Change Your Mind

Thanks for the reviews. Especially you RowanNightwish, you have reviewed two of my stories thus far and therefore earn 40 house points. And for Some Guy, I have decided to add a lemon to this story, but it will be near the end and will by no means be smut(i hope). Warning, it will be my first ever lemon and i hope to portray it realistically as well as beautifully. But either way, it will take a long time to write. Also, hope you readers like my Remus character, he\'s like Hermione only instead of stubborn and fiery, he\'s moody(and he can totally kick-ass if he wants to). Sirius is more like Ron only smarter and more self-confident, he really fills the role of best-mate to James. And James, well he\'s like Harry only once again more self-confident. James also has a little bit of Fred and George mixed in with him.


Chapter Three:

My Oh My.

“Uhh,” James said thickly, leaning back from his cauldron. He was in double potions this morning and his Elixir to induce Euphoria’s vapors were making him feel quite stupid and light-headed. Remus, who was sitting right next to him, giggled brightly at James, his potion being a deep yellow and was admitting wispy clouds of mist. Bored, James stirred his cauldron’s contents, whose dark mustard yellow color and curdling edges made it look like cat-sick. At least it wasn’t as bad as Sirius’s, he thought happily to himself, whose potion was black and hissing loudly on his other side. Or then again maybe he being optimistic owing to the fact that Remus was now eagerly trying to waft his potion’s vapors toward him.

“Time’s just about up, students!” Slughorn’s voice jovially rang out. “Lets have a look-see shall we?” Remus had to quickly move his seat out of the way, almost falling over, as Slughorn navigated his large stomach past him, moving to the front of their table. (“Hee, hee James, I think he made a fluffy, ha ha.”)

As Slughorn peered over the three’s work (carefully avoiding the fumes) he happily gave Remus an E and then proceeded to hurriedly administer an A to James and a give Sirius a T.

Sirius was looking thoroughly disgruntled as he secretly pocketed some of his potion into a small bottle (something he always did), and James wondered casually if he couldn’t convince Remus to give some of his elixir to Sirius. But when he looked up at him he saw a very lopsided grin on the werewolf’s face. Maybe he could convince Remus to do a little bit more than just lending him some elixir, he had just bought a very nice new set of quills the other day, and come to think of it, James had always wondered how well Remus could dance .................

His thoughts were interrupted with a hearty guffaw from two tables behind him. James suspected that Slughorn had just seen Lily’s potion, and sure enough when he turned around he saw the Professor beaming at her, her face as red as her hair, and he was talking non-stop of how her elixir had achieved the ideal “sunshine yellow glow”. The Ravenclaw girl sitting next to her was looking slightly put-out, and from the corner of his eye James saw Remus’s smile quickly vanish. Damn.

“An outstanding if I ever saw one!” He boomed, not noticing that all the students had packed up until Remus coughed. “Oh, oh! Best be getting on your way students, especially you Lily, wouldn’t want to see your perfect record tarnished by lateness would we?”


She let out a forced giggle and headed out the door into the hall. The three friends exited soon after, James asking Sirius what he planned to do with his potion while Remus bit back the urge to tell them both off. When Sirius told James that he didn’t know what the potion would do, James then started to talk about Lily, keeping his voice loud so that she, who was a few paces in front of them, could hear him.

“Don’t bother her now James.” Remus said, trying to sound uncaring even tough his face still looked angry. James knew Remus’s potion had been just as good as Lily’s and agreed that Slughorn’s favoritism was unfair, but the idea of his future wife and best friend never getting along because he took sides wasn’t one he was to keen on, so he kept his mouth shut.

“Wonder how long Wormtail’s gonna be in the Hospital wing this time?” Sirius said to himself, oblivious to Remus, “ I’d put my galleons on another hour, we have transfiguration next and he’s still a little scared after Mcgonagall snuck up on him in her cat form the other day and told him off for-”

But he stopped mid-sentence as a sight at the top of the stairs leading to the entrance hall distracted him: Lily had suddenly stopped walking, her books and bag strewn across the floor, and walking past her, sneer in place, was a pallid, hook-nosed teenage boy with long dark hair.

In the blink of an eye James and Sirius had their wands drawn and were pointing them at the boy, who had just as suddenly revealed his own. Remus had slipped past them and was now helping Lily pick up her books.

“Well, well, as if the dungeons weren’t unpleasant enough.” Said James, trying to be sarcastic even though his voice was defensive.

Wasting no time the boy shouted “Sectumsempra!”, and James felt a searing hot pain shoot across his left arm like a whip, ripping his robes and splattering them with blood.

“Expelliarmus!” Sirius bellowed with anger, as he quickly stepped forward in front of James. The boy was knocked off his feet and thrown three feet back onto the steps as his wand flew out of his hand and landed inside Lily’s open book bag. Lily looked down, her face unreadable as she slowly picked up the wand .

Meanwhile, the boy hadn’t noticed where his wand had landed, and was simply standing at the foot of the staircase, facing James and Sirius with a look of deepest loathing etched into every line of his face. A large crowd of people had built up around the scene now, Slytherins and Hufflepuffs that were on their way to potions stood at the top of the stairs, while the few Gryffindors and Ravenclaws that were left stood in the corridor. Everyone watched them, brimming with eagerness and waiting for the ensuing fight, but giving the boy and the marauders a wide berth for fear of being hurt from a stray hex or curse.


“Snivellus,” Sirius spat, his voice vindictive, “ hasn’t your mother ever taught you anything? If you make funny faces it might stay like that.” Then, almost lazily, he pointed his wand at the boy and made a quick, jab-like motion with it.

The boy’s face suddenly started to tighten, as his lips were pulled and stretched by the corners farther and farther towards his cheeks as he tried in vain to hide them with his hands. Soon, what appeared to be a clown-like smile was apparent on the boys face. Red and too large to cover, it looked oddly maniacal with his narrowed black eyes.

“I guess it’s just a no-go,” James said, regaining his composure as he stood next to Sirius, his wand raised, “Snivellus just looks ugly no matter how he’s feeling.”

Laughter from the students followed his words as the boy made incoherent sounds and clenched his firsts tightly. If it wasn’t for the large clown smile upon his face, his look would have been murderous.

“What’s that Snivelly,? I don’t think I can hear you.” James said as he put a hand to his ear. “It better be an apology for Evans!”

“He didn’t do anything!” Lily suddenly spoke up. “I just bumped into him and dropped my bag, he’s done nothing wrong! You were the ones who started it, so just leave him alone and stop being an ass!” With that she threw the boy’s wand to the ground, it landing a few inches in front of him. The crowd parted for Lily as she huffed and quickly walked off.

Not saying a word of thanks or even seeming to realize that Lily had been there, the boy quickly snatched up his wand before Sirius or James could hex it out of the way.

Pointing it at his chin he uttered more incomprehensible words, and the large smile on his face quickly shrunk back into its original sadistic form, now twitching with anger.

“My name is Severus, you blood-traitor scum!” His voice was low and sharp, dripping with hatred and anticipation. “Furnunculus!”

And it didn’t take more then three seconds after that for the fight to fully break out. Students laughed and yelled, jeered and cheered as hexes flew around the corridor, bouncing off walls and hitting those who couldn’t move away fast enough. Even Remus joined in, standing with James and Sirius, as they blasted hex after hex at Severus.

After thirty seconds Severus had successfully hit Sirius with the curse of the slugs, but was now sporting a bad case of boils, thanks to Remus. Injured arm now bleeding worse than ever James took advantage of Severus’s distraction due to the itching and stupefied him.



“Okay, that’s it! One worthless sack of shit, insert thorough ass-kicking!” Sirius yelled as he lunged for the still form of Severus lying on the floor. Neither of the other two making any attempts to stop him. He had just latched his hands around the boys neck though, when he had to stop, turn and retch as a fresh batch of slugs erupted form his mouth, spilling unto the floor.

Wiping the slime from his bottom lip on the sleeve of his robe, he quickly recovered with a crazy look in his eyes and once again tried to jump Severus. Only this time, he was stopped nearly in midair by the fat arm of a very enraged professor.

As Sirius turned to look at Professor Slughorn, he and the others suddenly noticed that the stairs and corridor were quickly becoming empty as most of the students hurriedly ran to their classes, stepping and tripping over the few who had been hit by various jinxes and hexes and were now lying on the floor with extra heads or covered in six-inch long gashes.

“Never, never in all.....” He was literally shaking, and considering his girth this might have been funny if it weren’t for the current situation. “......never seen such a out of control display of house rivalries!”

“Sure-,” James whispered to Remus, before he could stop himself, “suppose the infamous Heir of Slytherin incident happened on his holiday?”

Slughorn turned towards him, letting Sirius go. ‘Damn!’ James thought. He really could always manage to surprise himself with his own idiocy.

“You three,” he said, pointing a plump finger at the marauders, “Mrs. Mcgonagall’s room, now. And take this,” he added as he used his wand to create a small roll of parchment and then handed it to Remus. He then turned to Severus and uttered “Ennervate.”

The boy slowly leaned forward, balancing on his elbows as he turned his head to look from the students on the floor to Professor Slughorn and the Marauders. He quickly stood up, not uttering a single word.

“Go to the hospital wing, and bring Madam Pomfrey down here, then meet me in my office to discuss your punishment.” He stood there, the blood in his walrus like face turning him a deep maroon colour. “Well, I said go!”

Quickly the four boys sped up the stairs, Severus falling backward as Sirius threw his small potion bottle behind his back at him. As large white rabbit ears sprouted from the dark young man’s greasy hair, and the roars of the professor could be heard echoing up through the corridor, the three boys turned tail and ran up into the entrance hall.





* * *



That night in the common room, the three boys recounted their tale to a large group of adoring fans. Always loving an audience, Sirius and James reenacted with vigor every curse they fired, and every dodge and remark they made, as their fellow students clapped, gasped, held their breaths and cheered at all the right times. A reluctant Remus played Severus, falling over unto the floor in front of the fire, followed by the Gryffindors clapping at his defeat. James engorged his stomach in and in an imitation of Professor Slughorn, purposefully knocked into other students as he clumsily moved about the room.

When they were done the three flopped down unto their favorite armchairs next to Peter, who told them all about how Madam Pomfrey and Slughorn had been trying so hard all afternoon to try and remove Severus’s bunny ears.

“You see, because Sirius’s potion was new, and they didn’t have a sample, they couldn’t figure out a way to go about removing them. You should have seen the great greasy git, gritting his teeth the whole time as Madam Pomfrey tried to roll up his ears and hide them under his hair! In the end though, they managed to shrink them, and now they look kinda like little white bear ears. Oh I can’t wait for Defense against the Dark Arts with the Slytherin’s tomorrow.” He finished with mischievous look in his eyes as he wrung his hands together.

“There’s a first.” Said Sirius.

“That potion was bloody brilliant Padfoot.” James laughed as his large stomach jiggled.

“I didn’t think anything that happened this morning was very funny.” As Lily approached the three, a small blonde friend of hers named Alice standing a few feet behind her (staring shyly at Sirius), James quickly tried to shrink his enormous stomach back to normal.

Peter, Remus and Sirius all held up their right hands, and using their fingers, counted down from three.

“I told you that Severus hadn’t done anything, you were just so arrogant you couldn’t pass up the chance show off. You don’t ever care what kind of consequences your actions have on others. Six Ravenclaws and two Hufflepuffs had to go to the Hospital wing because of your fight.” She finished just as Peter, Sirius and Remus’s fingers signaled one.


“ If you hadn’t of given Severus his wand back, then the fight wouldn’t have broken out in the first place.” James said defiantly as his stomach started to shrink, he couldn’t believe she was still acting like this. Remus, Sirius and Peters hands all went down as the three looked at each other in confusion. This was not what they expected.

It was if James had just slapped her. Her eyes went wide with a mixture of fear, embarassment and anger. She looked just about ready to start giving them a major telling off, but James stopped her.

“God! I’m sorry, it looked like he had done something! He’s the one who attacked me first anyway, but I guess you were too busy jumping to conclusions to notice that weren’t you? I’ve already gotten a hour long telling off from Mcgonagall and three nights of detention, are you happy? ‘Cause I really don’t need you telling me off right now. All I’ve ever tried to do is be nice to you, or stick up for you, but your such a damn goody-two-shoes all you ever could do was treat me like this!”

A long silence followed, the other three marauders still looking at each other stunned. James had never spoken to Lily like this. He didn’t know what had gotten into him, he was just so mad at her right now, partly for her giving back Severus his wand, partly because she was once again trying to ruin his mood, and partly because she was fighting with him once again. Which meant she was still far from ever considering loving him.

James looked at her face, she was biting her bottom lip as she made a gesture like she was going to hold up her wand. Angry, but still scared of her hexes, he covered his face. But when he felt and heard nothing, he looked at her again. What she did was so much worse than any hex.

She was crying.

“Your such an idiot James! I hate you! I hate you so much!” Her wand fell to the floor, as her hands covered her face, choking back her sobs as she turned and ran for the staircase that led to the girl’s dormitories. Alice followed her, looking daggers at James as she went to comfort her friend.

When she was finally out of sight James looked at the rest of the common room, now quiet as everyone held looks of shock and disbelief. Everyone except Remus, Peter and Sirius, who were now glaring at him.

“What!? She was the one who wanted to start something!” He was still angry at her, at everyone, and he was still frustrated. “The only difference is this time I decided to finish it!”

“You know she didn’t deserve that James.” Remus said quietly. James noticed the use of his real name.

“It’s not her fault she can’t understand your feelings for her.” Sirius added.

“You should apologize.” Peter finished.


“Shut up, all of you. I didn’t need a telling off from her, and I don’t need one from you.” Not even waiting for a reply, he grabbed his things and walked up the staircase to the boy’s dormitories.

He threw himself unto his bed, fuming. All this time, and all they ever did was argue. For so long, it had been like this, and he hadn’t given up. But now he knew : nothing, nothing he ever did was going to make her love him. Years of this, but what was the point of trying anymore? He wanted to be as far away from her as possible, it hurt too much to be near her.

But in the back of his head, he knew that his friends were right. That the biggest reason he and her still argued was because of him not taking her seriously. Still, it helped to be angry at her, to yell and vent himself. If he didn’t, then surely he would have confessed to her his true feelings in his desperation. And if he had, and she refused him, what would he have done?

A few hours later, as the rest of the marauders and Frank carefully stepped into the room and crept into their beds, James didn’t hear them. He had finally fallen asleep, glasses still on.


(The Dream).
~*~

James was sitting in a classroom at his desk. The sunlight poured in heavily from the windows, revealing the dust that floated through the air in front of him. Looking down, he saw what appeared to be a test, the top of which saying, Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests. He must have been taking his Newts.

For some reason, he instantly became bored and his eyes wandered to the row of desks in the front of the room. Dark red hair told him that Lily was just three seats in front of him. As if he had meant to be there all along, he was suddenly standing in front of her desk. He saw her paper. It was the note she had hidden in her book in the common room that one night. He leaned closer and tried to read it, but couldn’t. He didn’t know why, it was clear as day, written in plain English, but he just couldn’t understand what it said.

“James! What are you doing?” Lily had turned to look at him, her voice was angry but her face filled with tears.

“Don’t bother her James,” Said Remus, who was suddenly sitting in the desk next to her, and for some reason in his werewolf form. “She’s taking her Quidditch Newt, and needs to be serious about it if she wants to pass.”

“I don’t understand.” James said. “Quidditch Newt?” What was going on?


“Sit down, mister Potter.” Said a voice he recognized behind him. He turned and saw a taller version of Severus, wearing long black robes and staring at him with large, onyx eyes. He, apparently, was the examiner.

“Leave Lily alone,” he continued. “Your going to cause her to fail, just like you.”

James was speechless, it felt as though every part of his body was frozen.

“Please,” Lily said, her voice now calm and serene. “ It’s important I pass. Please don’t do this James.”

Her voice startled him, something about it, something was wrong, but he couldn’t tell what. He once again felt that horrible feeling of dread in his stomach. He was tried to say something to her but out of nowhere a raspy, disembodied voice echoed loudly throughout the room.

“James, wake up. James!”

~*~

James nearly fell out of his bed as Remus woke him. Sunlight was streaming through the windows unto his bed. Looking angrily at him, James simply closed his eyes again, trying to recall what he had just dreamt. It had all seemed so real, yet so far away. Finally giving up, he turned to Remus, planning to thoroughly chew him out, only to see that he was already gone.