Chapter 2 ~ Of Stamps, Croissants and Green Hair

~ Quote~

'Behind every successful man, is a woman doing all of the work'

~Mood Music~

The Truth Is A Terrible Thing ~ You Me At Six

'Will you stop?' I snapped at Potter, irritated beyond belief. 'I can't believe that Dumbledore actually thinks you will make a good Head Boy.' I fumed.

'Are you still upset about that?' Potter asked incredulously. 'And there I was beginning to think that if you weren't beginning to like me, you were at least realising and accepting my amazing skills' he continued arrogantly, flipping the last stamp fluidly through his fingers.

'Yes I'm still upset.' I answered through clenched teeth, ignoring the last part of his speech. There was no doubt James had 'amazing skills': he had managed to convince the army to allow a group of underage teenagers to use their facilities, without adult supervision. I don't know how he did it, and I'm slightly afraid to ask.

However, I do have the feeling that this whole process could have taken a lot less time, and that James has dragged out the whole thing a lot longer than necessary, with silly little things like holding the stamp hostage.

I leaped at him and with effort managed to pry the stamp out from between his fingers. I smiled triumphantly as I licked the stamp and stuck it onto the final letter.

Potter coughed awkwardly. 'Err, Lily?' he asked, his eyes flicking down to where I was sprawled across him. I blushed furiously and jumped off of him. It didn't escape my notice that this isn't the first time I have become a little too comfortable around Potter in the last few days. There was just something about him that made me relaxed, friendly, and pissed off, all at the same time.

Coughing to hide my embarrassment, I yanked my T-shirt back down from where it had hitched up. When I finally let myself look at him again, I could see a faint blush dying in his cheeks. At least it wasn't only me that was finding this whole situation weird.

'Right, let's go send these' I waved at the stack of letters that needed to be mailed to rental and delivery companies. 'Then all we have to do is notify the prefects as to where and when to arrive, and send the details to Dumbledore.'

'That can't wait until tomorrow?' Potter asked, looking upset. I told you he was trying to drag this out.

'Oh come one, Potter. That will only take an hour to do at the most.' I reasoned.

'Yeah, but we've still got to eat...' Trust him to think about his stomach before anything else. 'And that makes it two hours...' he hedged. 'So I think it's best to just call it a day.' He grinned at me hopefully, like a child asking his mother for an ice-cream.

Realising that he would just moan at me until he got his way, I caved before I got the headache I seemed to find myself with so often when around him.

'Okay. Here's a compromise: we'll go post these' I picked up the pile of letter 'and then grab something to eat.' I laughed when I saw Potters face light up when I said 'post'.

'And you'll show me how it works?' he asked eagerly, almost jumping out of his seat. It wasn't too hard to imagine him with a wagging tail, licking my face like an excited puppy.

'Sure.' I agreed, pretty certain that when he saw how boring putting letters in a post-box was he would be disappointed.

It turns out I was wrong; Potter was fascinated and stood pushing all the letters through one at a time, like you did when you were little and your Dad would lift you up so you could reach the gap. Difference was it took a lot longer when you had over 30 letters to post. There was a queue by the time Potter was content, and even then my teasing couldn't quite wipe the stupid grin off of his face.

I looked at my watch and growled lightly under my breath. Potter was late. I don't know why I had begun to expect him to be reliable.

Oh come on Lily. I told myself. He's been really good recently: not late once. Something must have come up. However the cynical Lily Evans couldn't quite make herself believe in James Potter's innocence.

I jumped when I felt someone tap my shoulder, and I whirled around, hand shooting automatically for my wand, all too aware of what kind of things happened to young girls around here.

'Whoah!' Potter jumped alarmed, taking a step back and raising his hands into the air. I let out a massive sigh of relief. It was just Potter.

'Your late' I snapped angrily, as I waited for my heart to return to its normal pace.

'I am?' he asked, checking his watch. 'By like, five minutes.' He frowned.

'Still late' I murmured quietly, realising too late that I was overreacting just a tad. 'What's in the bag?' I asked, eyeing the paper bag he was holding.

'Breakfast!' he announced. So that's why he was late; procuring food for his ever empty tummy.

'What you got?' I asked, trying to peek into the bag, deciding that whatever he had brought could either let him off the hook, or secure him onto it more tightly.

'Chocolate croissants' he smiled.

'Yay.' I said, holding my hand out, my anger draining away. 'My favourite.'

'I know' he laughed, passing them to me, and looking around. 'Why did we meet here today anyway?' he asked, just a little confused at why I had chosen this rundown, gross part of town as a meeting point. Can't say I blame him. Every single person that walked past looked either; high, drunk or psychopathic.

'There's someone I want to talk to. He works in a tattoo parlour just across the park.' I said, pointing across the glorified field and taking a huge bite of croissant. 'Come on' I said, spraying crumbs from my mouth. I handed the bag back to James and took off at quick walk across the deserted road, not wanting to stay a second longer here than I had to.

James followed me, and I began chattering to cover my unease. 'I was thinking: we need to spice this weekend up at a bit. It's a good idea, all the training and stuff, but I think the prefects need some sort of test at the end of it. You know, something to aim for. This guy can help us out.' I said, nodding in the general direction of the shop.

James pulled me on a detour around a loose circle of used syringes and looked down on me quizzically. 'I do think that's a good idea Lily. But what kind of test? And why this guy? 'Cause to be honest; I'm not sure whether we can trust him.' He said, eyeing the crude slogans graffitied along the wall we were following. 'Why can't we just have Sirius or Peter test them?' he asked.

'I want them to think it's real. They know that Sirius and Peter don't pose any real threat.' James raised his eyebrow at me. 'They know they won't really hurt them.' I adjusted, and James nodded his approval. 'And if we're doing this weekend muggle style, I want the prefects to have to face muggles at the end of it. I want them to believe that whatever's happening is real and not a 'test'. That way we can see how they would perform in real life situations, and not in the safe conditions they would know they were in if Peter brandished his wand at them. Not that one could ever feel too safe when Peter waves his wand in your face; you never know what he may accidently do. It'll only last a few hours.' I told James, who still looked unconvinced. 'Look James, I knew this guy in primary school; we're good friends. We can trust him. And he already knows about what we are, so we aren't breaking the Statute of Secrecy.' James gave me a truly puzzled gaze.

'Look, I'll explain it more later but we're here' I said, pointing to a ratty shop front.

I took a deep breath and pushed through the door. I reached back to haul James in, who seemed incapable of making himself walk inside. 'Hey Guy.' I said cheerfully to the green haired, heavily tattooed teenager who was sitting in front of me.

A/N: So what was that all about?

Well, you'll just have to wait (and read!) to find out. :)

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Love, Anna-Cate xxx