The Patronus Charm- A Lily and James Fanfiction

Chapter Twenty-seven: Pranks and Marlene's Heart

The wind makes it feel much colder than it is. I shiver as I stand at the gates to Hogwarts. As requested by Professor Dumbledore, James and I are returning to Hogwarts early. At least, I am. I don't know where James is.
I left the Potter Manor a few days ago and spent the rest of my holidays with my parents. It was nice, but lonely. My parents have been busy with planning Petunia's wedding to the point that they practically forget that they had two daughters. Everything seems to revolve around Petunia. She always said that Mum and Dad favoured me more, but I think this shows otherwise.
Where is James anyways? He promised that he'd meet me at The Three Broomsticks well over an hour ago, but he didn't show.
I watch for someone to come to the gates to open them. Professor Dumbledore promised that someone would come at quarter to three. It's only two-thirty.
"Hey." a voice says from behind me. It's James.
I don't turn around. "Why were you late?"
"Got surrounded by loads of reporters, demanding to know if our relationship is true or some kind of joke. I'm pretty sure that Ritta Skeeter was there. We might be getting a less than nice article coming up." James admits.
I sigh. "I thought the bloody school was bad for gossip. The whole freaking world is dying to know about us!"
"Hey, I'm pretty sure that they don't have the newspaper in France." James assures me.
"James, je pense que la Gazette du Sorcier est en français aussi."
"What?"
"James, last time, you tried to say something like that, everything possible went wrong."
"It was an accident!"
"Accident." I snort. "With Sirius around, there are rarely just accidents. He's the Queen of gossip."
"True." James agrees.
"You owe me a date."
"Sure, next Hogsmeade day, we'll go on a date."
"Alright, it's a deal."
The gates creak open and Professor McGonagall stands inside the gates. "Come along quickly, we mustn't tarry."
We levitate our trunks and follow her into the school grounds. Hogwarts looks beautiful with the white snow covering the roof.
"It appears that you are popular with the Daily Prophet," she comments as we walk towards the castle.
"Apparently." James agrees. "My family isn't overly impressed."
"I would say."
"It could have been worse." I counter. "It's not perfect, but it's not the worst thing that they could say about us."
"Wait until Skeeter starts, then you'll be furious." James declares.
"I'm afraid that Mr. Potter is right, Miss Evans."
I sigh. "Alright."
We walk into the corridor in front of the Great Hall. I see a few students wandering around the school, but the school feels empty.
"I shall leave you to your duties." Professor McGonagall declares. She turns and walks away.
"What should we do now?" James asks.
"Hogwarts is too quiet without our friends," I comment. Almost every year, I've stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas. The Marauders seemed to stay here a lot too. There are countless tales of the pranks that they've pulled during the holidays; from putting mice in the pudding to bewitching the suits of armour to dance in front of the entire Great Hall- the Marauders always made Christmas a lot more amusing.
"I agree. You're not one for pranks." James declares.
I stare at him for a moment. "Are you saying that I couldn't pull off a successful prank?" I demand.
"Lils, you play by the rules; you're not one for breaking them. After all, Marauders' pranks often break rules."
"I can pull off a prank. You watch me, James Potter! For once, you won't be the pranking master of the school."
James laughs. "That'd I'd love to see."
"I will play a prank!"
"Why is my hair changing colors?" James demands as he enters the Great Hall. His hair is currently bright pink.
I grin at him. "Don't suppose it could be genetic?"
"Lily! Change my hair back!" he demands with a frantic wave of his arms.
"Can't you do it yourself?"
He scowls. "If I can't remove then it's likely that you're the one that cast it, so I'll give you the opportunity to remove it or I'll carry you outside and drop you in a snowbank without your coat on. Your choice, Lils."
I shiver. "Ugh, you're sooo mean, but fine." I mutter the counter spell and his violet hair changes back to its normal shade of black.
"There, that wasn't so hard, was it?"
"Maybe." I tease him.
We walk together down to the platform to meet our friends. Our early return to Hogwarts was supposed to be to finish our work as Heads, but I forgot that we finished most of it before Christmas, so it was more of a fun return than a work filled few days.
"Why did you have to change the color of my hair? I thought you liked it." James asks suddenly, breaking the silence.
"Call it payback from our younger years. Do you remember the time that you dyed my hair green to match my eyes as you claimed?"
James starts grinning like a madman. "I was quite proud of that."
I shake my head. "You're so arrogant."
The scarlet Hogwarts Express pulls into the station. I remember the first time that I saw it. I was a tiny eleven year old, who had already read through every textbook that I had been assigned for the first year.
"Prongs!" Sirius shouts as he runs off the Hogwarts Express. He hugs James in one of those weird man hugs. They clap each other on the back and laugh.
"Lily!" Sirius shouts as he releases James and runs over to me.
"I wouldn't be so quick to hug him." Remus says as he walks over with uncharacteristic scowl on his face. "Not once you know what the idiot did."
"What happened?" I demand.
"Well-"
"He broke up with me for no apparent reason." a cold stiff voice declares, cutting through the cold air like a knife. Marlene stands just outside the train with her trunk. Her thin legs are fitted into long braces that spiral around her legs, keeping them straight.
"What?" I gasp.
"What the bloody hell, Sirius?" James demands.
"I don't stay with people, she should have known that." Sirius says with a lazy shrug. "Later, I'm off to find someone to shag."
I walk up behind Sirius and slap him across the face. "Ass."
James grabs my arm and pulls me away from Sirius. "Lily, chill. Marlene can take of this herself. It won't help if you try to beat Sirius up. In fact, you'd be in the Hospital Wing within minutes."
I shove James off me. "Yeah, well, Sirius is an ass and he deserves to get beat up."
James rolls his eyes. "Lily, don't be an idiot."
"An idiot? Thanks, James. You're done being a prat, you can come find me, cuz until you stop, I don't want to talk to you."
"I didn't mean to call you an idiot, Lily. I just meant that shoving around Sirius isn't gonna help you or Marlene. He'll get his heart broken someday, just watch."
"Fine, but you really shouldn't be defending him, James." I say shortly. I turn to Marlene. Alice is standing beside her with a furious scowl sketched into her face.
If Sirius survives this week, between Alice, me, and Marlene, it'll be a miracle.
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Hey guys! Wow! Thanks for all ur support. There's been a lot of reads lately! I'm sorry that I've been updating lately. It's been a bit stressful lately and it's almost Christmas so teachers are determined that at the moment we have NOTHING better to do with our lives! Sorry about my rant. Anyways, thanks for everything. I'll explain the breakup in the next chap.
I may not update next week cuz of Christmas, but I'll try!
Merry Christmas!