The Next Great Adventure (A Marauders Fan Fic)

Chapter Forty Nine

“You eavesdropped on them?” he asked.

“No! I just… lingered unseen for a minute or two. Wasn’t very interesting to be honest,” he shrugged. James sniggered for a minute, his shoulders shaking as he tried to hold in his laughter; finally, it exploded out of him and his whole body quaked.

“What’s so funny?” Alice asked.

“Oh nothing…! It’s just… I can’t believe… after… all this time… Padfoot still isn’t immune… to Moony’s Prefect voice! His face…! Oh Merlin help me!” Every word was spluttered and James collapsed, laughing so much that tears streamed down his face and he fell onto the floor. Unfortunately this only made him laugh harder and he gasped for air for five minutes before he got himself under control again.

From where he lay on the floor he saw an abnormally large Wormtail open the door and frown down at him. “Prongs…what?”

“Ah Wormtail, I see you have escaped the ferocious clutches of erm… nameless girl,” Sirius said.

“Yeah she wanted- James seriously, what are you doing on the floor?”

“She wanted it, didn’t she?” Sirius winked.

“If by ‘it’ you mean to know whether her parents had to take me home or whether my mum was picking me up from the station, then yes,” he said, unperturbed by their antics. He stepped over James’ flailing hand gingerly and said, “On second thoughts, I’m not going to repeat my question about James. I don’t want to know and it’s probably no different than usual.”

“Aw how adorable! Wormtail and… whatever-she’s-called, sitting in a tree…” Sirius began to chant.

Peter rolled his eyes and supplied her name. “Laura Smith.”

“Wormtail and Laura sitting in a tree,” he began again before trailing off. “Hey if you combine your names then you’d be… Worma. No, Wormsmith. Peta…”

“Sirius you’re babbling,” Cassie sighed. “Stop talking nonsense. Nobody cares.”

He ignored her, continuing to try different combinations. “Pesmith…? Lauter? No… Smitail.”

“Smail,” Remus said as James’ eyes lit up. “I love it! It’s like a snail!”

“Merlin save me from these idiots,” Mary exclaimed. “Why did you two decide to go out with them?”

“Beats me,” Lily replied, staring at James as he lay on the floor stroking his chin.

“Cablack,” James started as Cassie wailed, “Oh god no!”

“Carius. Sassie…” Sirius started, picking up on this new combination.

“Sissie,” Peter sniggered, eliciting a punch from his friend.

“That should be James anyway,” Sirius muttered. “Lilmes?”

“Shut it Sirius, that’s terrible.”

“Jamily?”

“Possibly worse.”

“Jily?” he suggested.

“No!”

“Lames!” Sirius crowed as Peter and Remus started chuckling.

“No… Sirius!” James cried as he began to chant it, with Peter and Remus soon joining in. “I hate you three.”

“I hereby christen you… Lames,” Peter solemnly pronounced as James curled up in a ball, jamming his knees against one seat and his feet against another.

“I’m sure the floor’s way too small for you,” Alice said drily as she watched him struggle.

“Oh I forgot! I have a message from George for you… they need some help with… it.” This sparked a light of excitement in the boys’ eyes and even James, gangly limbs squashed between the seats, manoeuvred himself into a sitting position and smiled.

“What are you doing?” Cassie asked.

“Final parting gift to some friends. Nothing major just… something for them to remember us by.” James said as he kissed Lily and swept out of the door. The three other boys followed him and, as the door clicked shut behind them, Mary frowned. “Why do I have the feeling that what they’re doing isn’t quite as innocent as they want us to believe?”

“Because you’ve known them for seven years? When are they ever innocent?” Cassie asked. It was, of course, a rhetorical question: they were never innocent and, if they ever had been, it hadn’t lasted long.

“I do love them,” Lily said, “but I will never understand how they are so noisy all the time. It’s a skill. So is their idiocy.”

“You love them, do you?” Alice teased. “There’s something I never thought I’d hear Lily Evans say.”

Lily rolled her eyes at her friend and sighed. “Well it’s not like you don’t know what happened. I hardly thought you’d be surprised by it. And I have always… sort of liked Remus.”

“Mmm…” Cassie agreed idly as she fished a book out of her bag and settled down in the seat.

Hi everyone, sorry about the wait... Like I said before I've been super busy and rather stressed. Still, here's some more!