James and Lily potter: Fourth Year

Chapter 18:fourth year

The fourth years were giving much homework during the Easter holidays, in which none of the Marauders and girls went home to. Instead, they worked on tables in the Gryffindor common room, going through notes and writing essays, since exams were less than two months away. Life was passing quickly for the two groups, and they knew that next year they would have to decide their future.

"This is so stupid!" cried James, banging his fist on Intermediate Transfiguration. "Why are they giving so much homework?"

"Our O.W.L.s are coming up soon," nagged Lily, frowning at her History of Magic essay.

"We take them next year!" exclaimed James incredulously. "I mean, what the hell..."

Remus raised his eyebrows. "You could do with a better attitude, Mr. Potter," he said, in a mock-McGonagall voice. "You wouldn't want to land in detention again, now, would you?"

"And the Quidditch Finals are coming up," added James, as if that settled the point.

"They're more than a month away," said Lily briskly. "Quite worrying."

"You care more about the stupid exams than the Quidditch Final," he accused, pointing his finger at her direction.

She rolled her eyes. "Well, obviously. I'm not a virtuoso at Quidditch, so why should I care? Of course, I would love Gryffindor to win the Cup, but there are no guarantees, since the Slytherins cheat so much. The exams, though, you can prevent from failing them."

"Show-off."

"Excuse me?" said Lily indignantly. "I am so not!"

"I am so not," mimicked James.

"Shut up, Potter!"

"Shut up, Evans!"

"Will you two put a cork on it?" roared Sirius. "I'm trying to do my Charms essay here."

"I'll do it for you, Sirius," offered Lily, giving him an over-sweet smile.

He brightened. "Really?"

"Nah. I was just testing you."

This did not put Sirius in a good mood for the rest of the day.

Jennifer and Remus were having whispered conversations in which all the other friends were jealous of. They still managed to maintain a healthy and snog-full relationship, unlike the others, namely Sirius and Arabella, who were sitting on opposite sides of the room. Not healthy...or full of snogging.

"Don't be too hard on everyone, Lils," said Violet, who was peering at James and Sirius over her Potions essay. "They need a break. All this studying and homework is getting to our heads. We're not as clever as you are."

"Yeah, Evans, listen to Vi," said James, nodding.

"Potter?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up!"

"Gee, no need to yell."

"You do know that I'm trying to live up to a Prefect badge, right?" asked Lily.

"Er—no. Why would you ever want to do that?" James was surprised.

"Well, it does look good when you apply for a job."

"Look good? Who cares! Being a Prefect will so ruin my reputation as a prankster."

"I second to that," came Sirius' voice from across the room.

"Well, it will," continued Lily, not looking up. "I mean, especially if you're going to become an Auror."

James perked up. An Auror? The Potters have always had a long line of Aurors, starting from the beginning of time. His parents were Aurors, his grandparents were Aurors, his great-grandparents were Aurors, and so forth.

"Well, I will, of course," he said confidently. "My family have always been Aurors as far as I can remember."

Lily stared at him. "Well, then, you should be preparing right now! I hear it's a very difficult path."

"Why should I?" asked James lazily. "We're only in our fourth year—"

"—and graduating from Hogwarts in three years," she snapped back. "You should be thinking about your future right now! Besides, don't think you can be an Auror so easily, Potter, just because you have a whole line of Aurors in your family. I hear you have to get an 'Outstanding' on your Potions O.W.L. to even take Potions in sixth year. And you know how important Potion knowledge is to Aurors, Potter."

James nodded. "The only reason why we don't do good in Potions is because of Hurst. Dumbledore will do something about his attitude toward everyone except for Slytherin."

Remus sighed. "Really, why don't you guys, like Sirius says, just put a cork in it? I'm trying to do my essay for Wickham..."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Oh, please, Remus, you don't even need to concentrate for that. You basically know Wickham's speeches by heart."

Remus turned red but said nothing.

Neither Lily nor James mentioned their kiss that occurred nearly two months ago. They both accepted it as something done because their hormones were working overtime again, and because too much stress leads people to do unexpected things. They both dismissed it like it never happened and continued to argue and shake up Gryffindor Tower. Yes, things were getting back to normal again for Lily and James.