Remus and Sirius started to manoeuvre their way through the unruly crowd and away from Lily who started to look lost in the thicket of witches and wizards. They were trying to find Marlene to see if she'd found a cupboard yet, and figure out if they needed to buy themselves a little more time.
"Sirius! Remus!" Lily tried to steer her way towards the boys, who appeared to not have heard but curiously, were speeding up, "Where are you going?!"
Remus gave Sirius a confident glance, "You find Marlene, I'll handle Evans."
Sirius nodded and quickly disappeared back into the crowd, just as Lily appeared, putting her hands on her knees, clearly breathless from her battle through the hordes.
"Where'd Sirius go?, she questioned pointing to the empty space where Sirius had stood.
"Have you met Padfoot?", Remus smirked, "he has a girlfriend now which means..."
"Ah yes", Lily signalled for him to maybe not continue, and stood straight again regaining her lost breath, "I get the point."
"So...", Lily continued casually, "you and Mary have fun?"
Remus instantly flushed a deep shade of maroon, "well- it wasn't like-", he stuttered over his words, trying to find the right ones, "yeah it was... nice"
"Nice?!", Lily spluttered, "you were giddy! I saw that grin on your face, I think someone has a crush". She wiggled her eyebrows accusingly, as she poured herself some punch from the table next to them and took a sip, wincing slightly at the bitter taste.
"Oh you can talk Little Miss-" he started but quickly decided not to continue down that path as he saw Lily wiggled uncomfortably. He sighed, "She's really sweet, you know, and makes me laugh. I think I deserve a shot at love."
Lily raised her hands in defence, "I never said you didn't", she giggled but sighed more seriously and continued, "I'm happy for you Remus, you really do deserve it. Anyway, if we continue down the road of 'Marauders getting girlfriends', things might be looking up for me."
"Wow, little bit hasty don't think you think? She's not even my date to this dance let alone my girlfriend", Remus replied, a tad too fast, Lily thought, "And don't think like that. James is head over heels for you, you'll make your way to each other soon enough, even if this plan does fall through. Speaking of..." he trailed off as he spotted a small spark in the air from the entrance. Sirius was signalling that he found Marlene, and hopefully an empty cupboard too.
"Hey Lily", Remus said enthusiastically, "wanna maybe go for a walk round the castle? Clear you head before round 2 begins?"
Lil downed the rest of her punch, "sounds like a good idea. This music is starting to do my head in anyway, maybe James was right about the band..."
Remus took Lily's hand and dragged her to the doorway, narrowly avoiding a bored looking James, who was walking, seemingly aimlessly, around the room.
James looked at his feet, which he was trailing despondently along the floor. His face looked flat and crestfallen and the crowds around him felt guilty when they saw his face; willing him, or Lily, to get a move on with the prank. Even they were bored of their stupid jealousy act now.
Mary was nowhere to be seen either, at least before he hadn't looked like a loner, even if he felt like one. He had vaguely seen Remus dancing with her earlier but hadn't really had time to scope out whether it was friendly, or if there was something more too it. Either way he was alone now, Lily was off with Sirius, Remus was maybe off with Mary, Peter was God knows where, and Marlene was probably...
Marlene, James thought suddenly coming to a halt, she must be feeling awful too. Sirius and Marlene had been close for a while now, however as they both had naturally flirty personalities, their love affair wasn't as popular as James and Lily's was. But to their close friends this had been a long time in the making - she must be devastated too.
"Well, at least I'm not alone in this," he whispered glumly to himself, immediately regretting his words. He couldn't think of anything worse that what he was feeling right now and was wishing it upon someone else. How selfish could he be?
He went over to the beautifully set out buffet table and filled a cup with the red juice on the table. Taking a sip his face twisted in shock and he started to cough a little. He may of forgotten to spike it, but you could always rely on Padfoot to do it anyway, he thought bitterly.
Over at the entrance, Remus and Lily passed Marlene and Sirius who were trying to see over the heads of eccentricity dressed students, to find James.
"We're off for a walk round the castle to figure out what to do next, anywhere where their aren't any annoying 3rd years hanging about", Remus inquired giving a rather obvious look at the other two, which Lily thankfully didn't see.
"I think the corridors near the library are quiet," Marlene said casually, acting along with Remus' scenario.
"Yeah, I think Peeves was spotted there a while back and well you know," Sirius added, "better to just steer clear in case isn't it?"
Remus and Lily nodded knowingly and then took to the stairs heading off towards the library.
"Now then," Sirius sighed, gritting his teeth, "time for the harder part. I don't think James is going to willingly follow me to an empty hallway", Sirius paused contemplating his words, "on second thought he might, no one around to hear me scream in agony." He laughed at his own joke, but Marlene rolled her eyes continuing the search for one rather depressed looking teenage boy.
"There!" she said suddenly, pointing over at the buffet.
"Oh well this should be fun," chortled Sirius, "looks like he's drinking a bit of my 'special' punch."
After another short silence, Sirius piped up once more, "actually how are we going to get him out there? I can't see Peter anywhere and, well, he's not exactly going to be willing to follow me is he?"
"Leave that to me", Marlene declared as she triumphantly produced a small water bottle and mascara from her purse. Sirius watched, dumbstruck, as she reapplied her mascara with little accuracy. Next, she twisted the cap off her water bottle and recklessly poured a few droplets onto both her eyelids and proceeded to rub them vigorously.
By this time Sirius had finally caught on, but Marlene continued. For her finishing touches, she opened her eyes wide and blew upwards from her mouth in an attempt to produce tears. It worked, sort of.
"How do I look?", she beamed widely and placed her hands confidently on her hips.
Sirius gaped, clearly impressed. "Nice work, McKinnon, could've fooled me," he said, looking genuinely amazed.
Marlene raised an eyebrow, not satisfied with the answer of someone who had never worn makeup - well apart from the occasional black eyeliner, but only the Marauders were entitled to that secret. She twisted her mouth uncertainly, and reached back into her purse, this time producing a small mirror.
"Blimey," Sirius muttered, staring at her tiny purse, "have you put an extension charm on that or something?"
Ignoring his foolish question she pressed on, "It looks like I've just smeared mascara all over my face!", she chuckled, and then gesturing at Sirius continued, "but you were fooled and as James isn't the brightest of the bunch, I'd say we're safe."
Marlene smiled once more, proud of her mediocre work, "right then, I'd better be getting on. I have a Marauder to fool."
"What's your plan exactly?", Sirius questioned nervously.
She spun around, grinning wickedly to herself she went onto her tiptoes and gave Sirius a small peck on the cheek, "ta ta for now, dearest."
Shrugging in defeat, he sighed and called back, "Be back soon my love, we have some unsuspecting people to shove in a closet," Sirius waved like a princess and turned on his heels, following the path Remus and Lily had taken moments before.
Marlene, pushed her way through the cluster, and started to run carelessly when she caught sight of James, in an attempt to make herself look as weak and distraught as possible. James caught sight of Marlene at the same time too, speed walking over in time to catch her when she collapsed.
"Oh James," Marlene wailed painfully, "how could the bastard do it? You're the only one who gets how it feels!". She though just getting straight to the point would probably be okay in this situation, James didn't seem to be in any frame of mind to question much anyway.
The people around were starting to stare, which is the last thing he wanted right now. More than anything he wanted to be upstairs away from everyone, but he was head boy and had planned most of it, so he felt he ought to stay. However, this provided a good excuse to leave the Great Hall, even if only to return Marlene to her room.
"Um alright Marlene," James responded, awkwardly pulling her up back on her feet, "maybe we should go out and get you sorted yeah?"
Condescending little prat, thought Marlene offended by the patronising tone, but was still rather impressed that it had only taken 20 seconds to achieve her goal.
She looked up at James, trying to produce tears again, "yeah okay, thats sounds nice," she spoke softly, in a very small voice hoping to sounds heartbroken.
He smiled sympathetically. Haha sucker!
James grabbed Marlene's arm gently and guided her back to the entrance, where she had been standing not moments ago. Wow, she though rather arrogantly, I must remember to brag about this to Black later.
They were just beyond the doorway when Marlene realised in a panic, that the Library was the opposite way to Gryffindor Tower. Shit. She was now slightly unnerved, and spoke tentatively, "would you mind if we went for a walk first? I'd like to clear my head and maybe we can... talk about things."
James looked rather taken back, sure they were friends but they'd never spent much time alone. Well, nothing better than mutual pain to bond people and Marlene looked like she needed someone right now, "sure" he replied simply, "sounds nice."
I am goooood, Marlene was on a roll and was becoming increasingly confident, which wasn't great considering she was meant to be a hormonal teenage wreck at the moment.
Here began what was possibly the most quintessentially teenage experience. The awkward conversation.
"Marlene," started James, unsure of what exactly she wanted them to talk about, but felt like trying nevertheless, "we're you really in love with Sirius?"
Oh God. He can't be serious. Marlene was ready to burst into laughter, but at the same time felt a terrified wave wash over her. She hadn't been concentrating on exactly what she was saying and forgot she said that it would be nice to talk. That... but also the prospect of having to be honest with James. She wasn't a particularly fantastic actress and he was really concentrating now, meaning she was going to have to be brave. Even if he wasn't, this boy had been through too much tonight, even though it was a short walk, she didn't want to lie to him and add to the list of his injuries tonight.
"Love is a strong word", she began loudly, but lowered her voice as she began to realise what he needed to hear, "but yeah, I think. I mean maybe, I never could be sure."
James nodded acknowledging her bravery, but not supplying her with anything in return. So she continued,
"We were sort of like you and Lily in a way," that got his attention, and he turned his head to look at her, "not exactly, but in small ways."
His face seem to light up a little at that, "oh really? Like what?"
"Well," she cleared her throat, she'd though about this particular memory a lot and had it primed and ready to go, "one day, in charms, Sirius was trying to impress me by morphing a glass bottle into the shape of a rose and floating it over to my table. It was juvenile and, I thought, a joke. But I moved to look at him to smile and thank him and he had this look in his eye."
By now James was fully attentive and was staring at her, eyes wide and innocent like he was hearing the most romantic story every told.
"He looked so... emotional. I don't know how to describe it," she laughed nervously as a small tear appeared at the corner of her eye, "it wasn't just a crush anymore, his eyes had this looks of longing and hope. When he saw me he didn't just feel love - he felt happiness, and sadness. He felt a connection - and I think I felt it too. That could just be me romanticising it but I feel like, I don't know, like I felt a future. Whether it was with him," she glanced at James, "or... not anymore, I suppose."
"Anyway," she spoke loudly and wiped a few tears off her face, as to signify a change of subject, but James wasn't really listening anymore.
"I thought me and Lily had a moment like that a while back too," he spoke so gently and with such sadness, Marlene felt as if she was being cut. This better be bloody worth it.
"I suppose I was wrong now, but at the time..." he drifted off, but Marlene didn't ask him to continue, she could speak freely because she knew Sirius was waiting for her at the cupboard but for James... oh. For that poor, poor boy this was real and he was hurt.
"It was about a month ago, halfway through September. We were talking all the time and were new to doing rounds, but there was this one particular time when we had first gone in the kitchens. The elves were rushed off their feet with preparations for whatever and we were left alone. She had just finished her hot chocolate and put the mug down on the side but missed, and it toppled over and smashed all over the floor. She completely freaked out and we both bent down to clean it up, but I insisted I'd do it for her. So I got the dustpan and brush and started sweeping and she just looked at me and said 'you can use magic for that, you know' and I looked up at her and shrugged, saying 'I know'. I put it all in the bin and stood in front of where she was sitting on this tiny, wooden chair. And she just smiled at me. Her hair looked so shiny - in the lighting especially - and she was wearing her favourite knitted sweater you know the red one with the...", he looked at Marlene and she simply nodded, "She had this stupidly beautiful glint in her eye and it was like she was trying to communicate with me that I was an idiot. But, oh god, it just made me melt inside and I just-"
James had stopped talking to bite down on his bottom lip, to try and stop himself from crying. Marlene had her mouth open, and had realised they'd stopped walking and were standing in the middle of an abandoned hallway.
"Sorry," he said shaking his head, "that was a stupid, boring story your's was much better."
"Oh no," Marlene replied, tears still streaming slowly down her face as she thought of her best friend, "it was perfect."
"Oh right," James meant to sound enthusiastic and thankful but couldn't shake his dejected tone, "thanks."
"We should probably carry on walking," Marlene pointed out brashly, just wanting this to be over now. Her main objective was to unite the star crossed lovers not make one of them cry. So she was on it. Uncomfortable silence be damned, she was making her way to that cupboard as fast as she could.
"You're right, I need to get back to the party in a bit I think," James replied dully.
They carried on stumbling along in silence, with only the faint sound of a far away song to take their minds off the conversation they just had. Despite the horrible circumstances that had lead them to that moment, neither regret what had been said, and they both felt a little closer than before.
Marlene noticed the door to the library, all they had to do was round the corner and they were there. Luckily, Remus and Lily obviously were in silence too as their voices couldn't be heard, and the game wasn't given away. As they turned the corner, and a hand was placed on James shoulder, forcefully pushing him forwards.
"Hey! What the hell? Let go of-", that's when he saw Lily, who was also now being pushed forward into an open cupboard.
"Oh no, you can't be serious!", Lily cried, as she caught sight of an equally agitated James, whilst trying to fight Remus off her.
"I'm sorry Lily!", he yelled back, through all the commotion, "it's for your own good."
"This is mutiny!", she replied as she was pushed into the cupboard, followed quickly by a furious looking James, "You can't do this! We had a plan!"
But the door was already shut, and the sound of a rusty key in an old door lock echoed through the empty hallway.
"Now then," Sirius said firmly but with a detectable hint of enjoyment, "talk."
And with that the footsteps of three people, eager to get far away before being killed, or worse, were heard scampering through the ancient building. They were alone now, with no hope of salvation, as both the young witch and wizard had left their wands in their dorms, thinking they wouldn't need it for a school dance.
James sighed heavily, and rested his head on the thick, wooden door, "I suppose we're trapped then?"
Lily took a deep breath, and replied defeated, "guess so."
A/N me again! Not sure if this chapter was a bit tedious sorry. I felt like I might have rambled a little, but for someone who has never 1. Pulled a prank, 2. Been to a dance, 3. Been in a romantic situation... I started this list but I just realised it's way to long to list all the things in this chapter I've never done. Anyway, vote if you enjoy because you know what's next... ;)
Q: have you ever been do a dance/ slow danced?