Meeting the Marauders [ON HOLD]

1: Professor Flitwick's Request

James Potter sat very still at breakfast that Thursday morning, holding his head in one hand and his goblet full of pumpkin juice in the other as he gazed dreamily at the redheadded beauty sitting a few seats away. His best friend, Sirius Black, was snickering into his drink, which smelled of something James was pretty sure was not pumpkin juice, but he was too preoccupied to mention it.

Sirius leaned across his friend, grabbing the salt shaker that rested in front of a timid first-year. Though he had no need for the salt, he wanted to see if James would react and repremend Sirius for reaching across the table (He was always more polite in front of the girl he liked.) He hadn't.

Remember, Sirius was James' best friend and wanted him to be happy, so in normal circumstances, he wouldn't have minded if James was ogling someone; it would give him a chance to hit on the sexy Hufflepuff girl sitting directly behind him at the other table. But that would be in normal circumstances, which this was not.

You see, James Potter was staring so intently at Lily Evans. Now, for all of you that have heard of Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, the Chosen One, whatever you wish to call him, you would know his parents are indeed the late Lily and James Potter, but of course, this was years before Harry Potter's time.

The only reason that this disturbed Sirius so much was because James would never get Lily to go out with him (how wrong he had been) - and it wasn't from lack of trying. At least not before graduation at the end of the year. Sirius just couldn't see why the bloke hadn't given up on her yet, and that was because our dear friend Sirius Black had never felt love. The warmth it would bring when you stared into the other's eyes, butterflies in your stomach when speaking to them and that burning desire to smash your lips onto theirs. No, Sirius didn't believe in love (Who could blame him with a mother like his?) and frankly, I felt sorry for him.

It was the fact that Remus Lupin - close amical relation and werewolf - had sat next down to Sirius, muttered a faint, "Good morning, Padfoot," and quickly ate his oatmeal to keep himself busy was what awoke Sirius from his trance.

Remus looked awful. His sand-colored hair stood up in unnatural angles, displaying the fact that he had not slept well just as clearly as if a neon sign had been charmed to follow him around, reading, THIS BOY DIDN'T SLEEP LAST NIGHT AND IT ALL GOES BACK TO FENRIR GREYBACK. (You might remember that it was Greyback whom had bitten Remus out of anger directed at Remus' father and in turn transformed him into a werewolf.) His usually warm chocolate brown eyes looked hollow and bloodshot. His paler-then-usual skin made him look even worse.

Of course, this was all excused to the fact that they were three days away from the full moon - "that time of the month," James called it, much to Remus' dismay. Remus would worry someone would put two-and-two together, or at least follow them to see what they did so late at night once a month. Someone had last year, and I won't name any names (cough, cough, Severus Snape, cough), but it hadn't ended well. Though James had saved the young man's life, it just angered the Slytherin student further and brought out more of his resentment. Snape couldn't stand being in debt to James Potter. Neither boy knew at the time that Snape's debt would only be repaid when Harry Potter started his first year at Hogwarts.

"Peter, oi! You stupid oaf, over here!" Sirius called over Remus' shoulder, waving frantically at the chubby blond boy helplessly looking around at the door. He wobbled over quickly when seeing Sirius. "Sit down and shut up, Moony is getting a head ache."

"I never said that."

"But you were thinking it."

"Shut up, Padfoot, you're giving me a migrane."

"Which means head ache in snooty-talk."

"Sirius?" James suddenly interrupted, pulling his gaze away from Lily and to Sirius. "You know you're a great bloke and all but please shut the bloody hell up because I'm getting a head ache - oh, good morning, Moony; Wormtail." He nodded in their direction then turned back towards Lily, gingerly taking a swig of his juice as he turned.