Disclaimer-I'm too tired to say anything slightly interesting. I don't own HP...like that's a surprise.
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Special thanks to Mandy for motivating me to get this chapter up despite my lack of response for the last one!
Chapter 7-
I hate Transfiguration. You can't sleep in Transfiguration. You can't daydream in Transfiguration. You can't pass notes in Transfiguration. You can't chat in Transfiguration. About the only thing you can do in Transfiguration, is transfigure things. Who would have guessed that one?
I almost forgot another endearing quality of this brilliant class. We get to be chummy with the Slytherins. They are quite a vivacious bunch...Note the sarcasm. I really don't know how they find all the energy to scowl like that all the time. When a Slytherin enters a room, it's almost like you can feel the hatred and animosity radiating off of them.
Today my Slytherin chum is Lucius Malfoy. He is in a rather pleasant mood today. He tripped Peter when he walked by us, causing the poor boy to smack his face off of a desk. Then he sneered at James and Remus everytime they so much as looked in our general direction. Now he's gawking at me like I just grew a second head...then again, with his ability in this class, I might have. Transfiguration isn't really his forte.
"Staring is impolite, you know," I commented.
He didn't say anything. I would have figured that maybe he would have stopped staring, but apparently I was wrong. The boy obviously can't take a hint. I tried to ignore him. His sharp grey eyes seemed to be burning holes in me though. It was really getting on my nerves. I started to grind my teeth together. I gave him a dirty look and tried to concentrate on turning my mouse into a rabbit.
"Please, what are you staring at? Is there something on my face or are you just admiring my beauty?" I snapped in anger.
"Something like that," he replied vaguely, returning to his work.
"Elaborate, please," I said curtly, fixing my eyes on him.
"Just an observation," he said smoothly.
"What the hell do you think I am? A zoo animal?" I asked indignantly.
"Something like that," he said quietly in a steely voice.
"Bloody hell," I muttered, "You're a piece of work, Malfoy."
Transfiguration ended and I was relieved to get away from Malfoy. Hardly anyone had managed the spell, but my mouse had floppy ears and a fluffly tail. That's better than Peter's mouse...his was engulfed in flames near the end of class. He was terrified. I'll hear the agonizing squeaks of that poor rodent until my dying day.
"Courtney!" Lily called, jogging up to me in the corridor.
Her hair was a mess, she had books stacked up in her arms, and her vibrant green eyes held an unexplainable excitement. She always seemed to be frazzled these past few days. The girl is worried silly over her date with James on Saturday.
"Well, hurry up," I teased.
"Did you see the outfit I had laying out on my bed this morning? Do think it looks alright?" she asked anxiously.
"Merlin, Lily, calm down. I'm sure that whatever you wear, James will love it," I said soothingly.
"If you say so," she grumbled, obviously not satisfied with my answer.
We made our way to the Great Hall and took seats relatively close to the Marauders. I couldn't help but roll my eyes when a girl from Hufflepuff practically threw herself at Sirius. I'm surprised she can keep her eyes open with all that mascara. Then again, it wouldn't really matter because I don't think she can see past the large amount of eye liner that is surely obstructing her vision. It looks like she has painted her face. I would imagine that guys would find it rather unattractive, but blokes aren't known for their intelligence or taste, are they?
"Three knuts says that blondie over there won't last five days," I said to Lily.
"Deal," she agreed, chewing thoughtfully, "She'll definitely last at least six."
"Did you see Malfoy staring at me today in Transfiguration today?" I asked with distaste.
"Yes, it was almost like he was analyzing you," she replied, both of us searching for the said person.
"He creeps me out," I said and shuddered.
"He is a bit frightening," she agreed, "Most Slytherins are."
I was surprised when both James and Remus sat on either side of Lily and I.
"We couldn't stand to be around Padfoot and that ditz any longer," James muttered darkly, glaring at the girl.
"I wouldn't necessarily call her a ditz," Remus said, trying to be nice.
"I agree, Remus," I said, causing him to give me a startled look, "I think airheaded slut would be a better word."
He frowned at me. Remus always tries to be nice and to see the better qualities of people. I, on the other hand, desperately search for their unadmirable qualities and draw attention to them. I guess you could say that I'm negative. Growing up the way I did, it was inevitable though.
"He'll grow out of it soon," Remus sighed, shaking his head at his mate.
"What? Being immature? Pursuing anything with a chest bigger than his? Being a complete arse? You have to be exact here, Remus," I said.
"He's not as bad as you think," he said, still staring at his friend.
The girl was giggling like mad, her bleach white teeth fully exposed. Yeah, right, that shade of white is totally natural. Peter was still with Sirius, raptly watching him and the girl. The boy seemed amazed at pretty much everything Black did.
"Oh, really," I laughed, hardly believing what he said, "You mean he's worse?"
"Give it a rest," James said tiredly, "You two are always saying nasty things about each other."
"Black's been talking dirt about me behind my back, has he?" I asked in interest, "I ought to go box him in the face right now."
"And you've never said anything bad about him, right?" questioned James sarcastically.
"Never," I grinned.
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"Liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiily! Please don't leave me!" I begged, holding on to her leg.
"James and I must do our Head duties," she said sternly, trying to shake me off.
I looked across the common room in desperation. She was going to leave me here, all alone. Her and James will go off and have fun while I'll be stuck here. The only people I can talk to are going to be Remus and Peter. They're playing wizard's chess. It's a stupid game if you ask me...Especially if that means that I'm going to be ignored. Black is with them, but I'd rather like to avoid speaking to him.
"We all know that you two are probably just going to snog somewhere," Black commented, watching Lily drag me across the room.
"Black, you are so crude," I scolded, "But I have to agree with you. Don't leave me to go snog that prat!"
Her face reddened and she glared at me.
"We are going to be doing our Head duties," she said through clenched teeth, trying to unlatch my hands from her leg.
"Head duties my arse," Black snorted.
"Courtney, I'll hex you," Lily threatened.
I let go of her leg and slumped in defeat. I watched my best friend climb through the portrait hole with her soon-to-be boyfriend. I turned around to see Black sitting in his chair, smirking at me for reasons that are unknown. I decided to do what my Slytherin mates would do: I scowled.
In a way, it's ironic that Sirius Black, my enemy, brought Lily, my best buddy, and I together. The person I despise the most helped me make my best friend. When he teased me when we were younger, nobody ever stopped him because, well, he was Sirius Black, the king of cool. I was surely not the only one he teased, but I got it the worst. This was before he was brave enough to taunt Snape.
Lily stood up for me though. She finally told him off one day. It's all been history from there. She helped me quite a bit at that time in my life. I'm so different now than I was then. I never stood up for myself. Lily taught me how to...although, I've developed a bit of an attitude problem since then.
"Meadowes, you've got to be the strangest person I have ever met," Black said, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"Really? Because you're the most arrogant person I've met," I bit back.
"At least I don't space out on a regular basis like some people," he snapped, glaring at me.
"Remus," I whined, "Make him go away."
"I'm not the monster under your bed," Black said bitterly.
"You two are like little children, always bickering," Remus grumbled.
I glared at Remus.
"Don't make her angry," Peter whispered to Remus, "She scares me."
"She actually is a bit of a monster," Black whispered to Peter.
"You guys aren't very good whisperers," I whispered loudly, imitating them.
"So, any plans for Hogsmeade?" Remus asked, obviously trying to change the subject.
That's when it hit me. I won't have Lily for Hogsmeade. She'll be on her date. Merlin, what am I going to do? I don't want to drift around Hogsmeade all by myself. I'll look like Susan!
"I'm going with that girl from Hufflepuff I was chatting to this morning," Sirius said while making an odd sort of face.
"She seemed nice," Peter said weakly.
"Yeah, if you like endless babbling, but, you gotta do what you gotta do for a good snog these days," he said, sighing dramatically.
"You make me sick," I spat, narrowing my eyes at him.
"I can't say that I'm not feeling a bit queasy," Remus said, staring at his mate in disbelief.
"And you didn't want on her, Moony?" Black asked, laughing.
"What are you doing, Courtney?" Remus questioned, too disgusted to reply to Sirius.
"I'm not sure," I answered quietly.
"Don't you have a date, Meadowes?" Black smirked.
"No, I don't," I replied stiffly.
"Then again, who would want to take you? I've known dragons nicer than you," he commented.
"No, what you really mean is that because I don't wear short skirts, or have loads of make up on my face, or have a few too many buttons on my blouse undone, I can't get a date. Do you really think I'd even want to spend the afternoon with a complete pig?" I snapped viciously.
"Believe me, Meadowes, no guy would want to take you on a date even if you did do those things," he assured me.
"Would you like to bet on that?" I questioned sharply, glaring at him.
"Three galleons says that not even one bloke asks you," Black challenged.
"Deal," I said coldly.
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I woke up early this morning to make my preperations. Although, Lily still woke up about an hour before me, it still seems early, but that isn't the point! I am determined to show Black that he was wrong. I stole some of my room mate's make-up and layered it on like I had seen them do some many times before. I left the top three buttons on my blouse undone and rolled my skirt twice.
Perfect. I grinned-or at least tried to- at myself in the mirror, pleased with myself. I look just like all the other plastic zombies. I'm telling you, they must have fantastic muscles in their faces to be able to grin like that all the time.
I searched around to find any other things that I might use. I was satisfied when I found a Witch Weekly that had a charm to whiten teeth in it. I knew that shade of white wasn't natural! Merlin, that charm is powerful. It practically created a glare it brightened my teeth so much. They said that it won't be as 'intense' as the hours go by. These girls must wake up at the crack of dawn everyday to do all this rubbish.
Well, here goes nothing.
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Sirius's POV
I plopped myself down on the bench beside Prongs. He was happily chatting away with Evans. Merlin, the two of them have nearly been attached at the hip since she agreed to go to Hogsmeade with him. Moony was just about asleep in his breakfast while Peter shoveled pancakes in his mouth. The kid eats like a pig, but he does make it look good. I piled pancakes onto my plate too. While I was dousing them in syrup, I saw Remus do a double-take.
I followed his gaze and saw Meadowes.
"You have got to be kidding me," I muttered, staring at her.
She did it. She actually did it. She turned herself into the type of girl that she hates. I can't say it isn't an improvement though. I'd have to say that the rest of the male population agrees with me. I mean, she's not anything to drool over, but she doesn't look like a troll anymore.
Meadowes took a seat on the other side of Remus, probably to be across from her dear Evans. When Evans finally noticed that something was a bit off, she gave her a funny look.
"You look absolutely ridiculous," Lily hissed, trying not to draw attention.
Like that was going to do anything. There's about a thousand guys staring at her. It's nice to see a new arse every now and then.
"I know," she said, giving funny smiles to everyone looking at her.
"You look like you're in pain," James said, snorting into his juice.
"I have no bloody idea how girls can smile with all this make up on. It's really difficult," she muttered.
"I think you better practice some more," he laughed, snorting into his juice again.
"Bugger off, James," she said, "Hand me a muffin, Lily."
"Get it yourself," she replied, too busy stuffing her face while Prongs wasn't looking.
I really have no idea why Lily is afraid to eat in front of him. I mean really, the boy is currently trying to see how many muffins he can fit into his mouth before he chokes. Does that say anything to you?
"Thanks," Meadowes grumbled, reaching across for a muffin.
In my defense, I will say that I am male and it was impossible for me not to look down her shirt when she did this. The buttons were undone so it wasn't that difficult. The angle was perfect too. It was a pleasant sight and I think Moony and Wormtail would agree seeing as they're gawking too.
Er...is it just me or has she been reaching for that muffin for a while?
Oops?
"Black, stop being disgusting," she snapped, her eyes narrowing dangerously.
"How come I get yelled at?" I protested.
"You were looking down my blouse!" she bellowed.
"Peter and Remus were too!" I argued.
"Don't try to blame them. They wouldn't do that, would you guys?" she asked them.
The little wankers vigorously shook their heads 'no'. I glared at them. I knew Peter would say he wasn't because he's dead terrified of her, but Remus? Hell, I didn't think he'd even look in the first place so it shouldn't have came as such a surprise.
I sat in a stony silence for a while, glaring at Meadowes, Wormtail, and Moony.
"Was it really that obvious?" I whispered to Moony.
"Well, after you made that sort of grunting noise it was," Meadowes smirked.
"I wasn't asking you," I replied bitterly.
"I told you yesterday that you were dreadful at whispering," she retorted sharply.
Have I mentioned lately that I cannot stand that girl?
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Later that day
"Black!" I heard someone yell.
Meadowes. Ugh.
"Hey! Black! Wait up! You owe me three galleons!" she called.
I stopped dead in my tracks and turned around. Meadowes had caught up to me, a Cheshire Cat smile on her face. Her blouse was buttoned back up, the skirt back to normal, and the make up had disappeared...well, kind of. The eye liner and mascara left a bit of a dark ring around her eye resulting in her resembling a raccoon.
"What?" I asked slowly.
"You owe me three galleons. The bet, remember?" she said, her grin growing even wider.
"Someone actually asked you? Tell me the name of this bloke so I can send him to an asylum," I laughed, trying to see if she was lying.
"Phillip Jacobs from Ravenclaw," she replied happily.
"That poor boy must have no taste. You just got lucky that someone asked you," I snorted.
"Yes, I got lucky about nine times today," she smirked.
Merlin, nine guys asked her? What is wrong with these people? Don't they know about her violent and psychotic tendencies?
"I'll have to verify that you actually have a date with this Jacobs character," I said, again trying to see if she was bluffing.
"Black, fork over the galleons before I smack you," Meadowes threatened.
I grumbled and dropped three galleons into her outstretched hands. She smiled cheerfully before flouncing off.
"Hey, Black," she yelled back.
"What?" I grumbled.
"Proving you wrong made my day," she replied, giggling as she turned the corner.
I can't stand that girl.
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A/N-Sorry for all the grammar errors and spelling errors, I was very tired while writing this (surprisingly this was the only time I could keep focused) and I guarantee that it isn't perfect. I'm human. Deal with it. I decided to focus a bit more on Sirius in this chapter so I hope the change was nice. I noticed that nobody seemed to review the last chapter...hmmm...Please, all you lurkers (and you know who you are) just leave me a review. I don't care if all that is says is 'you updated', obvious, but all the same letting me know that you've read it and cared to leave me a word or two about it...but, actually, to say that I updated would be too obvious, go for 'nice chapter' or something along those lines. PLEASE REVIEW!