James and Lily potter: Fourth Year

chapter 10: fourth year

"Oh, James, look what that Evans did to you!" cried Deanna, bursting into tears. "She made your hair neat."

"Well," admitted James, touching it with awe, "it is actually neat for once, which is more than I can say for Lily. After all, my mother's tried a lot of different ways to make my hair neat, and she's never accomplished it. Lily is a wonder at times."

Deanna snorted with disgust. "But James," she whined, "you used to have that sexy appeal when your hair was all messy..."

Lily held back a laugh as she laid down on her bed. Sexy appeal...ha! Potter, that arrogant jerk, has no more brains than those stupid Slytherins do.

Suddenly, she sat up, and felt guilt spread through her. Lily knew that it was horrible for her to say such a thing, and to lie about it to herself as well. She knew very well that James Potter was one of the cleverest students at Hogwarts, able to perform very difficult spells, especially in Transfiguration, that even grown wizards have trouble with. Lily sighed. Oh, James Potter was so confusing! He was the one in the midst of her mixed-up feelings.

Then she thought of the prophecy, and read it in her head again:

The flower and the stag will become one

They will have a child that will defeat the Dark Lord

But the flower and the stag will allow him to do that

By sacrificing themselves in return.

The dog will keep a secret, that will ruin lives

He will have twelve years in misery.

But his true believers will rescue him,

Where he will be a refugee in hide.

But the dog will die for his one true believer,

He will die for the one he cares about the most.

The wolf will be shunned throughout his life,

Unable to find anything for what he is.

But he will find allies, and become welcomed,

Only to find himself alone, his friends gone.

The rat will become dark,

Joining forces with the Dark World.

He will abandon and betray his friends,

But will meet his fate within the Light.

Lily pondered on those words. So...now Sirius would die, joining she and James. But who would he die for? Perhaps Arabella?

She also thought about Remus and knew his story very well. He would leave Hogwarts, and no one would accept him because he's a werewolf. But he would find people who trust him and welcome him, and Lily had a shrewd suspicion that this someone was, or was related to, Professor Dumbledore.

Last of all was Peter. Lily had no idea what Peter's story would be, and found, surprisingly, that she barely cared. She always suspected that Peter would end his life by doing some stupid job like cauldron cleaning. But Peter become dark...The idea itself made Lily want to laugh. Well, Peter would meet his fate anyway, and she found out that she didn't care.

But what did this prophecy mean? Why was there a prophecy even made about the Marauders and Lily? How were they special, so that they would be mentioned? Lily had asked Dumbledore that before, but he merely shook his head and told her to ask, much to her displeasure, to Professor Trelawney, who had made the prophecy herself.

"My dear, I haven't a single idea what prophecy you're on about; perhaps you're delusional," was her unsatisfactory answer. Lily decided never again to ask Trelawney anything.

The funny thing was, no one else seemed at all concerned over the prophecy. In fact, they acted as though it were never made before at all. When Lily told the prophecy over to Arabella, Jennifer, and Violet, her three trustworthy friends told her that it was probably a practical joke that Trelawney pulled just to scare them.

"Whoever heard of Black dying for someone that he cared for the most?" Arabella had asked scornfully. "I didn't even know he cared for anyone but himself!"

Lily had decided never to ask her friends anything related the prophecy again, as well. So...her final destination was to the Marauders, to whom she shared the prophecy with.

She headed down the common room again, only to find James and Deanna snogging like mad, Sirius ogling at a blonde, Remus reading, and Peter staring out in space. Lily rolled her eyes, and approached Remus first, as he was the only one she actually had respect for these days.

"Hi, Remus."

Remus looked up and gave her a warm smile. "Hey, Lils. What's up?" He peered at her with a worried expression. "You look awfully stressed. Want to talk about it?"

"Actually, that's what I came here for."

He scooted over on the couch he was sitting on. "Have a seat."

"Thanks. Listen, Remus, you know that prophecy that Trelawney made about us?"

He raised his eyebrows but nodded. "Yeah. What about it?"

Lily sighed in frustration. Was the only one with common sense not understanding, either? "Remus!" she exclaimed, sighing. "I thought you'd understand, at least. I mean, it is a bit weird, isn't it? How James, Sirius, Peter, and I will eventually die, leaving you alone in this world. It just seems...unnatural."

Remus smiled slightly and hugged Lily, just like what a brother would do. "Listen, Lily," he said seriously. "I know you've been stressed out over this prophecy. So, are we all, though we're not showing it? Especially James and Sirius—they've been doing a lot of thinking about it. Sirius still can't get over the fact that he's going to be dead because he's trying to keep another alive. Poor bloke. Peter still won't believe that he'll turn over to the Dark Side, though I highly doubt it. I mean, Peter's our friend and everything, but I just can't imagine him serving some Dark wizard, you know?"

Lily laughed at this, but then sobered instantly. "Yeah. But it's really been worrying me. I mean, it's kind of funny how you know your own future and fate when you're barely half-grown yet."

Her companion gave her a gentle smile again. "Well, I'm trying to not believe it at all. I mean, it was easy to ignore, wasn't it? Trelawney's usually a fraud and only predicts peoples' deaths. But she sounded really weird when she predicted it this time...so we all think that it was real."

"Well, of course it was real!" said Lily indignantly. "The way her eyes all rolled up and stuff and that voice."

Remus grinned and shook his head. "Lils, you really need to learn how to control your temper. I never said we didn't think it was real."

"Yeah, well—" Lily stopped, realising that Remus was right. "Whatever."

They both laughed merrily, now chatting like old friends again.

James had managed to pry Deanna out of his chair and looked around the common room, bored. He grinned as he saw Sirius still staring at the blond-headed girl, but his smile quickly faded as he saw Lily and Remus sitting together, laughing. He looked over at where Jennifer was sitting and wanted to see how she would take it, but she merely glanced over to the couple and smiled again, probably happy that Lily was her old self once more.