The Marauders: Year Five #Wattys2017

Don't Forget the Face That Snogs You

Don't Forget the Face That Snogs You

Admittedly, James had a feeling that he had forgotten something.

It had been nagging him half the evening, as he sat on the stairs in the Gryffindor common room with Sirius, waiting for Remus to appear. But he'd done his homework, and even written a letter to his mum and dad. He'd unpacked his robes so they wouldn't be wrinkled (at least not for the first couple days anyway) and he'd brought the first years up stairs for Lily, like she'd asked. He'd even been so kind as to help them set up a study session in the common room at the table, helped them organize their time tables, and shared some of the popcorn Peter made with them -- and answered questions they kept asking, like incessant little seagulls. "James, James, help us with this, James Potter help us with this one, too!"

He'd done all that, but still -- there seemed like there was something else. Something he was supposed to do that he hadn't done.

It occurred to James very suddenly exactly what it was when he was sitting at the Gryffindor house table the next morning at breakfast and he looked up and promptly choked on his bacon.

Sirius turned and whacked James on the back heartily, "Don't go dyin' mate."

"Cover for me," James hacked.

"Say what?" Sirius asked, confused.

But the next moment he knew exactly what James had been talking about.

"So. The Astronomy Tower was just lovely last night," Maryrose said in a very sarcastic tone as she walked over and stood beside the table, her arms crossed over her chest. "Positively lovely! Bit lonely though. See, I was sitting up there for nearly an hour, waiting for my boyfriend, who bloody invited me to go along up there himself, with this stupid little paper bird --" she chucked the bird onto the table, "-- but he never came. Certainly, he must be ill, I thought, so what do you think I should be thinking, when I come in here this morning, and there he is, laughing with his mates, clearly feeling quite well?"

Sirius looked at James, then back at Maryrose, the back to James. He so desperately wanted to come up with something witty to say, something that would clear James's name but he had nothing.

"I'm sorry Maryrose," James said helplessly. "I - I dunno what happened, I --"

To everyone's surprise - it was Peter that spoke up. "No. James. I won't let you take the blame."

They all looked at him.

Peter looked up at Maryrose. "I'm sorry. It's my fault he's missed your date. I - I did something stupid and... and James helped me." His face turned bright red.

"Something stupid?" she asked, eyeing James.

Peter took a deep breath. "I... I was messing about, with the Transfiguration book.. And..." he took a deep breath, then announced, "I tried at transfiguring my steamer into a dragon and -- oh blimey, it was so bad, Maryrose. Our dormitory's got a proper singing. But please, don't tell anyone! Professor Minnie will give me a detention and --" his eyes were moist. "I'm such a failure. Practically a squib."

Daaaaamn, Sirius thought. Pete's good.

Maryrose looked from Peter to James.

"I had to - to fix it," James said, catching on and, with his vivid imagination, he went adding details like mad. "Had to transfigure it back. Had to catch it first, of course. The steamer, I mean. It seemed to have only got parts of the dragon, you know. The firebreathing and the wings. Flapping about the room and every time the lid opened fire came out. Lucky most of what it destroyed was either fixable with a good reparo, but not all of it. And the dorm's a positive mess. By the time I got up to the Astronomy tower, you'd gone and -- and you know how it is, trying to get into one of the other common rooms, right impossible..."