Chapter 8: Aqua
A/N: Hey guys! I know it's multiple people reading but just 1 reviewing. Shout out to AnnabethSaysHi, our first reviewer other than my measly sister. We really appreciate you! Here's you new chapter…
18th November, 1976.
Woah, is that a – wait for it – clown fish? With glasses? Why is it smirking at me?
"Wake up, Lily!" said someone.
"Go away, fishy! I'm trying to sleep here!" I groaned.
"Fishy? What the hell, Lilykins? What do you dream of?" That someone said. "WAKE UP!" they screamed.
"Whoever it is – take whatever you want and GO!"
"Is she always this feisty?" They asked. I was about to say no when someone else answered.
"Pretty much," said another someone. The two someones had vaguely familiar voices but I was too sleepy to think too much into it.
"Okay, whoever that was, I am not always feisty!" All the while keeping my eyes shut, can't a girl get enough sleep around here?
"Lily, it's 5:45 in the morning!"
Now that woke me up. "How dare you wake me up at the UNGODLY HOUR? It's not even 8 yet!" I screamed at now I know Sirius and Marlene's smug faces.
"Knew that would work," said Marlene.
"What do you parasites want? Also, how do you people come up here, Sirius? Can't a girl get some sleep around here? I slept at 12 fucking 30 last night! I NEED SLEEP!"
"We have our ways," said Sirius cryptically before continuing, "And why were you up until 12:30 last night?"
"Because I was tensed about my swimming lesson," I said quickly, "OH FUCK, MY SWIMMING LESSON!" I ran into the bathroom looking for my things all the while chanting the mantra 'Fuck fuck fuckity fuck.'
I sprinted down the stairs, out the Portrait Hole, down the 14 flights of moving staircases, out the Great Hall, through the Entrance Hall, the big doors, past the Greenhouses, and stopped only when I reached the shore of the Black Lake. My mantra finally came to a stop when I saw the sight in front of me.
The Black Lake, the Giant Squid, the fish in it were all the same. But the one thing I expected there to be was not. JAMES WAS NOT THERE.
He expected me, me – Lily-will-not-wake-up-before-8-even-if-there-is-a-Death-Eater-attack-Evans, to be up at 6 am, and for once, I was. But he was too busy to be here himself! I hate boys! I sat down on the grass staring at the Giant Squid doing all his (or is it a her?) movements for 30 minutes.
"Hey Evans," there he comes, James Potter – the Late Guy.
"You're late," I say in a deathly calm voice.
"No, I am right on time. You were early. You wouldn't believe the shock I had when I saw your hair from the Great Hall window – Lily Evans, awake before 8 am, must be a miracle!"
"Wait, what time is it?" I asked him.
"Um, around 5:55."
"What?" I screamed, "No way, no fucking way! I cannot believe they did this, I am going to kill them and that bloody clownfish!"
"Okay, whatever, homicidal tendencies aside, have you ever swum?"
"Sure, when I was a kid I did."
"Great, do you remember anything about it?"
"Umm, no, no, they are repressed memories." I shuddered.
"I'm sensing some discomfort, care to share?"
"Actually, I'd rather not, just trying to forget it."
"Okay, then as you wish." He said that in a quiet sort of way. I realized that he was still hurt about what I'd blurted out the day before. "Right now, I need you to check your terrain out because we're obviously not going to swim in the Black Lake. That would be stupid and dangerous."
"Types of things you like doing, James," I said teasingly. Oh, no. I said 'James' didn't I? I swear, I don't do it on purpose, it just happens. Great now he's looking at me like that. Change the topic, Lily, change the topic!
"I've been staring at the lake for the past 30 minutes, I think the 'checking it out' part is over." Did you see the way I evaded the topic? I'm getting so much better at that!
"Evans, do you know the password to the Prefect's bathroom?" Where did that come from? Is he even better at evading topics than I am? I guess he is, seeing all the pranks he has successfully carried out without being caught.
"Of course I do, it's part of the job description," I say. Being a Prefect came with its perks, the bathroom is pretty awesome.
"I happen to know that there is a huge bath tub there, am I right?"
"Yeah."
"And it is not frequented by many people, yes?"
"Nope, it's always empty, which is why I favour it over the other bathrooms."
"Okay," he said before grabbing my hand and rushing back inside. A sense of Deja vu came over me because I had run the same route only 40 minutes ago.
"You know, a heads up would have been nice," I said panting, when we reached the Prefect Bathroom.
"No time for all that, Evans! Now, what's the password?"
"Blue Spanish Eyes," I said to the door.
"What kind of a password is that?" he asked me.
"The Head Girl sets the password and has a weird taste in music," I said as we walked in.
"Why is there a portrait of a mermaid in here?" James asked me.
"No idea. She's always such a mess – crying and whatnot. Doesn't say much, just sits on that rock of hers, miserable."
"Oh, okay, well, let's get started with our lesson," he said as he slipped into the bathtub.
Oh, gosh, water. I hate water! It sucks! The "aqua" in Aquarius obviously is not working on me. It used to until, well, until the day I swore never to speak of that incident ever again. But this isn't me speaking so I guess it could work.
It was a bright, sunny, summer day in Cokeworth. Petunia and I were swimming in the community pool like we often did when we were younger. The "aqua" in Aquarius certainly worked then.
We were sliding on the long slide on it when I lost balance and slid off to the side, off the slide. I fell from 60ft above the pool at a great velocity.
I closed my eyes and waited for the splash to come, but it never did. I snuck a peak and realised that I was floating on a pillow made of water, and Tuney was staring at me from below. She told me stories of how what I did was horrible. She told me that me swimming ever again would lead to my entire town flooding. Soon, I started fleeing the sight of a pool, or even just a pond of water. It developed into an intense fear of water and I've not swam in 8 years. Oh, happy days.
"Are you coming, Evans?" James said and took me out of my trance.
"Why are you calling me that again?" My tongue said. My mind did not say that, my tongue did. Haven't I told you that my tongue has a mind of its own, and all its actions are involuntary? Fuck you, tongue, fuck you.
"Calling you what again?"
"By my last name."
"I thought you hated it when I called you by your first name."
"Did I? Oh, well, I guess I did," I did awkwardly. What else could I have said? He was looking at me with his eyebrows raised like I was some extremely interesting piece of art.
"So, are you going to come in or not?"
"Wait, 'or not' was an option? 'Or not' it is! 'Or not' forever! Well, I'm really sorry, Potter, but I guess I've wasted your time! 'Or not' for President!" I screamed.
"It's just an expression! Of course you have to come in. Now jump before I push you."
"Hey! No pushing, get that, NO PUSHING. I'm coming. Merlin, the nerve of some people!"
I plucked up my courage, refused to look at the water or at James, and decided to stare at the mermaid in the portrait. For once, she wasn't crying but staring at me with interest. Okay, if James can do this, so can I. After all he's just a silly boy, I'm much better at most things than he is, except maybe for Transfiguration. But that's because he's always finding ways of pranking people with it. Okay, JUMP, LILY, JUMP!
And I did. And the water didn't hurt me, it didn't form a water pillow, and didn't flood the Prefect's Bathroom. I was just soaking wet. And James Potter was staring at me with those amazing hazel eyes of his. Did I just think that? I did not just think that. It's not possible. Come on! It's Potter. It's Potty Potter! No way, I can't have thought that ever, in a million years. Nuh-uh, not possible.
He taught me the different strokes that I vaguely recalled from my lessons from when I was a kid. Have I mentioned to you that my mom was all for extra curriculars? Soon, I was swimming in rhythm with myself. I guess I was still in synch with the "aqua" in my Aquarius.
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