A/N:Yo!
Sorry 'bout the wait, as always. You know, I don't take joy in not updating. I miss my fics. But unfortuneatly, -Tone gets all evil- some people like to postpone my writing. -Glares accusingly at mom- Oh well, what can you do?
Does anyone else think that this weather feels not-so Spring-ish? It's cold here. Not like I-need-a-light-jacket cold, but I-can't-feel-my-toes-if-I-go-too-close-to-the-window cold. Yeah. Welcome to Michigan, everyone.
So, I was wondering, if you could have one draft of any HP potion you wanted, what would it be, and what would you use it for? I'd probably get someVeritaserum and feed it to Kevin Roberts, my mortal enemy. Ah, wouldn't it be funny to hear him spew his guts to the entire school? Happy thoughts...
Anyways...thanks to Saigo no Megami, Mahazzy, Rapsodia, Tayler, Ulitheal, Akt5us, Daisy Pixie, rubberband11, French Tears, serindraxx, Prongs76, avalon64, sumdea, Sweet Southerner, and bratty-randa for reviewing! H&F's to all of ya'! To the 224 of you who didn't review, you already know what I'm gonna say. Why read a fic and not comment on it? Who does it help?
Well, onto chapter eight! (My God, chapter eight already? Wow...)
Disclaimer: We'd all like to own HP and Co. I mean, who wouldn't want to OWN the Marauderers (Minus Peter)? Could you imagine them as your personal slaves? Ooooooh...but the fact is, they're fictional, people. Fictional characters owned by JKR. And, news flash, I'm not JKR.
Lily Evans was sitting in the room off the Great Hall, having her senses lectured out of her by Patrick Greenly.
And she wasn't the only one. All of the Prefects had been called down on a perfectly beautiful afternoon to attend a meeting of 'dire importance'. Lily let out a snort that she cleverly disguised as a sneeze. Oh yes, the fact that there was a slight mishap in the Prefects' bathroom was a matter of dire importance.
"-We can't let people think that we're sloppy!" Greenly ranted, throwing his arms out to make his point to his less-than-attentive audience. "If someone other than ourselves go into the Prefects' bathroom and see that the towels are all askew and that Moaning Myrtle is floating unchecked in the toilet stalls, we'll be in a bad spot! We're Prefects, for God's sake, and we're supposed to be role models for the other students! Why, if I-"
"Patrick, it's not our job to clean up the bathroom. If you're gonna lecture someone, lecture the house-elves. They're the one's who've been neglecting their duties," Lyra Octant, a sixth-year Ravenclaw Prefect said, interrupting Greenly's speech.
"Yeah," Nessie Parker, a fifth-year Hufflepuff Prefect agreed. "And it's not our fault if Moaning Myrtle decides that she likes living our toilets as opposed to the ones in the girls' lavatory. We're not at liberty to kick her out."
"And who else is gonna come in our bathroom aside from us? I mean, there may be a few of us who tell our friends the password on occasion, but it's not like they care what the towels look like," Chris Pearson, a seventh-year Ravenclaw Prefect pointed out.
The humor of it all had not been wasted on Lily. On the contrary, she was busying herself by picturing Greenly demanding the house-elves to do a better job of cleaning their bathroom. Greenly was a bigger idiot than she thought, thinking that he'd get away with grabbing up all the Prefects and making them sit in the a crowded room on the first nice day of the year.
Greenly looked around at the group as if they had completely missed the point. "But look at it this way, if we don't -"
"Give it a rest, Patrick," Sinéad McMahon, the Head Girl from Ravenclaw said, her head in her hands. "Let's just move on. Everyone's falling asleep as it is." She gestured towards the Gryffindor Prefects, where three people had their eyes were closed, their heads lolling.
Lily glanced to her right and was very surprised to find Remus Lupin asleep next to her. He was usually more attentive than even she was during Prefect meetings.
"Remus," she hissed quietly, poking him in the ribs.
Remus' eyes flew open and he sat up straight. He blinked a few times and then looked over at Lily. "Please don't tell me I fell asleep," he muttered, crossing his arms. Greenly glared at him and the other Prefects who had found his raves less-than riveting.
"Remus, are you alright?" Lily whispered as Greenly huffed in defeat, a concerned expression on her face. "You've been acting really exhausted ever since you came back from...where ever it is you were."
"I'm fine," Remus replied, almost harshly. Lily blinked and sat back in her seat, confusion coming over her bespectacled face.
Sinéad had taken Greenly's place in the center of attention. "So anyways, here's the itinerary for the next three weeks," she said, looking down at the paper in front of her. "Next weekend, we've got a Quidditch game - Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff." She paused to let the cheers from both sides of the room die down. "Then we've got another meeting two weeks from Thursday, the ninth of April. Is that it, Patrick?"
Greenly mumbled something along the lines of, "No, but go ahead and dismiss everyone anyways."
Sinéad took that as a yes. "Well, you're all free to go, then," she said, waving her hand towards the door.
The Prefects all stood and headed out of the room they'd been confined in for the last half hour. Lily was about to follow them when Greenly said, "Lily, wait a moment, I want to talk to you."
Turning around, Lily said, "What?" She wasn't feeling all too polite at the minute.
"Yesterday, Emmica Traversy came up to me and wouldn't leave me alone. I thought you said you'd talk to her."
"I did talk to her," Lily countered, crossing her arms.
"And what did you say?"
"That you didn't want her following you around anymore."
"And what did she do?"
"Told me you got her pregnant."
Greenly froze. Sinéad, who was sorting papers in the back of the room, looked up at Lily surprised.
"That little lying slut!" Greenly hissed. "Lily, trust me, I did not get her...it wasn't me. I mean, come on, do you honestly trust her?"
"Yes, I do," Lily replied calmly.
"Lily, the girl's a total whore! It wouldn't be hard for a random guy to knock her up. I mean, look at all the guys she's slept with!"
"According to Emmy," Lily said stonily, hating the boy standing before her. "You're the only one she's ever been with."
"You believed that? Honestly, Lily, she's -"
"She also said," Lily pressed on loudly over Greenly. "That you started that rumor after the two of you broke up. And since you guys were on-and-off for a long time, you never bothered to correct it. And now that she needs you to do right by her, you're using the rumor to your advantage."
Greenly stared at Lily, mouthing wordlessly. Sinéad had come to stand a few feet away from the two, looking back and forth between them as if at a tennis match, her glaring eyes finally coming to rest on Greenly.
The Head Boy composed himself and chuckled. "Wow, Lily, I guess I thought you were smarter than this. Who'd've guessed that you'd come to the rescue of a slutty bitch who just wants attention?"
Lily snapped. Before she had time to think about what she was doing, she launched herself at Greenly, using her full weight to knock him over and tackle him to the ground. Then she sunk her fist full-force into his shocked face.
"Lily!" Sinéad gasped, backing up in surprise.
But Lily wasn't listening. She had too much loathing stored up that she had to get out. As she sent another punch into Greenly's mouth, she yelled, "That's right, you lying bastard, I'm coming to Emmy's rescue, because apparently you're not enough of a man to do it yourself! You're just gonna go off and sleep with another girl, then, after you dump her on her ass? Huh? ARE YOU?"
Lily hit Greenly straight in the nose, feeling a sick satisfaction at hearing the crunch of his nose breaking. "I hope you've learned your lesson," she said, climbing off of him and staring down at his crumpled form. "Because if you so much as think of calling her a slut again, you get it even worse. Got that?"
Greenly sat up gingerly, his hand covering his heavily bleeding nose. He nodded and grunted, his eyes streaming.
"Good," Lily replied coldly. Then, turning to the Head Girl, she said, "I'm sorry you had to see that, and I know that I'm probably gonna be kick out of Prefect status for it, but -"
"Why would you be kicked out of being a Prefect? You stood up for your friend. Anyways, this bastard's," Sinéad jerked her thumb over her shoulder at Greenly, who winced, "Had it coming for years. I'd have kicked you off for not standing up to him."
"But the teachers aren't gonna see it that way. I just beat up the Head Boy, Sinéad. They're gonna find out," Lily replied, the full weight of what she'd done slowly dawning on her
"Who's gonna tell 'em?" Sinéad asked. "He sure won't. D'you think he'd ever admit to anyone that a sixth-year beat him up, much less a girl? And it's not like I'd tell."
"Thanks, Sinéad," Lily said, smiling. "I owe you."
"Think nothing of it," the Head Girl said, waving it away. "Now you'd better get out of here before anyone else shows up. I'll take care of him." She cast a nasty look over at Greenly.
Lily turned to go, then stopped at the door and said, "You won't tell about Emmica, will you?"
"My lips are sealed," was the reply.
"Thanks," Lily repeated, smiling. "And good luck in Quidditch next week."
"Thanks, now get going."
Lily turned again and walked quickly from the room, knowing that she'd at least paid her debt to Emmy. And what a good feeling it was.
The good feeling went away as her knuckle began to throb. "Ow..." She held it up and saw many shiny red cuts glistening up and down her fingers, not really sure if the blood was hers or Greenly's. Smashing people's noses hurt.
Not paying attention to where she was going, Lily walked into something solid. Looking up, she saw that it was Remus, who was looking between her, her bleeding knuckle, and the room she had just left, where Greenly was moaning loudly. It sounded as if Sinéad was kicking him.
"Um..." Lily said, not really knowing what to do, and very nervous that Remus had heard all about Emmy.
"I'm not even gonna ask," Remus said, shaking his head and walking in the other direction, Lily following in his wake.
James Potter was walking down the congested corridor with his fellow Marauderers a few hours later.
"So let me get this straight," He said, looking at Remus as they navigated through the crowd. "Evans got all pissed at Greenly for something and punched him?"
"Well, tackled him's more like it," Remus replied. "I have no idea what they were talking about, but I was heading back to apologize to Lily about being rude to her and I just heard her screaming and what I think was Greenly's nose breaking."
"Ouch," Peter said, a hand flying up to his own nose.
"Well, who'd've thought little Lily Evans could beat up the Head Boy? Shit, Prongs," Sirius said, looking over Peter's head at James. "Your girlfriend's got a temper."
"That she does," James said absentmindedly. Then he seemed to grasp reality. "Wait a second, who said she was my girlfriend?"
"You did, just now," Sirius replied, grinning at James.
"Evans is not my girlfriend," James said loudly, catching the attention of a few people scurrying around them. "I don't even like her."
"Have you ever actually liked any of your girlfriends?" Remus asked, his eyebrow raised.
"That's completely besides the point," James countered. He turned back to Sirius. "Why would you even think she's my girlfriend?"
"Oh, I dunno," Sirius said, a mock-confused look coming over his handsome face. "Maybe because you constantly stare at her, you get all flustered when you talk to her, and your face always gets all red when someone talks about her in front of you."
"Wow, it seems like I've heard this before," Remus said, a mock look of confusion coming over his face. "Oh yeah, that's right, you guys had exactly the same conversation yesterday."
"Alright, then," Sirius said. "Add can't stop talking about her to the list."
James stared at Sirius as the four of them reached the Charms classroom. "Okay, first off, I do not constantly stare at her."
"Liar," Remus accused.
Ignoring him, James pressed on. "Second, I don't talk to her to begin with."
"Oh, so your relationship's more physical, then?" Sirius asked with a wicked grin.
"No," James said, gritting his teeth. "I meant that I never talk to her. We just have screaming matches. And third, I do not blush when people talk about her in front of me."
"Then why are you blushing now?" Peter asked innocently.
James glared at him. "You're not helping." Turning back to Sirius, he said, "She's not my girlfriend. I don't even like her. Hell, I hate her."
"But you're not denying the 'can't stop talking about her' part?"
"I'm not talking about her, you are!"
"James likes Eeevvvaaannnsss," Sirius said in a singsong voice as he set his books down at his usual seat.
"I see you've lowered your standards, Potter. Falling for a Mudblood, are we?" A cold voice behind the Marauderers asked. All four boys spun around to face the culprit.
"Snape," James spat, glaring at Severus Snape, a Slytherin with greasy black hair, shallow skin and a hook nose who James just happened to hate above all else.
"Potter," Snape replied in an equally nasty tone. "So, who'd've guessed that you'd fall for a hot-tempered Mudblood bookworm?"
James snarled at him. "Go fuck yourself, Snivellus."
"Better me than a Mudblood," countered Snape.
Sirius, Remus and Peter had to hold James back as he tried to rush forward with every intention of beheading Snape with his bare hands. He didn't understand why he cared so much what Snape said about Evans, but whatever the reason, it made his very blood boil.
Snape laughed coldly as he watched James struggle against his friends. "My, my, so it's true then? Pity you had to pick the only Mudblood actually worth fucking."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Remus asked, a murderous look coming over his face.
"Well, you're her friend, Lupin, so you should know how big of a slut she is."
The hands holding James back slackened as Remus shot past him, eager to wipe the smirk off Snape's oily face. James ran up to join him, happy to have a reason to finally beat Snape's face to a pulp, even if he wasn't sure what the reason was now.
"STOP!" Shrieked a voice, and before either James or Remus could reach Snape, none other than Evans was standing between them and their target.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Evans thundered. "Remus, my God, you're a Prefect! You should know better than this! And you," she said, rounding on James, "Don't even get me started on you, Potter. What the hell did he ever do to you?"
"You - you didn't hear what he was saying," James said in defense, anger surfacing. What right did Evans have to stop him from protecting her name?
"Who cares what he was saying? You can't just beat people up because you want to!"
"Oh, you mean like how you beat up the Head Boy?" James said without thinking, his temper taking over.
Evans backed up a step, then looked at Remus, wide-eyed. "That is irrelevant to this. I was protecting someone else's name -"
"Well, did you ever think that that's what we were doing?" James plowed on, the filter between his brain and his mouth not working. "That maybe it was you we were defending?"
That stopped Evans right in her track. She looked as if she'd been slapped. "What?"
"You heard me," James said, very aware of the blush coming up his face. His eyes were fixed on the floor.
"What did he say?" Evans demanded, looking at Remus, not James.
"He said in less polite terms that you slept around," Remus replied, also blushing now.
Evans spun around, her braids flying, and smacked Snape so hard across the face that he staggered into the table next to him, clutching his reddened face. "I do not sleep around," she said, her voice so icy that James himself winced. And without even looking at Remus or James, she turned and headed back down to her seat.
Sirius let out a low whistle as all four Marauderers turned to watch her as she sat down. "God, James, you sure know how to pick 'em."
And for the first time, James said nothing in his own defense, but instead gazed down at Evans, the strangest thoughts running through his head.
I can't like Evans...could I?
Lily had just rushed out of the class, through the corridors, and into the Gryffindor common room, careful to avoid eye contact with anyone. Who would think that I sleep around? I look ugly...don't I? She thought as she practically ran up the girls' staircase and up to her room.
The sight that reached her once she opened her door made her nervous thoughts stop. Emmy was kneeling on the floor, trying to shake what was unmistakably Willow, who was thrashing on the ground and muttering incoherently.
"Lily!" Emmy said, looking up franticly. "I don't know what happened, I just woke up and I saw -"
"It's okay," Lily said, dropping her bag in the doorway and rushing over to Willow's side. "Come on, we need to get her to the Hospital Wing, and fast."
The two girls reached down and hoisted Willow up - after all, she was very light - then rushed down the steps and out the portrait-hole.
"Does this happen a lot?" Emmy asked as they dragged Willow down the corridors.
"Often enough," Lily replied.
Emmy shook her head. "I have a lot to learn still, don't I?"
Lily looked over at her as they approached the Hospital Wing doors. "You have no idea."
A/N: So, what'cha think? I don't know, I wanted it to feel like we're returning back to normal time, so did it work?
Well, please review!
Hugs and fuzzles
MM360
