Magic That Shines Green

Chapter Eight: Step Five

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

OC: Annabelle Jacobs.

Beta read by my awesome beta, Clo Salvatore.

Saturday


-l-Lily-l-

What was I doing?

I should never have told him. I shouldn't have even opened my mouth!

I turned around, running my fingers through my hair and then biting my nails. I heard the click of Annabelle's heels, and I whipped around, and dropped my hand.

" What did you say to him?" she asked, catching up to me.

" I told him to meet me in the Heads dorm later," I said truthfully.

" What are you going to tell him?" she asked suspiciously.

I opened my mouth to tell her the truth, then I bit back my words before they could escape. Instead I lied, and told her something else, and decided that I really would ask him that. " I wanted to tell him to ask you again."

She blanched. " What? Are you crazy?"

" Maybe yes, but I want you to say yes this time. I was wrong to answer for you before, it was just an automatic thing," I said.

She took my lie and believed it. " I don't know, I mean maybe you're right..."

" What?" it was my turn to be confused apparently.

She bit her lip. " I mean, really, what am I thinking? He's James Potter, and he's been after you for years. Maybe he's just using me to get to you."

" I'll ask him to ask you out. Then he'll believe that I really don't like him and that I give my permission this time. I think you deserve a chance," I said, despite the rest of me objecting rather loudly inside my head.

She sighed. " I'm not scared, I'm just wondering."

Cautiously, after a moment I dared to ask, " Wondering about?"

" You, and why you said no all those years. Why didn't you ever just, you know, give him a chance?" she asked.

Trust her to come up with a complicated question. " I never liked him. He was just an annoyance. One that I would rather not talk to at all. And he wanted me to go out with him. That's all."

That certainly wasn't all of it, but it wasn't like I could just tell her what I was thinking.

" Alright, if you ask him, and he asks me, I'll say yes this time," she said.

" I'm going to go find Remus, we've got that Potions essay to do, remember?" I said, waving to her.

She waved back, and ran back toward the Quidditch Pitch.

I looked across the green, short cut grass, and then to the large hoops, pure white, and the stands, which had faded colors, which would probably be magicked to a red and gold, then green and silver for the upcoming match.

I sighed, and headed to the Library. I had my Advanced Potion Making book open, and was flipping through it to find Liquid Luck, we had to write a simple essay on what it did, what properties it had and the ingredients.

I was just writing down the properties when Remus and Alice walked in. Remus collapsed into a chair and wearily began to pull his books out.

Alice however, sat down and looked around brightly, not even opening her books.

I looked up, and then continued to copy from the book. " Alice, aren't you going to do your essay?"

She nodded. " I'm waiting for Frank."

I restrained from rolling my eyes. Frank Longbottom was her boyfriend, he had dark hair, and brown eyes, he was nice enough. Had a passion for animals and plants. Downright awful at Divination, though I don't know who really could see anything in Treawney's foggy crystal balls. I didn't talk to him very much, but when I did, he wasn't so bad, polite...and he had plenty of topics, well rounded character. His only weakness being he had a thing about letting an animal suffer. Or if the animal was injured. He hated hurting animals.

-l-Remus-l-

I peered down at my book, sneaking a quick glance at Alice, ensuring that she was too into the Potions books she and Frank had begun to pour over, to notice me.

Sure that she was too interested to notice, I chanced a glance at Lily.

She was studying, her red hair falling forward across her book. " Lily," I hissed out of the corner of my mouth.

Her head snapped up at once, and her eyes flashed to me. " What?"

" You gonna tell him or what?" I asked.

She shook her head. " I can't. I promised Annabelle that I was going to ask him to do something else," she said, checking the book and writing down another sentence.

She set her quill down, flipped her hair out of her face, and turned to face me. " Look, he's going to be with Annabelle. That was my original plan."

" Forget the plan then," I replied.

She shook her head. " Annabelle loves him. I think she'd be good for him, you know? They're good for each other. Annabelle hasn't had a boyfriend since Fourth Year, which was a hard time for her to get over her boyfriend she'd had for two years."

I glared at her, which was rare for me. " You haven't dated since Third Year, and that guy was Kyle Thomas or something," I argued back.

" Yes, but I don't want to date," she said stubbornly.

" Just ask Derek out already!" I snapped.

" No," she said, looking at me as though I just said I lit fire to cheese on a daily basis.

" Why not?" I argued. " You've liked him since Fifth Year. It's about time you actually do something about it. I've seen him, he's a nice bloke, not mean."

" Not like Severus you mean," Lily half asked and half stated.

" I mean that he's not a bad guy to set your hopes on," I replied.

She huffed. " I won't ask him because that's improper. Boys are supposed to make the first move."

" If boys are supposed to make the first move, Frank and Alice would have never gotten together," I pointed out.

She crossed her arms. " Me telling Frank doesn't count."

Suddenly there was a snap, and I jumped back, and glanced at Lily, who looked just as startled as me.

The source of this noise was a Ravenclaw with blonde hair, cut shortish, and he looked as though he had flipped it, his blue eyes shown behind the gold hair.

I restrained from sighing or rolling my eyes in annoyance.

Lily did not. She rolled her eyes and turned to try to continue to talk to me.

The boy however interrupted before she could shut him out.

" Hello, Lily right?" he asked in his sugary voice that made me want to curse him.

To prevent any damage to his 'dazzling' smile or worse, his brains, I set my wand down.

" Correct," Lily said between gritted teeth.

" You know...I like you a lot," he said, not bothering to lower his voice.

Lily's eyes widened and her horror showed. " Umm..." she shot me a look of disgust, asking for help, and looking utterly lost all rolled into one, and then looked back at the boy. " Um...Gilderoy isn't it?" she asked.

He nodded. " Gilderoy Lockart," he introduced himself proudly.

" And, why exactly should I go out with you?" she asked, which I knew was her next step as usual. She wouldn't actually go out with him, he would drive her crazy, but she still wanted to know.

He looked taken aback at the question. " Well...erm, because I'm gorgeous enough for both of us."

She looked like she would like nothing more than to kick him where the sun didn't shine, or just smack him upside the head.

" Get lost," she snapped finally, with an edge of controlling her anger.

" Lost?" he asked.

She narrowed her eyes. " Get lost or I'll use step two."

I wondered what step two was.

" Bye my Lily," he said, in an annoying sing song voice as though he hadn't heard her, kissed her cheek and walked off, his silver robe billowing behind him.

" I should have cursed him!" she said, lashing out at me.

" What is step two?"

She sat down, reluctantly.

" Step One, tell them to 'get lost'. Step Two, curse them. Step Three, kick them where the sun doesn't shine. Step Four, get James to hex them or prank them into obliviation. Step Five...well Step Five has never happened," she trailed off awkwardly.

Naturally, I asked, " What is Step Five?"

She glanced at me as though warning me not to ask. " I'm not telling you. Ask Alice if it is so important. I'm going to do my Potions essay," and with that, she whipped it out again, and began to write furiously, while turning pink.

" Alice!" I hissed across the table.

She paused, told Frank to hold on, and looked at me. " Yes?"

" What's Step Five?" I asked.

She laughed, and looked at Lily who was turning as red at her hair. " Kiss James Potter."

Lily shrieked at that. " Bloody hell it is not Alice!"

She leapt up, gathering her stuff, and ran from the Library, red in the face, and ignoring Madam Pince when she shouted after Lily not to run.

" What is it really?" I asked her.

She smirked. " I was right. She's just denying it because we've never had to go past number four, although I think..." she trailed off, smirking.

I smirked back. " I think...I know what you're thinking. And I think you're right," I said.

Frank looked between us, utterly confused. We were smirking in that way, you know, that really annoying way when you're practically saying. " I know something you don't know, and I'm not telling!"

You could tell Frank was confused, but also annoyed.

So, leaving Alice to deal with her befuddled boyfriend, I followed Lily, to wherever she'd gone off running.


And my updates might get a little more spaced out. I'm not getting many reviews, so...that and I'm only just now sending my beta Chapter 12 and running low on my ideas. And space in my Document Manager now that you mention it...