Chapter 3
Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. A wave of pain throbbed through my head. With every 'tap' came another wave, and another, and another. My mouth felt like cotton and my entire body was sore. I tried to open my eyes but all I saw was a blindingly bright light before I snapped them shut again and groaned in pain. Note to self: when you have a huge head ache, bright lights don't help. Wait… why do I have a head ache at all? Did I get drunk or something? I bet Potter slipped me fire whiskey again. That bloody prat, you'd think he would have learned from the last time that I can't hold my liquor. Then it clicked.
"Potter!" I exclaimed as my eyes flew open and I sat bolt up right and looked around the room. I had been moved into my bed in our room at the Leaky Cauldron. I looked to my left to see Rebby and Becca sitting in the bed next to mine playing a card game with Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. Peter Pettigrew was sitting in a chair beside them tapping his foot loudly on the floor. When I had sat up and said potter's name they had all turned suddenly and looked at me like I was insane. I looked to my right and saw James Potter leaning back against the wall in a chair with his arms folded across his chest. He raised an eyebrow at her and smirked. "You rang?"
I glared at him. Then turned and asked Rebby and Becca "What happened? And why are the Marauders in our room?"
"Well, you tripped or something and fell and hit us, making all three of us fall down the stairs and we landed on top of them." Rebby gestured to the Marauders. "You hit your head or something and blacked out. Remus healed your head wound, but he says you'll have a head ache for a day or two. Apparently you got your first concussion today." She smiled at me like that was something to be proud of.
"And you smile at this statement because…?"
"Your human after all."
"What?"
"What she means is that after four years of playing quidditch with bludgers flying at your head and five years of having Becca as you partner in charms, the karma has finally caught up with you and you got hurt for once." James said, the smirk growing into a fully fledged smile. Cute… wait, what? I did not just think that.
"So, why are these dolts in our room?" I asked.
"We invited ourselves in to stay for a bit as repayment for acting as your personal landing pads and healers." Sirius said giving Becca a wink. Becca blushed and looked away. Oh, great, she was catching Sirius-it is, that's just what I needed, to have a splitting headache and have to keep one of my best friends from making a serious mistake at the same time.
No pun intended.
"Okay then. Thanks for healing me Remus. You can stay. The rest of you, out, now." I said.
"Hey! How come Remus gets to stay and we don't?" Peter complained.
"Well, for one thing, he healed me, and for another thing he's the only one of you lot that I can stand to be in the same room with for more than ten minutes."
"But we were your landing pad! You landed on us!" Sirius said.
"Yes, well, before I blacked out, I noticed that I was on the bottom of the pile, making me your landing pad. Now, OUT!"
Sirius and Peter complained and whined and pouted, but shuffled their way to the door just the same. Remus sat on the bed still, laughing at his friend's attempts to stay in the room. James, well, he just sat there, silently. Then he stood up and walked out of the room without protest. That was odd. No 'Can I stay too? Please, please!' or 'Lily, Lily will you go out with me?' That was strange… Potter was usually pretty over the top when he was around me, trying to ask me and attempting to practically glue himself to my side, doing anything for attention. And yet today, right now… nothing. Hmmmm….
I closed the door on the boys and turned back to the girls and Remus. "Thanks again Remus for healing me, and I'm sorry we landed on you, that was kind of my fault seeing as I'm the one who slipped on the bloody stairs."
"No problem, all in a days work." He replied smiling kindly.
"Would you like to stay and-" Of course I then completely forgot what I was going to say because someone was knock, knock, knocking at the door to our room.
I turned around and opened the door again. James was standing there with a completely serious look on his face, Sirius and Peter standing behind him. "May we come in and hang out with you all as well? Or are you going to make us stay out here in the hallway just outside your door all night?" James asked, completely straight faced, which must have been an incredibly difficult task for him. He always wore his infuriating trade mark smirk, and I personally had only ever seen him frown once, when someone insulted him and his choice in friends. James had been so mad then that I thought he could have killed the person, or at least beat them to a bloody pulp, with his own hands. He hadn't though. James had managed to control his temper that one time. Wait, now I'm calling him James? Great, now I'm catching James-itis. I definitely do not like James Potter, and yet…. And yet somehow I replied "Yeah sure, since you asked nicely." And let the three of them in.
When I closed the door and turned around to face everyone again, Rebby and Becca were both giving me strange looks. I shook my head slightly as if to say 'not now' and took a seat on the bed between Rebby and Remus. "So what game are we playing?"
"Exploding snap?" Sirius suggested.
"These are muggle cards, they don't explode." Remus said.
"Oh, right."
"Where's the fun in that?" questioned Peter.
"Cayate, you idiots. Rebby, Becca, what do you want to play?" I asked.
"I'm thinking either poker or rummy, what about you?" Rebby asked Becca.
"I dunno… I don't really want to play either of those right now. OH! Oh! I know! We can play this new game I learned this summer, it's called egyptian rat screw, but my counselor at rock climbing camp calls it egyptian mud slap. What you do is you deal all of the cards out to everyone, but no one looks at them. Then we go around in a circle laying down the card on the top of our hand face up in the middle of the circle. If you see doubles, two nines or two fives or something, then you slap the pile in the middle and the first person to slap it gets the cards. If someone lays down a king queen or jack, the next person gets three, two, or one chance, consecutively, to lay down another face card. If they don't lay down a face card, then the player who laid down the face card originally gets to pick up the whole pile, but if the other player manages to put down a face card then the process is repeated for the player in the circle that comes after them. The point is to collect all of the cards. Everyone understand?" Becca paused and looked around at the rest of us mere mortals. If there was any one person I could never win an argument with for simple lack of longwinded response, it was Anabell Rebecca Burns. Yeah, her first name is Anabell, but she rarely uses it. She prefers some variation of Rebecca.
"Um, what did you just say?" Peter asked with a stunned look on his face.
Becca explained the game again, with more detail and a visual explanation, very slowly, for Peter, and then dealt the cards. We played egyptian rat screw for a while, then a few rounds of five card draw poker. By the time we were tired of playing cards, it was nearly 2 a.m. and we were all spread out on the floor, in a chair, or on the bed reduced to laughing like particularly amused hyenas while trying to remember to breath.
After I had managed to stop laughing I looked over at Becca. She was lying on her back on the bed, still laughing loudly and uncontrollably. Her laughter suddenly turned to wheezing laughs and coughs intermixed. I raised an amused, yet worried eyebrow at her. "Becca, breath; that's the thing where you suck air in and then let it back out again." I demonstrated this in an exaggerated manner. Becca sat up on the bed and tried to regain her composure. She looked around and realized everyone was staring at her.
"What? Am I growing an extra head?"
"I've never seen someone laugh that loudly, for that long." Peter said, amazed.
"Not even Sirius can laugh that loudly, and have you heard him laugh, he sounds like a barking dog." James said.
"Hey!" Sirius exclaimed giving James a hurt look.
"What? Is he your girl friend or something? Besides, laughing is good. I'm proud of my laughter. Laughter is good for the soul and actually improves your health. It's a proven medical fact. And anyways, I like Sirius's laugh, I think it's cute." Becca said, blushing when she realized that the last sentence had actually come out of her mouth. Sirius was blushing now as well, something completely unheard of at Hogwarts.
"Sirius, you're blushing!" Peter exclaimed.
"Am not, it's just a bit warm in here, that's all."
Sirius Black, blushing? Why, that's unusual, and completely unlike him. I wonder if maybe he's changing… wait, this is Sirius I'm talking about, of course he hasn't changed. 'Yeah, just like James hasn't changed' a little voice in my head said. 'Well he hasn't, he's probably just distracted or something' I said back to the little voice. Oh great, now I'm going crazy, that's just what I need.
"Yeah, sure, 'a bit warm in here'. Nice cover Sirius, we all believed that one." James commented.
"No really, it is. As a matter of fact, I think I'll step out side and get some air." Sirius said walking over to the wall with the window on it.
"And how are you going to do that? Are you going to jump out the window? If you are, wait a minute and let me get my camera, this will be priceless." I said smirking at him.
"No, actually I was thinking of going for a bit of a ride on my broom. Anyone care to join me?" Sirius offered as he searched through is pockets for something. "Ah, here it is." He mumbled as he pulled a small tooth pick sized twig out of his pocket.
"That's a little small for you, isn't it?" Rebby said raising an eyebrow.
"Mock me if you will, but one day you'll be in a peck of trouble and wish you had shrunk your broom and put it in your pocket." Sirius pulled out his wand and said the enlarging spell. His broom grew to its proper size and hovered in front of him. "So, anyone coming with me?" he asked.
"I would, but you'd never be able to keep up with me." Becca said.
"On that piece of crap you ride, please. I could ride circles around you."
"Huh, shows what you know, My parents got me a new broom for my birthday. It was a late present, but they said they wanted to let me pick it out." Becca hopped off the bed and walked over to her trunk and pulled out a brand new Blue Lightning and let it hover in the air in front of her. "This baby can fly circles around you with Peter riding on it put me on it and you haven't got a chance." Becca smirked at Sirius, who smirked back at her.
"I do believe that was a challenge." Remus said smiling slightly.
Sirius hesitated. "What are you, afraid? Come on Sirius, show her what's what!" Peter said.
"Now you know it's bad when Peter is calling you a chicken." Rebby said to me.
"Yeah, I know. That's just pathetic." I replied.
"Fine! It's a race! First one to the end of Diagon Alley and back wins!"
"You're on!"
"This could be interesting." James said quietly.
Everyone walked over to the window; I pulled out my wand and enlarged the window so that it was the size of a door. Sirius and Becca mounted their brooms and floated slowly out of the window into the warm night air. They hovered just outside the window.
"We need a balcony or something…" I said noticing that everyone was pushing and shoving so that they could see the race a little better.
"I'll handle it." James said stepping forward, wand in hand. He looked down, then up, then down again at the outside of the wall. "Okay, here we go." James first pointed at some wooden crates in a pile in the alley below us and muttered something under his breath. The crates grew and became a set of stairs, then after another quick mutter they floated up and hovered with the bottom step just level with the bottom of the window. "Lily, if you wouldn't mind casting a permanent sticking charm." He nodded to me.
I blinked at him, then turned and permanently stuck the stairs to the side of the building so that they looked like an odd sort of fire escape. "There you go."
"Thank you." James said, then walked out and climbed the stairs to the second to last one which raised a little above the slant of the roof. Everyone else followed him up part of the ways, then waited. James pointed his wand at another crate on the ground and it rose up to the roof. He mumbled something and the crate was transfigured into a small expanse of wooden planks with railings along the bottom on three sides and two poles sticking up from the top. "Oops, it's upside down." This said he slowly flipped it around so that it was right side up and situated it on the roof so that the top stair was level with the platform he had created.
I blinked in amazement. I knew James was good at transfiguration, but good lord. I realized I was staring with my mouth slightly open and quickly shut it and looked around to see whether or not anyone had seen me. Nope, everyone else was too preoccupied with James's new creation.
"Lily, another permanent sticking charm would be good, if you would?" James requested politely.
James Potter was being polite? That was as unlikely as Sirius Black blushing. What was the world coming too? "Sure." I said lamely and took out my wand again and cast the charm.
"Okay then, everyone aboard!" James said, and everyone jumped over the side of the rail and sat on the platform to watch the race between the two Gryffindor quidditch players.
Sirius and Becca floated up to the platform and situated themselves so that they were even, using the railing of the platform as a starting line. "Who would like to do the honors?"
"Oh! MEMEMEMEME!" Rebby said, well, yelled really, waving her hand in the air like a lunatic.
"Whoa, slow down there you giant hyper pill. You got the job." I said with wide eyes. She was really hyper tonight, which, now that I think about it, is normal for her. Really I should be used to it by now, but when Becca and Rebby went into super hyper mode, it still scares me. It's like they drink a gallon of rocket fuel or something.
Rebby hopped up and climbed back over the rail and went down the stairs. When she came back up she had a pair of bright red boxers with little white hearts on them attached to a pole like a flag.
"Where on earth did you get those?" I asked giggling.
"Oh, out of James's trunk." Rebby said smiling like a Cheshire cat.
"Hey! Haven't you ever heard of invasion of privacy?!" James exclaimed angrily at the site of his underpants attached to a pole, billowing in the wind. I attempted to control my snickering, but I was failing miserably.
"Yup, but I don't really care." Rebby said, still smiling. "Okay. Ready? On your mark, get set, GO!" Rebby waved her improvised flag back and forth and the two teenagers raced off into the distance.
"Can I have my underwear back now?" James said, blushing.
"Um, no."
"Why not?"
"I need to use them as the finish line flag too."
"Can I have them back after that?"
"No."
"I repeat, why not?"
"Blackmail." Rebby grinned mischievously and sat beside me on the platform with a pair of omnioculars firmly fixed to her eyes.
This could be interesting. I'll have to force the plan out of her later tonight. Hopefully it involved thoroughly embarrassing James Potter.
Rebby stood up suddenly. "There they are! They're on their way back and… Sirius is in the lead!"
"Whoa, no way, I thought she'd beat him easy with that broom of hers!" Peter said.
"Wait! She's catching up to him… Oh! Harsh! Sirius just cut her off! Now she's coming around his right side, no she faked and came back around his left! They're neck and neck!" Rebby lowered her omnioculars. "You can see them now! Here they come; this is gonna be a close one too!" She bent and picked up her "flag" and got into her position at the rail. "And in three, two, one FINISH!" she waved the flag like a maniac as both Sirius and Becca zoomed overhead, then banked and flew back and landed on the platform. "The winner is…. Um… could anyone tell who won the race?"
"No, but I recorded the ending on your omnioculars." Remus said holding out the omnioculars to Rebby.
"Thank you Remus." Rebby reviewed the recording three or four times, muttering under her breath while everyone else waited impatiently for her judgment. "It seems that the winner is…" she paused for a dramatic silence while Becca went "Dun, dun duuuuuuunn….."
"The winner is Becca! She beat you by a hair. Her broom stick was just a tad in front of yours." Rebby said. "Now for the prizes! In first place we have Becca Burns, Gryffindor Seeker and all around good flyer, to her goes the race flag, made of one pair of red boxers with white hearts on them, donated by James Potter-
"They were not! You stole them!"
"-And in second place is Sirius Black and to him goes…. a kiss from the winner!"
"HEY!" Becca yelled, glaring at Rebby while trying to pretend she wasn't blushing bright red. Sirius, who was also blushing, started to laugh.
"And what do you think is so funny?!" Becca asked, her face turning redder.
"I – you – she – I – " Sirius broke down and collapsed on the platform barking out laughter. I watched him roll around on the floor laughing outrageously and couldn't help myself. I started to giggle as well. I don't know why, I just did. Then Remus and James started to laugh. Then Rebby started laughing, then finally Becca, meeting Sirius for volume. The only person not laughing was Peter who stood there and said "What's so funny?" which made the rest of us laugh even more.
After we had finally calmed ourselves down, I turned to Sirius. "So what was so funny? Why did you start laughing?"
"Huh? Um… well… never mind." Sirius said blushing and scratching the back of his head bashfully. Sirius Black was being bashful, what is the world coming to?
"You're not getting out of it that easily! I want to know what's so funny about-"
"It's none of your business, maybe I'll tell you one day. Now, I do believe the great and wise referee said that you owe me a kiss." Sirius said smiling. It was a real smile too, not the fake ones he gave the skanks at school, or one of the smirks he had when he pulled a prank. A real, true, smile where his eyes sparkled and you could swear the corners of his mouth literally touched his eyes. Dang, he had a nice smile. No wonder all the girls at school chase him around like he's god.
Becca blushed again but stood her ground. "Well, I'm waiting." She said.
"No, you have to kiss me."
"Fine!" She huffed then stepped forward to stand directly in front of Sirius, so close that she was nearly touching him. Her eyes flickered over to mine and she winked at me. Suddenly she grabbed Sirius around his waist and shoulders and dipped him like you would in a waltz then gave him a proper kiss on the mouth.
"Talk about you role reversal." James commented with raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, really, usually it's Sirius being the charming one and dipping the girls into a kiss. This is just… backwards…" Remus said, somewhat stunned.
Becca stopped kissing him and pulled him back up from the dip. He blinked a couple of times. Then he opened and closed his mouth a few times making him look like a rather baffled fish. Becca just stood there and smirked at him with this glazed look in her eyes. Then James stepped forward and slapped Sirius across the face.
"Ow. That was unnecessary."
"Sorry mate, but your fish impression is horrible." James said straight faced. This elicited an unpredicted and uncontrolled laugh from me. I had had no intention of laughing, and at the time it had seemed like it had come from someone else entirely. Rebby looked at me strangely and Becca snapped out of her daze to give me a look as well.
"What? I can't laugh at Sirius getting slapped by J-Potter?" They both narrowed their eyes at me, suspicious of my response. "What? Am I growing another head? Am I turning into Luscious Malfoy? What?"
"Hmm… now there's a thought. You turning into Luscious Malfoy… that would be odd… not to mention completely wrong on so many levels." Becca said with a thoughtful look on her face.
"Well, I don't know about you all, but I'm tired. I'm going to go to bed."
"Now that you mention it I'm getting kinda tired too." Becca said yawning.
"Must have been all of that fancy dipping and kissing you just did. That and the race must have just sucked the energy right out of you." Rebby smiled innocently at Becca.
"So what am I supposed to do with Potter's underpants anyways? Keep them as a souvenir? You want me to frame them and mount them on my wall or something?" Becca said raising an eyebrow at Rebby who laughed and responded "I'll tell you later." Then she climbed over the rail and headed down the stairs back to the room. Becca turned to follow her asking "How did you get these anyways?"
Remus rolled his eyes at the two girls and prodded Peter in the side making him walk over to the rail and climb down to the room in front of him. Sirius turned to James and whispered something to him, then walked over to the railing and winked as he made his way down the stairs.
"What was that all about?" I asked.
"Oh? The great Lily Evans deigns to speak to me? How unusual. Usually the only words elicited from your mouth directed at me are curses, curses, or variations of 'get away.' Surely you thought I was someone else?"
"Oh, cut the sarcasm James, I'm sorry I'm not very nice to you, but it's not like you give me much opportunity to be nice. You're constantly in my face asking me out or bloody proposing marriage to me-"
"I only did that once and-"
"- did it never occur to you that maybe if you just left me alone for once I might not yell at you to get the hell away?"
"No, not really, actually. But that's the curse of the male portion of the species, we don't think right when we're in love."
"But you're not in love! That's the point! You barely know me, how can you possibly be in love with me?"
"I don't know, I just am, so get used to it! I have!" Then he grabbed me by the shoulders and kissed me square on the lips before storming off of the platform and down the stairs. I just stood there and stared at where he had disappeared down the stairs. 'Maybe he really does love you' the little voice said. 'Of course he doesn't, it's just a crush, puppy love, and it's nothing serious.' I said back and lay on my back on the platform looking up at the stars. Everything just seemed so much simpler up there. The stars just floated around in the night sky, hung out with the moon and the sun and all of the other planets. They didn't have to worry about whether or not some guy was actually in love with them. 'He doesn't.' I said firmly to the little voice. 'He most definitely does not love me. He just thinks he does. It's only puppy love, nothing serious.' I reassured myself. 'Nothing serious at all.'
But oh how wrong I was.
