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Chapter 9: An Unexpected Meeting… or two
James woke-up and realized he was still on the couch. Dammit, he thought, I fell asleep. He looked up the staircase to Lily's room. "Hm," he looked at his watch to see he was up an hour earlier than necessary. James just grumbled and went upstairs to see if he could sleep a little while longer. He flopped down on his bed and stared at the ceiling, very awake. He thought back to the conversation between Sirius and Lily. What prank was Evans talking about? And where were they meeting at 10:30? Why were they talking in the first place? James ruffled his hair and rubbed his eyes. "I'll figure it out," he said aloud. Then he got up to take a shower and get ready for breakfast.
Lily stretched, put her glasses on and looked around the room, slowly remembering where she was. Sighing she got up and was getting ready to go to the bathroom when she heard pecking on her bedroom window. She went over, opened it and let a large, dark barn owl fly in and perch on her dresser, a large package attached to his feet. Lily looked at the package and saw a note on top of it. She opened it and just stared at the paper in awe.
Good Morning Lily! Sirius decided to go to Hogsmeade last night anyway with your measurements and my sketches and got these. If you could wear them, I can see how much progress we're going to have to make in this area.
Remus
Lily opened the package and nearly fell over. In the package was a new pair of denim jeans, a short, green, boho style dress and jewelry. Under it all was, what looked to be, Remus' sketch but with a rip in the corner. That looks like a bite mark Lily thought bemused. Shrugging it off she looked at the clothes again. She had to admit that it looked…O.K. When she looked back at the sketch she saw that her hair was shorter and curled. She touched her long hair. "They're cutting my hair," Lily said aloud, scared at the image of Sirius wielding a pair of scissors near her. She just shook her head and went in the bathroom with her new clothes.
When James went down into the common room he saw Sirius sitting there with a very tired looking Remus next to him. "What are you guys doing here," James asked curiously.
"Waiting for you and Lily mate," Sirius replied as James let out an infuriated sigh.
"Sirius how many times do I have to tell you? She isn't going to change!" It was then that the boys hear a timid cough come from behind them. They turned around and they all nearly fainted. Lily stood there in her new clothes, her hair magically shortened and curled. James just stared at her. "Oh…my… who the hell are you and what have you done with Evans?" Lily crossed her arms over her chest.
"Shut the hell up Potter, you egotistical prat," She retorted. Remus snickered and looked at James.
"Nope, still the old Lily," Remus replied coolly. Sirius was still at a loss for words as he looked at Lily.
"Um… Sirius? Do you think you could, ya'know, stop gaping like a buffoon at me?" Lily asked, rubbing her arms nervously. "So I look O.K. then, not like a total ass?" Lily asked as she span around. James was going to give her a brazen response but was elbowed by Remus while he and Sirius nodded in approval. "Well, should we get to breakfast then?" Lily grabbed her bag from the side of the stairs but Remus stopped her. "What?"
"No bag, carry your books," he said. Lily looked at him and at the bulging book bag.
"You want me to carry all these books? My arms will fall off!" Remus laughed.
"No… carry what you need before lunch, and then come up here during lunch to get your other books," he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Oh… O.K," Lily replied getting out her Ancient Runes book and a quill, leaving the rest in her bag on the stairs. "There, now can we go? I'm starving!" Lily walked out to the hallway, the boys right behind her. Lily patiently waited for them, tapping her sandaled foot until they caught up to her. Remus looked at her and chuckled. "What," Lily asked looking to see if she had something on her dress.
"It's nothing… I just noticed you still have your eyebrow spike in," he replied. "Not that you can't, your choice. It just… made me laugh." Lily half smiled and slowly took out her eyebrow ring.
"Christ, did that hurt," asked Sirius. Lily shook her head and looked around her. She was catching clips of people's comments but didn't really understand it.
"Why is everyone staring at me like I grew a second head?" She asked Sirius as she shifted her books to her other arm.
"Well, you look… different, Sirius said. "They aren't used to seeing you out of black clothing." Remus nodded in agreement. "Um… do you want me to carry those for you," Sirius asked motioning to her book. Lily nodded in thanks as Sirius took the book from her. James still couldn't get over how different Lily looked. I mean sure she looked hot before, he thought, but HOLY SHIT now… she looks…
"Amazing," James finished aloud. The others looked at him. James just looked at Lily and very seriously said, "you look absolutely amazing, Ev—Lily." Lily wasn't moved much by this but thanked him all the same. Remus smiled at James knowingly and Sirius stopped smiling. Dammit! I knew this would happen, Sirius thought to himself. Now James' hots for Lily are going to be even worse. The group reached the Great Hall and the silence that Lily had grown accustomed to, descended upon the room. You can do this Lily, she thought to herself; it's just like before. As usual Lily ignored the stares and whisper and just stared in front of her with her head held high. The group sat down at the spots Peter was saving for them. Lily looked at Peter as she sat down and wondered how he ever got in league with the marauders. He was short and stumpy, far different from the other boys. He was far from good-looking and seemed to be missing when anything really happened. But still, for some reason, he looked up to the others and they hung out with them. Beyond me why Lily thought, looks like a rat to me. Peter stared at Lily and his mouth kept moving without words making him look like a very ugly fish. "Peter, would you chill? You act as if you've never seen a girl before," James said as he sat down across from Lily. Remus sat on her left, Sirius on her right. Peter sat down next to James. They all began to eat when a tall, blonde girl came over and tapped James on the shoulder. She was a very superficial pretty girl, whose make-up made her face look like porcelain… fake.
"Hey baby," she said and kissed James. She looked at Peter and he scrambled down the bench to make room for her, so she sat right across from Lily. "Who are you," she asked snobbishly.
"You know who I am Sarah, so why did you bother asking," Lily replied bluntly. Sirius laughed at this and Remus stayed out of it, though his face showed a hint of a smirk.
"Well why are you still here? Shouldn't you be sitting with your freakazoid friends down there," she pointed. Lily looked down the table to see Kat, Ty, Mitch and Serena sitting in their normal seats. "I think you might fit in a little better down there don't you agree James?" Sarah looked at James who was swallowing his food.
"Nope," he said very simply. Sarah looked abashed by this, but Sirius was howling with laughter at James' shortness. Sarah looked at Sirius and Lily. She got up and turned around.
"You might want to watch your girlfriends back, Sirius," Sarah said fiercely, "or she might lose it." And walked away to sit with the rest of her Ravenclaw friends. Lily looked at Sirius oddly.
"Why does she suddenly think I'm dating Sirius," Lily asked. Not that it's a bad idea or anything, she thought. "What did I do?"
"Nothing," Remus said, now laughing audibly, "she just couldn't think of anything else to say." James nodded in agreement as he ate. Peter was already on his fourth helpings, seemingly unaware of what had just happened. Lily looked up to see Professor McGonagall walking towards them.
"Oh shit," she breathed, "what did we do now?" She looked at the boys accusingly. They all held there hands up saying stuff like, "it wasn't me!" and "I have done anything…lately…"
"Mr. Potter and Ms. Evans," McGonagall said, looking at the two. "Professor Dumbledore would like to see you in his office at 8:30 sharp." They nodded and she walked back to the teacher table. Lily looked at James and he merely shrugged.
"Probably head boy and girl shit," He said in between chewing. Sirius agreed with James and suddenly thought of something.
"Hey, James…" Sirius asked, "Are we still doing… that thing that we talked about on the train?" James looked at Sirius curiously then remembered and his eyes grew wide.
"Oh… um… I don't know, we'll have a meeting about that later," James said. Lily looked at the two confusingly. Fiddling with her new gold necklace she began to shake her leg nervously. Sirius looked at her funny.
"What's up with you Lily?" He put his hand on her leg to stop it from shaking. "You O.K?" Sirius looked up to see the Great Hall emptying. "Looks like it's time for class, what do you have first?" He looked at Lily.
"Ancient Runes," she said, still a bit nervous to be alone, and out of her norm.
"So do I!" Remus said. "We'd better get going then, or else we'll be late." They all got up and Lily walked with Remus to Ancient Runes. "So, how do you feel?" Lily thought about it.
"A little exposed, to be honest." Lily replied. Remus put a comforting arm around her shoulders.
"You look great? Do you like what I have in store for you so far?" Remus looked at Lily's clothes.
"Surprisingly, yes. I actually this kind of clothing," she replied and Remus smiled. They walked into Ancient Runes together, and sat down, not even hearing the whispers around them. Lily looked at Remus, "I actually feel comfortable," she whispered and began to look through her book and began to read.
"God I'm so hungry," Sirius whined as him, James, Remus and Lily walked to Lunch. They all just heaved a sigh.
"You're ALWAYS hungry Sirius," Lily replied, annoyed with Sirius. "What's so different about this time?" James and Remus laughed as Sirius stuttered, unable to really answer the question.
"I…well…. I—I guess… nothing?" He finally got out. Lily just rolled her eyes at him and began to talk to Remus.
"No… I don't think N.E.W.T classes are any harder. Not really," Remus replied to Lily's question. When the group got into the Great Hall…nothing happened. No silence, snickering, whispering… nothing. Everyone went about their own business and paid no mind to the group walking in. Leaving out, of course, the girls who were staring madly at James and Sirius as if they were gods on Earth. Sitting down, Lily started to put anything within arms reach on to her plate. She remembered she had to go and get her books and she didn't want to risk being late. She ate as quickly and said she was going to go and get her books. "Do you want us to come with you Lily," Remus asked as Sirius started to get up.
"You guys I'm not four, I can go and get my books alone, like a big girl." She laughed. "I'll see you in Herbology." She ran quickly and started towards the Head Room, little did she know that so was a group of very irritated teenagers.
God I forgot how far this was from the Great Hall, Lily thought as she went up a staircase. Suddenly she felt hands grab her and throw a cloth over her head. "WHAT THE—," she turned around and saw Kat behind her. "Kat? What are you doing here? Are the others with you?"
"Yeah, they're here." Kat took over her cloak as the others took of theirs. They all didn't look happy.
"You wouldn't believe how stupid these gits are," Lily said, putting on her old face, "they're falling for my act." The others didn't look convinced.
"Are you sure you're acting Lily," Tylor asked while the others nodded.
