Too Honest ~ James Potter

Chapter 23

When Saturday rolled around, all the Marauders sat waiting eagerly at the breakfast table - that is, all except Peter who hadn't been let in on the joke and so couldn't understand why his friends where looking so excited. They ate their breakfast faster than usual, knowing that Mariya would most likely start whenever she had finished her own meal. By that time, almost the entire school was in the room and a few people were standing to leave. Remus saw as Mariya tapped her fingers lightly against the table twice and smiled as the people at the doors found that they couldn't open them, it was beginning.

The tables disappeared, leaving a fair number of people looking rather strange as they found themselves holding their hands up in front of their faces, cutlery or toast now gone. The Marauders stood up alongside many other people, and quickly found that they were unable to sit down again. Once nobody was sitting on a bench, it vanished. This continued to happen until the hall was completely devoid of furniture and everyone was standing. Though the teachers had not panicked quite so much as the students, they too stood in the knowledge that this would probably not do anyone any damage.

James smirked as Mariya tapped her fingers - against her wrist this time - and the wooden floor became slippery beneath his feet as it changed to ice. He quickly pulled his wand from his pocket and cast the spell Mariya had taught him a few days prior. She had been right - he had needed it faster than expected. James showed the other Marauders how to do the spell on their own shoes and they, along with Mariya, passed the message on until everyone was ready to ice-skate. Making his way slowly towards where the teachers table had been, James offered his hand to Professor McGonagall, grinning as he saw Mariya doing the same with Professor Flitwick.

"Would you care to dance, Minnie?" He asked and the usually stern professor took his hand and they began to skate around the hall. Dropping the teacher's hand, James grabbed onto two Ravenclaw students who had been standing looking terrified at the edge of the room.

"You won't fall, I promise. Just do your best." James reassured them as he dragged them out onto the ice, smiling as they moved hesitantly around the ice. He knew that Mariya would have found some way to stop anyone falling over given how many people were in the hall, she didn't want anyone to get hurt after all. He continued to move around the room, encouraging the less enthusiastic students and complimenting those who had clearly done this before.

Mariya couldn't believe how well her plan was going. The teachers were being much better sports than she had expected and the students had largely gotten over their original fears. She could see a few - like James and Sirius - doing strange dances on the ice to amuse the less confident students and was enjoying the sight of the houses mixing so well. The Slytherins were mostly ignoring their usual prejudices and not objecting to being anywhere near the people that they would usually avoid at all costs. She could see Regulus Black dancing with a Hufflepuff girl who had looked less than poised at the beginning. Lily Evans was skating with Severus Snape despite their usual differences - they had fallen out slightly after he had called Remus a half-breed in their fifth year - and James was making his way around as many students as he could.

Seeing him reaching the part of the hall she was in, she handed the second year Gryffindor she had been with off to a Ravenclaw girl, and made her way towards the Head Boy. She stood at the side of the hall with a faux nervous expression on her face, which quickly changed to a sly smirk as he pulled her further out onto the ice.

"Why, hello there Seratova!" He said, also grinning, "You can be quite sneaky, you know?"

"Well I am a Slytherin, Potter, you can hardly expect anything else." She shrugged and they instinctively moved in opposite directions to avoid another couple, moving forward to meet up again once they were past.

"This is brilliant Mariya." James said, his tone genuine, "I don't know how you did it, but this is just what we needed."

"Believe me James, I know how important it is to have good inter-house relationships. Besides Slytherins just need a little encouragement to loosen up and then you can't stop us. You should see our parties."

"I have, they are almost as good as the Gryffindor ones." Mariya cast him a look, "I have my ways."

"You are a very strange human being, James Potter." Mariya stated, "You claim to dislike us and yet you are quite happy to drink our alcohol and listen to our music."

"Yeah, funny that." James grinned at her. "Clearly they must be the best things about you."

"Clearly."

Grinning at each other they didn't notice Remus and Sirius both skating towards them from different sides, until the two boys were tapping on their shoulders. Sirius pulled James away and Remus began to skate with Mariya.

"You're getting on a bit better." He said, his eyebrow raised at the girl.

Mariya nodded, "He is not as bad as I first thought, now that he isn't being horrible about Slytherins in every second sentence that is."

"Yes well, I think the responsibility of being Head Boy is having a good effect on him."

Mariya hummed in agreement before tapping the bracelet on her wrist twice. A voice echoed through the hall, "To remind you that - when the situation calls for it - we can all work together no matter our houses and our blood-types."

A bright number ten lit up on the wall and began to count back towards zero, everyone stopped skating to watch the number tick backwards. This was good as the floor faded back to wood as it reached zero. Mariya cast 'Finite Incantatum' at her shoes, making the blades disappear.

Everyone else did the same, returning to their normal timetables as though it had never happened. This event however would stick in many peoples minds as a time when Slytherins, Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws all worked together and ignored their usual feuds in the name of having a good time. It was the first step in reminded everyone that the war was not between them.