A Warm Night

C23 · Posts: 19 Join date: 2008-08-30

I know this place is dead, but I want to post it here for linkage because it isn't up on CMF yet. I think you will find out what this is fan-ficcing. Enjoy, all you fanboys and girls of this subject!

Quote:

The wind feels so good blowing through my hair. It's a warm night, and the clouds flit in front of the moon, making the night occasionally darker. The four of us were anticipating the night's plans. We were up to no good. Of course, the night's plans really weren't the night's plans. I was pretty sure he was making this up as he went along. But I wouldn't expect anything less of James Potter.

"James," Sirius called, "what in the name of Godric are you doing?" In the name of Godric... Something of a clever quip Sirius had come up with. It got a bit irritating at times, but, sure as the sky, he dropped it before the week's end. He probably thought he was funny. James probably did too. I'll admit, Sirius was a clever one.

"Just trust me," James shouted across the night's sky. James was as graceful as a mermaid on a current with a broomstick. He was the star player for Gryffindor, as Chaser, and he often took advantage of his fame. He skipped across the dark night before us, almost teasing us. Peter was probably the worst flier among us.

"Hey-- Could y-- Could you guys wait up?" he begged, while lagging behind. James just laughed and slowed down so we could all catch up. We were hovering above the grounds, though I couldn't quite tell where. I spied Hogsmeade about 4 kilometers west of us.

"C'mon, James," I said, "what's the grand scheme you've come up with tonight?" I smirked, he returned the gesture. He nodded, admiring the landscape below us. It was almost as if he was in a trance. For such a rebellious person, he honestly had some sincerity in him. Maybe that's why he was popular with the girls. Although he would pass up almost any girl for a night out with the gang. I have a feeling this was one of those occasions.

"Now what makes you think that we are out to cause trouble, Remus?" he asked with a tint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Hah," Sirius jeered, "James, you are such a delight. C'mon, man, I know you didn't drag me out of bed just to go flying."

"All right, all right," he submitted, "you guys know me too well. Just a minute, though, Peter, are you all right?" He was wheezing. He wasn't the fittest of the fifth years, that's for sure.

"Yeah," he assured us, "I'm just fine. Just need to catch my breath, is all."

"All right, here's the plan," James announced, as he pulled out the Map, "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good." It opened. "See, here by the astrology tower, there's this patch of dirt that the Aethonons used to graze on. We are going to.. relocate it so it's in front of the Slytherin portrait entrance."

"But James," I presented, "that will take longer than we have time for. It isn't a simple Wingardium Leviosa and we're done."

"Remus, Remus, have you no faith in me? Sirius, you got the bag?"

"Yeah, James. Hold on one minute." Sirius muttered something while his wand was pointed at a small pouch. It must have been the Growth charm, the bag grew to a large size.

"Perfect," James commended. He started flying toward the patch of dirt with us in tow. At least this weekend was better than the last one. I shuddered, remembering my very usual painful transformation. Thank God it's only once a month, I don't think I could take it if it was much more frequent.

"Now we get to do Muggle work," James said happily, but sarcastically, and pulled out four shovels. I hadn't noticed this before, but once James got close enough to hand me the shovel, I did notice it. His hair was combed! This was unlike James, as he was often unkempt. Strange, I gotta ask him about it later.

We dug and shoveled, dug and shoveled the dirt into the bag that Sirius cast a charm on. It felt like an hour until we finished, but I couldn't be sure. James conjured some rope to tie the bag.

"All right guys," he said, "I was going to have Sirius carry the bag, but seeing as it's too heavy and that I'm a genius, I have a better idea. We're going to leave it here."

"He thinks he's clever," Sirius whispered rather loudly to me and Peter jokingly, "when everyone knows he is going to pull a Summoning Charm." James chuckled, looking very proud of his idea, and flew to a secret passage we'd made a year back.

"Snivellus Snape," James muttered.

Sirius said aloud, "You know, I never understood why such a pathetic person merits a password dedicated to them." James laughed and shrugged it off. He didn't make any remark back. I'm worried about him. Something's getting to his head.

We walked along the passageways, through the corridors, making our way to the Slytherin dormitory entranceway. The portraits were snoring rather loudly. They were all so old that you'd think someday they'd get better at faux sleep.

"Hey, Peter," I said, "do you know where we are?" He had the map, leading the way for us. Sirius had the tip of his wand lit up so Peter could tell where we were in the whole school of Hogwarts. Pete muttered to himself about something and found our names on the map.

"We're nearly there," he said, "just another left and a couple of flights of stairs and we'll be there." Sirius put out his wand, and we again made our way to our destination. We made a left, walked down a couple of flights of stairs, and then we heard a familiar voice.

"I knew you were up to something," the owner of the voice said, "I just knew it!"

"Well isn't it little Snivellus?" Sirius jeered. The boy was as stony-faced as ever, with a hint of forlorn sadness in his expression. After five years, though, Severus Snape had learned to brush off that nickname. The greasy-haired boy drew his wand, and James did the same.

"Severus, I'm not in the mood," James said calmly. Something was seriously wrong, James almost never passed up the chance to bully this Slytherin. I never took part in it, but once I think back, I never once interfered. We were all so foolish back then, I regret tormenting Snape as we did.

"Hah!" Snape exclaimed, "You'll have to go through me before you achieve whatever mischief you're out to do!"

"It's past your beddy-bye time, widdle Sev," Sirius again taunted, "That is what she calls you, right? Your red-head girlfriend from Gryffindor?"

Before Snape could even start his sentence, James butted in, "Her name is Lily Evans, and she's not his girlfriend." Sirius cast James a smile to reply to this joke, but he stopped when he saw James was completely serious. I was astounded, I didn't think I saw James more serious in his life when he was with Sirius. "Snape," James continued, "I'm asking you nicely, please go."

"Like I'd let you get away with whatever you're trying to do," the teenager sneered.

"That's it, I've had about as much as I can take of this, James," Sirius snapped, "Stupef--"

"Stop!" James interrupted. "Now." It was very quiet for the next half minute. Then Severus broke the silence.

"Thanks, but no thanks, James," Snape said without emotion, "Impedimen--"

"Expelliarmus!" James cast. He was quick with a wand, and utterly graceful.

"Nice one, James!" Sirius exclaimed, "Impedimenta." And with that, Snape was no longer James' problem for the night. They walked until they arrived at the Slytherin portrait entrance, who was pretending also to be asleep.

"Accio dirt bag," James cast. Sirius was splitting at the seams and wiping tears from his eyes. He obviously found James to be a hoot. Peter and I also chuckled, though not as enthusiastically as Sirius. "Shut up," James scoffed jokingly, "you're gonna wake up the snakes." Sirius covered his mouth with both hands dramatically. James laughed heartily.

The bag of dirt came hovering towards us, coming to rest right before us. We picked it up and dumped it everywhere in front of the portrait. The painting, of course, did not want to blow its cover by suddenly being awake, so it just continued to fake sleep. James cast Aguamenti on the dirt, and he also cast a charm on the water so the dirt would stay wet until morning. We left the scene after the deed was done, and we ran into Snape on the way back. We erased his memory of that night and left through the secret passage.

It was a warm night. We flew on our broomsticks until we could see the sun rising. We then made our way to the seventh floor and whispered the password to get into the common room. There was someone sleeping on one of the big chairs. Lily Evans, with a plate of cookies resting on a table in front of her, was fast asleep. That is, until we arrived. She woke up with a start, and rubbed her pretty, green eyes to brush off her lassitude. She was, I'd admit, the prettiest girl in the fifth year, by far. But I saw how James smiled at her as she was groggily waking up. He obviously adored her, and everything-- the hair, the unwillingness to bully Snape-- made sense. She saw him, though, and was very swiftly furious.

"You wanted to hang out tonight, you said! Midnight in the common room, you said! Tell me, James, where were you tonight? What were you doing?"

He smiled, he obviously thought she was being cute. "I wasn't doing anything, Lily. We should reschedule this."

"Reschedule?! Hah! Like I'd ever be friends with the likes of you!" She stormed off to her room.

"Heh, she'll come around," he said, as he made his way upstairs to his room. You see, James was tenacious. I knew someday he would capture Lily's heart. He would because he had to have it-- had to have her. He wouldn't have anything else. He would hold fast to his fondness of her until she returned the favor... But I wouldn't expect anything less of James Potter.