Secretly
Lily Evans and James Potter have been best friends since their first year at Hogwarts. What happens when Lily discovers the one thing that has the potential to ruin their friendship? (Starts mid 6th year.)
Disclaimer: I'll make one when I stop laughing uncontrollably at the possibility that I owned the characters.
Chapter Three: Illusions
On the morning of her sixteenth birthday, Lily awoke to see a single parcel at the foot of her bed. She eagerly tore at the packaging to reveal a set of beautiful flowing silver robes. And envelope also fell out of the wrappings, and a large pouch hit the floor with a metallic thud. Lily opened the envelope and began to read the letter.
Dearest Lillian,
Happy sixteenth birthday, sweetheart! We hope you enjoy your present, and have a wonderful birthday. We can't wait to see you in a couple of months, we're counting the days. We love you, darling!
Love from,
Mum and DadLily smiled as she carefully re-folded the letter. She bent down and picked up the heavy pouch, in which she discovered two hundred galleons. Lily opened her trunk and stashed everything inside. She yawned and got out of bed. Stretching her arms, Lily grabbed her robe and headed to the shower.
After the hot beads of water finally woke Lily up completely, she got out of the shower and tied her robe around herself. Walking back through the passageway to her dorm room,, Lily wondered if her friends were awake yet so they could all head down to breakfast together. As she walked through the heavy door of the sixth year Gryffindor girls' dormitory, she was greeted by cries of, "Happy birthday, Lily!"
"Thank you guys! You're the best!" Lily ran to hug Bella, Vita, Laci, and then the boys she discovered had snuck up to her room.
"Well?" Sirius began impatiently, "Let's eat! We didn't get all this food to sit here and look pretty!"
"Okay," Lily agreed, noticing her favorites carefully laid out on a table for eight. "But you don't have a big common room party planned, do you?" Lily looked dismayed at the thought.
"No, Lils," James promised. "But Dumbledore is letting us do something tonight, so make sure you have some dress robes ready for six o'clock. Okay, now," James looked at everyone around the table, "a toast to Lily, my best friend in the entire world-"
"Hey!" Sirius said.
"Sirius dear?"
"Yes, Bella?"
"Shut up."
"Thank you." James continued, "To Lil, on her sixteenth birthday. We love you, Lils." Everyone clinked their goblets of pumpkin juice in agreement.
"Now can we eat?" Sirius whined to everyone's amusement.
About forty-five minutes later, the group of friends left for their first class: Double Charms, with the Ravenclaws. At precisely nine o'clock, Professor Flitwick walked into the room. After climbing up onto his step stool, the teacher announced their lesson. "Today we will be working on Illusion Charms. Can anyone tell me what an illusion charm does?" He posed the question and searched the class for a response. "Ah, yes Miss Evans?"
"Illusion Charms allow things to be seen through the eye of the beholder. When the charm is placed on an object, the object is then flexible, allowing it to change for various causes. For example, if this quill was under the Illusion Charm, and I wanted a knitting needle, by tapping it with my wand," she demonstrated, "I could make what I needed easily," Lily finished.
"Excellent, Miss Evans," Professor Flitwick congratulated her. "Twenty points to Gryffindor for such a thorough explanation. For the first part of the class, we will be discussing how to perform the charm, and practicing it. Afterwards, we will learn how to remove an Illusion charm. I will now put you all in partners, on Gryffindor paired with one Ravenclaw." He began to pair them up. "Evans, Rhoswen. Potter, Grant. Pastare, Richards. Lupin, Jacobs. Heaven, Hartwell. Pettigrew, Young. Reeves, Donovan. Black, Donnor. Sit with your partners and you may begin."
Each pair began attempting the Illusion Charm; the first to succeed was Lily. "Wonderful, Miss Evans!" exclaimed Flitwick, unable to hide his enthusiasm. "Can you please help Miss Heaven? She seems to be having the most trouble."
Bella's indignant shout echoed through the classroom. "I am not!" Lily walked toward her nonetheless.
"It's easy, Bel, watch. You just have to give your wand a little upward jerk, like so," Lily showed her.
Bella tried Lily's advice, and with a mutter of "Illusio," her inkwell became a tropical drink." Lily grinned. With another flick of her wand, Bella's quill became a straw. She stuck it in the glass and went to take a sip.
"No!" yelled Lily. Bella stopped. "Don't drink it! It's still ink," she explained. "Stick with stuff that isn't edible."
Lily walked back to her own seat, then turned to see Bella lying in a chaise lounge complete with umbrella, what used to be her desk and chair. She laughed at her friend's choice, knowing Bella's love of the beach.
Once they had had sufficient practice time, Flitwick had everyone return to their seats to learn about the removal spell. "The incantation is quite simple and easy to remember. Say the words 'Finite illusio' and tap the object with your wand. If the object is under the illusion spell, it will return to its original state. If not, nothing happens. Please use the remainder of the class to change your illusions back to normal."
At the end of class, Professor Flitwick assigned a six-inch essay on uses of the Illusion Charm. "Also study the history and uses of the Fidelius Charm. We will talk about it next week. Class dismissed."
Everyone filed out the door. As soon as they were in the hall, Sirius asked, "So, who's up for some lunch?" In usual Marauder fashion, there was a three-voice chorus of "I am," so they headed to the Great Hall, followed by Lily, Vita, Laci, and Bella.
During lunch, Lily pulled out her schedule. "Ugh, Transfiguration next. D'you think we could use the Illusion Charm to make it seem like the end of the day?"
"Oh, come on Lils. You get to be amazing at Charms. It's only fair for you to be terrible at Transfiguration," James informed her through a bite of roll.
"Easy for you to say," Lily grumbled.
"Okay, fine," James conceded. "I'll be your partner so I can help you, okay?"
Lily noticeably perked up and smiled. "Thank you, James! I knew there was a reason I liked you."
"What, so now you're just using me?" James feigned hurt. "I feel so unloved," he whimpered, but his face showed that it was threatening to smile.
"James!" Lily hit him. "You know what I meant!"
"What is this? First verbal, now physical abuse?"
Their bantering continued, while down the table, Sirius was trying to carry on a meaningful conversation.
"Bella? What would you say if I told you I liked you?"
"I don't know," she said, avoiding the question. "Why?"
"Because I do," Sirius said, unsure of why this was so hard for him. Every other girl had been much easier to ask out. He was always in control of his feelings, never self-conscious, as nearly every girl in the school was desperate for a chance with him. 'Maybe that's what makes this so hard,' he thought. 'She's one of my best friends, and she doesn't beg and grovel at my feet, or worship the ground I walk on.'
"Sirius, I don't know…" Bella began cautiously. "I mean, we're really good friends, best friends even. I don't know what would happen if we were together as a couple. And every girl you've dated, you've broken up with within a month. What if it were to ruin our friendship?"
"Bella, I would never, ever do anything to hurt you," Sirius vowed.
"I know you wouldn't," Bella said softly. "At least not intentionally. What if you moved on and I didn't? Or the other way around?" She paused. "I don't think I could risk our friendship. Look, we can talk later if you want, but this isn't the place. I'm sorry." She got up and walked out of the Great Hall.
Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw her friend's face fall. She smiled at him from across the way, but he didn't return it with his usual grin. "Wow, he must really like her," Lily pointed out to James.
I'm sooooooooooooo sorry it took this long to update. I had the worst writer's block with this story, I couldn't think of anything at all. However, lately I've been getting random ideas quite unexpectedly. If I remember them, the next chapter will be out soon. Please review, and thanks to all the people that gave me ideas, I'm so grateful to you!
