"Girl Got Game"
By: Liebling
Updated On: 18 December 2006
Chapter Ten:
"Trouble With Charlie"
:-:
Two hours later, I stormed back into the common room, slamming the portrait closed behind me.
"Ouch, dear, that wasn't necessary…"
"Hey, look! Li's back!" said Peter to Sirius who was
His face brightened almost wickedly. The face of evil, I tell you. "Ah, we didn't expect you back for at least two more hours! You must be pretty quick, eh?" he winked.
I'm assuming that "What the hell is wrong with you?" was not the answer he was expecting.
Conversation in the Gryffindor common room suddenly died.
I was furious. I had tried to be polite and tell Agnes that I had agreed to tutor a younger student that evening. I had tried to tell her that I wasn't hungry. I had tried to climb down the roof.
In the end, I told her that I needed to be violently sick. That was after she tried to kiss me.
I—was—not—happy.
Especially with Sirius—bloody—Black.
"How dare you set me up on a date like that!" I wanted to smack him, but I suppose that would've been too girly…I just don't have the heart to really punch someone.
"But," squeaked Peter, "We thought you were just too timid to ask her yourself…"
"HAVE I EVER COME OFF AS TIMID?" I roared. Really now, I was a redhead. I wore my emotions right on my sleeve, which was why I had many, many more problems with James than I did at the beginning of the year. Not to mention, it was me who had gotten the team into that spot of trouble with Christian Dupont. Timid my arse. "I obviously had a reason why I didn't ask Agnes out and I still do!"
Sirius still looked the least fazed, "Merlin, Li, we just thought you'd want something to do. You never have anything interesting on Saturday nights. You just sit in the common room and do your homework for Christ's sake."
"You just don't date people because you're bored or available!" There's that faithful redhead temper, good timing as always, "You have to like the person! Genuinely!" I was so furious. And the worst part was that Marauders didn't even understand why! Well, perhaps James and Remus did some, (where was their opinions on this?), but certainly not Sirius and little Peter who practically idolised him!
"Merlin, Li, you sound just like a girl," Sirius gaped.
I was taken aback. I was a girl for Merlin's sake! I had boobs! This definitely put me under the category of feminine!
But of course, I could not tell them this. For the first time since August, I was growing really bothered with my predicament.
I settled on sending him a disgusted glare. I was so angry that without anything else being said, I stormed up to the dorm.
We didn't speak for the rest of the night, even when they entered the room to sleep.
Thankfully by morning we had cooled off considerably and last night's argument was a mutely decided non-discussable topic and sat together with the team like we had done ever since the season started. It did not escape my notice that the entire team surrounded me at mealtimes, though no one mentioned Agnes or cared to notice her as she huffed off to the far side of the table.
The owls arrived and Chudley seemed earn a fair share of giggles and short lapses of silence when he arrived at the table.
Seriously, of all the owls that my uncle could've picked, he had to buy me one that says "whooooore" instead of "whoooooo" like all the others. Wonderful.
I gave him some bacon and shooed him away hurriedly.
The envelope was covered in funny quotes and muggle stickers that I had found amusing until I flipped over the front of the envelope and read, in bright, bold green letters: "CHERLYL & ANATOLIA ONT UN PROBLEME SERIEUX AVEC CHARLIE! AIDES-NOUS S.V.P.!" Or, "Cheryl and Anatolia have a serious problem with Charlie! Help us, please!"
Great. Now I had to play the mediator that was a thousand miles away from the actual problem.
"Wassat?" asked Sirius, leaning over my should, "More Spanish?"
I rolled my eyes, "No, just some letters from France,"
"You think you would've picked up on the difference considering you've come to my vacation house in France since you were twelve," James said from across the table.
Sirius waved him off dismissively, "It's all Greek to me,"
Cher Lily,
You must've been sending me some amazing good luck vibes because I got an E on my Charms test! The professor said that the grade brought my marks up a whole letter! I hope they're giving you a challenge over there in Charms, Merlin knows the professor over here hasn't stopped singing your praises since you left. For the first ten minutes of class it's always "Lily used to…" "Lily was the best at…" "Lily was my favourite student…" Lily, Lily—sodding—Lily. No offence of course, it just makes the rest of us look bad.
But all niceties aside now, you're not going to believe this. Charlie, being the problem child she is, went on a rebelling spree. She got her naval pierced (it took us hours to convince her not to get her tongue done as well), flat out refuses not to wear fishnets over the school tights, dyed her hair purple—the muggle way—and to top it all off, she banished an entire month's supplies of meat and fish from the kitchens because she's against eating animals. She has detention until the staff can restock their meat supplies, has been put on suspension from the Quidditch Club until further notice, and is not allowed out on the weekends.
Are you sure you can't come back just for a day or two? Charlie really needs her babysitter.
Stay safe!
Love Cheryl,
Cher, Lils,
You knew that Charlie stole my shoes and you didn't tell me?! I was going out of my mind without them! They were the only shoes that would match the dress I wanted to wear to my sister's engagement party last July! Not to mention she got this horrible stain on them and I don't even want to guess what it might have been. I am not happy. Especially when I caught her pulling them out from underneath her bed just before she was going to sneak out to the pub.
Which she was almost promptly thrown out of after getting into a string of bar fights! We had the absolute worst time trying explaining to the nurse that she had just fallen down the stairs when she was wandering the corridors after hours.
On a brighter note, the three of us have pulled our money together to get you an early Christmas gift. Well, actually, it's sort of a mutual present but you'll have to go get it at the Owl Emporium the first week of December first thing on your Hogsmead trip to understand!
Miss you lots,
Anatolia
P.S. Charlie said something earlier about missing you and your muffins. Do you have any idea about what she's talking about? I think she might've been drunk, but I can't tell anymore. Please tell me that this isn't something kinky. (I didn't quite understand this because I had never baked muffins a day in my life…unless she was making some weird innuendo. Or was drunk. I hoped the latter.)
I recognised Cheryl's handwriting back on the parchment.
I'm anaemic, Lily, I need my protein!
Then it was Anatolia:
They were my favourite heels!
Then it seemed as though Charlie had gotten a hold of the parchment:
Lily-billy, they're ganging up on me behind my back!
Then Cheryl once again:
Forgot to mention, Charlie, (again), went the pub and got dru—
It looked like the parchment was suddenly yanked away right out from under the quill but I had a feeling that a few more letters on the end of the French adjective would've spelt "drunk".
In a way, it was kind of nice to know that everything back at Beauxbatons fell apart without me.
But how on earth did they know I had a Hogsmead trip that weekend...? Crazy omniscient best friends…
It was the weekend of the Ravenclaw-Slytherin match and somehow I found myself not with my fellow Gryffindors, but with Snape. I'm not quite sure how it happened, but I was walking down the grounds to get to the stands by myself, and then he just seemed to appear right out of nowhere at my side.
He said: "Hello,"
I answered: "Hello,"
"No Gryffindor posse?"
"No Slytherin cohorts?"
We had arrived at the stadium and then we were watching the game together.
Funny how life works out, yeah?
He, much like James, is actually a rather half-decent person when he's not busy being an arse or blackmailing.
The two teams appeared to be evenly matched, we agreed. The Slytherins' strong point was their exquisite keeper, but their weaknesses were their chasers. Ravenclaw's best attribute was definitely their beaters but it looked like their seeker hadn't a clue to what he was doing.
I cringed slightly as the Slytherin chaser took a rather painful looking blow to a bludger when he wasn't paying attention. I heard Snape snort in disgust beside me.
"I used to play the lead chaser for Slytherin," he said stiffly, "Last year, actually," I must've looked surprised because Snape rolled his eyes. "I'm not playing now because your marauding idiots injured my right shoulder and we didn't get to the hospital wing quick enough for it to be fully healed." My jaw slowly dropped, "It was right before the championship game against Gryffindor. We didn't have enough time to train the reserve chaser so I told them I would play anyways." As he barked out a short meaningless laugh, I realised how short and direct his sentences were, "But Black and Potter sandwiched me and threw me into the goal posts and damaged my shoulder again."
"That's awful," I whispered, finding it hard to think of my four roommates the same way I had before.
He sneered, "I don't want your pity, girl,"
I hoped no one heard him address me as such and I asked him rather hotly, "Then why are you telling me all of this? Story time?" I said sarcastically.
"Because you intrigue me," he said simply.
I was intriguing? Woah. What have I done that so intriguing lately? Was it the fact that I was a sixteen-year-old girl pretending to be a boy so I could play Quidditch? Or was it the fact that I had issues with minding my own business and sticking my nose where it didn't belong and learning all kinds of interesting information?
Oh bugger, of all the times I chose to be intriguing...
"You jinxed James' broom didn't you?" I realised out loud, "Y-you did it for revenge!"
Snape barely inclined his head and gave me a lazy look, "Figured that out, have you?" he shrugged, "It's not as though you can tell anybody about it, isn't it?"
He was right. All he had to do was send an anonymous note to a professor and I was screwed. I continued to gape openly.
"It was a rather interesting spell I found when I was tutoring that fourth year Quinlin, or Quirrell or something rather," he went on.
"Wuh-ell," I said, dragging out the word into two syllables, still stunned by the revelation and wondering why he was telling me this. I also briefly considered my safety in jeopardy near him, "Why don't you go hang out with your friends then? I'm sure they'd love to hear your fascinating tale of having nearly killed Gryffindor's lead chaser."
"Merlin, you really are dense," he said with disbelief.
"And you really are charming," I retaliated as I rolled my eyes. The paltry insults were grating on my nerves.
The crowd gasped loudly and ducked behind their neighbours as a rogue bludger flew near the stands and the Slytherin beater, Michael McCormick, dove almost off of his broom to protect his classmates. Audibly, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Snape and I were sitting in the Hufflepuff stands—neutral territory, you see—and I was actually rather surprised that McCormick tried so hard go get to the bludger. Don't let it ever be said that Slytherins don't have consciences. I actually felt rather bad for all the nice once that got a bad reputation because of this pureblood nonsense.
He went right back to the conversation, completely unfazed, "There's a reason why I don't socialise, Evans. I'm different,"
I looked him, curious and slightly anxious, "How so?"
"I can memorise ten pages of potions notes in under five minutes," he started, staring at me with wide imploring eyes that begged me to understand. He leaned in closer and hushed his voice, "I know hexes and curses that the professors at this school could never even dream about," This made me rather nervous… "I could have taken extra classes and already have graduated last year but I chose to stay with my peers and study independently."
"What are you talking about?" I asked at last.
Another exasperated sigh, "Give me your quill and parchment," he demanded.
Reluctantly, I handed them. The only reason I brought them to the match was because Sirius wanted the team to take notes on Ravenclaw's and Slytherin's strategies. Which I had totally neglected…
He ranted incoherently under his breath and the quill slid over the parchment in a flourish. I watched his mouth crease into a soft line and his brows furrow in concentration. There was no sneer or hatred in his eyes like most of the student body saw; it was just Severus Snape.
Less than a minute and a half later, he handed the parchment back to me and I could only stare at the surface's contents.
There was the Michael McCormick, the Slytherin beater, who had just flown by to swing at the bludger with the exact same expression he had worn in reality not moments ago. His arm was poised with the club in his right hand and it looked like he was about to slide off his broom. Snape included a couple of the students in front of us and even drew the complicated design of one of the girl's scarves. Severus had done justice with the shading from the setting sun and if it were coloured, I would've thought it to be a picture. He hadn't looked up once.
It suddenly made sense why he could study so easily and get top marks. It also seemed to explain how he had immediately recognised my—er—figure on the train last September.
"One-hundred percent photographic memory," he said, "It's actually not too uncommon to find in children but few parents ever notice it and it fades before there's chance for the ability to be developed."
As I handed the parchment back to him and watched Severus stuff it indifferently into his bag, I suddenly felt bad for him. He seemed so…
Alone.
School must've come easy for him and his lack of effort was probably envied or raised suspicion about his marks. I was willing to bet that he didn't have the patience to study with people because they would hold him back. And though he wasn't necessarily ugly, standing next to any one of the Marauders, he seemed the most undesirable.
Before I could stop myself, I asked him, "Do you go to Hogsmead?"
"I just go down there to see the Hog's Head folk every now and then," Snape said coolly, "Then I head back up,"
Vaguely, I could hear the Slytherin stands cheer as their seeker made a victory lap around the pitch.
"And t-then, ha ha…and then, James just ate it!"
Everyone laughed at another anecdote of Sirius'.
It was the weekend when I was walking down to Hogsmead with the team, discussing Quidditch tactics (of course) that we would use on our last match before the winter holidays.
The month of November had gone by so fast that I wasn't even sure it had really happened. Between classes, Quidditch, and Snape, my calendar was fully booked.
I was exited that I would be going home for two weeks, and I couldn't wait to figure out what the girls had sent me—sincerely hoping that it wouldn't be anything too girly.
With that thought, I had silently decided that it would be best if I separated myself from the Quidditch Bunch in order to pick up my present.
They waved me off cheerfully and began to walk towards Honeydukes. Following the signs that the town had posted (I still didn't know my way around), I began to look for the Owl Emporium and I thought that I had seen Snape walk by, but I must've been mistaken because he said that he doesn't usually hang out in Hogsmead that much.
I could hear laughter ringing all throughout the street.
Actually, it sounded like rather familiar laughter.
So familiar, that when I turned the corner, not only did I have a growing sense of dread, and not only did I just see the Emporium, but my old Beauxbatons roommates, Anatolia, Cheryl, and a newly purple-haired Charlie.
(A/N: This was going to be the end of chapter nine before I changed my mind...)
Of course, I did the most logical thing in my mind:
Turn on my heel and run like hell was after my head.
Not that it got me far, of course, because almost immediately I as I turned to run around the corner, I accidentally threw myself on top of some poor soul.
Well, Severus Snape, I mean.
I had to clamp my hands over his mouth as he nearly shouted when he fell backwards and I shushed him frantically once we had collided with the ground.
I wish that Webster's Dictionary had thought of a stronger word for awkward.
"Sorry!" I said in an urgent whisper, looking over my shoulder to see if anyone had seen, "My old classmates—"
"Are here," he finished. However, as it were, my hand was still over his mouth so it came out as "Urr heerrrr,"
I gasped, "You knew?"
He forcefully removed my hand and snapped, "Yes, I knew. That's why I turned back to find you." I stared at him dumbfound and he rolled his eyes, "How many Beauxbatons girls come to Hogsmeade on the weekends and start blathering about in French talking about a red-head named Lily?" He must've guessed my name considering I had never told him.
"Oh," I said dumbly and then after a second I realised, "You speak French?"
He gave me a look that plainly said 'duh'. Jeebes, first Remus, James and now even Snape? My own uncle didn't even speak French!
"French, Spanish, marginal German and a phrase or two in Chinese," He said, rolling his eyes at my stunned face, "Would you get off me now?" Snape asked my dryly, "I only have two kidneys,"
"Actually," I said sounding well informed, "You only need—"
"One, yes I know that," he interrupted, "But it won't do me any good if you crush them both,"
I rolled my eyes. I didn't like it when he was wearing his smarty-arsey pants. I also cringed when I continued to hear the laughter of my old roomies.
"Now would be nice..."
"Eh? Oh," I hadn't noticed that I didn't move, still caught up in my thoughts. I crawled off of Snape and even helped pull him to his feet, and watching as his emphatically dusted his robes and adjusted his tie.
"Good luck," he said, near the exit of the alley.
"Wait!" I hissed, pulling him back, "What am I supposed to do?"
Snape gave me a flat look, "You're a smart girl," he said, "You figure it out,"
"But I...!" And then it hit me, "Oh...OH!"
Duh, Lily!
Snape slowly nodded his head, brows nearing the top of his forehead, probably silently agreeing with my inward Duh, Lily! statement.
"But I'm not good at transfiguration!" I said desperately, "I can't transfigure my clothes! I mean, I could easily charm my hair but—"
Snape sighed, "You're pathetic," he said.
"Hey!"
He didn't have to be so upfront about it...
But he continued, unperturbed, "How long do you think it will take to get rid of your friends?"
Well, I inwardly thought, the French really like to talk a lot...and then there's eating...and shopping...and more talking...and tea time...and then we needed to talk about boys...perhaps some more shopping and...hmm...
"Er...maybe five or six hours, I'd guess," I answered. Even that was really pushing it.
He rolled his eyes and with a wave of his wand and a quietly muttered spell, my clothes writhed on my person as if alive until I looked down and realised that I was wearing a nice pair of light-wash faded jeans, and a white blouse under a green cable-knit sweater.
Who knew that Severus Snape had such good taste in muggle women's clothes?
...actually, I didn't really want to ponder too much on that subject.
"Five hours. Eleven o'clock," he told me, "And then your coach turns into a pumpkin, Cinderella," I had heard him well enough, and I even remember thinking that Cinderella had until midnight, but I wasn't really listening, "Don't forget to fix your hair," he said.
I quickly did as I was told.
"Do I look okay?" I asked him, twirling around, nearly falling over do to my lack of coordination.
He rolled his eyes at my antics, "You're fine. Go,"
"Thank you!" I gushed before throwing my arms around his shoulders. I mean, this guy really saved me. I felt his shoulders stiffen and a muscle twitch in his arm. You would honestly think that this guy has never been...er, actually I can imagine that he probably hadn't been hugged by many females before. "See you!" I said in my pretend-hush whisper and ran out to greet my friends.
I was glad I let my hair down; it felt so nice to have it whack me in the face again instead of ticking my ears and now it was once again dancing in the wind instead of just being slightly ruffled.
Honestly, I wasn't sure if I was happier to have my old hair back of that fact I was about to meet my old friends after half a year.
The scenery was wonderful. Hardly a cloud in the sky and perfect sweater weather. I took in a deep breath of brisk autumn wind and…nearly choked on my hair.
Coughing and gagging as I attempted to dislodge my hair from my throat I heard someone—and I had a fair idea who—scream, "Lily!" and I was suddenly swooped up into one of the most painful bear hugs ever to be heard of in all man—or woman-kind.
"S-salut—" cough cough "—Charlie," hack hack...
"MON DIEU, BILLY-GOAT!" She shouted, in my ear might I add, "YOU'VE SURVIVED!"
Indeed, I had. But if Charlie continued to squeeze the very last bit of air out of my lungs, I wasn't sure how much longer I would last.
"Christ, let her breathe, Charlie!" I heard Cheryl say as if reading my very thoughts. I shuddered; she had an uncanny knack for Divinations actually…
But before I knew it, the three of them had practically formed a kind of human barrier around me that involved much squealing and squeezing of the Lily.
"We want to meet all of your blokes!"
"Er, about them…"
"Can we see the Quidditch team?"
"Uuh…"
"How are your classes coming along?"
"Mmhm…"
"Good god, the chocolate up here blows, you know that right?"
"I uh…" "Do you have a boyfriend yet?"
"Hmermumnoo…"
The questions came a mile a minute and felt my head start to spin.
"Why don't we just go shopping?" I suggested weakly.
The three shared looks, "Naah," they chorused.
"So are you the only female member on your Quidditch team?" Cheryl asked, direct and to the point.
I gulped again, "You could say that…"
The girls grinned widely in pride that only made me feel ten times worse.
"So this means that your team mates are a bunch of strapping young lads?" Ana asked slyly, a sneaky smile playing at the corner of her mouth. Charlie and Cheryl were snickering and throwing me knowing glances.
"Er, yeah, but you can't meet them today," I said hurriedly.
Their chatter stopped.
"Why can't we meet your Quidditch team?" Cheryl implored, looking disappointed.
"Because," I said.
"Because why…?" Ana asked slowly.
"Well…" I scratched my neck nervously. Best to not prolong the pain. Make it quick and easy. Like a Band-Aid. I wondered if they'd be able to identify the body considering Lily Evans had never been seen in the area…major gulp. "They students and teachers up here think I'm a boy…" I said in a twinged voice.
The all frowned.
"You've always been a bit of a tomboy growing up," Said Ana.
"And my brother has always considered you one of the lads," Cheryl added.
Charlie motioned to my jeans, "But I'm sure if you just show a bit of leg—"
"No," I said quickly. Of course they would make things difficult for me. "I mean that technically…technically I—I attend school under the name Li Evans,"
Their brows furrowed.
"We've never called you Li before," Ana looked even more confused and I had to cringe.
"I know…that's because it's a boy's name. And it's how I go to school. With a boy's name. And play Quidditch. With a boys name…you know, like a boy…" I trailed off, closing my eyes and biting my lip as I waited for my friends to catch on.
"WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE, YOU STUPID GIRL?" Charlie, I thought, sharp as a tack as always.
"Please don't be angry!" I whispered, wanting to usher the attention away from me. Charlie and the girls were opening and closing their mouths like they wanted to say something but couldn't find the right words. Sort of resembled a bunch of fish. "It was, um, sort of my idea! And I really want to play Quidditch, all right?" It came out a bit harsher than I intended.
"Lily," Charlie was able to get out at last, "Tu…tu es trop stupide!" Thanks. "Mon Dieu, tu ne sais pas qu'est-ce que t'as fais!"
I didn't know what I was doing? The fact that I've been able to get away with it for nearly three months meant nothing?
"Lily," Anatolia said almost sadly, she knew next to no English just as Cheryl, "You…I can't even…think of what to say,"
"How about 'Since we're friends, I'll support you no matter what'?" I tried dryly.
Cheryl decided to have a say in the argument as well, "You're sixteen years old, Lily! You shouldn't be worrying about sports like this—"
"Of course she should worry about sports!" Charlie yelled. Right then, I wasn't sure if she was supporting me or not. I sighed deeply and let her continue ranting, pacing, and sulking (all at one time, might I add). "It's just the fact that you didn't tell us! I'm your best friend and you didn't tell me a damn thing! I would have supported you no matter what!"
I hung my head, suddenly feeling ashamed. I knew that Charlie wouldn't have been able to stop me even I had told her…so why didn't I?
"I'm sorry," I mumbled into my jumper though it was a rather late apology.
"'Sorry' is not about to re-do the past three and a half months, Lily!" she shouted.
"Well what do you want me to do about it now?" I snapped at last, "What would you have done if I'd told you that I was going to—to pretend to be a boy for the love of Quidditch?" By the cold face she gave me, I guessed that she hadn't thought to much about it, "Or are you just really jealous that I was the one who got to leave the school and get a new beginning, that I was the one who got to play the sport, and who doesn't have to act out, wear black or dye my hair because I want to feel different—"
"Shut up," she said, switching to English, but I barely noticed.
"—and who got to have that adventure that you always dreamed about!"
She pushed me down so hard that for a moment I had lost all the breath in my lungs. I looked up angrily at my supposed best friend in all her furious glory; my narrow-eyed, purple-haired, and nostril flaring best friend.
We did nothing but stare at each other for a moment before she sighed and helped me off the ground.
Sometimes we didn't need to speak our apologies to know that we were forgiven.
Charlie was still giving me a piercing stare, "We need to talk." She gritted.
"Over tea?" I suggested hopefully.
"And chocolate," she added, linking an arm through mine.
Ana and Cheryl, though still stunned by my cross-dressing habits, looked relieved and joined our chain as we slowly marched down the street with me steering them towards the Three Broomsticks. That is, until Ana stopped suddenly.
"Lily," she said, blinking, "Are you…are you sleeping the boys' dorm?"
All eyes were on me and I bit my lip and fought back a groan.
Ana looked at me with a sudden playful glint in her eye, "Oh the things Lily has probably seen," she said gleefully.
"We are talking about this right now," Charlie growled, painfully dragging me through the glass doors and didn't bother to wait for the waitress to seat us and she made her way to an unoccupied table.
I heard someone let out a strangled gasp and the squeaking of their chair against the floor as they stood, "Chi-chi!"
Charlie froze and yet her grip on me seemed to only constrict more painfully, "Sirius," she acknowledged stiffly.
My eyes widened like saucers and I snapped my head around to look at my friend, "You two know each other?" I said, stunned.
Slowly tearing her eyes away from the Gryffindor Quidditch captain, Charlie explained to me, "My vacation house is near his friend's and I see them every now and then in the summer,"
"And Chi-chi?" I asked.
Charlie's shoulders seemed to tense and her eye twitch, with a sigh she said, "Sirius was having a dyslexic moment when he read my nametag to hit on me and somehow completely missed the A-R-L part of Charlie."
"We hang out in Spain all the time!" he threw in facetiously.
"France," she corrected in exasperation, "It's in France,"
Well that explained the whole "Is that Spanish?" ordeal back on the train…
Wait a second. Hold the bleeding phone.
Charlie had a house in the south of France. Charlie knew Sirius from France. Sirius stays at a friend's house in the summer. James has a house in the south of France. Charlie knew James.
CHARLIE KNEW JAMES.
Sodding hell, it was by a sheer miracle that I had never run into them when I was visiting her on break! Which now, I wasn't sure if I should be disappointed about it…
"Charlotte?" I heard Remus say. I turned and saw him with a tray of drinks that he had carried over, "Is that you?"
"Remus!" she said slightly more brightly, "How are you?"
"I'm wonderful," he said conversationally, "I didn't recognise you with your…purple hair," How did he always manage to attract the girls with strange coloured hair…? "What brings you to Hogsmead? I doubt it was because of Sirius."
I looked at her, trying to read the expression on her face, but it was as blank as an unused canvas.
"Just thought I'd see what Scotland was like," she said, though it looked rather forced.
"Would you like to have a seat?" he offered, as always, being generous.
I sent her a telepathic distress signal, clearly telling her that we could not.
"Of course,"
…which she obviously didn't receive.
Everyone scooted over to make room for us while Remus remained standing, motioning to Madam Rosmerta for three more drinks. When his attention returned he motioned to the group he said, "This is the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. Maud Brooks, the keeper, Jordan McClain, the seeker, Joseph Daniels, beater, Sirius Black—for those who don't know," he added once Sirius had opened his mouth, having thought that everyone on the continent knew his name, "—beater and captain. And we seem to be short of a couple chasers at the moment but this is Victor Bishop."
Each name was accompanied by a polite nod or wave.
"James went off to wallow in his self misery again or something," Sirius rolled his eyes expressively.
"I'm afraid that Li isn't here either," Remus said, not noticing how my head automatically snapped in the direction that my second name was said, "But I'm sure we'll see him sooner or later,"
Try later. Waaaaaay later. Borderline never, actually.
"Charlie," she said stiffly, raising a hand as an introduction. We looked at our two friends who stood there quietly, not understanding a word other than the names.
"Vos noms," I prompted.
"Anatolia LeCroix," she said in a sort of wispy lusty voice that made me cringe.
"Cheryl Hergue," short and clip.
"They don't speak English," Charlie clarified for the imploring eyes. Sirius seemed slightly too delighted by the idea.
"And who are you?" Sirius smiled charmingly at me. Wow, it had been such a long time since I'd been hit on.
"I'm Lily Evan—" Oh, wait. There can't be two Evans, "Evan...gel...is...ta?" Sure. Let's go with that.
His grin widened, "Well, enchanter, Lily Evangelista," Good grief, colour me pink and call me surprised: the boy knew a proper word in French. Hopefully he knew that it was French and not Spanish for goodness' sake. "I am Sirius Black,"
"Charmed," I rolled my eyes.
Sensing how he wouldn't be getting any further than my short answers, Casanova decided he would try the girls who couldn't answer, much to my annoyance. But conversation soon started up again as the Butterbeer arrived.
"How did you meet Sirius?" I whispered to Charlie out of the corner of my mouth. Even though I said it in French, I was afraid of Remus overhearing.
She leaned to the left slightly, "I already told you. I work at a café to earn some extra money during the summer. That's how I recognised Danielle, Sirius, Remus, Peter and James from being their waitress."
"So your all from Beauxbatons, then?" Maud asked, bringing us into a conversation, "Is it like, cold in France?"
Charlie and I exchanged flat looks, "Scotland is further north…" I said, implying that it would be technically colder in general.
"Oh," he said.
"Have you ever been in the area before? Or Scotland in general?" Victor asked conversationally.
"Yeah, you look familiar," said Jordan. I realised belatedly that he was speaking to me.
"I-I do?"
Charlie said nothing but raised her eyebrows at me, clearly going to enjoy watching me worm out of this one.
"She does look awfully familiar, now that I think about it," Remus said thoughtfully.
"Well there can't be many redheads in your school now," Charlie said bitterly into her mug.
I sent her a quick glare and silently pleaded her not to encourage them.
"Well," laughed Sirius, "After Li Evans—that crazy loud mouth chaser of ours who's probably off pestering Prongs—the only red-head that comes to mind is that Ravenclaw girl Carol, and then Beth from—"
My face had glanced at the table once the name Evans had been brought up and I watched as their eyes would casually glance at Sirius who was speaking or in my direction to try to see who I resembled.
Too much attention.
"U-um..." I stammered, squeezing myself out of the booth, "I—I have to be...somewhere. Bye," and I ran. Boy, was I going to be in good shape for that Quidditch match, I thought as I threw open the doors.
I knew that Ana, Cheryl, and especially Charlie, would be worried about my sudden leaving and would want to come after me, but if Sirius acted just the way I wanted him to, the girls would be stuck staying there for a while...
At least until they subject was changed.
Drastically.
So I was running—La di da da da da—and beginning to feel breathless—La la la di di da di—running running running running running—La la la la la la di da di—and I would keeping running running running running until I didn't feel like ru—OOMPH!
"OOMPH!"
"OUCH!"
"Mmhmmmferrr!" My face was in this person's chest. I sincerely hoped that it was not a girl...
"Oy..."
"Désloé!" When in doubt, play the poor defenceless foreign girl and win their pity. I looked up to see who I had trampled onto this time, secretly hoping it wasn't Snape again, and found that I already knew the face.
A mildly disgruntled, but not at all angry face that happened to be beautifully carved and defined by a strong jaw and just so happened to belong to James Potter.
I couldn't really tell if this was a bad situation I was in, or...like fate decided I need a break. I soon then realised that not only was this James Potter I was lying on top of, but I was Lily.
"Tu va bien?" he asked me, leaning back on his elbows.
I stared at him. Admittedly, it probably didn't make me seem too bright and I mentally cursed myself for apologising in French.
"O-oui," I answered.
He smiled.
Oh yes, I could so totally hear the wedding bells.
:-:
-:TBC:-
A/N:
Okay fine. I'm a bad author who can't keep her word with her updating schedule. Blaarrgshnnfftt.
But, alas! Another cliffhanger?! Good grief, I'm on a roll! I wanted to keep going because I have the next seven pages written out, but I like to keep my chapters about ten or eleven pages long. (Ignore the fact that this is thirteen…)