Why Should I?
Summary: After a completely embarrassing night, Lily flees from Hogwarts and the hurtful jeers from her classmates. Four years later, she's back and she's hunting for the man who stepped all over her torn heart: James Potter.
Note: I've revised this chapter from its previous content of the story and decided to use a different approach. In other words, instead of using the story of Tristan and Isolde, I instead plan to use the story of the Love Talker. For those who aren't aware, both pieces of literature are, in fact, REAL, and therefore do not belong to me. For those curious for more in depth information on the story of the Love Talker, please feel free to send me an email or private message.
Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or any of its relating characters.
Chapter Nine
The two arrived just in time for Muggle Studies, with an ecstatic Sirius waving his arm frantically from his seat. He pointed to an empty desk right behind then noticed Lily standing awkwardly right beside his mate. Smiling lightly, he also indicated towards a free desk in front of him, and with a suspicious, but thankful smile, she took it. "Thanks," She mumbled.
Still guilt-stricken, Sirius flashed a wolfish grin and said loudly, "You're very welcome!" Thankfully, Professor Wishlet – the half-blood instructor for the subject – walked in and kept him from making anymore embarrassing outbreaks.
The pretty teacher gave a sweeping motion with her wand and the heavy curtains sprung open. "Welcome back! Hope you had a very relaxing vacation, because now it's time to work hard. You're in your final year, young witches and warlocks! I expect nothing less than perfect dedication and hard work from all of you."
"Dedication? Hard work? Bloody hell, woman, we're learning about muggles! What the bloody fuck could be so interesting about them? If it weren't for the fact that I failed this useless class last year, I wouldn't be here." A snippy Slytherin barked from the back. He was one of the very few Slytherins in the class, and from the looks of it, neither he nor any one of his little pals enjoyed being there.
Wishlet's eyes narrowed at the boy. "I will not tolerate such language in this classroom, Mr. Avery. Five points from Slytherin. Now, if you have nothing else to complain about, I would like to start my lesson now, if you please. I would much rather that you weren't here next year, as well." She smirked at the glowering student. She flicked her wand once more, though a lot more gracefully than the first time, and the cupboards opened immediately. Piles of books floated their way towards them and, one by one, landed on each student's desk.
"Muggle literature?" Sirius read aloud once his book was leveled. "So, we're going to learning about tiny little teapots that had spouts and tipped over? And here I thought this class was going to be a brain-whacker!" The class erupted in laughter.
"I'm afraid not, Mr. Black," Wishlet laughed while the Slytherins sneered at him, clearly disgraced to be in the same room as the blood traitor. "We'll be reading much more mature pieces of muggle literature… starting with the romantics!" Wishlet gave an airy sigh, as did some of the females in the room. "Now, be quick to note that there are two main types of romance: comical romance, and tragic romance. Either or, they are both dramatic and filled with lust, and passion, and…" she let the sentence drop with another sigh.
Sirius groaned, along with the rest of the males students. This was exactly the type of class he signed for, he thought grimly. One filled with idiotic stories about half naked men sweeping half naked women into their arms… well, when put that way, he thought with an entertained smile, it could one very interesting year. He glanced over at Remus and saw him (quite typically) flipping through the book.
"How's it sound, Remus?" He asked, finding himself (also quite typically) too lazy to flick the cover open and find out for himself.
Not taking his eyes off the page he was currently skimming through,Remus shrugged. "Not much to say about it. From what I picked up, someone's dying."
"Oh, do you think it's because of a muggle dual? You know how much I love muggle fighting!" Sirius nearly jumped from his seat in excitement as Lily tried hard to conceal her growing grin. "Oh, yes! I can't wait!" Nearby Slytherins heard his noisy proclamations and sneered at him once more for his impure obsessions.
Wishlet frapped her wand two times across the edge of her lectern, quickly grabbing the attention of her students. "Now, to start, who can name a few romantic muggle classics?" A few hands shot up almost immediately. "Mr. Deanvar?"
"Well, there's that one with that Julie girl and the Roman lad," a sandy haired boy answered hesitantly.
Wishlet, however, brightened at his vague description. "Why, yes, Romeo and Juliet. Well done, Mr. Deanvar; Five points to Hufflepuff. This play is considered, for very good reason, one of the more successful stories in muggle literature. It was first a poem written by a man by the name of Arthur Brooke in the late 1500's. William Shakespeare took the concept of the poem – which Brooke revealed to have been inspired from an old Italian story – and turned it into one of the most famous plays to ever grace the muggle world." She grinned to herself at the evidently growing interest some of her students were now displaying. "We shall be reading that later on this year. Any others?"
Whislet's grin slowly faded as no more hands flew up. It was quite clear that David Deanvar had stolen the answer of many. Thankfully, Lily was never one to disappoint her professors.
"Yes, Miss Evans, dear?"
"There's Beauty and the Beast, whose author depends on what adaptation is being told. And The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux. Oh, and the story of Tristan and Isolde." Lily listed wistfully, biting her lip as she tried to think of more. "And the tale of the Love Talker."
"Excellent, excellent! Fifteen points to Gryffindor. Well done, Miss Evans! You even managed to figure out which classic we are going to start with!" Clapping her hands for attention, she bid the students to open their books to the third page. "We will be starting with – one of my personal favourites – the story of the Love Talker. Now, can anybody tell me a brief summary of this story?"
With a smug smile on his face, Avery raised his hand. Wishlet was clearly taken aback, but she allowed him to speak, nonetheless. "Honestly, what's the point in reading this rubbish? When are we ever going to use this in our lives? They're bloody muggles! All we need to know about the dull chaps is that they're completely useless and are usually scared robe-less when it comes to magic!"
Instead of the scolding the class was positive he was going to get, the youthful teacher simply laughed. "Oh, Mr. Avery. I'm so very glad you decided to bring up the subject." She stood behind her lectern; her posture relaxed but radiated a sense of sternness. "You see, whether magical or otherwise, stories always provide a moral or a message to the reader. Sometimes that moral will be obvious, sometimes it will not. This story, in particular, has a very important message; one, that will be to your utter surprise Mr. Avery, which corresponds with magic and the negative possibilities to those who abuse it." The boy, however, rolled his eyes at her words and crossed his arms over his matured chest, his face still skeptic. "Now, I will ask once more: can anybody tell me a brief summary of this story?"
Remus raised his hand slowly, realizing the connection between the text he managed to catch and the title. "Well, I'm not entirely sure of all the details, but I do know it's about faeries." He reddened slightly at his small confession, and many of the other lads around him wondered to themselves how he knew such information.
"Very good, Mr. Lupin! That's another five points." Wishlet beamed.
"Faeries!I"Avery scoffed. "Now I'm positive that this class is a joke! Who the bloody hell would even take the time to about read bloody faeries, let alone write about them?" He sent a sneer over to Remus and bit out, "Should've figured that Potter wasn't the only freak in our school,"
Sirius straightened from his seat, his grave face and low (almost feral) growl clearly screaming for the Slytherin to back off before he made him. Remus however, gave him no mind as he was frighteningly aware of the lovely redhead seated across from him. She, too, looked at him, but there was no surprise or sense mockery in her gaze; only the pinning look of curiosity.
Lily, being of the many girls who were curious, asked Remus, "Do you know anything that else happens in the story, Remus?" She titled her head in the most adorable matter, one that even caught the confident Sirius' interest. For a moment, he began to realize what James had seen in her. However, thinking of the red-headed beauty made him think of his own auburn love, with personality to match her spirited eyes.
What a dolt he had been, back in their third year. This ridiculous stunt back then, he also realized, screwed him over big time. He groaned audibly and Lily turned around in her seat to be certain that he wasn't dying. Callie would want the honor of killing him, of course, and having him perish now was hardly fair for one of her best friends.
"Black? Are you all right?" Without waiting for an answer, she huffed, "Honestly, what's wrong with all the boys today? First Remus, now you… next is probably going to be that blasted Avery!" Giving the last comment a second thought, she added, "Well, I suppose the latter wouldn't be that much of a tragedy."
The fellow Gryffindor laughed gaily, but slyly slid a questioning look at Remus, asking him what Lily was talking about. Receiving a shrug in return, he turned his attention back at the girl in front of him. "I'm fine, Lily," He noted with delight that there was no such malice in her striking green eyes, despite his cruelty towards her years ago. "Just a bit of a stomach ache, you know." He brushed off the subject like a speck of dust on his robes. "Um, well, it's great to see you back, Lily."
The girl found it nearly laughable that Sirius, one of the proudest womanizers of Gryffindor house, stutter shyly at her. Being courteous, she replied, "It's great to be back, Black."
"To answer your previous question, Lils, I don't remember very much about it. It's an old Irish folktale my mother used to tell me," Remus intervened, once again claiming attention for himself. "I do believe that it had something to do with the interaction between humans and faeries… or something along those lines." He scratched the back of his neck bashfully. "I would usually fall asleep before I really started to understand the story. But to be honest, I'm quite surprised that you don't know this story."
"Yeah," Sirius slowly realized. "Didn't you grow up with muggles?" Lily's pleasantry quickly dissolved and her mouth formed into a tight line. Her expression grew into stone, but she did not retreat her eyes.
"Yes, I did." She shifted around in her seat once more, giving both lads her back. Thankfully, neither of them had a chance to reply to her cold behavior as another series of claps sounded in the classroom. Wishlet called upon them all to give her their attention. "Well, Miss Evans, we'll just have to find out what happens next, don't we? Now class, if you may all open up to the prologue…"
Hello everyone! My deepest apology for the EXTREME lateness of this chapter. I offer no excuses or reason, just my sincerest regrets and a pleasant cup of pudding to all of you who are still reading this story.
Till next time,
(The newly christened) Ardent Ly