Name: Disappearing Act
Author: Jolinar of Malkshur
Summary: James finds himself intrigued by a redheaded girl he's never seen before...but every time he tries to find her, she's never there, and when he least expects it, she's standing right in front of him. What makes it more difficult is that she refuses to tell him her name...
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all associated characters belong to J.K.Rowling and all the other companies involved. No copyright infringement is intended. This story has been written for entertainment only, and no money has changed hands. The storyline and original characters belong to the author. No part of the story or any original characters are to be used without permission of the author, nor is this story to be archived without permission of the author.
A/N: This is not based on OotP at all...so yeah :D And uhh...you'll understand when you read, but in the first few chapters (you'll know when 'til ^^), if you see the name Lily, could you point it out to me? I think I've caught most of them (ahh, the joys of the 'find' thingy), but I still may have missed a couple...thankfully I only did it about twice...okay, maybe four times...
For the purpose of the story, Lily is a Ravenclaw. I know she's a Gryffindor, but...artistic license, eh? ;)
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Chapter One: Do We Know You?
Sirius Black leaned back in his chair, grinning insanely at his best friend. James Potter was glumly stirring a bowl of cereal, every now and then running a hand through his messy black hair, making it look even messier. He ignored Sirius' grinning, knowing that if Sirius didn't get any attention, there were two possible outcomes: one, he would stop whatever he was doing and try again later, or, in the case of talking, would just say it louder over and over until someone listened.
Sirius decided to give James some advice.
'It's not the end of the world!' he informed James, still grinning, not sounding remotely sorry for his down best friend.
'What's wrong?' a sandy haired boy with clear blue eyes asked, taking a seat at the breakfast table. 'James? Why's he upset?'
'He's feeling rejected, Remus!' Sirius looked positively delighted at the idea, and leaned back even further in his chair.
'Uh, Sirius? Remember last time you...' Remus started to say when...
'Whoa!' Sirius exclaimed as his chair toppled over backwards, landing with a loud clatter on the floor, sending Sirius sprawling. 'Stop doing that, it's not funny anymore!' Sirius sternly reprimanded his chair, shaking his head. Most of the people in the Great Hall looked across with interest as Sirius jumped to his feet, pushing his floppy black hair out of his eyes. 'It's okay, folks!' Sirius announced, grinning at everyone. He pulled his chair the right way up and sat down on it again, after giving it a stern lecture about throwing people.
'Good job. I'm sure it'll know better than to do that again,' a voice said from behind him, and Sirius turned to look. Two girls were standing there, a girl with brown hair that formed ringlets around her face, and another with red hair. The redhead was smirking at him.
'Well...you know...' Sirius bowed to them. 'You've gotta be tough on them. These chairs...they get ideas, you know?'
'Yeah, I know. Only the other day my chair tried to strangle me with a spoon. It was a lucky escape, I tell you,' the redhead told him, and Sirius started to grin. 'But my chair didn't try to throw me across the hall. You must have done something BAD. Remember, our chairs are our friends.' Sirius started to laugh, and people in hearing distance looked across to see what was going on.
Even James forgot his worry (the girl he had liked for ages had told him, after one date, that she didn't really like him that much, she liked someone else) and looked up to see what was happening.
'Who are you?' Remus asked, recovering quickly. She flashed a small smile.
'What year are you in?'
'Sixth...wait...what...you can't answer a question with a question! Especially an irrelevant one!'
'Ah, well. You need to stretch the convention every now and then,' she replied. 'So, who are you, anyway?' She directed this question to Sirius, Remus and James.
'You don't know them?' a fourth year girl asked from James' left in disbelief. 'But they're practically the most well-known guys in school!'
'Lucy,' James said warningly. 'We've been through this, you don't have to tell everybody that. Just because we're related...' Lucy stuck her tongue out at him, and he rolled his eyes at her immaturity. 'No matter how hard that is to believe sometimes.' James ignored Lucy's reply to look at the redhead, but she'd already disappeared. 'What? When did she leave?'
'Huh?'
'The redhead. The two girls that were standing there. When did they leave?' James pressed, and Sirius and Remus shrugged.
'Just before, I guess,' Sirius replied. 'Now ssh, James, I am trying to make a cornflake sandwhich.'
'Who were they?' James asked Remus, ignoring Sirius who was busy trying to make a cornflake sandwhich out of cornflakes and jam.
'Don't know,' Sirius told him cheerily. 'Doesn't this look appetising?' James took one look at the cornflake sandwhich, and decided to never let Sirius cook at his house. Ever. 'The redhead was cool, though...you can't have chair conversations with many people. In fact, I was slightly in shock...but don't let anyone know that.' James laughed and inwardly applauded the redhead. With Sirius' slightly odd way of thinking...okay, extremely off-beat way of thinking...he wasn't shocked easily.
'Wouldn't dream of telling ANYONE that Sirius the Almighty was actually shocked for once...just wish I knew who by...'
'Don't worry, we'll find out,' Remus said confidently. 'Pass the juice, eh, James? And what's up?'
'Huh? Oh...nothing.' James passed the juice, and started thinking about Lauren again. Darn it.
'He was rejected, she didn't like him...' Sirius started singing, and James glared at him.
'Quit it!'
'She thought he was better, so good bye Potter...'
'That didn't rhyme,' Remus pointed out. 'Not to mention completely off-beat.'
'I don't care if it doesn't rhyme, I'm singing and it sounds fine!' James stood up irritably.
'I'm leaving!' Sirius just grinned even wider and sang louder.
'And now you're leaving, what plan are you weaving? Oww...Remus, that was a harsh dig, I'm gonna turn you into a pig!'
* * *
James was walking glumly down the hallway, thinking of Lauren. Again. She was a sixth year, like him, only in Ravenclaw, whereas James was in Gryffindor. She had long, black hair, a smooth complexion and hazel coloured eyes, and James had liked her for ages. He'd spent weeks trying to work out the best way to ask her out, rejecting all of Sirius' bad advice and considering Remus'. Peter's advice, well...it had been worse than Sirius', and THAT was saying something.
Eventually, James had gotten the courage, and they'd gone to Hogsmeade together. They'd seemed to have had a good time. They'd joked and laughed, and James was under the impression nothing had gone wrong. Until two days later when Lauren sadly informed him that she liked Amos Diggory, but no hard feelings?
James, the epitome of calmness and coolness, told her it was fine, and had saved his anger for the dorm, where he'd thrown hexes all around and yelled.
As a result, he'd had to spend hours fixing everything. Which put him in a worse mood.
'What a waste,' James muttered. 'I should've just pranked her...' But for one of the greatest pranksters in the school, his heart hadn't been fully for that idea. It was fine to prank Snape and assorted other Slytherins, or to scare the heck out the teachers, but pranking a girl for dumping him? Nuh uh. That was just low. It took James a while to explain that to Sirius, but he'd gotten it eventually. Although James thought he'd just agreed to shut him up.
James wandered along, kicking at nothing, delaying going to Charms, until he heard voices coming from the other end of the hallway. Not in the mood to talk to people, he debated whether he should hide, but realised they could already see him. With a shock James realised it was the two girls from breakfast that morning.
'Why on earth were you talking about chairs with Sirius Black?' her friend asked, laughing. 'Of all the things...'
'That just happened to be what was happening at the time, Bella,' the redhead pointed out.
'Yeah, but...chairs. Being attacked by spoons. I worry, I really do.'
'Well, you shouldn't...hi!' The redhead noticed James and smiled in greeting. James ignored the small flip his heart did and smiled in return. The redhead's friend muttered something, then laughed. James kept his face expressionless as he walked past, ignoring the whispers. Why couldn't they just wait until he was far away without being so damned obvious?
He hadn't even walked past them when the redhead called to him,
'Hey...hey, wait!' James rolled his eyes and looked at her properly.
'What?' He noticed that her emerald eyes were sparkling, and she seemed to be biting back a smile.
'You're friends with Sirius, aren't you?'
'Duh,' her friend muttered, and the redhead tutted.
'Hush, Bella! Tell him I'm sorry if I interrupted or anything. I...uh...are you alright?' James realised he had been staring, and shook his head to clear his mind. 'What's wrong? You looked upset this morn...'
'No, sorry, I'm fine.' The girl grinned.
'You don't seem very sure. Plus, you're very quiet today. You're never quiet.'
'How do you know?' James asked sharply, studying her eyes very carefully. The redhead waved her hands impatiently. 'I thought you didn't know us.'
'That doesn't matt...oh, okay, fine, I know who you are, you're James Potter, happy now?'
'Uh, sure.' James nearly kicked himself. He wasn't being very smooth here. Why do I seem to go so incoherant around her? 'Now, I don't know who you are...who are you?'
'Weeeell...I'm a sixth year,' she told him.
'And?'
'I'm in Ravenclaw.'
'And?'
'I have to get to class.' She smiled cheerfully. 'Talk to you later!'
'What's your name, then?' James asked her. 'You must have a name!'
'I'm late for class,' she repeated lightly. 'Don't worry about it!' James bit his lip in frustration. Why wouldn't she just tell him?
The redhead went to walk away, then seemed to think better of it and turned back. She stepped over to him, grabbed his arm, and stood up on her tip-toes to whisper in his ear, 'Forget Lauren, she's not worth the plastic ring in a Muggle Christmas cracker.' Before James could even formulate a reply, the redhead and her friend had disppeared down the hallway.
That was weird,
James thought. Damnit, why won't she tell me her name?!-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Next chapter's all written, it should be up soon...I promise it gets better :D Please review!
Choc chip cookies and blue jelly to all!
Jolinar of Malkshur