Chapter Four
The buzzing. It was vague and hazy, barely penetrating my muddled mind. Then the thing buzzed again, vibrating against my pocket. Opening one eye, I peered at my alarm clock and promptly jumped out of bed.
"Alice, Dorcas, Mary, Marlene," I hissed, shaking each of them awake.
"Wha—?" Dorcas mumbled.
"Wake up! It's time!" I whispered, a flash of energy running through my body. Mary opened both eyes.
"Guys! Get up!" She yelled quietly, throwing a pillow on Marlene's face. She woke with a start.
"It's time!" I told her excitedly. She squealed and dragged Alice out of bed.
"Al, get up!" she said in Alice's ear. "It's time!"
"What time?" Alice slurred sleepily, rubbing her eyes.
Mary shrugged. "Dunno. Lily seemed excited about it."
I sighed. As much as I loved my girls, they could be a bit slow on the uptake sometimes. "It's time to see how our prank turned out!" I told them, rolling my eyes. At the mention of the prank, four pairs of eyes lit up and their owners all scrambled out of bed, fully and really awake. Quietly, we sneaked on soft feet to the boys' dormitory. I activated our side of the security cam to watch the chaotic events that will take place, thanks to our actions the previous night.
After two long, painstaking minutes, nothing happened. We looked uneasily at each other. The prank was supposed to take place two minutes ago. Could something have gone wrong? Did we forget anything?
"Oh damn!" Marlene gasped and fumbled for her wand. With a muttered incantation, she returned to our huddled group.
"What was that all about, Mar?" Dor asked.
"I forgot to activate the Dungbombs," Marlene admitted sheepishly. Mary rolled her eyes fondly.
"Okay girls. Counting down…..three…two…ONE!"
BOOM!
The Dungbombs that Marlene placed under the boys' pillows last night went off, leaving behind a thick rancid cloud. Right on cue, the other Dungbombs and Filibuster's Fireworks exploded, showering the inhabitants with confetti. A shiny, pink piglet whirled through the air, meeting a Chinese dragon head-on. They burst into more piglets and dragons, the air now sparkling with stars.
James' head snapped up, eyes wide, and broke one of the cheese strings above his head. A moment later, a crate of water balloons fell and landed open on his head, making him splutter. Black was careful to lower his head as he got out of bed, but sadly didn't pay any attention to the syrup by his bed. Arms waving like windmills, he slid on the sticky liquid and smashed into the opposite wall, comically sliding down and landing in a heap. James, who had gotten over his initial shock, roared with laughter at his best friend and stepped around the puddle of syrup also by his bedside. At least, his facial expressions suggested that he was roaring with laughter. No sound actually came out because his mouth was Spellotaped shut. Raising a hand to rip it off, he gave a start when he saw his right arm dripping syrup. Suspiciously, he looked down at his body and saw the Spellotape on his chest.
Rrrrrrrrriiiiiiip! He screamed in agony as some chest hairs came off when he ripped the tape off. Well, tried to scream in agony. His mouth was still taped shut. By this time, Sirius had recovered, though still looking a bit dazed. James, who has now freed his mouth, really roared in laughter when he saw the "facial hair" on his best mate. Sirius, in turn, pointed at Potter's Dumbledore-like beard and toppled over. Big mistake. Another crate of water balloons shattered, giving him a cold bath and plastering his shaggy hair to his forehead.
Throughout all this, Peter, Remus, and Frank were all doubled over with wild laughter, and so were we. Wiping away tears and swallowing giggles, we opened the door and piled into the mess of a dormitory.
"YOU!" Sirius bellowed, pointing accusingly at us. We tried our hardest to look guiltless.
"Hi boys," I grinned.
"YOU!" James repeated, but didn't look quite as angry as Sirius.
"Yes, me. What about it?" I asked, my face a mask of innocence.
Black gestured wildly, pointing from the dying fireworks to the water balloons to the string cheese to the syrup to his Afro. His gaze landed on Marlene.
"How could you, Mars?" he moaned dramatically. "I thought you loved me."
Marlene strode up to him. "I do. I love you enough to do this!"
And she ripped off the Spellotape on his chest in one swift movement. Sirius fell to his knees, howling in pain.
"My manliness!" he cried, covering his hairless chest. I bit the inside of my cheeks and Frank's eyes bulged out with suppressed laughter.
"Great prank, Lily," Remus congratulated me, smiling, Peter nodding in agreement. Frank came up and said,
"Is this why you were in our dorm last night?" Behind me, Alice gasped.
"You didn't tell me you ran into Frank," she said in a hurt voice, the same time James sighed melodramatically,
"All that time that I could've shagged you," he said like Filch when he found out he couldn't whip troublemakers. My cheeks grew red.
"Watch it, Potter," I snarled. He held up his hands in a surrendering gesture.
"Calm down, Lily. I was joking," he sneaked a glance at Sirius. "Besides, I can bet my broom that Sirius was thinking the same thing," he winked at Marlene.
Now Sirius jumped to his feet, repeating my earlier words. "Watch it, Potter!"
Marlene was red too. "James!" She whined. "It was only one date!"
Sirius looked at her. "What do you say next weekend we go—?"
We never found out what he proposes that they do, because at that moment, Gideon Prewitt stuck his head in, looking disapprovingly at all the noise. Gideon was Alice's older brother, and he was a prefect. His eyes widened as he surveyed the mess—an understatement for the remains of the prank—around the dormitory.
"What in Merlin's name happened here?" He gasped, his gaze landing on his sister. "Alice! Were you part of this?"
Alice glanced hopelessly at me. "No, Gide, it was all my idea," I said swiftly, squeezing her hand. He looked suspiciously at me, as if not sure what to believe. I gave him my sweetest smile. He gave in, shaking his head.
"I expected better of you, Lily, but this time I'll let it go. Next time though, this is going straight to McGonagall. And I'll be writing to Mum!" He directed that last part at Alice, who shot me a grateful look as the door slam shut around the hem of his robes.
"C'mon, guys, let's go down to breakfast," I said.
"Wait, don't we have to clean this up?" James said, looking around his dorm. I shrugged.
"I guess. You guys go down, I'll have this straightened up in a jiffy," I told them. They trooped out, Alice and frank laughing together and Marlene and Sirius discussing their next date. Even shy Mary has gathered up the courage to talk to Remus. Peter was left out, as usual.
I turned around to see Potter behind me. Not again, I moaned inside my head.
"I've said it a lot of times and I'll say it again," he started. "You know what you're doing when it comes to pranks."
"Thanks." I wasn't lashing out, nor was I being super-friendly.
It's a start. Mr. Conscience has returned.
"Lily—?" he got that far before I interrupted.
"If you're gonna ask me out again, then you can forget it," I said flatly.
He frowned at me. "I wasn't gonna do that, I was gonna ask you if you were going to the next Quidditch match."
I was surprised. "I always go to Quidditch matches. For Dorcas and Sirius," I added.
"What, you're going to cheer on them but not me?" He rolled his eyes while I made a sweeping motion with my wand. Immediately, the dorm was tidy once more.
"You're on the Quidditch team?" I asked, feinting surprise. I had gone too far. He grabbed my wrist and pushed me down on a bed.
"Lily. Lily, I'm begging you, please stop pretending like I don't exist," he pleaded. The intensity of his words scorched me.
"I'm not pretending you don't exist," I managed. "Now let me get up." He didn't let go.
"Well, you're damn close to it," he hissed. "I would do anything for you, and here you are, always saying no and sneering at me." With a sinking feeling, I realized what he said was true. And my position was incredibly awkward. So I made a decision that I'm sure I was going to regret sooner or later.
"Okay, time for a truce. How about this: you stop asking me out for one month and I'll try my best to be nice to you," I suggested. "It's a win-win situation."
He considered it. "But after that one month, will everything go back to before the truce? Like me pestering you and you pretending I don't exist?"
"I don't pretend you don't exist, James! And I'll decide whether everything goes back to normal. If we both keep our ends of the bargain, then we'll do another month. If one of us doesn't, then it'll go back to normal."
"It's a deal. Starting…..now!"
I sighed, wondering what I had gotten myself into. It won't be that hard, right? I reasoned. It'll be just like how I treat the other Marauders. And there's going be a plus of him not bothering me. I sighed again, and headed down to breakfast with James by my side