Meeting the Marauders

James' Proposal

Chapter 19: James' proposal
-Bex p.o.v.-

"C'mon Bex," Lily nudged my shoulder. "It's time to wake up."

I lifted my head groggily, "wha?"

"It's time to get up, breakfast starts in thirty minutes." Lily explained and went back to fixing her tie.

I went to sit up but stopped, noticing a small kitten lying, still curled in a ball, on my torso. I smiled at Tucker and gently lifted him from me and onto my pillow.

He lifted his head, looking around before falling back asleep just as quickly.

I quickly pealed off my clothes from yesterday that I was too tired to change out of. I did my morning routine, getting ready for the day. While rolling up the sleeves of my white, button up shirt I asked the girls, "when did a blanket get on me? I'm pretty sure I fell asleep on top of my covers with Tucker sleeping on me."

"Oh, that was me." Alice spoke up from her bed, where she sat tying up her shoes. "I woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and thought you looked cold. I didn't want to move Tucker, he was just sitting on you, watching you sleep. So I put the blanket on both of you."

"Thanks." I smiled at her, "and yeah, he does that a lot." I giggled at the thought of Tucker watching as I sleep.

"Let's go," Marlene stood by the door. "It's almost time for breakfast."

I stood and looked over my choice of clothing: my usual skinny jeans; my untucked, white, button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up; my tie loose around my neck; and converse snug on my feet. Grabbing my messenger bag I swung it over my shoulder, putting my wand in the side pouch. "I'm ready." I grinned, picking up Tucker.

He purred and curled into my arms, sleeping away.

We walked down to the common room together, talking about classes.

"I don't want double potions." Alice frowned.

"It'll be fun!" Lily tried to get her excited for the first class of the day.

I laughed, "for you!"

"Yeah, Lily, not all of us are as amazing at potions as you." Marlene giggled in agreement.

"And not all of us are as big of nerds as her, either." I whispered to Marlene. We both giggled.

"What was that?" Lily narrowed her eyes at us.

"Nothing." We said together. Both of us sobering up quickly.

"That's what I thought." She grumbled.

Me and Marlene shared a look and erupted in giggles.

Lily looked over her shoulder to send us a look and ended up running into someone. She landed on top of the person, chest to chest. Their eyes connected and they looked at each other wide eyed.

"Evans!" James exclaimed coming up behind me, taking in the scene. They both looked over to meet James' horrified face. "I can't believe you would stoop this low! Making me jealous by groping my quidditch captain!" Lily opened her mouth to speak, Wood doing the same, but James wouldn't let either of them speak. "Well you've succeeded! I'm very jealous and angry too," he looked over to meet Wood's gaze. "And I can't believe you Wood! You know how much I love Evans here," he gestured to Lily. "If you're trying to break me before the game against Ravenclaw, it worked." He head fell, sadness taking over. "I understand now, Evans, you don't love me like I love you. You could have just told me, instead of getting all close and personal with my captain. I'll leave you alone, Lily, you don't have to worry about me being in the way anymore." He glared at Wood. "I hope you have a nice life together, I'm quitting the team, if I can't have Lily then I don't have any happiness. How am I suppose to play quidditch without my inspiration." With that James left the common room, his head down, I watched him in disbelief, wondering if I really saw a tear fall from his face as he left, or not.

"He thinks we're together?" Wood questioned.

I looked away from where James was standing, "well you both are pretty close and in each others personal space." I eyed the nonexistent space between the two.

They both scrambled apart and into a standing position. "Umm, I'm sorry about falling on you." Lily apologized.

"Yeah, it's okay." Wood shrugged off the apology. "But now I need to find Potter and get it through his thick skull that we aren't together and he needs to re-join the team."

We watched as Wood left the room, following where James disappeared to.

"Wow." Alice spoke, awestruck.

"Did that just happen?" Marlene joined.

I sighed, "yup."

"Bex," Lily looked at me urgently. "You have to get Potter to join the team again. I don't care what happened between you two earlier this week, you have to make things good again."

"Why should I?" I crossed my arms stubbornly. "Those boys are the ones that started it."

"Please! If Potter doesn't join the team again, we'll lose the next game, and then everyone with hate me!" She begged me.

I scoffed, "so?"

"Bex! You're my best friend, you have to help me, please." She grabbed my arm and looked at me with pleading eyes.

"Ugh, fine." I groaned. "I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She jumped around joyfully.

"Whatever." I grumbled. "Let's just go to breakfast."

Walking into the great hall Lily nudged me. "what?" I asked.

Lily pushed me towards where James sat wallowing, Remus listening intently to what he was saying, and Sirius patting his back sympathetically. "Go on, make it better."

I sighed before going over to them. Sitting down at the table, next to Remus and across from the other two.

"What have you come over here for? I thought you hated me too!" James said, his voice cracking halfway through. He laid his head down on the table.

I looked at Remus, mentally asking for help. He nodded his head to James.
I looked to Sirius, handing him my little kitten, he looked at Tucker as if he were an alien. "It's a kitten, hold him."

He nodded and held the cat gently, scratching Tucker's small head.

Hesitantly I placed a hand on James' head, patting him like a dog. "I don't hate you James."

"You don't?" He croaked, looking up at me.

"No," I shook my head. "Of course not."

"Really?" He asked unsure.

"Really." I smiled in a reassuring way.
He perked up. "Good. Because I'm really sorry about the Slytherin thing. I didn't mean it," he shook his head, trying to prove his point farther. "If you can't tell, I don't like sharing." He glared down the table at Wood. "And I thought they would steal you from me, like someone else I know." He grumbled.

I smiled sympathetically, "it's alright James, I forgive you." I gave his head another pat. "But, the Slytherins aren't trying to steal me from you. I do have other friends besides you guys."

"Alright." James nodded.

"But, that's not the reason I'm here."

"Why are you here?" Sirius asked looking up from Tucker.

"To get James back on the team." I said simply.

"I don't want back on the team," James said miserably. "I already told Wood that I wasn't going to join again."

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because, that traitor is on the team." James said. "I don't want to be anywhere near that traitor. Case closed." He said firmly.

"Okay, we'll just have to talk about it later." I shrugged. "How about we eat something first, yeah?"

"I'm not hungry." He grumbled.

"Please, for me?" I asked.

"No."

I stood up for the bench. "I'll be right back." I started towards the Slytherin table.

"Oh no!" James exclaimed. "I've driven her away!" He looked like he was about to burst into tears.

"It's alright James," I turned back to him. "I'll be right back, alright."
He nodded.

"Keep him busy, will you," I muttered to Remus and Sirius before hurrying to the Slytherins. I didn't have much time. James was going to be clingy from losing Lily.

"Look who we have here." Regulus grinned as I stood behind Severus.

"Hello, Reggie, Sev, Lucy." I grinned at the three boys who had taken to sitting together.

"Oh so now you've got nicknames for us," Lucius smiled, "looks like we get to make up a nickname for you." He smirked at the other two boys.

I giggled, "alright then, go ahead."

"You're first name is Ariana, yeah?" Regulus asked. "And you're middle is Rebecca?"

"Yup." I nodded to both names.

"How about Ana?" Lucius suggested.

I shook my head quickly. "No way."

"Becca?" Regulus asked.

I scrunched my nose in disgust.

"Reba?" Severus smirked.

"Ew!" I groaned at the name.

"Aria?" Regulus asked interestedly.

"Hmm, that sounds good." Lucius agreed.

"I like it." Severus nodded.

"Aria it is then." I smiled.

"So, Aria," Lucius smiled as the name left his mouth. "What brings you here? We saw you with the three Gryffindors, is there a problem?"

"Umm, sorta." I looked at them for help.

"Explain, we're all ears." Regulus waited patiently.

"Well this morning, Lily tripped and fell," I started. "She landed on Gregory Wood, so when James came down he was jealous and mad. He quit the quidditch team and now he won't eat. How do I get him to eat?"

"Take him to the kitchen." Severus shrugged.

"How will that help?" I asked confused.

"The House Elves are very sweet and persuasive here. They will get him to eat something." Regulus said.

"When I am sick at home, my mum always gets my favorite House Elf to make me all sorts of foods, she then gets the Elf to persuade me into eating them." Lucius explained. "House Elves have rare magic. They can get you to do things. They are like Veela. They have persuading powers in their looks. They are created to be sweet and cute looking for a reason."

"Thanks! You guys are the best!" I stood, pulling Sev into a hug.

"Only for you." He smiled.

"Truly, you guys are so sweet and kind." I gave Regulus a hug over the table.

"Not many people think so." He chuckled.

"Because they don't look deep enough." I granted Lucius with a hug as well.

"Only you would think to befriend a group of Slytherins." He laughed.

"Some people call me crazy, I take it as a complement. We need people on this planet to be daring enough to so things no one else will." I grinned. "Daring, crazy, curious. To me, they all mean the same thing."

"Only you." They grinned.

I waved and sent them a grin before going back to the boys. "C'mon boys!" I grinned. "We have an adventure to go on."

"What sort of adventure?" James asked, his voice still sad.

"A fun one with little creatures that do anything you want." I beckoned them to stand.

"I don't want to go on any adventures. I just want to curl up into a ball and sleep forever." James whimpered.

"You're lucky you have friends that won't allow that to happen." I grabbed James' hand and pulled him with me.
The other two boys followed curiously as I led them down a series of corridors.

"Here we are." I grinned at the boys.

"The kitchen?" James asked. "I don't want any food."

"Too bad." I smirked, looking over to the painting of a bowl of fruit, I tickled the pear and the painting swung open. Pulling James with me, I entered the large kitchen, gaining the attention of hundreds of little House Elves.

"Master Bex!" Some exclaimed. "With Masters James, Sirius, and Remus!"

"Hello," I smiled at the small creatures. "It's good to see you guys again."

"Yes! Yes!" They cheered. "What we get yous?"

"Anything you want to cook us." I smiled down at them.

"Yay!" They spread out, hurrying to pots and pans, stoves and ovens, fridges and freezers. Grabbing utensils and ingredients. About ten stayed behind, jumping up to grab our hands, and pushing the backs of our legs. "This way! This way!" The ones with our hands pointed to the empty tables with their free hand.

"Thank you." I smiled after we all sat down and got situated.

Seconds later food of all sorts was placed in front of us. Chicken and waffles, pancakes, oatmeal, orange juice, milk, biscuits, bacon, eggs, porridge, cereals, toast and jam, and much more. "Enjoy!" They exclaimed.

"Thank you very much." I grinned at them, along with the boys. "Eat up James."

"I'm not hungry." He said stubbornly.

"Excuse me," I looked to the House Elves. "My friend here, seems to not want your delicious food, even though he has not eaten one thing this morning."

"What?" One House Elf stepped up to James. "Master James must eat something."

"I'm not hungry." He said. A few Elves burst into tears and ran into the back corner of the kitchen.

"Master James does not want Mitzi's food?" The small thing asked, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Oh, Mitzi," James looked at her tenderly. "Of course I want your food."

"Then why does Master James not eat Mitzi's food?" A few tears spilled out of her large blue eyes.

"Alright, I'll eat you're food." He said softly and picked up a piece of toast. He chewed the piece, taking small bites.

"Master James doesn't like Mitzi's food, Master James always eats lots of Mitzi's food, and fast." Mitzi cried out and started to back away.

"I do like it, Mitzi!" James said and grabbed a stack of pancakes, drenching them in syrup. He quickly ate the food, as if he was not in a mood and it was a normal day.

"Can Mitzi get Master James anything else?" She sniffled.

"Umm, may I have some of your amazing coffee cake?" James asked Mitzi.

"Yes!" She hurried off.

I smirked at James, "eat up, wouldn't want any of the House Elves to think you don't like their food."

He glared at me, "you planned this!"

"Course I did, with the help of Severus, Regulus, and Lucius." I shrugged.

"I hate Slytherins." He grumbled and grabbed some scrabbled eggs. Mitzi brought over a plater of coffee cake setting it down next to James before leaving once more.

"I think I might have to thank my brother later." Sirius said.

I looked at him. "You know, Regulus isn't that bad. He's very sweet and charming." He glared a little. "I think he gets it from you."

He looked up, shocked. "You think I'm sweet and charming?"

"Of course." I answered with a nod. "You are quite the lady's man."

"But you think I'm sweet and charming?" He asked. "Not because I have admirers, but because you think so?"

"Yeah, I do." I smiled.

He grinned at James and Remus, "your prediction might be a little wrong."

"Just because she said that doesn't mean it won't come true." Remus said. "What we said will happen, just you wait."

"What are you guys talking about?" I asked.

"Nothing." They all said together.

I narrowed my eyes at them. "Yeah, sure."

"Bex, I need your help." James changed the subject.

"With what?" I asked curiously.

"With Evans."

"Lily? You want my help with Lily?" He nodded. "Good. You've come to the right person. I happen to be best friends with Lily, I have known her for about my entire life, I know everything there is to know about her."

"I need your help with something slightly dangerous and maybe unsettling." He said hopefully, "are you willing?"

"James, I'm willing to help you with anything." I gave him a soft smile.

"I need you to date me." He said seriously.

I dropped the piece of coffee cake I had in my hand, it landed with a soft thud on my plate. Remus looked over the top of his book in disbelief. Sirius choked on the glass of orange juice he was drinking, waking the sleeping Tucker. Tucker climbed onto my lap and I patted Sirius' back.

"What was that?" I asked after getting Sirius to breath normally again and Tucker sleeping in my arms.

"I need you to date me." He repeated seriously.

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.....Don't be mad that I left a cliff hanger! I'm starting a chapter right now! Lol what do you think about the situation? James thinks Lily and Gregory are together, he quit the team and now he wants Bex to date him. Comment, vote, share, fan, follow, etc. thanks!