A/N- Hello! Sorry, I meant to update, er, a long time ago actually, but you know me, I have a tremendous problem with procrastinating. I am properly ashamed.
As for Ignite, well, haven't seen hide nor hair of that for a while now, have we? I think JfF is becoming my main priority, simply because it comes easier to me. I am not abandoning it, just waiting for the proper inspiration and writing skill required for it.
Thanks- to Green Eyes and Glasses for beta-ing this chapter, to J.K. Rowling for my childhood, and to the little birdies nesting in Green Eyes and Glasses' tree out front for just, you know, being there.
Disclaimer- I wonder if you can buy Harry Potter stock. Then I could say I own a part of it. Ah, bliss.
Lily sighed heavily. After a hurriedly eaten lunch, the group had made their way outside. Despite having been rather gloomy and rainy, it had cleared up surprisingly fast whilst they had been inside playing their stupid, stupid games.
That were actually quite fun.
But, you know, that's beside the point.
"Look Lily-Pad!" Sirius was crouched down, holding a large tree branch, which looked on the verge of snapping.
"Nice Sirius," Lily replied distractedly, not bothering to look at whatever trouble the troublesome boy was undoubtedly causing.
"Yes! Look at the little birdies!" He cooed at the birds nest on the branch, hidden by many leaves. Three small birds were chirping in the nest.
"Aren't they just-!"
"Hello, Pads,"
James had strolled over and grabbed Sirius's shoulders, making the crouching boy scream and let go of the branch.
Fwomp! The branch snapped up, catapulting the nest and three birds, squealing, into the air.
"Oops." Sirius had a strange look on face; fury, sadness, pity, and laughter, all rolled up in one.
Now, this all happened in the space of about five seconds, but those seconds were enough to set off Lily's notorious temper.
She looked from the tree to Sirius, to the blurs flying away from them in the sky, back to Sirius.
Sirius cringed, waiting for the explosion.
And an explosion is indeed what he got.
"SIRIUS BLACK! HOW COULD YOU?! YOU HURT THE TREE AND PROBABLY KILLED THOSE BIRDS!" Lily yelled. "WHAT WILL THE MOTHER THINK WHEN SHE GETS BACK AND HER NEST, WITH HER BABIES IN IT, IS GONE!?"
Sirius cowered in the shadow of Lily's rage. Her temper fit in perfectly with the red-head stereotype, and if Sirius hadn't been on the receiving end of it this time, he would have found the whole thing quite hilarious.
Apparently, so did Marlene.
She was doubled over in silent fits of laughter, choking out barely comprehensible fragments of sentences. "Sirius…birds…tree…flew…they just flew…nest…Lily…so mad…Sirius…dead," She spluttered.
Sirius gulped. Sirius…dead? He was going to die? Well, there was only one thing he could do about it, if Lily Evans really did want to kill him.
"He did it," Sirius said childishly, pointing an accusatory finger at the one and only James Potter.
"No he didn't, Black," Lily snarled half-heartedly, looking as though she sincerely wished that it was James Potter whom she was going to be pushing into the Black Lake and drowning. "I was standing right here when it happened. I saw it. It was your fault and yours alone."
"That's right Sirius! It was all your fault!" James put in eagerly, only barely managing to disguise the glee and amusement in his voice.
Sirius glared at him.
James grinned cheekily.
Everyone ignored them.
"How about we get back to that game of truth or dare we've yet to finish?" Alice asked finally.
Sirius leaped at the idea. "Yes, yes that's a very good idea Alice Palace!" he agreed heartily, nodding his head so hard that Alice felt sure that if he were to nod any harder, his neck would snap.
Remus rolled his eyes at Sirius' ridiculous rhyming. Honestly, even after six years of hanging around Sirius Black, he still didn't even come close to understanding some of the things he did.
Lily made a noise of protest, but one good hard look from Dorcas silenced her.
The red-head still remembered the glittering pixie incident.
After all, Sirius was right; you never knew what that girl could do.
Heh.
So reluctantly, Lily let the matter drop.
The group made themselves comfortable under the shade of a large beech tree; the Marauders tree. With the sunlight filtering through the leafy branches and the spring scent of flowers in the air, truth or dare commenced.
"I don't want to go first again," Sirius spoke finally. "Someone else can,"
"I'll do it," Frank offered.
"Right-o, Frankie boy!" Sirius proclaimed cheerfully.
And so Frank peered closely at the members of their small refuge, before finally selecting one.
"James, truth or dare?"
James thought about it for a moment before answering Frank with a slightly nervous grin, "Dare,"
Frank smirked. "James Potter; I dare you to kiss the next person who walks by our tree, and if multiple people walk past, then I get to choose which one you kiss,"
"Can Lily walk by our tree?" James asked hopefully.
Lily shot a dark look his way.
"No, she cannot, as she is playing," Frank replied firmly.
Lily looked at him gratefully.
James pouted.
Suddenly, a gaggle of giggling girls walked by their tree, sending lingering glances at the Marauders as they passed.
"Ooo, you're in luck Prongsie!" Sirius exclaimed.
James groaned and buried his face in his hands. "What do you mean?"
"Well, at least you don't have to kiss a guy," Sirius amended, somewhat regretfully.
"Some best mate you are," James replied to his palms. "Alright, let's get it over with, Frank. Which one?"
Frank grinned before contemplating his options. "Kamilla Dempsey,"
"Nooooooooooo," James moaned.
Kamilla Dempsey was one of 'those' girls, if you get my drift. 'Those' meaning popular and mean, but very pretty. She had big blue eyes and long, wavy blond locks, with curves in all the right places. And it was widely known that she liked James, if only for his popularity and looks.
"Anyone else, please Frank! Anyone else!" James pleaded desperately in a last ditch effort.
"Nope," Frank replied smugly. "Now go, before we lose her,"
Briefly, James considered groveling and bargaining with Frank, but the stubborn and determined look on Frank's face led James to decide that he might as well save some of his dignity.
And so, looking as if he wished the ground would just open up and swallow him whole, James stood up and dragged himself over to where Kamilla and her posse were standing; adopting an expression similar to what one might wear as they are going to their own execution.
James took a deep breath before reaching out and tapping Kamilla on the shoulder.
Kamilla whirled around with an angry look on her face. "Can't you see that I'm- oh it's you, James," she said, arranging her face into an alluring smile.
"Er…yeah," James replied. "Kamilla, could I have a word with you, um, privately?" he replied despairingly, hoping that it mightn't be as bad if he did it in private.
Kamilla raised her perfectly arched eyebrows as her friends giggled behind her. "Why of course, James," she agreed readily.
"Right, er, follow me then," James said, reluctantly.
He led her into a secluded grove of trees that could still be viewed from the beech tree.
"So James…what is it?" Kamilla asked seductively, fluttering her eyelashes.
But before she could say anything else, James leaned forward and kissed her. Kamilla was quick to react. She put her hand in his hair and responded immediately.
James, very uncomfortable and disgusted, tried to pull away, but Kamilla held tight.
Lily sat and watched as James led Kamilla into the trees and kissed her.
Everyone else around her was laughing, but the emotion Lily felt wasn't laughter; instead she felt a hot acid bubbling in her gut, something she attributed to an illness at the time;: she hadn't felt the greatest the past couple of days, maybe she should go down to the Hospital Wing to see if Madam Pomfrey could give her something for it. But later, Lily would know it as something else.
Jealousy.
She was jealous of Kamilla; it should have been her being kissed by James, and she was angry at James for kissing Kamilla.
But she didn't know it yet. She was much too stubborn to admit that she could have feelings for James Potter. And so we continue.
When James finally succeeded in detaching himself from Kamilla, she looked at him and smiled, "Is that your way of asking me to Hogsmeade, James?" She simpered.
But James didn't stick around long enough to answer. He was out of there; sprinting for the cover of the beech tree, knowing that he would have to talk to Kamilla later, but really, all that mattered to him at that moment was to get away from her as fast as possible.
James was already under the beech tree by the time Kamilla realized he was gone. Standing there, completely baffled, she shook it off, returned to her posse, and decided to talk to James later.
James arrived back under the cover of the canopy and sent a murderous look in Frank's direction before immediately asking his truth or dare.
"Dorcas, truth or dare?
Dorcas grinned. "Dare,"
James smirked mischievously. "We have to go somewhere specific in order for you to do this dare," he announced.
"Alright, let's go!" Sirius exclaimed happily.
"C'mon then! Oh, and Dorcas," James said, conjuring a blindfold with his wand, "You'll need to wear this,"
Dorcas looked hesitant for a second before agreeing.
And so off the group went, going somewhere no one knew except for James.
Off to many bruises for Dorcas.
Stupid walls.
Finally their destination became clear to all except for Dorcas; the Kitchens.
"Alright, you can take it off now, Dorcas," James announced as he tickled the fruit required to gain entry to the Kitchens.
"Oh dear," Dorcas sighed when she saw where they were headed.
Once everyone had seated themselves respectably, James grinned and declared, "Dorcas, your dare is that you must mix different types of sauces and/or spices and then," he paused dramatically, "You must eat it,"
Dorcas looked appalled briefly before looking smug. "That's it?"
Sirius shook his head. "Prongs, you can't let her mix it, or else she'll just mix something that's not disgusting,"
"Right," he looked around the room, "Marlene can mix it,"
And in that moment, two entirely different emotions were felt in that room.
"I love you, James," Marlene gasped and then hugged him. "I would kiss you right now if I were not afraid of retribution from certain members of this gathering," she said, sending a meaningful glance at Lily. Lily glared at her.
"I hate you James," Dorcas growled, "How about we put that imitation of me by Sirius to the test? Particularly the punching part,"
"Thank you, but no thank you Dorcas," James smirked from over Marlene's shoulder. The latter was now faking extremely dramatic sobs of gratitude into his shirt. "Er, Marlene? Could you get off of me please? I believe you have work to do,"
"Certainly!" Marlene grabbed a bowl, spoon and countless jars and bottles before exclaiming, "The first ingredient must be hot sauce! Oh how I adore hot sauce!"
She tipped the tall red bottle over, dumping half of it into her bowl.
She proceeded to add powdered onion, garlic powder, sweet basil leaves, ground nutmeg, cinnamon, sugar, salt, ginger, parsley, thyme, black pepper, chocolate syrup, honey mustard, parmesan cheese, mustard, and ketchup, salad dressings of all kinds, soy sauce, mayonnaise, and numerous other things to the mixture.
"And now for the final ingredient!" she announced after several minutes of mixing and cackling, "We can't forget the red hot chili peppers!"
Dorcas groaned as Marlene tossed handfuls of red peppers into her bowl. "See, this is why you're Lily's best mate, and my best mate is Alice. I couldn't bear to have such an evil girl as my best mate,"
"Whine all you want, you have a bowl of Marlene's cooking to eat that can't wait much longer," Lily warned, suppressing a grin.
Dorcas shot her a murderous look. Lily only smiled sweetly in response.
Dorcas looked down at the horrendous mixture that she had to eat. She picked up the spoon. She put it in the bowl. She scooped up a spoonful of the mess and raised it to her lips.
There was silence.
"I hope this isn't poisonous," were her last words before she stuck it into her mouth.
Everyone waited with bated breath.
Dorcas swallowed. She pressed her lips together and took another spoonful. And another. She continued on like this diligently, for what seemed like forever, and then finally, there was nothing left of the concoction.
The bowl was empty.
Dorcas was looking slightly green.
Everyone looked on fearfully.
Seconds passed. By now, Dorcas had turned an extremely impressive shade of green, unseen by any until this moment.
Finally, she moved. She stood up. She turned.
And then she barfed all over Sirius.
A truly beautiful shade of puce, I might add.
And then pandemonium reigned.
Sirius screamed, "MY HAIR!"
Dorcas screamed, "BULLS-EYE!"
Alice screamed, "EW!"
Frank screamed, "GAH!"
Marlene screamed, "SIRIUS!"
James screamed, "MY EYES!"
Lily and Remus were the only ones intelligent enough to stay put and say nothing.
But, of course, with the Marauders, nothing could ever be this simple.
Hypothetically, what do you think would happen if in the midst of all this commotion, the house elves came tearing through the Kitchens screaming and hollering, "FOOD FIGHT!"
It wouldn't be good, would it?
And the worst part is; it may not be so hypothetical after all.
The house elves charged, throwing tonight's dinner at the poor, unsuspecting seventh years.
Nailing a few of them quite nicely.
It was complete madness.
Lily and Remus ducked and crawled under tables for shelter.
Frank took Alice by the hand and they began trying to escape the warzone with as few casualties as possible.
Dorcas and Marlene took up arms and bravely began combating the house elves like the true Gryffindors they were.
James stopped and began to yell. He had a one-track mind and, therefore, one concern. Lily. "LILY! LILY! ARE YOU OK? CAN YOU HEAR ME? IS LILY OK? WHERE'S LILY?"
And Sirius simply sat there in shock. He had been puked on. Dorcas had done the Technicolor Yawn all over him. She had tossed her cookies on him.
Naturally, there was only one thing that could awaken him from his stupor.
"WHOEVER GOT MEATLOAF IN MY HAIR IS GOING TO DIE!"
Tragic.
And so there you have it! I promise, there will be a truth or dare part three; I couldn't decide whether to make this an extremely long chapter, or update sooner. Or you know, give you something to read until I get the rest out a month later. I decided on the update sooner.
Also, if anyone has suggestions for truths or dares or games, feel free to give them to me in a review or PM! I'd gladly use them, and I will mention all suggestions and suggestion givers in my closing authors note.
"A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people."
Thomas Mann, Essay of Three Decade
-Magic and the Marauders