Elsie never showed up at dinner that day, and even though Alice and Marlene said she was just tired, James knew something was wrong. I should've gone after her when class was over. I guess I'll have to wait until after dinner.
James sighed as he remembered a thought from earlier in the day.
"Lads," he started in a hushed tone, "I have a new target that we can prank tonight."
He and Sirius simultaneously smirked, while Remus simply looked up from his book and Peter smiled excitedly.
"Well then Prongsie, who shall it be today?" Sirius asked, slyly leaning towards the boy in the glasses.
"Rory McLaggen," James states confidently.
All 4 boys agreed, knowing this was someone Elsie wouldn't mind them playing a prank on. But, as they were deciding on what they could do to him a voice interrupted their thoughts.
"As much as I would love to see that happen, you do realize that he has detention with Elsie tonight, right?" Alice spoke after hearing who they wanted to Prank.
"What!?" all 4 boys announced at the same time.
"James, you were in class when McGonagall gave it to them. Don't you remember?" Lily, sitting who sat across from Alice, asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Erm.. no? I guess I wasn't paying attention," James said while scratching the back of his neck, trying to remember what happened in class. Maybe I shouldn't have been staring at Lily the whole time. Wait, what am I saying? She's Lily Evans, of course I should've been staring at her.
"I was too busy staring at you, my Lily-flower," he winked. Lily rolled her eyes and scoffed at the boy.
"Well we could always wait until tomorrow night," Remus pointed out with a shrug.
"Wrong again," Lily stated pointing her finger at Remus, "James and I will be patrolling tomorrow night."
As head boy and girl, Lily and James, along with the prefects, had to assign themselves a time to patrol the corridors after curfew. They were on duty every Tuesday and Thursday from 10pm-12am. Prefects were evenly spread throughout the rest of the week.
"The day after?" Peter asked. Everyone seemed to agree and nod their heads with that.
After dinner, the group of boys headed back to the Gryffindor tower, while the girls went back to the head girl room so they wouldn't wake up Elsie. The marauders went up to their dorm to plan out the prank on McLaggen without any disruptions.
It was about 9:45 when Elsie ran into McLaggen on her way to McGonagall's class for detention. After his snarky remark, they walked in complete silence until they got to the room.
"Come in, you will be doing lines tonight," McGonagall announced as the two walked in.
"Why Minnie, you are looking quite lovely today. I must say, I love your hat. Is it new?" Elsie winked towards the teacher that she saw as another motherly figure.
"Thank you, Ms. Figg. I do appreciate the attempt, but you won't be getting out of detention tonight," she held back a smirk as she spoke to the young girl. Elsie pouted and sat down at a desk, Rory taking the one behind her.
"50 lines of 'I will not disrupt class' shall do it. Now, I have to leave to help Professor Slughorn with something, but I'll be coming back to check up on the both of you. You may leave when you're finished," Professor McGonagall announced while walking out of the room.
Elsie was grateful that they had to do lines, rather than some other sort of punishment that involved talking with McLaggen. She really wasn't in the mood to deal with him, and started her lines immediately.
She was about a little more than half way done, when she felt someone poking her shoulder. When she looked up, Elsie saw that Rory was no longer in the seat behind her, but rather leaning on her desk right next to where she was sitting.
"What do you want, McLaggen!" she spit out, while continuing to write her lines. "I'm busy if you haven't noticed, and I'm not in the mood to get another detention because of you. So, sit down before McGonagall comes back!"
"Relax, angel face," McLaggen began as he sat down on the desk, "I just need to talk to you."
"And what makes you think that I'd want to talk with you!?" she angrily said, while writing faster. Ten more bloody lines then I can leave.
Rory's usual smug expression faltered, replaced by a genuine one. The type that Elsie last saw when they were happily dating. "I-I just need to.. I wanted to...-," his sentence came to a halt, and he quickly returned back to his seat as he saw McGonnagall walk in.
"You two may leave. I think you've had enough. Do not let me catching you do that again, or it will be 100 lines next time," she announced. The two students thanked her and walked out of the room. Elsie looked over at Rory while exiting, and sighed. His arrogant mask was put back on, leaving not an ounce of sincerity left on his face. Once again, they walked in silence.
It was around 11 o' clock when Elsie and Rory were walking back to Gryffindor tower. However, before they got there, McLaggen pulled Elsie into a nearby cupboard swiftly.
James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were still all together in the boys dorm room discussing the prank they were going to pull on McLaggen.
"Okay, so Prongs will plant the dungbomb in his room, while Wormy and I will slip the pink color dye into his shampoo. Moony will be in the common room with the Marauder's Map making sure none of his roommates are in the room," Sirius set the plan in stone while laying on his bed with his hands behind his head.
"Brilliant!" James exclaimed looking as if he could kiss the long-haired boy.
"Should we go tell Elsie?" Peter squeaked while copying Sirius' actions on his own bed.
"She should be back from detention by now. McGonagall wouldn't make her stay longer than an hour. She loves her almost as much as we do," Remus pointed out while biting into a chocolate frog.
"Let's do it," James began while walking towards Sirius, "Padfoot, check the map to see where she is."
Sirius pulled out the map as he and James looked down at it. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," Sirius pointed his wand at the map they had created a few years back. As it opened up, it showed everyone at Hogwarts and where they were in the castle.
Their eyes skimmed the map for a certain Elsie Figg. When they finally found her name, their mouths dropped.
"W-what is she doing? Why is she with him...," James started with wide eyes.
"...in a bloody cupboard!" Sirius finished, the same shocked expression on his face.
"No! Absolutely not. She wouldn't!" James spit out while pacing back and forth in the room.
"But, the map never lies, Prongs," Peter said, as both him and Remus walked over to see the map. James' hands angrily curled into fists.
"Now Prongs, before you do anything irrational-," Remus pointed at James.
"Why is she with him? He's going to hurt her again!" James interrupted, still pacing the room.
"I'll kill him," Sirius grumbled, also forming fists with his hands. "I fucking hate that git."
"Let's go, now!" James spit out and began walking out the door. The other 3 boys followed him, wands in hand.
Remus scratched his head, begrudgingly following James. "I don't think this is a good idea," he mumbled.
After Elsie was pulled into the cupboard, Rory shut the door and whipped his wand out, whispering, "Lumos." The girl was pressed up against him due to the small size of the space they were in.
"I swear to Godric, if you begin snogging me-," Elsie threateningly began to warn the boy in front of her.
"Relax, princess. I didn't bring you here to snog you, I just want to talk. Unless, of course, you want to. I know you enjoyed that yesterday," he winked at Elsie. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.
"McLaggen, drop the act!" She angrily said. His cocky expression faltered once again, before returning the next second.
He was about to speak with a smirk forming on his face, but Elsie beat him to it.
"The Rory I knew was never like this. He wasn't cocky or fake all the time. He was real and spoke to me as if I wasn't just some piece of meat!" She spat at him staring directly into his eyes, daring for his fake expression to crack again.
His green eyes softened and all Elsie could do was stare at him. Her hands wanted to reach out to him, pull him in as they've done so many times before. She wanted to graze her fingers across his jawline and up to the dimples she used to kiss every time he smiled. A frown pulled at her lips because she couldn't. Not because she didn't want to, but because she didn't know this boy. The boy standing in front of her was nothing but a stranger. Her eyes dropped to her hands in a moment of nostalgic sadness, "I miss that Rory, my Rory."
She quickly shook herself out of her thoughts and looked up at him again, "And, until he wants to talk to me, I am leaving." Elsie turned around and went to put her hand on the doorknob to leave, but was stopped in her place.
He grabbed her wrist to stop her from leaving and breathed out in pleading tone, "Elsie...please."
She felt his warm breath on her neck, as shivers ran down her spine. His voice was soft, comforting, safe, scared. So beaten and beautiful. Everything she remembered about it. There he is. There's the Rory I know.
Elsie was about to turn around and let him speak to her, when the cupboard door slammed open.
"Jealous Potter strikes again," Rory whispered in her ear as his stone-cold face returned. Elsie's gaze switched between a pissed James and Sirius, and a confused Peter and Remus standing in front of her.
Elsie was mad. No, beyond that. She was just finally getting somewhere with Rory, and they had just so happened to open the one cupboard the two were in. Those gits.
"What are you four doing here!?" Elsie spit out angrily. "Were you bloody spying on me?"
"Did he hurt you?" Sirius said ignoring her questions while glaring straight at Rory. Elsie quickly denied him, "No, we just got out of detention! We were just talking!"
Elsie's expression softened as she realized they were just worried about her, "I promise, I'm okay."
"Well, now that I'm in the clear, I'll be leaving. See you later, Princess. Hopefully, in the same place," he winked at Elsie and shoved past the boys, walking away from the group.
As soon as McLaggen left, James refused to stay quiet any longer.
"Els? W-what were you doing with him?" He stuttered with a pained expression on his face. The same two eyes that have been studying Elsie these past few days were now curiously glued onto James.
"I told you James," Elsie stepped out of the cupboard, "we were just talking!"
"In a bloody cupboard!" He snapped at her, gesturing his hand to the small and dark room behind her.
"I told you this wasn't a good idea," Remus mumbled to himself again, apologetically looking at Elsie.
"Oh come on, James. Look at me, I'm fine!" She pleaded with the angry boy, "Don't you trust me?"
Sirius spoke for him, "Of course we trust you. But, we don't trust that git. We all know what happens in a cupboard, and that is most definitely not talking."
Elsie rolled her eyes and skipped past the boys, "Don't be such drama queens. Come on, let's get to bed." She grabbed Remus' and Peter's hand and began walking with them down the corridor. James and Sirius followed behind grumpily.
When they finally made it back to the Gryffindor common room, they decided they didn't want to go to bed yet. They sat down on the couches by the fireplace, noticing how they were the only ones down there. James leaned on the armrest of the couch, while Elsie laid down and rested her head on his lap. His hand automatically went to play with her hair. Sirius sat down on the other side of Elsie, while Remus sat on the floor in front of her. Peter plopped down in the single armchair.
While the other 3 boys engaged in a conversation, James looked down at Elsie. "Els?"
"Yeah, James," she answered softly looking up at him. His eyes locked onto hers, a trance setting over the two.
"Why didn't you say anything to me in class today? I didn't even know you were there until I heard your name," he shyly admitted to her, shifting his gaze to his hand that was intertwined in her brown locks.
Elsie grew quiet, carefully thinking about what to say. She decided on just telling him the truth...well, partially. "I didn't want to interrupt you and Lily. You both looked like you were enjoying yourselves and I didn't want to ruin that," she admitted stuttering.
"Oh," James paused, a small smile quickly replacing an unreadable expression on his face, "Thank you, Els. I really appreciate that."
"Anything for you Jamesie," she whispered, still looking up at him.
"You're the best friend anyone could have, you know that?" he spoke with a goofy grin.
Elsie's face dropped at the word friend, but quickly recovered. She knew that's all they would ever be. Just friends.
Before she could respond, everyone in the group went silent as they heard Remus let out a decently loud gasp. Elsie shot up in fright at the sound.
"Remmy, you okay?" she asked him with concern written on her face.
"I.. erm, yeah... I just.. realized something," he frantically let out, "I'll be right back." They all nodded wearily at the scar-faced boy, but didn't choose to press him on the matter. Remus ran up the boys' dormitory stairs.
Sirius, Peter, and James announced they were going to go to bed. Elsie asked James if he wanted her to walk with him until he got there, seeing that he had to go all the way back to his head boy dorm room. But he denied, saying he'll be okay because he has his invisibility cloak that he stole from his dad a few years ago.
As Elsie was about to leave for bed, Remus ran down the stairs panting, "Els! Els... here. T-this is for you. It's a new book to read."
Elsie laughed at the boy who just sprinted down the stairs, "Only you would run all the way up and down a case of stairs to give me a book to read." Remus laughed along with her.
"Goodnight, Els."
"Goodnight, Remmy."
Elsie continued up the stairs and into her dorm room. She saw that both Alice and Marlene were already asleep, so she got changed and slipped under her covers. Elsie picked up the book called "Outlander" that Remus gave her and opened it up. Usually, when Remus lent her a book, he would leave a note in it that says something he thought about the story. This time there was only a few sentences written on the paper. She read the sloppy handwriting on the little note:
"A story about a lover torn between the person they're supposed to love and the one they end up falling for...torn between fidelity and desire. Who do you think wins, Els? When a person has to choose between who they're supposed to love and who they end up loving unpredictably, who wins? Fidelity or desire?"
She stared down and fiddled with the note that was now in her hand. She couldn't help but wonder what the reasoning for his question was.
Remus Lupin what are you on about?
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AUTHORS NOTE:
Hey guys! I know that Outlander was only published in 1990s, but just pretend that it was around during the Marauders Era for the sake of the story.
Also, can I just say that I love Remus Lupin. I feel like he'd be such an observant person. Who's your favorite Harry Potter character?