the marauders- an inseparable bond

[23] lucius and lilac

"It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to this year's start of term feast," echoed the headmaster's booming voice through the great hall. James leaned back in his seat and admired the room around him. He remembered being awed by it the first time he'd set foot in Hogwarts, but since then he'd never given it much thought. A wave of nostalgia that had been nagging at him ever since he'd gotten of the train finally fully set in. His last year, he thought sadly. He would have to make it count. Leave his legacy at the school. James Potter, legendary prankster, bad boy, devilishly handsome, admired by all. Or you know, something around those lines.

He was dragged out of his thought process when the new first years began walking down the aisle, who were all looking terrified. When he'd taken this walk, the silence and the might that the room held had stopped him and Sirius from whispering to each other, as they had been doing constantly beforehand. Stumbling forwards with the crowd, he remembered catching sight of shimmering reddish brown hair that belonged to the pretty girl he'd seen on the train. Look where you are now, he thought smugly.

***

Lucius Malfoy joined the sea of students streaming out of the hall. Quite suddenly, the slow moving line stopped abruptly. Annoyed, he stood on his toes, trying to see what the hold up was over the heads of other kids. He grit his teeth in anger when he spotted them: stupid James Potter and his stupid friends. They were using their wands to send mud they seemingly had collected in a bag in all directions. People were backing away, trying not to be caught in the line of fire. Angrily, he pushed himself to the front of the crowd and shouted:

"Oi! If it's too much to ask, we'd like to get to our dormitories!"

Sirius grinned cheekily.

"We're not stopping you."

At that moment, Peter, who had had his back turned and therefore not heard what they had been saying, turned around and shot a large clump of mud in Lucius' direction, which landed in the middle of his face. His normally oddly pale face turned pink, and the large group of students around them burst into laughter. Face burning, he mumbled: "You'll pay for that, Pettigrew." and shoved a couple people aside to make his way through the crowd and down the hallway.

"That. Was. Brilliant," declared James, clapping Peter on the shoulder.

"Are you sure?" said Remus.

"What do you mean?" the other boy asked.

"Well, Lucius Malfoy isn't someone you really want as your enemy..."

"Please, we can take him."

Remus shrugged.

"I know you're great at dueling, but he's in with that crowd that's really into the dark arts. You don't want to mess with that stuff, it's-"

He stopped suddenly, due to the arrival of someone they had never seen before: a curly-haired girl with a Hufflepuff tie had just walked up to them.

"Hi! It's Peter, isn't it?"

"Wha-? Oh, yeah. Yeah it is."

Peter seemed quite shocked that she was talking to him.

"I'm Lilac, Lilac Brown. I'm in sixth year. I just wanted to say that was pretty awesome. Lucius is such an awful person, and you were so brave..."

"Oh, thanks," he blushed.

"Um, that's all. I'll see you around."

And with that, she turned on her Mary Janes and left.

"She said I was brave," he uttered, looking utterly shell-shocked.

"Ooooh, Wormy's finally getting the girls!" whooped James.

"Shut it, Prongs," he replied.

"Our little boy is all grown up," he said, pretending to get teary eyed, then turning to Remus and Sirius. Remus was laughing, but Sirius wasn't. He was looking of into the distance with an odd sort of look on his face.

"Padfoot? You alright, mate?" James asked.

"What? Oh yeah, fine. It's just- been a while since I've seen Lucius."

"Oh, right," James winced, "You're like... cousins, right? Cousins one removed? Twice?"

"Something like that," muttered Sirius.

"You okay?" asked Remus, looking concerned.

"Yeah, fine," he repeated, "Just a weird reminder..."

"Come on," Remus said, putting his arm around his boyfriend's shoulder and leading him down the hall, "Let's go back to the dorm."

***

In the weeks that followed, Lilac Brown seemed to pop up everywhere they went. Soon, she and Peter were taking long walks around the grounds together almost daily. The other marauders were getting used to being back at Hogwarts as well. Remus nagged them all to do their homework, they had performed several outstanding pranks, and they had not seen Lucius since the welcoming feast. Everything seemed normal. That is, until the marauders turned on Peter.