Deer Diary || Jily

Year 5 III

Once the train came to a stop and everyone had entered the castle, Lily watched as the other three Marauders caught sight of Remus and bounded over to join their friend.

Remus let out a breath of relief at the sight of them and his face brightened. "Am I glad to see you lot."

They all began to walk in the same direction to the Great Hall and Lily trailed behind, accidently catching bits of their conversation.

"Couldn't handle the pretentious brown-nosers, huh?" Sirius teased, tossing an around his friend, ignoring the dirty looks of said brown-nosers. Peter found his way to the other side of Remus, while James trailed behind, his head slightly down. James clutched a golden snitch in his hand, which he continuously twirled and played with to distract himself.

"I just missed my gang of unruly underachievers," Remus bantered.

"Aww, you're too sweet, Moony," Peter quipped.

"We prefer the term 'disappointments'," Sirius shot back. "Just ask my mother."

"Huh, I thought she called you 'deadbeat'," James said off-handedly, his energy not quite meeting theirs though he definitely tried.

The Marauders turned their heads to acknowledge him and Sirius nodded solemnly. "Oo, that too."

"Washout," Peter added to the list of terms Sirius's mother called her son.

"Mmhm," said son agreed.

"Good-for-nothing, no-good rapscallion," Remus said, punctuating each syllable with vigor.

The corner of Sirius's mouth quirked upwards. "I don't know if you're channeling my mother or a pirate."

"Your mother does give off very pirate-y vibes," Peter thought out-loud. "She just needs a hook hand and a peg leg."

The three of them began to laugh at the mental picture, while James grinned, the smile not quite meeting his eyes.

Sirius held his hand up in a hook form and used his other hand to cover one eye. "Arg, Sirius! Yer do be a mighty bad son!"

"Now hold on! That was actually a good Hagrid impression!" Peter exclaimed.

"What if Hagrid is a secretly a pirate? It would explain his fascination with all the exotic magical creatures," James said, some light coming back, and the boys burst out laughing again. It wasn't even that funny of a joke, but the way the Marauders laughed, it was as if James had just won Best Joke of the Year.

Lily couldn't help but giggle at the theory and as soon as James heard the sweet noise, he turned to face her.

He greeted her with a worn smile, his snitch fluttering in his grasp. "All right, Evans?"

"Potter," Lily replied back with a half-smile.

"Ehm," James stuffed the golden object in his pocket and ran his free hand through his hair, letting it rest on the back of his neck. "Would you like to sit with us for dinner tonight?"

Sirius gave him a scandalized look and Peter elbowed him before he could protest out-loud.

Taking a quick look around, she found Severus sitting with his Slytherin friends, which was slightly odd because they always promised to find each other on their first day. "Oh, um. Sure. Thank you."

At the Gryffindor table, she took a seat next to James who had Remus on the other side, while Sirius and Peter took their seats across from the three of them. After Dumbledore made his usual speech and the Sorting took place, the food was served and lively conversations sparked all through the Dining Hall. Listening in to the Marauders' discussion in particular, Lily was fascinated by their ability to jump from topic to topic never really resting on anything for too long.

This was par for the course considering the Marauders bountiful spring of hyperactive energy, but one thing that was different about the situation was James Potter. He sat beside her, but it was like he really wasn't there at all.

The roast beef on his plate was under attack, being incessantly poked at, and it was the only thing that James was focusing on, even though none of the food actually seemed to make it to his mouth. Lily couldn't help but think that if this was the previous year, James would not have stopped flirting with her or making moves, but this James just sat there. He didn't flirt with her or even talk to her; he barely even interacted with his close friends.

Luckily for James, his friends were more than capable of continuing the discussion without him, and they really didn't push him to join. Lily wondered if there was something going on that she didn't know about.

She noticed a difference in his energy and how his childish air was quickly fading, being replaced with a more mature one. Maybe to day was simply an off-day for him or maybe he was just getting older. His expression was tight and he looked rundown and exhausted, nothing like the fourteen year old that had left the castle only a few months before.

"We should release ducks into the Great Hall."

Lily tuned back into the conversation just in time to hear their next grand prank being planned.

"Why ducks?" Remus asked, taking a bite of his salad.

"I just think they're neat," Peter said. "We could make them follow people around and- and sing!"

"Singing ducks?" Sirius gibed, before quickly shrugging, "You know what, I'm ready for any action." He began to plan, "We should do it tomorrow morning. Filch is usually cleaning the towers an hour before breakfast, so we have plenty of time to—"

"Actually Filch changed his schedule last year to catch you all by surprise. He now cleans the towers after breakfast and watches the halls during breakfast for any Marauder shenanigans."

The four Marauders turned to look at her. She took a bite of her mashed potatoes. "What? I'm just letting you know. I think ducks are neat too!" She sent a quick smile to Peter, who looked just about ready to melt after her acknowledgement of him.

"Good looking out, Red." Sirius gave her a wink. "So new plan—"

"Look at them..." The low grumble came from James. His glower was aimed towards the Slytherin table who were sitting there talking amongst themselves. They weren't doing anything malicious, but the look on James's face said otherwise.

"They're planning something." James stabbed his fork into the beef, his expression darkening. "I know it."

Remus sighed and he warned his friend, "Not on the first day, Prongs."

"We have to get ahead of them, Remus," James argued, "Get them before they—"

"Before they what?" Lily interrupted and for a second, it seemed like James shrunk under her withering glare. "It looks like your planning on assaulting them when they haven't even—"

"Assaulting them?" James seethed, his voice growing a fraction louder.

Remus and Sirius exchanged a quick glance before Remus cleared his throat. "Well, uh, would you look at the time... um, Lily, er... Evans. I think we have a prefect meeting or something before bed. I think we should start heading over don't you think?"

Without another word, Lily stood from her seat and began to walk to the classroom where the prefects had begun to gather while Remus trailed behind. When they were a good distance away, Lily turned to confront Remus.

"I thought he was different! He didn't flirt with me as much and he seemed nice, inviting me to sit with him and all, and then he... agh! Why was he suddenly talking about getting revenge on the Slytherins when they were just sitting there? They weren't even doing anything! He is just a bully who's always looking for a fight! It's like he always needs to be in the middle of an altercation just because! I really don't understand it."

"There's a lot of things you don't understand, Evans. And the thing is," He opened the door for her so they could both walk in, "you don't have to. Let's just get this meeting over with. I'm tired."