The Rise And Fall Of The Stag And The Doe

Only If For A Night

There are a handful of moments that choose your path in life. Maybe you bought a chocolate shake instead of ice cream. Maybe you decided to wear a dress instead of pants. Maybe your future really was determined on the fact that you woke up ten minutes late on your first day of school. Or maybe none of it mattered. Maybe you still would have ended up where you needed to be, regardless of the little things. Either way, our decisions have an impact on our lives. If James Potter could have said one thing to his son, other than telling him how proud of him he was and how much he loved him, it would have been that every choice has an influence on where our lives lead.

Sixteen-year-old James Potter waltzed through the guest wing of his house, heading towards the last door on the left. He knocked, and after hearing a grunt of acknowledgment he went inside and threw his body on the bed before him. The sixteen-year-old girl that was lying lazily on the bed was not amused.

"Potter," Marlene growled between clenched teeth. "You have five seconds to get your muddy shoes off my bed. Your mother will kill me if she sees it."

"You know, Mar we've been friends since we were little," James pouted as he sunk deeper into her bed. "You'd think you'd actually start to use my first name at some point."

"Yeah you would think so‚" She frowned down at him feigning offense. "But that still doesn't explain why your shoes are on my bed."

Rolling his eyes at her, he frowned, laid flat on his back, and ignored her second comment.

"Is she friends with Snivellus anymore?"

"I'm assuming you are referring to Lily, because well you're always referring to Lily," she muttered. She tucked her long, sunny blond hair behind her ear and put down her book. "And I don't think so. Last time I talked to her, she said she would never speak to him again."

James's face lit up as his head filled with all the possible scenarios of what could happen between Lily and him. Each situation ended the same: with her swept up in his arms, and James the magnificent, handsome victor. Marlene saw the look on her friend's face and swiftly took the opportunity to kick him in the stomach.

"OY! WHAT THE HELL?" James groaned, glaring at her.

She let out a large heave of a sigh and smacked him repeatedly for affect.

"I don't want to see that look on your face! I know what you're thinking, and I'm not having any of it! You hear me? No more 'Get Lily' schemes!"

"Bloody bird," he scoffed darkly, sitting up. "What's so wrong with me liking Lily?"

"Oh, I don't know," Marlene began dryly. "Maybe the fact that she doesn't like you?"

"She's right, you know," Sirius interjected as he walked into the room, wearing nothing but a towel that hung loosely around his hips.

Marlene gave Sirius a dirty look as he dried his hair with a towel. Only Sirius Black could walk into a room almost completely naked and be completely shameless. James at least had the nerve to blush, despite the indecent words coming out of his mouth. Sirius was beyond any decency. In the mere three days Marlene had been visiting, he had barely worn any clothes in an attempt to bother her. Between that and James's several failed attempts to talk about Lily, Marlene was starting to second-guess her decision to visit James at all.

"Okay," Marlene sighed, rubbing her face in irritation. "James. I love you, we love you; but honestly Lily is a lost cause. She's one of my best friends, she really is, but when she commits to something. she commits to it. Period. And she actually has plenty of good reasons to dislike you, so why don't you just go snog Emmeline?" Marlene tried, "She's cute, she's ..clean. Why not?"