The Marauders Era

The Slug Club and the Future Death Eaters

   "Lily, James, a moment if you please." Professor Slughorn called after the potions lesson. Sirius looked back at James, who shrugged. Sirius shrugged back then Remus took his hand and pulled him away.

"I'm having a bit of an end of year party, up in my room. It's tomorrow night, surely you can make this one James m'boy?" Slughorn asked. "Quidditch season finished, another week until the exams, how about it?" Slughorn added. "Um, yeah, yeah I guess so." James replied, he'd been avoiding Slughorn's parties all year. "Excellent m'boy, you'll be game too then Lily?" Slughorn said happily. "Yes, of course." Lily replied. "Wonderful, wonderful, eight o'clock, there'll be snacks." Slughorn said. Then with a nod of his head James and Lily left.

"Finally my boyfriend will be at one of these parties with me." Lily said happily, squeezing James' hand as they left the dungeon. "I'm only coming because of you." James said, stopping and turning to face Lily, holding both of her hands. She smiled and wrapped an arm around his neck, standing on tiptoe to kiss him. They lost track of how long they stood there until... "Oi! Detention Potter and Evans, you should be in class." McGonagall said. James and Lily broke apart and picked up their bags, Lily blushing furiously. "Oh come on Minnie, it was you who told me to clean up my act and go and get her." James said, smirking. McGonagall rolled her eyes. "I'm forever grateful." James said, putting a fake, soppy look on his face. He kissed her on the cheek, giggled to himself, then put an arm around Lily and ran away with her. McGonagall smiled to herself. "Dumbledore owes me three Galleons, me and Hagrid knew it would work out." she said happily.

"I have to go to Slughorn's end of year party thing." James said, laying back on his bed. "That sucks." Peter said. Remus and Sirius were laying back on Remus' bed. Sirius said "Hopefully you get off with Evans though eh? I'm sure that would brighten up the evening." James scowled and Sirius turned onto his side to face Remus. James rolled his eyes then put an arm around Peter. "C'mon Pete, these two obviously need to be alone." he said and they went down to the common room.

The next day James pulled on a plain white button up shirt, but only did the buttons halfway, so his tattooed chest was on display. He ran his fingers through his messy hair a few times.

Downstairs in the common room Lily was sitting with Marlene and Alice, dressed up nice with her silky and shiny. James snuck up behind her and kissed her. She giggled and James picked her up, lifted her over the back of the couch and put her down. He held out his hand, which she took, then Lily said goodbye to her friends and she and James went to Slughorn's room.

Loud music was playing, the room was dimly lit and house elves carried trays of snacks and drinks. Slughorn instantly engaged Lily in conversation, leaving James' standing there awkwardly. He snatched a glass from a table and turned his back on Slughorn, rummaging in his pocket. He pulled out a hip flask, tipped a generous amount into his drink and took a sip.

"James m'boy? What about you?" Slughorn said. James coughed over his drink and turned back towards the potions master. "Sorry?" he said. "What are you thinking about doing after school?" Slughorn asked. "Oh you know, doing whatever I can, working against Voldemort." James said. Slughorn shivered and Lily slipped her hand into James'. She knew he hated people being afraid of Voldemort's name.

Lily and James slipped out of Slughorn's party around ten o'clock and went back up to Gryffindor Tower. Remus was reading the Daily Prophet with a look of disgust on his face, Sirius was laid back, sleeping on Remus. "Where's Pete?" James asked, shoving Sirius' legs out of the way and sitting down on the couch. "Fuck off Prongs, I was sleeping." Sirius said grumpily, sitting up. Lily sat down next to James. "I dunno, Pete said he was catching up with someone. It's probably a girl if he doesn't want to tell us." Remus said. James shrugged. "I'm going to find Marlene and Alice, night." Lily said, kissing James on the cheek. "Night Lils, I love you." James replied. "Love you too. Goodnight guys." Lily said to Sirius and Remus then she went up to the girls dormitories.

James went up to his dormitory and changed into a pair of pyjama pants. He got into bed and took the photograph of him and Lily from his bedside table. A sudden idea springed to mind. James jumped out of bed, got dressed again and pulled on his only Quidditch hoodie that Lily hadn't stolen. He tucked the Marauders Map into his pocket and swung his Invisibility Cloak over his head, before going down to the common room. Sirius had fallen asleep again. James started climbing the girls stairs, he knew the stairs would usually change into a slide but the Invisibility Cloak seemed to do the trick. James reached the door with 'Seventh years' written on it and knocked. "Come in." Marlene called. James closed the door behind him then pulled off the Cloak. "James? What are you doing here?" Alice asked. She was sitting at a little desk in the corner, writing a letter. Lily and Marlene sat on Lily's bed, Lily was wearing another one of James' hoodies. "I just wanted to talk to Lily, I wanted to take her out." James replied, jumping onto Lily's bed. The two girls squealed and Marlene dived onto her bed out of the way. Lily lay down with James and put her head on his chest. "Who are you writing to?" James asked Alice, stroking Lily's hair. "Frank." Alice replied. "You guys are still going strong then, that's cool. How's Frank going with Auror training?" James asked. "He's nearly finished." Alice replied.

"I believe you said something about taking me out?" Lily replied. "Indeed I did." James replied, getting up. He held out his hand and pulled Lily to her feet. He picked up the Invisibility Cloak. "Night ladies." he said and he swung the Cloak over himself and Lily and left the dormitories.

They passed through the common room and down to the Entrance Hall. James tapped the door with his wand and it swung open, with a glance at Lily he pulled them out into the grounds. They flung the Cloak off and ran down to the lake hand in hand, laughing until they couldn't breathe. James tripped and pulled Lily down with him, they rolled in the grass and stopped by the bank of the lake.

Just then they heard voices and James whipped around. A group of people were walking back up to the castle. One of the shadows reminded James of someone. He jumped to his feet and sprinted over. It was a group of Slytherins, dodgy Slytherins, including Severus Snape. But in the middle of the group, looking terrified, was Peter. James grabbed the front of Peter's robes and pulled him out of the group. He ran with Peter back to Lily and sat down with him. "Are you alright?" James asked. Peter nodded. "What the bloody hell were you doing with that lot?" James asked. "I was walking to the library and they tied me up and took me into the forest, they were talking about You-Know-Who, they were saying they were going to join him." Peter said, then he burst into tears. "Well, no surprises there. Let's get back to the castle." James said. He pulled Peter to his feet, put an arm around his shoulders and they walked back up to Gryffindor Tower.

"Sorry about our evening Lily." James said at the bottom of the girls stairs. "Don't worry, make sure Peter's ok." Lily said. James kissed her and then she went upstairs.

Remus and Sirius were no longer in the common room. James and Peter went up to the dormitory, where they found Remus reading to Sirius. James and Peter raised their eyebrows and flopped down on their own beds. Remus promptly shut his book and threw it aside, and laid down more comfortably beside Sirius. "What's going on?" Remus asked. "Pete got ambushed by Slytherins, Merlin knows where they would have taken him if Lily and I hadn't got him." James said. "What did they do Wormy?" Sirius asked consolingly. "Threatened me to join You-Know-Who." Peter replied. "Those arses, who was it?" Remus asked. "Snivellus, and his gang, a few sixth years who I don't know and -" Peter stopped, looking terrified at Sirius. "Who else?" Sirius growled. "Regelus." Peter murmured. Sirius jumped to his feet, narrowly missing breaking Remus' jaw. "That little bastard, he'll get himself killed." Sirius said, wrenching open the door. James jumped up and held him back. Together, he and Remus pushed Sirius back down onto Remus' bed. "I'll bet my parents are right proud of their little hero. Meanwhile Reg is probably half scared to death." Sirius muttered.

The other three boys sat around Sirius all night. Sirius started crying over the fate of his brother and Remus kissed him gently, while James and Peter tried to find light in the situation.