20 20 Girls Are Complicated

"Really James? The Slug Club?" Sirius said as they exited the class.

"Uh, yeah."

"You just want to get close to Evans huh?"

Well he definitely wouldn't mind that.

James ruffled his hair.

"It's just, you know, for the future and all that."

"James, you already know you won't have any issues joining the Auror program."

James grimaced.

"I don't know if I want to be an Auror anymore."

"What?!" Sirius said loudly, gaining a few glares from the surrounding Slytherins and Gryffindors.

"That's a shame Potter. I would have loved to see your obituary for acting like an idiot," Snape sneered.

"Sniv-" Sirius began.

"Sorry to disappoint you there Snape," James said, feigning a smile.

In reality he had to push down the urge to use a Bird Beak Hex on him.

He didn't want to continue harassing Snape, but he didn't think he'd ever be the guy's friend. Bloke was just a git most of the time.

The surrounding onlookers gaped at James like he had grown a second head. Even Snape looked completely thrown off.

"What?" James asked.

Sirius looked around at the others then laughed out loud.

"Oh that's hilarious."

"What?!" James asked a bit more insistently.

"You've never called Snivvy by his name before… well at least not in public. They're all shocked to silence."

"Black!" Snape growled, now no longer staring at James.

Sirius ignored him, but James could see a vein pop in his friend's forehead.

James blinked.

"Huh. Well, that's awkward."

Peter and Remus ran up behind them, Peter having waited for Remus's talk with the Professor.

"What's their problem?" Remus asked, looking confused at the silent frozen hallway.

"James being James," Sirius waved away, then began walking down the hallway again.

"That could mean anything," Remus said. "Did Evans say no again to him asking her out?"

"Nah."

"Did James regale them with another one of his exquisite Quidditch plays?"

"Nah."

"Did James break it down like he was in a muggle club?"

"Nah."

"Did James whip it out for everyone to see, only they couldn't because it was so small? OW!"

"Nah, James has been walking with it hanging out for years now and no one has ever noticed. OW!"

"Gits."

Remus rubbed his chest.

"I really regret making that Purple Nurple Hex."

"I thought it was a Jinx?" Peter asked.

"Semantics."

"James, you don't want to be an Auror anymore? Why? You've been saying from day one that it's your dream," Sirius said now that they were out of earshot of the rest of their class.

James ran a hand through his hair. Him and Sirius had been talking about joining the force together for a while now, to change so suddenly might hurt his friends feelings.

"Well, you know, before I wanted to fight crime, put away the dark wizards and all that."

Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, and now that sounds dreadfully boring I'm guessing?"

"My uncle has said that there is more paperwork than Spellwork in the DLME," James said grinning. "But no. I was just thinking… what if instead of stopping crimes I prevented them from happening. I'm Heir to a rather famous House. If I use that power correctly, imagine all the changes I could make?"

"Such as?" Remus prompted, and James thought he saw a hint of respect in his quiet friend.

"Muggleborn rights laws. Legally they're practically second-class citizens. Aurors and quite a few Ministry officials can go into their houses with nothing but a "gut feeling," about something being wrong. Then all the "half-breed" laws. Every other country in Europe is well past that kind of discrimination, but Britain is still stuck in the last century. I could even get on the Board of Governers here at Hogwarts. Did you know there used to be both a Spell Creation class and an Alchemy class? The Dark faction took it off the curriculum because they could just hire someone to teach their kids it, and they don't want half-bloods and muggleborns to get a leg up."

James didn't mention Dumbledore's apparent silent support of the changes.

"Also," James said with a devious grin. "Maybe I could finally get Binns out of teaching. I've heard he's actually a great source of knowledge, but is unable to actually teach it as a Professor should."

"Another "Harry" lesson?" Remus asked with narrowed eyes.

"U-uh… no?" James stammered.

Harry, based on his age, would have been born around the late 1700's, way before Professor Binns died.

"Wait, how is Binns a good source of knowledge?" Peter asked.

"Ghosts are echos of their living selves. Whatever connection causes them to stay in the mortal plane they have more awareness of. Like Moaning Myrtle, the girl always talks about how she gets made fun of and how people don't treat her well. She had died right after being bullied, and those feelings are what she feels the most strongly about and can remember any time its happened since her death. Binns was a rather famous historian, one of the reasons he is so obsessed with Goblin Rebellions is that around the time of his death there was one, so it was constantly on his mind. But he still has up to date information on all things history that he's heard, and all the things he knew of history before his death. He's just pants at teaching now."

"Blah blah blah, James, what are you going to do then?" Sirius said, coming back to the conversation after zoning out. "Just run around throwing money at problems? Or, I don't know, go for Minister?"

James opened his mouth, then closed it.

"I- I don't know. I just know being an Auror takes a lot of time, and you can't really have both a personal life and a political life as one. Maybe I will get a job at the Ministry," James said, even as a sick taste entered his mouth at the thought.

"What about a Lawyer?" Peter said.

"Nah, I actually think you'd make a pretty good lawyer, but not me," James said.

"Really?" Peter asked, a faint blush appearing on his face.

"I mean yeah, or even a private detective. You're amazing at reading people."

"What about going for Undersecretary? They have the Ministers ear?" Remus said.

James thought of the scars on Harry's hand. I will not tell lies.

"No."

"Unspeakable?" Sirius put in, still not on board with James not being an Auror.

"They have a lot of freedom, but not a lot of power," Remus said. "The Ministry uses them as consultants for a lot of things, and during emergencies they can take over certain things, but they can't interfere with mundane laws and regulations."

James rubbed the crease between his brows. Maybe he should just become an Auror, it would be so much simpler than trying to upheave the entirety of the Wizarding World. Become an Auror, marry Lily, have a kid, and get murdered. So simple.

"Alright alright, this talk is giving me a headache. Let's start planning."

"Planning what?" a familiar voice coldly asked.

Lily Evans stood there, a familiar purse hanging next to her book bag. Good cover. Next to her were her own group of friends from Gryffindor.

Marlene McKinnon was nothing like you would expect from a Pureblood princess. She actually acted a lot like Sirius, never able to sit still, impulsive, loud as shit. It caused them to try and go out in their third-year. It went terribly, and instead of breaking up themselves, the entirety of the House decided the two were better off apart. She was tall, with tanned skin and blonde hair with hazel eyes.

Mary Macdonald was a half-blood. She was rather short, with wavy brown hair, pale skin and an easy smile. She was also an airhead. Not in the she's dumb kind of way, but in the she'll forget all of her school supplies in the Gryfindor tower, along with the proper clothes to wear. She once showed up to class in bell bottom jeans and a polo shirt.

Lastly was Dorcas Meadows, the shortest of the bunch with midnight black skin, wild curly hair, and a perpetual frown on her face. She was a pureblood, and probably the quickest wand in their year. She wasn't a hardass like Lily was, but she just didn't seem to know how to relax and have fun.

"Following us Evans?" Sirius asked. "I don't think you'd make the best stalker with hair like that. Sticks out you know?"

Lily glared at Sirius. Was James supposed to find that look hot? Probably not… still, it was hot.

"That didn't answer my question," she replied.

"My apologies Lady Lily," James said bowing.

Damn what was he doing?

"We did not mean to insult you and your lovely company. We were just thinking of planning our study sessions for this week."

Lily raised an eyebrow. Bloody hell he found that hot too.

"Don't ever call me Lady Lily again Potter," Lily said.

James hid a grimace.

"And quite frankly I don't believe you. You four have been awfully quiet so far. What are you planning?"

"I didn't think you wanted us to be loud," Peter said.

"I guess she misses our voices," Sirius said.

"Perhaps the stress of OWLs is getting to her already," Remus added.

"Perhaps these lovely flowers would like to be serenaded to sleep?" said James, winking to the group opposite them.

Marlene winked back with a devilish grin, Mary was looking out the window to the right, not paying attention at all. Dorcas was twirling her wand in a terrifying way, and Lily stood there with hands on hips.

Some liked to say that those four were the female Marauders, which was, quite frankly, an insult.

The Marauders were a group that let no outsiders in. They shared everything (well mostly everything now) They caused laughs and panic. In their third-year when Sirius started dating some girl from Hufflepuff she had tried to sit with them, and was promptly stonewalled on all sides. Even affable Remus had been cold.

Some other boys had tried to wedge their ways into the group a few times, and were easily thrown to the wayside.

Meanwhile the four across from them were just an average group of friends. Evans's best friend wasn't even a part of that group! Sometimes a boy or girl would join in the girls's group for a few days or weeks. Or they would split up to hang out with other groups.

Disgusting. No inner Puff in any of them.

The only reason they called them the Anti-Marauders was because of Lily Evans' constant badgering of the group of boys.

The silence started to get to James, who shuffled from foot to foot.

"Uh, we were talking about our futures?" he hedged.

"Oh? What planning are you making for the future," Lily said in a way that was obvious that she didn't believe them.

Agitation rose in James's chest. Why couldn't she just let things go? That shiny badge on her chest somehow made her even more nosy.

"Kind of a personal question there Evans. If I didn't know better I'd say you were interested in us," James said smirking.

"Don't get too big of a head, you won't fit through any doors."

"I was about to say the same, if you polish that badge anymore you'll rub the letter right off."

Lily's face turned red.

"And if you run you hand through your hair like that you'll make yourself go bald!" she growled.

"Uh oh," Remus said quietly from behind them. "We should go."

"No kidding," Peter murmured.

"This is getting good," Sirius disagreed.

"Good thing I have my family's potion business, they can take care of balding rather easily."

"Ah, making all your problems go away with money? And I thought you didn't like stuck up purebloods."

"Is it really a problem if money will make them go away? More like inconveniences. Why, would you like some? I'm sure you'll go bald before me with how much you tug at your hair."

James could see that he took it too far when both Mary and Dorcas put an arm on Lily to stop her. Stop her from what James didn't know, and didn't really want to either.

If airhead Mary and ready to Hex Dorcas were both holding her back then James was in trouble.

"Weshouldprobablygonow," Remus shot out, gripping James by the scruff of the neck and dragging him away.

"POTTER!"

Remus took James behind one of the secret passages throughout the castle, Sirius and Peter joining them. His furry little friend gave James a rather stern look.

"That wasn't very nice."

"What? We were just messing around," James said defensively.

Remus did not look convinced.

"James you just called Evans poor and offered to give her charity."

"What? No I didn't!"

"You said "would you like some?" As in, "Need money to afford it? Here you go.""

"No! I meant did she want some of those hair growing potions. W-we were talking about hair potions!"

Sirius hissed sympathetically.

"Didn't sound that way mate. Made it seem like she was your mistress or something."

James turned to Peter.

"Did she really take it that way?"

James had thought it was obvious they were just ribbing on each other. Not that he was calling her poor and a gold digger.

"If its a point of insecurity for her then yes, which is based on her face… yes, she thought you were making fun of her and trying to buy her affection," Peter said diplomatically.

James began to bang his head against the wall.

Sorry Harry, looks like you're as good as unborn.

-

10 more Chapters up on my Pa treon

Pa tre on.c om/BronzeTurtle