The Marauders: Year Five #Wattys2017

The Fight

The Fight

Peter Pettigrew had been doing his best to help, too. True to James's request before he'd left on his adventure with Maryrose, Peter had rounded up the Order and got them all up into the secret meeting room to wait for orders from James on what to do. They'd all sat about in the Secret Room together, speculating on what little information Peter could provide, and trying to decide what to do about it.

"If James is in trouble, he's not goin' to be popping in asking us for help," Frank Longbottom kept arguing passionately as others disagreed, saying last time they'd gone barrelling into a situation at Number 12, Grimmauld Place, bad things had come from it, and they needed to wait until they were given commands. "But he's not able to give commands if he's fightin'!" Frank insisted.

Lily Evans had agreed with Frank, though Jasper Odair had not, and she'd volunteered to go down to the Transfiguration wing and try McGonagall's floo to see what was happening at Grimmauld Place. That was how she'd ended up at the office with James Potter... and seeing as it was James they were all waiting on back in the meeting room, it was why she waited for him there in the corridor.

It was how she'd ended up with him on the stairwell, staring up at him as he lamented over his failure.

It was how Jasper Odair ended up coming down the stairs to check on her and had found the pair of them standing on a landing, facing one another, Lily's hand on James's chest as his head hung, a bit of his messy hair in his face... Jasper hesitated, a landing above, a bit of jealousy flaring up in him (she was, after all, his girlfriend). He decided to play it coolly, though, and he jogged down the steps as casually as he could muster and slapped James upon the back. "Well look what the kneazle dragged in, will you?" he said, smiling and put his arm 'round Lily, pulling her toward him so that her palm slid off James's wrinkled oxford. "We've been worrying 'bout you up in the Meeting Room."

"We were on our way," Lily half-lied. She'd been meaning to guide James that way, but she hadn't yet had the chance to tell him so.

James shook his head, "No reason to be meeting... it's over."

Jasper looked concerned at the tone of James's voice. "...did you save the girl?" he asked.

"Of course he did," Lily replied sternly.

"You did?" Jasper looked quite excited, "You actually saved the girl? Bugger, that's brilliant, Potter, why in hell do you look so glum? I'd be right excited if I were you!"

James looked up. "Maryrose Jenkins has been taken." His voice was flat and cold and he shook his head as Jasper's jaw dropped at the news and he started spluttering to come up with a response. "I've got to go." James turned and hurried away from them both down the hall.

Lily turned to Jasper, "See what you've done?"

"I didn't do anything," he said, confused.

"He was obviously upset you didn't need to go criticizing him for it."

"I didn't know he was upset, blimey, I just got here!"

Lily sighed. James was already 'round the bend at the end of the hallway. She frowned. "We should go tell the Order."

"Yeah." Jasper's mouth curved into a frown. "I really didn't mean to upset him, Lil..." he said, because he could tell she was still angry he had done.

James went to the hospital wing. He didn't care if it did get Regulus Black shouting at him again, he needed to see Sirius. Sirius would know what to do and though he'd seen Sirius briefly earlier, when he'd first arrived back, he hadn't properly seen to it that Sirius was alright after whatever it was that had happened that caused that awful gash across his chest. And he hadn't a chance to properly apologize for what he'd done, meeting with Regulus yet, either. He truly felt sorry for having upset Sirius so much that his mate had felt he was a "traitor"; it had honestly never occurred to him that it might seem that way if he were caught in the act of it. Of course, James had never dreamt he would've been caught, either. But he was confident that, once Sirius knew why he had needed that information on Snape (to protect Remus Lupin), Sirius would forgive him.