James and Lily Potter: Second year

Chapter 2: second year

"Sorry," he mumbled. 

The whole lot of Diagon Ally was staring at him. Many of the bystanders were Hogwarts students, and some of them snickered and a few whispered to each other that James Potter, the most wanted and admired boy in school, liked Lily Evans, the prettiest and cleverest girl at Hogwarts. 

"Er-" Lily was staring at James, puzzled. No one had said that she was gorgeous- probably Sirius had put a charm on him to repeat the words, 'Jamie-boy, you know Lily Evans is gorgeous' in his head. 

"Shall we join our friends?" asked James, still red in the face. As they went to the ice cream parlor where their friends were, many girls flirted with James non-stop; fluttering their eyelashes and giggling like idiots. Lily looked thoroughly depressed by all the attention that she was getting as well. Nearly every boy- even fourth and fifth years- were staring at her with a mixture of astonishment and intensity. Suddenly, Severus Snape, the famous hater of Gryffindor, had come up to her, looking into her eyes pleadingly. 

"Lily!" he exclaimed happily. "How pleasant to see you!" He eyed her body in approval. Then he looked over at James and frowned. 

"What are you doing here, Potter?"

"I've come to buy my school supplies, Snape, you idiot," snapped James. He was obviously in a very bad mood. "Why, is that illegal?"

"It looks like you were harassing my lily," spat the greasy- haired boy. He emphasised on the 'my' 

"For heavens' sake, I'm not yours, Snape!" cried Lily. She had enough of the oily Slytherin as well. 

Snape was taken aback. Lily had never lost control like that to him before. He concluded that Potter had indeed messed around with the poor girl's brain and decided to make an offer involving improper advances to Evans before Evan Rosier could find him. 

"So, Lily," he began, "would you like to have a 'visit' to my dormitory today?"

"Thinking of shagging her Snape?" Spat James menacingly. Snape was taken aback.

"Well!" he exclaimed, but his tone was unusually high. "I certainly do not know how you came up with such a theory, Potter, but I can assure you-"

"No thank you, Severus," snapped Lily, "I would not like to visit your dormitory. No doubt that you do want me to crawl into bed with you, and McGonagall or Hurst catching me. Besides, it's against school rules: no Inter-House common room visits."

James sighed in relief. For a fleeting moment, he thought that Lily would accept Snape's offer just to make him jealous. But he wouldn't be, of course - would he?

"Hello? Earth to James!" It was Sirius, and he was grinning like a maniac.

James was back on Earth again. Then he broke into a tirade. "How dare you leave me alone with Evans, Sirius Black! What were you thinking?"

Sirius shrugged. "It wasn't my plan, it was my Bella's and all her friend's plan. I swear I had nothing to do with it!" His face was pale as James' cold face stared furiously at his. 

Finally, James gave up. Maybe Sirius was telling the truth for once in his life. "Fine, forget about it."

Sirius grinned. "That's Jamie-boy for you. Always had a big heart."

"Sirius, do me a favor and stop the sappy stuff."

"Whatever you say."

James decided to change the subject. After all, they were going nowhere with this conversation. "Did you ever wonder why Remus disappears every month?"

Sirius furrowed his brow. "Didn't he say his mother was ill and he had to go home to see her?" He asked, almost doubtfully. 

"Yeah- but Dumbledore wouldn't allow a student to go home just because his mother was ill, would he?"

"No... but Dumbledore's always been the kind and understanding headmaster, so I wouldn't count on it. But it's funny, really, how poor Remus looks like he doesn't get enough sleep at all. I'm sure if he did go home to visit his mother, he would get a good rest."

James' head snapped up. "I think I've got it!"

"Got what?"

"The answer to Remus' mysterious disappearances!"

"Have you? What is it?"

"Well... I don't exactly have the answer, but I know how to find out. Here, give me a piece of parchment."

Sirius handed his best friend a piece of parchment, wondering vaguely if his friend had gone bonkers. James was scribbling down on his parchment eargerly, and Sirius leaned in to see what he was writing. 

Remus disappears every month.

Remus seems awkward whenever we bring up the subject of why he disappears, so it must be something he really doesn't want us all to know. 

I notice that whenever he disappears, the moon is full because he always glances at it wistfully. 

Sirius stared at the piece of parchment. "What does this all mean?" He asked eagerly. 

James shrugged. "I have no idea."