A/N: Hello again! Before I anything else, I want to thank my reviewers, all of those who have put alerts on me and my story, and everyone who has read this story. You guys are truly awesome.
This is the first chapter where the perspective changes mid-chapter from James to Lily... hopefully everyone enjoys the Marauders' first prank and Lily and James's... ah... run-in. So please, read, and then review!! Enjoy! (P.S. I'm going to Pennsylvania for a few days this week so I might not update for a while... not like I've been being consistent recently anyways...)
Disclaimer: Guess what? I own the multi-million dollar name that is Harry Potter! NOT. Wow, that was shocking. It's J.K.'s.
My Thunder
Chapter Four
Let the Pranks Begin, Part 2
James
After slipping out of the Head tower, I pulled out my wand from my bag, along with a blank piece of parchment. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," I whispered, tapping my wand to the page, and then, "Lumos."
When my wand was lit, I held it over the page, peering at the Marauder's Map. All the teachers were in their private offices or living quarters except for the teachers patrolling. They were Flitwick, patrolling in the Charms corridor, (expected and easily avoidable) and Slughorn, standing guard by the Great Hall, (probably dozing off.) All good. I quickly made my way to Gryffindor Tower, pulling down the cloak and smiling at the Fat Lady when I got there. "Dirigible Plums," I said.
She nodded sleepily, used to my comings and goings in the dead of night, and swung open. Inside the common room, standing at the ready, were the other three Marauders. I smiled and held up the cloak. "Ready, mates?"
))Begin flashback((
"First day of class," Remus explained, when we were planning, "we have Transfiguration with the Slytherins right away. We can set off something fantastic if someone gets there in time to do the selective start-up charm."
"Something exciting... I don't want to do anything painful to the Slytherins when Gryffindors might get hurt," I said. "Plus, McGonagall isn't too fond of our pranks..."
"Mm... don't want to tread on her toes," Sirius nodded, lounging on my bed. We were in my room the week before the last week of summer holidays. "Right, well, I don't want to set it off. I'd probably mess it up anyways..."
"And not me," said Peter. He was curled up on my desk chair, chewing on a piece of candy he had taken from my stash.
"Moony?" I asked Remus. He was leaning against my bookshelf.
He shook his head. "It'll be right after the full moon, and I'll be exhausted. Staying up ahead of time to set up won't help that fact, either."
"All right, me then," I said, and we began plotting.
))End flashback((
Now, in the Transfiguration corridor, we were setting up the spells needed for the prank in the morning. Remus paced up and down the corridor, getting closer to the opposite wall, waving his wand and murmuring the spell for the actual prank. I followed, doing the selective follow up, that would keep any adults who came to investigate out of the prank. Sirius followed, doing a back-up jinx to keep it in place until noon the next day, and Peter just sat on the floor, holding the Cloak, watching, and moving when he had to.
At 1:25 the next morning, we were done. I dropped off Remus, Sirius, and a dozing Peter at Gryffindor tower, and then found my way back to the Head tower with ease. Slipping up the stairs, I put away my cloak, tapped the Map with my wand, whispering, "Mischief managed," and then got into bed, knowing Ophelia would wake me up at 7:30, just like she did every morning (unless Sirius got to me first). Tomorrow, the school term would start with a bang.
Lily
The first day of classes dawned bright and clear. I sat up, stretching, and then glanced at the clock I had conjured on my bed side table the night before. 7:45. I nodded. I was right on time.
Quickly I showered, dressed, and then pushed my books for Transfiguration and my other classes in my bag.
Grabbing my wand, I kissed Andromeda on her black head where she lay, curled up on my desk, and then ran from my room, turned the corner to the stairs...
And ran headlong into James Potter, who also was going down the stairs. He swore and then began to fall. I screamed and tumbled after. His eyes wide, he hit the ground on the bottom with a thud, and was up in less than a second, with his arms outstretched to grab me before I could hit the floor.
Luckily, his aim and reflexes were good, and I slammed into his arms. However, my momentum drove him to the floor again, and I lay there, stunned and sore, on top of him.
When I lifted my head from his chest, I could see his glasses were askew over closed eyes. I fixed his glasses and then rolled off of him. I knelt beside him and shook his shoulder. He didn't move. It would be SO like him, I thought, to pass out and make me late for class to take him to the hospital wing.
"Potter," I said, shaking his shoulder again. "Potter?" His eyes remained closed. I began to get worried. "Oh my gosh, James Potter, if you are seriously injured because of me... Aguamenti!" I cried, pointing my wand at his face so a jet of water hit him. After a moment, he groaned.
"Okay, okay, Padfoot, I'm-" He opened his eyes and saw me. I cut the stream of water and looked at him, worriedly, only to have him grab my hand.
"Lily! Are you all right?"
I smiled, sighing with relief. Relief?! Uh... this is POTTER we're talking about, Lily, don't feel relieved about him. We'd be better off if he died. I told the voice in my head to shut up. "Yes, I'm fine. More importantly, are you? I was afraid I wouldn't be able to wake you..."
Potter stretched and winced, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm okay, I think. Just a little sore. Are we late?"
I checked my watch. "Not yet, come on."
I tugged him to his feet and we climbed out of the portrait hole together. We raced through the corridors without talking, but the whole time I was glancing at the large bruise on the back of his neck and thinking, He saved me from that bruise, from passing out... I really should thank him...
Finally, right before we reached the door to the Transfiguration corridor, I turned to face Potter, grabbing his wrist to make him stop. He did so, a confused look on his bespectacled face.
"Okay, I know that within two minutes I'll probably be furious at you for something, so I'm going to tell you right now thanks for catching me, and I'm sorry for running into you." My guilty conscience assuaged, I turned, but before I could move away, Potter grabbed me and spun me around, his eyes shocked.
"Lily... did you just apologize AND thank me? At the same time?" Potter's face and tone held such comic disbelief it was hard not to laugh.
"Yes," I answered. "But don't get used to it. Now let go of me. I don't want to be late."
He complied and I turned the corner, only to run into a group of Slytherins and Gryffindors, all of whom were staring at the door to the Transfiguration corridor. "What's up?" I asked a Gryffindor standing next to me, Mary McDonald, who looked at me, slightly confused.
"The door is locked, which, you know, never happens. So we're waiting for something to happen."
I blinked. I had a feeling that the Marauders' prank was on the other side of the door. I turned to the door and I saw, out of the corner of my eye Remus and Sirius greeting Potter. I fully faced them and watched as Potter pulled out his wand and pointed it inconspicuously at the large wooden doors to the corridor.
They swung open with loud creaks of protest. Chattering loudly, the first group of students pressed in, as if nothing were amiss...
...Only to disappear from sight with shrieks of shock. I gasped, and followed the rest of the Slytherins and Gryffindors to the door. Other students began to file in when they heard laughter echoing from the room, but I still hesitated, right at the edge of the corridor.
Finally, I gathered my courage, closed my eyes, and stepped into the corridor. Nothing seemed to happen. Sighing with relief I opened my eyes- and screamed. I was upside down, my feet on the ceiling, along with all the other Gryffindor and Slytherin seventh years. I closed my eyes and opened them again. Yep, that was definitely the floor down there.
Alice and Colleen ran over to me (on the ceiling!) and began to tug me towards the center of the room. They had, apparently, gotten to class before me. "This is incredible," Colleen gushed as she grabbed my left arm.
"Extremely advanced magic," added Alice as she pulled my right arm.
I had to agree. It was a complete gravity reversal charm, which is to say that, instead of my hair hanging around my face and my skirt and robes lifting to show my knickers, like they would if I hung on the monkey bars in a Muggle playground, everything was in its proper place. There was no blood rushing to my head or anything.
Remus, Sirius, Peter, and Potter came over to join us. Alice and Colleen began to applaud, and they bowed. When Potter and Sirius straightened, they looked nervously at me. I noticed Remus looking a little worriedly at me, too, so grudgingly, I began to clap.
Sirius gasped and started tugging energetically on Potter's sleeve, pointing at me and opening and closing his mouth. Potter blinked and said, "Uh, Padfoot?" Sirius ignored him and continued his strange antics.
I finally asked, "Black, what the hell are you doing?"
He stopped jumping and said, "You're clapping! Lily Evans, Ice Queen of Gryffindor, is clapping for one of our pranks!" Sirius fell to the floor (um, ceiling...) in a mock faint. Alice, Colleen, the Marauders and I all laughed as Sirius's foot twitched comically.
"Stop being stupid, Black," I said. "And "Ice Queen of Gryffindor"? What does that-"
"What is going on here?"
Every head turned. The hallway fell silent. The stern voice's owner, Professor Minerva McGonagall, stood in the doorway to her classroom, hands on hips, face disapproving, her eyes perusing the students on the ceiling. Then, slowly, deliberately, she stepped into the hallway. There was a collective gasp from all of the students, except for the four Marauders, who merely smiled. I couldn't understand it. Any second now, she was going to flip upside down, into the air, and she would truly kill them.
But McGonagall didn't flip over and float to the ceiling. Her feet remained quite firmly on the ground. I turned and saw Sirius, Remus, and Potter patting each other on the back. Clearly, the selective charm they had layered over the complete gravity reversal charm had worked.
McGonagall strolled underneath us, before turning her head up to look at the four Marauders. I noticed all of their faces paled slightly. "This is, I must admit," she said, her eyes twinkling at them, despite her stern demeanor, "a very impressive piece of sorcery, Mr. Black, Mr. Potter, and Mr. Lupin." I smiled inwardly at the fact that she had left out Peter. McGonagall walked back to the classroom. She turned before entering, though, and said, "I assume there is a way to get everyone down?"
Potter smiled. "Yes ma'am." He turned as she walked into the Transfiguration classroom and said, "All right, you lot. One moment."
He dug out his wand and murmured something. All of us slowly fell to the ground, flipping in midair so our feet landed on the ground. "We'll have to leave the counter-charm with McGonagall, for the next class," I heard Potter say to Remus, who chuckled.
Students started moving towards the classroom, and I followed, Alice and Colleen trotting after me, the Marauders dropping back to congratulate themselves. Alice tugged my robes and whispered, "Why were you late? You're usually, like, twenty minutes early for the first class of the year."
"Um..." was my intelligent reply. I walked a little faster, hoping to be inside the classroom and therefore avoid questioning, but Alice and Colleen kept pace with me.
"And, Lily, you walked in with James Potter, the guy you profess to hate, and you were blushing," added Colleen. "What happened?"
I winced. I hadn't known I'd been blushing, but really, I should have guessed. Having to apologize and thank Potter had been humiliating and embarrassing, and running into him hadn't exactly been fun either. I shook my head. "I'll tell you later, okay?" I said, taking my seat. Luckily, McGonagall then started the class.
Unfortunately, as the class continued, Alice and Colleen's eyes never left me. They were not going to let me get out of this one, I knew. And once I had told them the events of the morning, they would give me the whole talk about why Potter was the right guy for me and why we were meant for each other.
I concentrated on taking notes. Tonight, I knew, the questioning would go on and on, and studying would earn me a respite from my friends... and from my own confused thoughts.
A/N: And the plot thickens! (I'm not sure, actually, if the magic used for the Marauders' prank actually exists, which is why the incantations are never actually said out loud. But it is a fanfic, so...) I hope you liked it. Tell me by clicking on that tiny little button that says, "Go". You know the one. It's staring at you, saying, "Click me... CLICK ME!"
Well, thanks for reading! (And check out "Reflections on Happy Endings". If you have a little time.)
))Riiko Shea((