Chapter Four
Detention, Yay!
The walk to the Defence Against the Dark Arts class was relatively uneventful, excepting the case when a suit of armor had decided to challenge the group.
Sirius, being who he was, had decided to take up the challenge. After about ten minutes of-uh-fierce dueling, McGonagall had arrived on the scene. Needless to say, the eight were told off and bade to class immediately, ignoring the calls of "Hey! You do not leave until you accept defeat, mister!"
This had successfully rendered them late to class. They reached class, panting heavily and out of breath. They halted at the doorway, seeing that the class had already started. Their teacher did not seem to be in a very good mood.
"Ah, so the rest of our students have finally decided to join us," was the remark with which Professor Eleanor GrumblyFace greeted them.
Lily, James, Remus, Isa, Peter, Mary, Eva and Sirius started at the same time.
"Professor, I can explain-"
"Sir, there was a stoppage in the corridor-"
"Sorry Professor, there was some commotion-"
"We're extremely sorry, Sir!"
"We were just coming sir, when-"
"We're just ten minutes late!"
"We were attacked!"
"Quiet!" GrumblyFace hollered.
The entire class was looking in confusion, trying to process what the eight had just said.
"That's enough! No excuses! Ten points will be taken from Gryffindor. Get to your seats…now!" he said dangerously.
They walked over to their seats obediently. Just as they were about to take their seats; James and Lily would have to share a desk, owing to their current situation; Professor GrumblyFace snapped,
"Potter and Evans! That'll be another five points from Gryffindor for your public display of affections!"
"But, Professor! Our hands are stuck! You can't-"
"Do not tell me what I can or cannot do, Miss Evans," he cut her off curtly.
James opened his mouth furiously, but Lily squeezed his hand and shook her head. They'd already lost house points, and speaking back would do nothing but get them into more trouble.
"Now…let us begin. As I was saying before we were interrupted, we will be having a practical class today. I will assign the partners and you shall disarm, only disarm, your opponents non-verbally. I am calling out your partners; as and when I call your name, you are to go and begin with the lesson."
"Black and Avery," Sirius smirked over at Avery before sauntering off in his direction, wand at the ready.
"Lupin and Snape," Snape sneered, and started making his over to Remus quietly.
"Hansen and Mulciber,"
"Pettigrew and Wilkes,"
"Donaldson and Lestrange,"
"Macdonald and Black," Bellatrix sneered, which Mary was more than enthusiastic to return.
"And lastly…Evans and Rosier. Seeing as your wand arm is attached to Miss Evans', Mr. Potter, you will not take part in the lesson. Nor will you attempt to help Miss Evans or Mr. Rosier."
James looked murderous. Evan Rosier had a disgustingly obvious crush on Lily, despite her being in Gryffindor, and everyone knew it. James had seen him giving her 'wanting' looks sometimes, and he had to literally be restrained by one of his friends from strangling him.
Rosier, looking like Christmas had come early, made his way over to them, wand already drawn.
"Well well, Evans." James' free hand balled into a fist. "Ready to fight me?" Rosier asked with a suggestive smirk.
"Fight…you? Are you sure you're allowed? Underage dueling isn't allowed, Rosier." Lily spat back, her eyes cold. She hated him as much as James did. And she was finding it increasingly hard to restrain herself after the suggestive looks he gave her.
At some distance, Sirius and Avery were dueling. Well, it was turning out to be more of verbal abusive dueling than non-verbal spell's dueling.
Lily looked over at Eva, who had already disarmed Mulciber, and was smirking triumphantly. Standing a little ahead of her was Isa, who was dueling Lestrange. Suddenly, Bellatrix gave a sharp cry of pain as Mary disarmed her, hitting her inconspicuously with a stinging spell in the process. Lestrange snarled with fury; he was currently dating Bellatrix; and because of that one moment's inattention, his wand had suddenly flown out of his grasp towards Isa. She had successfully disarmed him.
Lily turned back to face her partner.
And then, without warning, before she'd even raised her wand, he pointed it at her and a beam of light shot out, binding her on the spot. Lily stood there, frozen, as Rosier started making his way towards her with a lustful look on his face. Her eyes widened as Rosier raised his hand and moved it across her chin. His hand started drifting southwards when suddenly-
BOOM!
He fell back from the force of the punch, to see James, his hand outstretched, looking livid and shaking with fury.
"How DARE you, you bloody scumbag!" He shouted as he marched over to where he was lying, still sprawled across the floor. He gave him a punch, and another, and another after that.
"James! James, stop. Stop it!" Lily said frantically, as she tried to restrain James from blowing another punch at Rosier's stomach. Not that it stopped him.
"I'll bloody kill you!" he said as he aimed another punch at his arm.
Everyone gathered around the now fighting pair, when Remus ran and tried to hold James back. 'Tried' being the keyword here.
"I told you to stay away from her! Don't you dare even get within teen feet distance from her, if you want to keep that bloody empty head of yours attached to you!" James roared.
Lily sighed. "James…just leave it. Please?" she pleaded softly.
James let go of him and stood up, bringing Lily close to him and tightening his grip on her hand. She didn't resist. She was surprised by his reaction, but also touched by it.
Professor GrumblyFace, on the other hand, looked downright furious.
"This is quite enough! I told you Potter, that you were not to partake in the duel. You and Miss Evans will serve detention at seven, tonight. This will be enough for today. Class dismissed."
Everyone began to shuffle out hastily. Professor GrumblyFace wasn't one to be messed with when he was angry. The marauders and the girls, for the first time, walked in silence. James was still seething. Lily sensed his tension and gave his hand a small squeeze. He looked at her and she gave him a tiny smile and shook her head slightly. It was just a small gesture, but enough to make him give her a small smile in return.
The rest of the day was comparatively uneventful. Peter's robe had caught fire while trying to light his cauldron in Potions, which had resulted in him running out of the class, squealing like a child.
Herbology had been quite boring. Well, you wouldn't exactly call studying the properties of the Dragontail plant in detail interesting now, would you? Though, Mary insisted that the class had been rather informative. Herbology was her favorite subject, you see.
Charms had been, by far, the most interesting class…well, according to Lily anyways. They were learning how to conjure non-verbally.
Sirius maintained that Potions had been the most interesting with a significant look at Peter, causing him to turn red.
James still said that Transfiguration had been the most enjoyable class.
Remus and Isa were all for Ancient Runes.
"That's just because you don't really have to work hard for that class, James." Lily pointed out.
"Exactly my point, Lils."
He smirked. She rolled her eyes.
The topic soon shifted from their favorite class to other, more casual, ones.
"So Lily, I heard Petunia got engaged..." Remus started.
She groaned. The girls sniggered.
"Merlin's beard! Don't remind me!"
Remus smirked. "How is Vernon, then?"
"Don't ask," was the simple answer she gave.
"But why…? What's he like?" Sirius asked curiously.
"A whale! A giant, boring, and good for nothing mustached human whale!" Lily said disgustedly.
Everyone chuckled.
"Though I have to say, they complement each other well. I mean…she looks like a horse, and he looks like a whale. Bloody hell, he eats like a whale!" They laughed.
"Hmm…I wonder what their child will look like…" James mused with a smirk.
"Oh, a pig…definitely!" Eva said.
"Are they planning on opening a zoo or something?" Mary asked.
Lily shivered. "Oh no…metal images, mental images! For the sake of humanity I hope they don't reproduce!"
Everyone burst out laughing. They continued talking away for some more time until Remus told Lily and James that their detention would start soon. His statement was met with cheerful exclamations.
Nah… just kidding.
"This is not fair!" James moaned.
Lily sighed. "See you guys later."
They got up from the couch and started making their way out of the common room. James helped her through the portrait hole, almost unconsciously…almost. Lily let him help her through the portrait hole, almost unconsciously...almost.
They walked towards Professor GrumblyFace's office in silence. It wasn't an awkward silence.
On reaching his office, James rapped the door.
"Come in," said a voice gruffly.
Lily and James made their way inside, to see the most hideous-uh-decorations adorned in the office. The room was very dimly lit, giving his office a rather sinister look. There were all sorts of objects hung across the room; from detonators to fake skulls. It wasn't a very beautiful sight.
"So, you two will be serving detention in the Herbology class." Lily and James breathed a sigh of relief. "It's just cleaning work. The room's quite a mess, and you two will be cleaning it up in the next two hours."
With that, he exited his office with the two of them in tow. They reached the Herbology classroom and saw that the classroom was indeed, very dirty.
"Off you two go, now. The door will be locked until then next two hours so that you two don't sneak out. Now, wand please."
Lily and James stared at him blankly.
"Oh…did I not mention that you two would be serving the detention without your wands?" he asked with a sneer.
"Very well then, wand please." Lily and James handed over their wands reluctantly. "Your time starts now. Best of luck."
And with one last smug look towards the pair, he went out, closing the door behind him.
They looked around themselves. The chairs and some tables were overturned. There was a greenish substance that was sprawled across the floor, mixed with a bit of yellowish goo! Not a very beautiful sight.
She grimaced. He groaned.
"How in Godric's name are we supposed to clean all of this…without magic? James asked incredulously.
"By using a certain 'something' which is the terminal part of the human arm located below the forearm, used for grasping and holding and consisting of the wrist, palm, four fingers, and an opposable thumb…more commonly known as our hand." Lily said dramatically.
James looked at her for a moment.
He burst out laughing. She grinned.
"Come on…" Lily said shaking her head.
They bent and took the two buckets and brooms, kept for them. Grimacing slightly, Lily started mopping the ground, James following suit with just as much enthusiasm. They mopped for some more time when James decided that they had had enough.
"Come on! Let's have a race! I'll do the right half, and you do the left. We'll see who completes first!" James said, looking very much like a child.
Lily rolled her eyes. "Alright, big boy!"
James smiled, pleased. Lily laughed.
And so they swept and mopped the floor for the next hour. They kept talking, however, neither being able to take the boring silence that engulfed the room like a suffocating blanket.
In less than an hour, they had managed to clean almost the entire classroom. Almost.
They were only two feet away, sweeping the floor as quickly as possible. They reached the middle of the classroom more or less at the same time, James only about a millisecond before her.
"Ha! I win!" He grinned like a fool.
Lily almost rolled her eyes…almost.
"Just by one second!"
But James didn't reply. He threw the broom and bucket upwards and leaped, punching the air. Of course he had, very conveniently, forgotten that the floor was still wet. Also, he had, vey conveniently again, forgotten that his hand was attached to Lily's. So of course he had, very conveniently one last time, not thought of the consequences.
Many things happened at the same time.
Lily slipped and fell down with a thud, and before she could even groan in pain, James had fallen right on top of her, not exactly in a very gentle way. Now, that would have still been alright if the bucket James had thrown hadn't displaced a net from the top shelf on the roof (how it reached there they had no idea). That also would have been okay if the net hadn't decided to fall straight on top of the unlucky pair sprawled across the floor, and completely tangle them. It, yet again, wouldn't have been much of an issue if the net hadn't been a special one to capture the wrackspurts flying about in the classroom, and therefore couldn't be removed without the aid of magic.
So, to put it in simple words, they were trapped.
"James! Look what you've done! You heard what Professor GreenGrass had said! How in Merlin's name are we supposed to get out of here?" Lily asked frantically.
"Well…you're supposed to be the smart one!" was his intelligent reply.
"Figures," she muttered darkly.
They were lying in a very uncomfortable position. His head was positioned right on top of hers, and there wasn't even a micrometer's distance between their bodies. Their heart beats were sounding as though they were one, despite the tension that was brewing between the two seventh years.
James' head was carefully tilted slightly upwards so as to not completely fall on Lily's. He didn't want to break into her personal space.
There was an awkward silence that enveloped around them.
After a while Lily sighed.
"James…you can-um-rest you head. It's alright."
"Oh, nah…I'm okay." James said, though it was clear that he was straining his neck muscles a great deal.
"Honestly James, its fine. You'll tire yourself if you remain that way for long." Lily said.
James wriggled slightly and moved downwards; well, as much as the net would allow anyways.
He was now reaching slightly below her neck, not too much. He gently put his head down and breathed a sigh of relief. Lily chuckled quietly.
James smiled and closed his eyes. Their breathing became shallow. Their eyes began to drop. After a while, Lily felt his breathing become more even, and realized that he had fallen asleep. She looked at him.
His face looked quietly content. He had a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. Lily smiled. He looked…peaceful. Not really wanting to disturb him, she closed her eyes as well, and was well asleep within a few minutes.
Lily woke up to the sound of someone muttering, "Where are those two? They couldn't have left, the door was locked!"
Lily gently prodded James. He pouted slightly, but otherwise continued sleeping. She nudged him slightly harder this time. He opened his eyes blurrily.
Their eyes met. As if on impulse, James' head inched closer to hers. And despite herself, Lily found herself leaning slightly forward too. Their eyes were still locked with each other's-
"Oh, there you two ar-what in Merlin's name are you two doing?" Professor GrumblyFace asked, with wide eyes.
Lily and James' head snapped towards him as their cheeks flushed heavily.
"Uh…we just slipped, Professor. And then this stupid net thing fell on us and it won't go off!" James said.
Professor GrumblyFace waved his wand and the net flew off of them. They got up with heated faces and turned towards their teacher.
"Honestly, sir. It was a mistake. You had our wands so we couldn't remove the net. And we've done the cleaning anyways." Lily said, trying to convince him.
GrumblyFace sighed and rubbed his temples.
"Off, you two!"
Lily and James were more than happy to comply.
The walk back to the Heads' common room was very awkward. James kept fidgeting and Lily looked anywhere but him.
When they reached the common room, they found it, surprisingly, empty. They both sighed. Those six were getting predictable.
Lily quietly conjured two sleeping bags and they walked over to them.
"Well, night James," she said as she got inside her sleeping back.
"Uh, yeah…sleep well Lily."
Lily turned around, facing away from James. But James remained in the same position, choosing instead to stare at the back of the redhead in front of him.
He was sure that they had had a moment back there. And if that ruddy teacher hadn't stepped in, Lily might have been facing him right now.
He sighed and closed his eyes, waiting for sleep to take over him.
It didn't.
He was unaware of the fact that the redhead beside him was awake too, not being able to sleep either.
She was unaware of the fact that a certain messy haired boy was looking at her with faraway eyes.
And what they both were unaware of, was the fact that the reason they were both awake right now was, unsurprisingly, each other.
After a few minutes, however, Lily's breathing became more even as she finally succumbed to sleep. Her body turned slightly, her hand nudged his face, her fingers pressing his cheek, making him quite uncomfortable. Her body was positioned in a very odd position, and a small frown slowly etched it's way across her face.
James carefully removed her hand from his face, gently brought her body towards him, and put an arm around her protectively.
She sighed. He smiled.
There...much better.
A/N: So...here you have, chapter four. I've been rather busy this week, and barely had time to write, which is why I'm not all that happy with this chapter, but then again when am I? :P
So, let me know if you liked it or not.
BUTTERBEER awaits all those who REVIEW! ;)
Cheers,
RainHolly
