.

'Well, Padfoot, the thing is, and don't take this the wrong way,' he added quickly, 'it's just that every other time you've said you're going to 'help' one of us, it has turned out to be a complete and utter disaster,' Remus explained patiently.

'Lies!' Sirius cried, yet again clutching his heart.

'Okay, okay, well lets just take a little stroll down memory lane and see why Lily is more infuriated with James than normal, shall we?' Remus asked with a grin

'Well, ah, actually, I'd rather you didn't,' Sirius began, but it was too late, he could see that thoughtful look on his friends' faces as they flashbacked to that fateful day.

There was a bitter snap in the air as James, Sirius, Remus and Peter made their way down the dimly lit corridor. Being in the midst of winter, the castle seemed darker than usual. Classes had just finished for the day, and they had a big surprise in store for their good ol' friend Snivellus. Remus had been reading up on muggle pranks and had found a great one called 'tar feathering'. They planned to put a wizards touch on things, however, by magically charming the tar to be permanent enough to leave the recipient with a look of a cross between 'I've just had a waxing' and 'The waxing went horribly wrong ripping off quite a lot of skin' sort of effect and the feathers nearly impossible to remove with any general spells.

'Psst, he's coming! I can see him,' James muttered, his height being a definite advantage as he was easily able to see over the crowd of students to get a good view of the approaching Snape.

They all knew that Snape was serving detention with McGonagall after having a fight with Sirius a couple of days earlier. Sirius, having already served his, decided it was time for a little revenge. He was sustaining the fact that he hadn't been able to get the grease from Snape's hair off his robes for days, and that it had left a permanent stain.

'Wingardium Leviosa,' muttered James, levitating a bucket of tar above McGonagall's door, waiting for Snape to enter. Sirius was casually leaning against the wall, standing by with a bag of concealed feathers. Remus and Peter, full of anticipation, watched on.

Snape approached, grasping the handle and opening the door. James at the same moment muttered the counter charm for the levitated bucket, however, Lily Evans, not watching where she was going, had walked right into Snape, banging him to the floor and let out a high pitched scream as she was coated in sticky, foul-smelling black tar.

Sirius, who had sworn later on that he hadn't been paying attention at the time and thought the tar-covered mass was Snape, had promptly thrown the bag of feathers over her, jumping back hastily as she let out another high pitched scream

His eyes widened as he saw Snape sitting on the ground, a look of mock amusement playing on his face.

'Just what is the meaning of this?' a very angry looking McGonagall had appeared at the door.

'Uhh...' Sirius stammered, with his eyes still fixated on Lily.

'Potter! Black! In here now! And ... you...er, feather person.' McGonagall clearly had no idea who the person was under the muck of tar and feathers.

'Explain yourselves at once!' she yelled, leaning over her desk, her finger tips white as they pressed into the wood.

'Oops?' Sirius suggested.

'Oops? OOPS?!' Lily cried incredulously.

'Professor, this has been an awful mistake - ' James began

'You bet it has. You have just lost 50 points for Gryffindor!' she yelled in rage.

'What?!' Sirius yelped.

'Each!' she retorted.

'Professor, we weren't supposed to get Lily! It was meant for Snape --' Sirius tried explaining.

'Oh, and I suppose that makes it better in your opinion, does it Mr. Black?'

I smile flickered across Sirius' face.

'Don't answe that if you know what's good for you,' she added as an afterthought.

'Lily, we're unbelievably sorry.' James turned to Lily. He noticed that even through a bucket of sticky tar and a bag of feathers, her eyes were just as stunningly bright as usual. In fact, they were burning. Piercing, even - and not in a good way, he decided. In fact, I should probably stop looking at her now, he concluded.

'Don't come near me ever again, Potter. I swear to god if you come within ten feet of me from now on, I will not give a second thought of hexing you into next year,' she spat viciously.

'Well at least she didn't get into trouble,' Sirius mumbled, remembering McGonagall's punishment as they made their way up the marble staircase towards the portrait of the Fat Lady.

'Password?'

'Rodniffyrg,' Remus replied to the Fat Lady. The portrait swung open to reveal the Gryffindor common room. There were already many people there. The first years were making the most noise of all, no doubt swapping interesting and emphasised stories of their Easter adventures.

The marauders went to their usual sitting arrangement, armchairs off to one side, near enough to the window to see Hagrid's hut, yet close enough to the fire to keep warm. This area was (uncharacteristically for the marauders, anyway) a little extracted from the rest of the action in the common room. However, still close enough for James and Sirius to be able to get everyone's attention for an impromptu party, if need be.

However an impromptu party was far from everyone's, or at least James' mind anyway. Sirius seemed to have other ideas.

'Hey, how about an impromptu party?'

'Oh yeah I forgot, Lily will just be amazed with our party planning skills, and will no doubt forgive me on the spot.'

'Works for me,' Sirius grinned.

James repeatedly banged his head on the table.

'Or, alternatively, Lily will just be amazed with the huge lump you're creating on your forehead and will no doubt forgive you on the spot?' Sirius suggested, and grinned at his best friends torment. He had a knowing feeling that Lily would come around eventually. Besides, who could possibly resist the double dosage of charm that was Sirius Black and James Potter?

'You really are a smart arse, y'know.'

'Why thank you darling, it's what I do best.'