A week had passed since Vanessa, Holly, Lia, Paul, Sirius and Matt had arrived in Dumbledore's office, and they were all sitting in Divination, bored out of their skulls. Professor Dumbledore had constructed their schedules, and had, for whatever odd reason, given them all Divination, a subject that had been discontinued in their time.
So, on a dreary, rainy, icky day, Vanessa was sitting in a very warm, horribly smelly room looking into a crystal ball that was insistently showing her absolutely nothing. It was during this class that she allowed her mind to wander over everything that had happened that week. It was becoming increasingly clear to her that Lily and James were meant for each other. According to her dad, they used to argue all the time and that Lily had hated James, while James was besotted with Lily.
To her, it appeared more as though they were just remarkably uncomfortable around each other. They were always blushing and stammering whenever they were near the other. She hadn't even seen them argue yet. She supposed it probably had something to do with the fact that they were both Heads and had to get along. Vanessa made a mental note to ask Dorie (Dorcas Meadowes) about it later.
Then she glanced around the room, and saw Snuffles (Sirius Black; they had decided to give him a nickname in order not to confuse the two Siriuses) and Remus arguing fiercely about something she couldn't make out. In her week here, she had never seen the two of them argue.
The two of them normally weren't in Divination. In fact, besides Vanessa and her friends nobody was. Today, however, since it was the first Divination the 'newcomers' ever had, it was determined that it would be best if Snuffles, James, Remus, Lily, Phylicia, and Dorie escorted them and remained with them for that class.
Vanessa nudged Lily, who was sitting next to her, seeing as they were 'buddies'.
"Psst… Psst, Lily…Lily!" Vanessa hissed to her sleeping friend.
"Wha…" Lily groaned, "What time is it?"
"I dunno… but look over there. Is that out of the ordinary, or is it just me?" Vanessa breathed.
"No… no… that's weird… hang on… Psst…Psst, Dorie!" Lily hissed, leaning over to the next table where Dorie was banging her head against the table repeatedly.
"Huh?" Dorie mumbled, as she lifted her head.
"Black and Lupin are arguing, any clue why?" Lily asked.
"They're arguing? They haven't argued since first year and that was about the Cranberry Incident…" Dorie said, amazed.
"The what?" Holly asked, her face going white.
She was sitting next to Dorie, flipping through her Accent Runes book, trying to complete an essay due next week. Once she heard the words 'Cranberry Incident' she stopped immediately and looked petrified.
"The Cranberry Incident… never found out what that was exactly, all I know is that Remus and Snuffles got in a big fight over it…"Lily said, waving it away, "Anyway, the point is that they haven't fought since, and lookee there, they're fighting!"
"I'll tell Phyl. Phyl'll know what's going on… she always does." Dorie muttered, she then turned to a table behind her, "Psst… Psst, Phyl, Phyl…"
Phylicia looked at Dorie and then smiled serenely, "You've noticed that Snuffles and Remus are fighting then?" She asked.
"Uh-huh…you know why?" Lily asked, turning around as Vanessa and Holly did.
"No, no. Not really. Do you Lia?" Phylicia said, turning to the girl sitting next to her.
"I think it has something to do with James… they keep glancing at him and Matt…" Lia said dreamily.
"Why would they argue about Jam-, I mean Potter?" Lily said starting to blush.
"Uh, Lily? Which Potter? There are three of them here you know…" Holly grinned.
"Oh… right… I meant James…" Lily blushed even more.
Vanessa decided to take advantage of this opening, and then grinned slyly.
"Talking about James, what's going on between you two? Did you guys have like a nasty break-up or something? I mean, when you guys are even in the same room as each other, you could cut the tension with a knife. So what happened?" Vanessa asked, feigning curiosity.
"WHAT? No!" Lily shrieked, standing up, and finally the Professor noticed that none of her students were paying attention.
"Miss Evans! Why'd you just yell?" Professor Releks asked in a dignified manner.
"Uh… Vanessa was just telling me about this, uh, this thing that she er, saw in the crystal ball…and uh…" Lily looked around helplessly at her friends and Lia stepped up to the plate.
"You see Professor, Vanessa's never actually seen anything in a crystal ball before. She's amazingly good at inventing lies…that's how she passed her O.W.L.s with flying colors… So, since this was the first time she actually saw something, I believe she found it necessary to share every detail of what she saw…Lily must have gotten frustrated with the way Ness told us the color of the stain on the floor, and just kind of lost it…" Lia said in a dreamy voice.
"You've never actually seen something, Miss Potter?" Releks questioned, raising her eyebrow.
"Yes I have! Right now! So HA!" Vanessa yelled standing up and sticking her tongue out.
"Mature Potter, very mature…" Sirius drawled.
"Thanks, I thought so too." Vanessa said sarcastically.
"Well, Miss Potter, what did you see then?" Releks asked.
"Um, well, I, uh," Vanessa glared at Lia and then turned her mind to what she could say, when it hit her, "I saw a house, a gorgeous house and inside of it were two people… they were talking and there was a baby at their feet, a really gorgeous baby, and then, this really evil dude with red eyes came in and killed the man who was trying to save his wife and his really gorgeous kid, but it didn't work, Cause then the really evil man went to the baby's room, which was a really gorgeous room by the way, and killed the mother who was trying to protect her really gorgeous kid, and then the really evil man rounded on the kid and… I don't know what happened after that…" Vanessa trailed off.
"Oh, sure, you give them the short, sweet and to the point version, but make us, your friends, listen to you go on and on and on about it…" Lily complained, playing her part well.
"Humph… I thought you'd appreciate my amazing talents!" Vanessa said dramatically, flinging her arm out into the air, and accidentally hitting Paul, who was walking by to get a tissue.
"Ow! My nose… Darn you Ness and your flinging arms!" Paul yelped.
"Oops…" Vanessa said sheepishly, then turning to the professor said, "Professor, could you explain more about how the crystal ball works? I'm not sure I get the whole inner eye forcing the inner crystal to reflect an image onto the ball…"
"Of course…I'd love to. Well, the inner eye…" Releks then continued droning on about something no one really cared about.
"Suck up…" Holly mumbled, grinning.
"I am not a suck up… it's called a clever maneuver." Vanessa said, insulted.
"Clever maneuver, really? I thought it was a beginners way of letting us continue our conversation…" Lia joked.
"Oh, be quiet…now, about Remus and Snuffles…" Vanessa, Holly, Lia, Lily, Dorie, and Phylicia then spent the rest of the period coming up with things they could be arguing about and came up with pretty much nothing, unless you count an evil plot to take over the world with an army of flying monkeys something (Lily gave them that very enlightening thought).
After Divination was done, Lily hurried ahead saying that she forgot to get her Charms book. So, Dorie, Lia, Phylicia, Holly and Vanessa walked along the hallway laughing and giggling, when Sirius, Snuffles, Matt, Paul and Remus appeared alongside them. Remus looked remarkably grumpy, and seemed very reluctant to be there.
"Hello girls!" Snuffles yelled, flinging his arms around Phylicia and Dorie who were walking next to each other.
"Eww! Get off!" Dorie yelped, flinging his arms off.
"Hey… what was that for? I don't have cooties! I swear I don't!" Snuffles pouted.
"Yes… Yes, you do… all boys have cooties…" Dorie shuddered.
"Well, what do we have the honor of your company for?" Holly asked, very composed for a girl who had just been dancing with an invisible man.
"We have a proposition." Sirius said, looking very excited.
"Whoa… Siri-boy hasn't been this excited sine Dad gave him the Mara… I mean, since Dad gave him a fifty galleon gift certificate to Zonkos…" Vanessa corrected herself quickly.
"They're rather excited, aren't they?" Lia asked amused.
"You'd be to!" Matt said,
defensively.
"Why? Has a Tether-Bether attacked you?"
Phylicia asked curiously.
"A, what?" Remus asked, baffled.
"A tether-bether is a very tiny creature with wings, and buzzes your wildest dreams into your ear until you can't help but scream for joy." Sirius said, bored.
"How do you know that?" Snuffles asked, shocked.
"Two reasons… Firstly, she's my little sisters best friend, and has been for years, secondly, the six of us grew up together basically…" Sirius answered simply.
"Not to mention you love her…" Holly mumbled, to him, to which he responded with a glare.
"Anyway, can I tell you the news? Can I, Can I, Can I?" Snuffles asked, bouncing up and down with eagerness.
"Go ahead…" Dorie sighed.
"We're gonna set up Prongsie and Lilykins!" Snuffles squealed.
"It's going to be so much fun!" Sirius yelped.
"And, and, and, and we're going to call it Operation Emerald Deer!" Matt shouted with glee.
"I came up with it…" Paul said blushing.
"Remus, You've been awfully quiet through out this exchange… any reason why?" Vanessa asked, looking at the sandy haired, grumpy boy.
"Yes… I got blackmailed into this… If James figures out what we're doing we're dead… beside, have you ever been part of one of Sir- I mean Snuffles's crazy, messed up plans? They never, ever turn out right, ever!" Remus grumbled.
"Sounds kind of like Vanessa's plans…" Matt joked.
"Oh, shut it…" Vanessa sighed, tiredly.
"Look, what's the plan?" Holly asked.
"After classes, Room of Requirement. We'll explain then…" Sirius muttered quietly to Lia, as he walked by with the rest of the boys.
Lia nodded and then motioned to the rest of the girls, and then headed off to Charms.
A/N: Okidokey, one Operation started, four more to go. Please keep with me here, I know it's probably not all that great, but as I get the Operation settled, it should hopefully pick up. Also, about James and Lily just being uncomfortable around each other, that'll be explained in the next chapter about how they transferred from what you saw in Snape's Memory to what Vanessa described. Anyway, pretty please review! I am desperate! Tell me what you think, good, bad, terrible, wonderful, boring, funny, cheesy, corny, anything! Just please share! Also, if you have any ideas for a new title, I'd really appreciate it, thanks!
-p.e.e.v.s.y.