Crocodile Tears
A/N: How long has it been since I've been on fanfiction? Wow! It must've been a long, long, long time! Anyways: Read, Enjoy and Reivew.
Lily looked at the girl incredulously. She was giggling like an idiot! She lifted all the books to make a little opening for herself so she could see the other side of the bookshelf. She was bending for hours- a wonder her knees didn't ache- and was having the time of her life. Lily sat on her table at the library with her mouth wide open, blinking at the younger girl.
"Mar-"
"Shh!" she answered with a giggle.
Lily snapped her mouth shut and scraped her chair loudly as she went to the peeping girl.
"Is this what you do in the library?" Lily whispered incredulously.
Marlene looked at her as though it was the ultimate fun, nodding hastily.
"But, when he has quidditch practice I just study," she giggled in a whisper, before resuming her peeping.
Lily didn't know why her generation was like this- she had the urge to slam her face with a thick, black book because of the things that were going on around her!
"If you want to look at him that much then why don't you just take a stupid picture and give yourself a break!" Lily huffed.
"I've got pictures- I take them in history of magic, but he's always asleep in them," Marlene said casually."And nothing beats the real thing!"
"Marlene! You're practically stalking him!" Lily said, making the girl face her.
"No I'm not!" she huffed, pouting. "I'm just…"
"Stalking?" Lily said flatly.
"No! I'm just… doing what you do when Potter enters the room," Marlene smiled cheekily.
Lily felt her cheeks flame and her face blush to the tips of her vibrant hair.
"I- I do not!" she spluttered. "I don't do anything when he enters! He can come and go all he likes and I- I won't give a care!"
"Really? Then why'd you blush?" Marlene pointed. "Why'd you say you don't do anything when I didn't specify what it is you've done? Maybe it's because you don't want to admit you've been caught at the scene of the crime!" she began dramatically. "Lily, we all know you like Potter, just face it."
With that, she resumed stalking he-who-was-beyond-the-bookshelf.
"I. Do. Not. Like. Potter!" Lily whispered harshly.
"Lily! Keep it down will you!"
Lily would've loved slamming the girl into the bookshelf but she mentally started to count to ten to calm herself down. If there was anything that aggravated her it was Potter! Stupid Potter with his stupid hair and stupid smirk and stupid… glasses… and stupid, glittering hazel eyes… and stupid-
Suddenly, a whizz of red sparks started to bounce in front of her, making Lily give out a little squeal of fright.
"Merlin's pants!" Marlene threw her wand onto the table- that was silently steaming now- and flung herself onto the chair, and immediately grabbed a quill and started to scribble on a piece of parchment, trying to act as though she had- by no means- been stalking anyone- nor had she, somehow, tried to blast with her wand for some reason.
Lily stood wide-eyed, staring at the girl who sat with stiff shoulders and worried eyes. Marlene looked at her- a face of pure innocence- with wide, wide eyes and a small pout.
"I didn't mean to make it that way-"
Suddenly, she stopped. Lily looked at the girl before realizing Marlene was listening hard for something. There was the smell of burnt paper, the thud of books, whispered curses, a shuffle of rough parchment… and footsteps. Lily immediately went for her chair, mentally cursing and blaming Marlene for dragging her into this.
"McKinnon," came an annoyed drawl. "What are you doing?"
Lily saw Marlene look up with wide eyes and raised eyebrows, looking all confused and natural- only her reddened cheeks and fast breaths could give her away.
"Studying. It's what people do in a library," she said in a-matter-of-factly.
"Really?" he said sarcastically. "Then how come you were throwing red blasts around? I'd don't recall the library being here for that."
Lily saw Marlene's cheeks darken and a smile edge up her face that she was trying to fight down.
"I think something's wrong with your eyes, Black," she said smartly with a patronizing smile.
Lily had to admire how she was pulling it all together. Fighting down her smile and talking back at the boy she practically stalked day and night.
"Oh, my eyes are fine McKinnon," Regulus Black shot back with his own haughty smile. He pulled out a piece of parchment that had a hole straight through the middle, cutting through the writing on it. What amazed Lily was the fact that it was still steaming! "Something's definitely wrong with yours."
Lily saw Marlene's jaw unhinge and her eyes crinkle with embarrassment. She bit her lip as her cheeks went on fire. She was looking for something to say and Lily felt a bit sorry for her.
"She didn't do it," Lily suddenly said.
Regulus' pale eyes looked straight at her. Lily felt herself cringe and the hairs on her back stand up. For some reason, he made her uneasy. He simply raised arched eyebrows at her with daring question.
"I shot that spark… I was showing her… how to do that jinx and… it came off… a bit, yeah," she finished lamely.
Marlene looked like she wanted to slam her face into a tonne of books repeatedly, her eyes ablaze with desperation mouthing 'that was stupid!' Lily shot her a look of 'at least I tried' and looked back at the Slytherin who looked at her with a bored expression- yup, he definitely made her uneasy.
"That was lamest lie I've ever heard," he said simply.
Marlene stood up daringly, her blush covered. "Oh yeah? How do you know, are you all-omniscient here? Were you spying?"
Hypocrite. Lily mused. Plain hypocrite.
Whatever effect Marlene wanted from Regulus did not show as her words didn't affect him in the least.
"No, I'm not all-omniscient. I just happened to know that you were the one trying to aim a Glass Charm, since Evans doesn't even have her wand out, and that the usual side-effects of the charm is to produce sparks when not conjured correctly," he said knowingly. "So why, McKinnon, were you trying to perform a Glass Charm from behind a bookshelf?"
Wow. Lily thought. He knew his charms. Professor Flitwick wasn't kidding when he said that there was a genius of a charmer in the year below them. Marlene looked at him with raised eyebrows, trying to come up with a quick comeback.
"I was practicing."
"You were practicing?"
"Yes." She said confidently. "Yes I was."
She looked at Lily with a slight haughty expression clearly saying that she could do fine without her help. Lily felt irritation boil in her veins- she just wasn't good with questions on the dot!
"Then why did you say you were studying earlier?"
"Because I was. I was studying that charm."
"Really? So you're idea of practicing and studying is aiming at my work?"
Marlene looked back at Lily with an expression of help and Lily just pursed her lips. Then- Eureka! She stood up, all smiles, and grabbed Marlene by the arm. She dragged the horrified girl to where Regulus was standing, with a confused expression on his haughty face, and took his arm as well.
"You know, why don't you two sit down, have a nice chat with a nice cup of tea, and sort out whatever's going on without me? I might be wrecking the aura of any revelation that… would want to be made!" Lily gave a little laugh.
Marlene looked at her murderously, her eyes glowering at her. Lily shook it off with a brighter smile. She looked back at Regulus- her smile faltering- and she snatched her hands away from them and dashed out of the library for the first time in her time at Hogwarts. Phew! Boy was that awkward. Lily sauntered away happily. She'll thank me for it for sure.
It was dinner time, and Lily scanned the Ravenclaw table, only to find Marlene McKinnon with a large smile plastered onto her face- happiness simply radiating off her. Lily got up- her chest filled with pride- as she made her way to the bubbly Ravenclaw.
"So, how'd it go?"
Marlene looked at her with a wide, wide smile- showing off all her pearly whites- her eyes crinkled with joy. She squealed loudly taking hold of Lily's shoulders as she shook her wildly.
"You will not believe what happened!" she squealed. "He asked me on a date!"
"No way!" Lily screamed in shock- just a few seconds ago he was practically scorning her!
"I wish though," Marlene said sadly.
"You gave me a heart attack!" Lily said, breathing from shock.
"Why?" Marlene raised an eyebrow at her. "Don't tell me you don't want him to like me- maybe you have this scheme of yours-"
"Marlene, just get on with it!"
"Ok! First, Madame Pince said we were banned in the library for a week," she said sadly. "I so wanted to check this book- The Wizard Within- it's amazing! It talks about the way the world works and how to achieve your goals and how to have a positive view on-"with one look at Lily's glowing eyes she went back on track. "Ok, next thing, I blamed him for getting me banned from the library."
Lily couldn't help but roll her eyes.
"After that, we continued our argument! Then-it was enlightenment I tell you- I remembered from this book I read that tears were a great weapon against boys!" she said ecstatically.
"Let me guess…" Lily said flatly.
"Yup! I started crying- who knew it was so much fun!" she squealed, as though a little toddler was told that Christmas was coming early. "First he went all uneasy, then he started to pat me and tell me all these nice things and before I knew it, I was crying my heart on his chest! He smelled so sweet- just luscious I tell you!" she sighed. "I was in heaven."
Lily looked at the girl blankly.
"You have no shame." She sighed. "No shame at all."
Marlene faked offence before shrugging it off. "Who cares, at least he'll start to fall in love with me and whisk me away to a fantasy of romance!"
"I think that's a bit too much to ask for from Regulus Black," I said knowingly- I should at least help the poor guy a bit by toning her down… guilty conscious from making him stay with her.
"Oh! Plus, he said he was going to help me with my charms, since my 'Glass charm was an insult to Charmers around the globe'." She said dreamily. "I'll be seeing him all weekend now! So, if you want any tips to get Potter, you'll know who to meet," she said with a wink.
Lily felt her face heat and she was about to retort before her eyes somehow- somehow- whipped to where Potter was walking. Her face went red like crazy- she could feel her cheeks hurt from trying to cut down her smile. Potter caught her eye and gave her a slight wave. Lily waved a trembling hand at him before whipping back, resting her arms on the table with a huff.
"That must've been the hardest thing I've ever done," Lily gasped.
"It's alright, I can tell you about all the times I got Regulus' robes on fire in potions or spilt pumpkin juice on him at lunch-all by accident of course- so you can catch a few tips on how to correct your mistakes! I maybe younger than you Lily, but I now have experience with these things…"
So much for thank you, Lily thought.
AN:Just so you know: Marlene and Regulus are both a year younger than Lily in terms of school and... yeah... if there are any question, just ask! Oh! And crocodile tears mean 'fake tears' if you're wondering about the title and the lack of crocodiles! So... *looks at review button*... review?