A/N: I don't own Harry Potter and if I did…well neither James Potter nor Sirius Black would have been killed…
It was a dare. One stupid, awful dare that started the entire mess. But Lily Evans never refuses dares, so she took it.
It all started one particular Tuesday, it was the 1st of September and Lily and her friends were all in The Great Hall, eating the feast. Lily was with her two closest friends, Kathleen Darn and Hayley Pritchard. Lily, who had already got over the delight of being made prefect, was now doing something prefects shouldn't do. She was playing a round of Truth or Dare with her friends and now it was Hayley's turn.
She was asking Lily truth or dare and Lily immediately chose dare-having already admitted that her middle name was Aquarius the turn before.
"Alright Ms. Horoscope," giggled Hayley as Lily began to get frustrated by the amount of time she took to select a dare, "I dare you to…to….HAH! I've got it! I dare you to walk up to The Marauder's and kiss James Potter right on the mouth."
Lily's eyes widened, as did Kathleen's. Lily hated him with a passion and Kathleen knew him since birth, they were almost family and she was always disgusted by the fact that some people would like James that way. It was simply bizarre as far as she was concerned.
"Please, Hail!! I'll do anything! Please, don't make me kiss him!" pleaded Lily, her eyes darting to a couple seats down where the infamous Marauders sat-probably planning some huge prank for the next morning.
"Yah Hayley, that's gross," Kathleen remarked, wrinkling up her nose in disgust.
Hayley sighed and looked into Lily's eyes. There was so much sadness in them she had to take pity on her.
"Fine, fine! I just thought it'd be amusing to watch that's all," she raked her brain and finally came up with a suitable and almost worse replacement, "Kiss Sirius Black then! Yah, you heard me," she replied to Lily's look of confusion and disgust, "Either Black or Potter-I don't care. Either one would be equally amusing to watch." Kathleen still looked disgusted and said in a shrilly voice,
"Eugh I am so glad you got this dare Lil. I don't think I could stomach it-they're like my brothers or something." Lily just gave her a dark look and glanced up at the teacher's table. Her eyes immediately connected with Professor McGonagall's and she took a deep breathe. Gritting her teeth she stood up and marched over to where the Marauders were sitting.
As she approached them, Black's eyes caught hers and he grinned-nudging Potter. Lily immediately felt the notion of motion sickness, something she hadn't felt in years, and promptly threw up all over Frank Longbottom.
Her eyes widened as she took in Frank, his saddened face and his clothes covered in greenish brown chunks. "I'm so sorry Frank, so sorry! O my gosh I can't even…I'm so sorry…here," she preformed a cleaning charm on the barf and it vanished, just as the entire Gryffindor house burst into laughter, "Again I'm sorry, but I have to continue on my journey." She got a rather misty look in her eye and continued into her speech-which sounded like gibberish to poor Frank, "If I stop now I'll lose the nerve and pride of the great people before me. So now I say, Adieu!" She walked father down the table towards the laughing Marauders and Frank replied in a strained voice,
"Umm….alright….bye Lily….having a bath….oh, shut up Alice," he added to his hysterical girlfriend next to him as she broke into yet another round of giggles.
Although the Hall was not silent most people's eyes still followed Lily as she walked up to the Marauders and stood directly behind James Potter and Sirius Black.
"Hey Evans," greeted Potter, snorting into his pudding, "Come here to throw up on us too? Cause I'd really rather if you didn't…" Lily glared at him and all the other boys as they laughed, and she felt her face heat up slightly.
"Umm…Black?" she asked awkwardly. The boy in question turned around, laughter still in his eyes and a huge grin on his face,
"I don't know what I've done but I'd prefer if you'd throw up on James he's the sarcastic-" Lily cut him off with her lips and the entire hall gasped. Lily ignored them though and continued kissing the surprised Sirius. Hayley said 15 seconds and it had been about five before he started to respond. Lily supposed he was a good kisser. Enough rumors had circled around that he was. But here, bending down as she kissed Sirius Black, Lily began to wonder what Potter kissed like…
She broke off, angry at herself for thinking that and immediately turned red as her eyes connected with Potter's hazel ones. She looked away and saw her hand was around Sirius' collar. She let go and stepped away. Sirius grinned and said in a smug voice,
"What the hell was that for Evans? Believe me I don't mind." Lily rolled her eyes along with the rest of The Marauders.
"Oh don't flatter yourself Black! I did it for some stupid bet-"
"Lily you can't tell him it was a bet!" cut in Hayley from across the table.
"She already did moron," added Kathleen in a voice that clearly showed she was still grossed out.
"-and I had to kiss either you or Potter. I chose you."
"Oh thanks Evans!" said Potter rolling his eyes. Lily just glared at all of the Marauders in turn, even Remus-she was so angry, and marched back to her spot in the table, apologizing to Frank on her way.
"How was it?" was the first thing either Kathleen or Hayley could come up with. Lily glared at them and was about to snap, saying some witty, sarcastic remark when Dumbledore stood up.
"Later," Lily replied as Dumbledore began his usual speech.
"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! To all of our new students, I hope your time here is…well…magical!" a couple of students laughed, mainly prefects wanting to get on his good side. "And to our new students-welcome back! I know you'll all be looking forward to the love, laughter and learning that comes with a new year…"
"Don't forget pranks!" yelled a voice from the back which Lily immediately recognized as James Potter. Most of the hall laughed or groaned, most of the groaning came from the Slytherin table.
"Ahh…of course Mr. Potter. It wouldn't be Hogwarts without the lovely jokes played from you and your friends." Professor McGonagall looked absolutely sullen at these words as did quite a few other teachers, "Got a lot up your sleeves I hope?"
"Your right on that one Al!" called a second voice which was evidently Sirius Black, "We won't have it any other way…lots of detentions planned this year, eh Minerva?"
Professor McGonagall looked rather like she would prefer to rip Sirius to bits then spend another year with them in detention, but Dumbledore quickly interrupted.
"Speaking of wrongdoing, our caretaker Mr. Filch would like to remind everyone that the Forbidden Forest is….well forbidden…to all students. I hope you'd be able to figure that much out yourself." Dumbledore cleared his throat and looked around the Great Hall.
"Anyone wishing to tryout for their Quidditch House teams please consult your captains. As you can probably see there will be four people walking around the school with different colored badges with a C on them." Dumbledore looked to the first years as the rest of the school rolled their eyes.
"In Slytherin house we have Evan Rosier," general uproar followed and the Gryffindors rolled their eyes, "For Hufflepuff we have Captain Amos Diggory," the yellow and black house cheered as well as Hayley, who was glared at by many members of the Gryffindor team,(Amos was her boyfriend) "Henrietta Jones will be representing Ravenclaw," polite applause from Gryffindor and whoops from the black and blues. "And finally James Potter for Gryffindor."
The entire Gryffindor house got up and cheered except for the three girls who merely clapped their hands awkwardly. When everyone had finally settled down Dumbledore started up again,
"The number of items that are banned here has grown considerable. It now includes Whistling Teacups, Fiery Fangs and John Harper's Excellent and Sure Way Out of Class Fireworks. The entire list is posted outside of Mr. Filch's office.
"I hope you enjoy this evening and I will see you all down for breakfast and class tomorrow morning. First years please look for the prefects that will be taking you up to your common rooms and may everyone have some lovely dreams! Now off to bed, pip pip!"
"See you guys later," grumbled Lily, making her way over to the over-excited first years. This was going to be a long year…
-0-o-0-o-0-o-0-o-0-o-0-o-0-o
Lily walked into her dormitory later to find Kathleen and Hayley alert and waiting. As Lily plopped down on her bed they both grinned, figuring it was 'later'.
"Sooo….how was it?" asked Hayley and Lily rolled her eyes but thought for a second. She answered the question as best she could.
"Umm…no doubt he's had experience," the two girls laughed but urged her on to tell the rest of her thoughts, "hmm…it was alright. He was in shock for most of it, but he's a pretty good kisser."
"So no sparks? No flutters? Nothing?" Hayley asked incredulously. She never ceased to answer that after she had received major flutters from the first kiss longtime between her and her boyfriend Amos.
My butterfly feeling will come, thought Lily shrilly, "It's not a big deal. Besides," she argued looking up at her ceiling, "I'm rather glad Black wasn't the one to give me flutters. He's too…oh, I don't know annoying." She added sarcastically. Kathleen opened her mouth, no doubt to comment on all this sarcasm-so like Potters-but Lily silenced her with a I'm-a-prefect-and-am-not-afraid-to-give-you-a-detention-involving-flesh-eating-squirrels glare.
Hayley grinned mischievously and said, "I bet you wouldn't mind if James Potter's kiss made you weak in the knees and fireworks-OW! Li-lee! That hurt!"
"Well stop speaking rubbish then!" she rolled her eyes again, "Honestly I don't understand why you think we're destined to be…"
"Don't worry Lil," said Kathleen digging into her trunk to grab a chocolate frog, "We know you don't like James. And you wouldn't ever dream of kissing him!"
"Actually…" admitted Lily sitting on her bed tentatively, "While I was kissing Black I wondered who kissed better…you know, him or Potter. I mean it was just one of those stupid, strange thoughts-"
"Lily-that's it!" cried Hayley, as she jumped at least four feet in the air and landed in a graceful pose back down. (to which Lily was very jealous)
Kathleen looked over from her bed where she was reading Witch Weekly, already bored by the conversation at hand, "What is it Hail?" But Hayley wasn't listening. She waltzed around the room, grinning from ear-to-ear.
After a minute or so she slipped on the empty chocolate frog wrapper of Kathleen's and fell to the floor. Neither Lily nor Kathleen noticed. Lily was too busy having an argument with her inner self. And Kathleen had returned to her magazine.
PREVIEW INTO LILY'S MIND
You like James Potter!
NO I DON'T!!
Then why were you wondering about kiss him, hmm??
Umm…experiment?
You are such a dork, Lily!
Excuse me? You're part of me!
Puh-lease! I'm just your conscience.
Oh. That's cool.
You are so geeky, you feel exciting over meeting a part of your soul….good lord…
So? Your just a….you….err….damn you!
How creative.
….whatever.
AND NOW BACK INTO THE REAL WORLD
It was only when Hayley coughed loudly from the floor did they look over. Lily broke into laughter as soon as she saw her, at the fact that there was someone more pathetic then herself. But then she remembered that Hayley had a boyfriend…damn. Lily stopped laughing and wallowed in self pity again.
"You got some phlegm in your throat?" asked Kathleen who had been all around boys the entire summer, "just hack it up-hey maybe you'll get a real good spitter and you can hit the bathroom door from where you are! I did that once…" and she trailed off looking rather proud of herself.
"No I do not have an excessive amount of phlegm in my throat!" Hayley looked disgusted but quickly grinned, "I was just think up something that would make this year exciting and memorable!"
Both Kathleen and Lily rolled their eyes. Hayley always came up with bizarre ideas at the beginning of the year. Some previous ones are as followed: 1st year-steal random cutlery from the Great Hall and sell them to morons like Peter Pettigrew, 2nd year-walk around all day with a watermelon on your head, 3rd year-attack Marauders and keep them hostage, (that idea backfired BADLY) and finally the year previous-give every girl in Gryffindor Tower a love potion for Dominic McLaggen. (a jerk 7th year)
Hayley could tell how excited her best friends were as their eyes slowly dazed out of focus-obviously to thrilled to even pay attention.
"Alright! My plan is….okay, okay! Are you ready for this?" eyes wide with excitement as she took in her two best friends, both of whom were examining a slight crack in the floor. Hayley took a deep breath and yelped,
"We are going to do a scientific experiment…to see who kisses better!! Between James Potter and Sirius Black!! Okay, what do you think?!?"
Lily grinned at the fact that she wasn't the only one who had science labs on the brain.
PREVIEW INTO LILY'S MIND
HAH! There conscience! There are others like me!
Oh shut up! It's only your weird friend.
…so? Doesn't she count still?
No.
Oh. Damn.
NOW BACK TO THE REAL WORLD
Kathleen on the other hand said in a disgusted voice, "Eww. Did you say us? Does that mean I have to kiss them?? That's just sick and wrong Hayley….ugh…" she shuddered.
"C'mon Kath!" urged Hayley, thinking her idea was funny, awesome and quite frankly-bloody wicked, "Look-Lily's game! And she hates James Potter…supposedly…"
Lily shook herself out of her trance and was about to retort back but just then two girls stepped into the dormitory.
"What's this about James Potter?" asked the first one, a blonde by the name of Mary MacDonald. Although Lily did not dislike her, they were not good companions and avoided one another a lot.
"Yah, what are you guys talking about?" asked the second one, Jane Finnigan, a kind girl who was also known as the school slut. Which Lily really didn't get…sure she was…ugh…slag-ish but…okay yah, she was a slut.
In a matter of seconds Hayley had blurted out her entire idea. Mary's eyes widened and Lily suddenly became afraid-Mary had dated James for the longest on record: one and a half months. Rumor was she still liked him.
"That's bloody brilliant Hayley!" she screamed, completely forgetting anyone who might have been trying to sleep *cough-Kathleen-cough*.
"Yah," agreed Jane softly, "but I think you should take this…research...farther. Every girl in the school should have to kiss both of them-and then say who they liked better."
Hayley smiled even bigger and grabbed Lily and Kathleen's arms, pulling them up to their feet.
"EMERGENCY GIRLS MEETING!!" she yelled loudly and started for the door, "EVERYONE IN THE COMMON ROOM NOW!!!!" They exited and Lily heard movement all around them as girls from 7th to 1st year hesitantly headed their way down to the common room.
When they arrived in their Gryffindor common room their were only three people in it: two seventh year boys and Remus Lupin. The boys got up and left quickly as they saw all the girls file in. Remus gave a half wave to Lily, which she returned, and headed up to his dormitory. The same dormitory, no doubt, where the subjects of that night meetings were fooling around.
Hayley put Lily and Kathleen on guard in front the boys dormitory and Jane with Mary near the portrait hole. Lily was tired enough to pass out on the couch but the constant cheers, shrieks and applauds kept her awake.
"…so once you've kissed both of them you go see Lily Evans, who will be tallying up the affairs. Just tell her which one you thought was a better kisser." Apparently Hayley had figured everything out and Lily was thankful. At least she wouldn't have to stay up and plan like usual.
"So I want everyone down here, bright and early tomorrow at eight! It is out duty to inform every girl at the school about this experiment-hell even teachers if you must, okay?" the girls all nodded with either excitement, boredom or pity to the boys-there was a heavy dose of each emotion.
"Okay then-see you at eight!" the ladies began to climb the stairs as she added, "so have lovely dreams about Potter and Black! This'll be all over by Thursday so don't hesitate to jump them!" A few girls laughed and then the door closed and the common room went silent.
"Well," said Hayley looking happy as she surveyed her friends, "I thought that went well! Peachy keen, eh?"
Both Kathleen and Lily managed a mumbled 'sure' before climbing the stairs and falling asleep on their beds, still fully clothed.
A/N: Hmm…terrible? Decent? I'd love to hear what anyone has to say.
Next chapter will bring the 'experiment'…
-CharlieSchulz-
:)