Plot: The infamous Marauders weren't alone in their love for pranking. In fact, they often had their butts kicked by a bunch of girls. Now, this is it. Seventh year. Four girls, four boys. Two opposing pranking teams. One hell of a battle to be won.
Disclaimer: Sad as it may be, I am not J.K. Rowling in disguise, and therefore I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters or themes involved. (I do, however, own Jamie, Hannah and Regan and most elements of this specific plot—so I'd appreciate it if no poaching occurred. Thanks.)
WARNING (please read): This is the unedited version, meaning I wrote it a few years ago when my skill level sucked and I had no idea how to properly structure a story. So if you'll please ignore the terrible grammar, dodgy sentence structure, OOC-ness, plot holes, canonical inconsistencies and general immaturity of this whole chapter while I plough my way through all this editing work, that would be greatly appreciated. :) I'm in the process of fixing up all the chapters right now, but you'll have to be patient, because (as you can probably tell just by reading a couple of sentences below) fixing this stuff up takes a lot of time and effort.
Chapter 10 – Not Normal
After hauling Slughorn's stereo up into Lily's private dormitory, she and Jamie stored their wands in their robes – which were still quite damp – and collapsed onto the double bed with concurrent sighs. It wasn't until then that Lily realized just how tired she was. After all, it had been a terribly long and exhausting day. Her eyelids drooped threateningly as the long flow of memories of the day's events began to cross her tired mind. She pushed the thoughts away, forcing herself to remain conscious for the slumber party she and the Rogues had planned.
Next to Lily, Jamie looked painfully close to sleep. Her thick eyelashes closed over the calming blue of her irises, although her eyes still looked strangely alert.
"Long day, huh," Jamie sighed, stretching her arms over her head.
"Just a little," Lily's slight chuckle merged with an enormous yawn.
Jamie laughed. "I can see that's an understatement."
When Hannah and Regan walked into the room, carrying an impressively large basket of goods between them and radiating hyperactivity all over, they immediately dashed to Lily and Jamie.
"Not sleeping already, are you?" Hannah asked wryly, tugging at Lily's leg.
"You're ruining the party!" Regan complained. By the unusually upbeat tone in her voice, Lily could tell that she was extremely enthusiastic about their first slumber party of the year. It was that or one other possibility; that she and Hannah had already been into whatever stash of sugar they had managed to smuggle from the kitchens.
Lily groaned as Hannah dragged her right off the bed and onto the floor. She rested her head back on the side of the mattress for what time she had left, before reluctantly letting the bouncy girl pull her to her feet. Standing up, Lily regained some of the consciousness she had been slowly losing. Regan had managed to bring Jamie to her senses, too, and now the four girls stood facing each other in the centre of the room; two of them practically jumping with anticipation while the others tried hard to stay on their feet.
"We need showers," Hannah pointed out at once, when they were gathered. Everyone laughed as they glimpsed the others; Hannah's curls were in such disarray that it was hard to tell where the mess started and where it came to an end; Jamie had a dark smudge of dirt across her left cheek and Lily's robes were torn in several places, while Regan's forehead and black hair were stained with dry blood.
After a quick round of "Nogtail-Doxy-Crup" - a hilariously stupid and juvenile variation on the Muggle game 'rock-paper-scissors' that had been taught to them by Professor Flitwick in first year – to decide on the lucky girl who had first dibs on the shower, the remaining three set to work on arranging the beds. As Regan had been the lucky winner, it was Hannah, Jamie and Lily who were left to set things up.
"So how are we going to do this?" Hannah asked the others, rolling out one of the sleeping bags they had brought upstairs. "The floor's pretty solid."
"Leave it to me," Lily smiled, and stepped forward, pulling out her wand. "Cresco lectus!" she annunciated, pointing her charm at the sleeping bag on the floor, which now started to expand at an incredible rate. It rose of the ground a little as the bottom filled out into the shape of a mattress. Hannah's expression was, at first, transfixed and amazed, but soon returned to the casual smile that was usually present on her face.
"Trust you to come up with something," she said to Lily, and let herself fall onto the newly made bed.
"Now you don't have to worry about the floor," Lily assured her, sitting down to check the softness for herself. Sure enough, it was as comfortable as anything.
Lily cast the spell on the other sleeping bags while Hannah and Jamie – using a levitation charm – moved the 'borrowed' stereo into the corner of the room. Together they cast several other spells on the room, mostly executed by Lily and Jamie. By the time Regan emerged from her lengthy shower, wearing a black tank top and plaid burgundy pyjama pants, the room was dazzling all over. Multihued lights glanced off the usually cream-coloured walls, and tinted opaque curtains of different colours hung from the ceiling, closing off a cozy, round area in the centre of the room that the girls had filled with a mountain of pillows. For security measures, the girls had placed a charm on the door to keep out all unwanted intruders - namely four extremely annoying troublemakers – and a silencing spell on the walls to combat eavesdropping.
When all four girls were cleaned up and dressed in their pyjamas, they settled into the mass of cushions in the middle of the room, feeling completely at ease for the first time since their arrival five days ago. Lily let her head sink back into the soft pillows and closed her eyes for a moment. She might have dozed off for a second or two, but before she could drift into the peaceful realms of sleep, she was shaken back to reality by Hannah and Regan, both of whom did not appear tired at all. Lily groaned, but sat up anyway.
"Don't go to sleep now, lazy bones! We've got a whole slumber party ahead of us!" were Regan's exuberant words.
"Have a cauldron cake, that'll brighten you up a bit," Hannah suggested, and passed her one of the tempting sweets out of a small box perched precariously on top of the pile of food that overflowed from the basket she and Regan had brought up from the kitchens.
Lily thanked her and bit into it, immediately feeling more alert after the intake of sugar. They all spent a few minutes sorting through the goodies in the basket, sampling whatever tickled their fancy. It turned out that Hannah and Regan had managed to snag quite a variety of things from the house elves, including treacle tarts, date pudding, an endless supply of chocolate frogs, pumpkin juice, apple cider and even hot cocoa.
"Anybody for music?" Hannah asked excitedly as soon as they were settled – or as settled as four girls who had just eaten a boatload of sweets could be.
"Sure," Lily smiled. Jamie nodded vigorously, but Regan grimaced.
"I bet you Slughorn's got horrible taste," she warned. Jamie laughed it off.
"Don't worry, I got Dane to send me some of my favourites," Hannah told them. Lily smiled at the mention of her friend's big teddy-bear of a brother; Dane was twenty one years old, and through their many visits to the Milton residence in Godric's Hollow during the school holidays, he had become almost as much of a brother to them as he was to Hannah, his blood relative.
After rummaging around for a moment in her blue backpack, Hannah retrieved stack of about ten CDs. She got up and inserted every one of them into the machine (there were benefits of a magical stereo), then called out to the others.
"What do you want to listen to first?"
"Anything, as long as it's not Celestina Warbuck," Regan said decisively. Hannah pretended to look hurt before laughing.
"I get enough of that at home. Mum's a fanatic. Squeals like a hag, that one."
After settling on an album of rock music by the Weird Sisters, the girls settled back into their haven of cushions. They chatted amongst themselves for quite sometime, becoming lost in laughter and completely detached from their thoughts as a result of all the sweets they had eaten. Finally, they fell silent, but not for long; Hannah, it seemed, was intent on keeping them entertained at all times. As soon as nobody was speaking, she reached into her backpack once again and pulled out a small green vial. Lily recognized it at once, and gasped.
"Veritaserum?" she said incredulously. "What? Where did you...?"
"Slughorn's storage cupboard, yesterday morning," she announced proudly, twisting the cap back and forth as if the potion were a sacred substance and she was deciding whether or not the time was right to open it.
"Shame on you, Hannah!" Regan exclaimed with obvious sarcasm, unable to conceal her animation. Abandoning her cynicism, she spoke eagerly. "What's it for?"
"Have you ever heard of the game 'Truth or Dare?'" Hannah inquired with a cheeky grin on her face.
"Oh no." Lily, who had spent the first decade of her existance in a Muggle community, recognized the game at once. Innocent though it seemed, she was completely aware that, if translated to a magical version, this game would prove quite troublesome. Veritaserum, as the teachers had never ceased to stress, was not to be taken lightly. But taking things lightly seemed to be a specialty of Hannah's – she never got too worked up about anything.
At the mention of the unfamiliar game, both Jamie and Regan shook their heads; Regan's pure blood family had little contact with Muggles, and Jamie, a half blood, had inherited more general knowledge from her Father's magical side than the other. Lily was a little surprised that Hannah seemed to know of this truth-revealing game, as the girl also came from a family of straight wizards and witches. Then again, Hannah expressed interest in all sorts of things. Lily wouldn't put it beyond her to find out about things like this simply through reading a Muggle magazine.
"Would you care to explain, Lily, or shall I?" Hannah's grin, as impish as ever, remained on her face. Lily smiled and shook her head. "No?" Hannah went on, and then turned to the two girls who were still in the dark. "Well, basically, you get to choose whether you want to be dared or answer a question asked by one of the other players. Although in this case, we'll only be playing with the truth option." Already, Jamie and Regans faces were shifting with suspicion. This only seemed to egg Hannah on. "Seeing as a lot of people tend to be a little bit... untruthful, and the group we're playing with now certainly isn't going to win any rewards for playing fair, I decided that we needed a little bit of... assistance." She waved the vial in front of her. Regan shrieked with enthusiasm, but Jamie's face was worried.
"What kind of questions should we expect?" she asked hesitantly.
"Would it be any fun if you knew that beforehand?" Hannah folded her arms.
"I'm not sure about this..."
"Come on, Jame! Loosen up a little!"
Jamie expelled a small laugh and relaxed slightly in her spot on the pillows. "If you're sure," she said, narrowing her eyes in Hannah's direction.
"You have nothing to worry about, Jamie," the bubbly girl assured her. "Except maybe a lifetime of embarrassment..."
Lily laughed, even though she was somewhat disinclined to try this game. She couldn't be sure what she would end up telling her friends if she spilled her guts in front of them. Her indecisive feelings for James leapt to mind, but surely she couldn't admit to anything that she wasn't even sure about herself. Besides, even if she did admit to anything, it wasn't as though she was accustomed to keeping secrets from her friends in the first place.
"So, who wants to go first?" Hannah was bouncing up and down in anticipation. As expected, nobody responded. "Don't worry. We won't use much of the potion. It should only last a couple of minutes if we can measure out a small enough amount."
Another round of Nogtail-Doxy-Crup decided on the first victim, which turned out to be Regan. Reluctantly, the girl took added a minuscule drop to her pumpkin juice and guzzled the concoction very quickly. There wasn't much in the way of noticeable change other than her apparently severe vigilance. Hannah, predictably, was the first to ask Regan a question.
"What do you think of Peter Pettigrew?"
Lily's heart skipped a beat. She would have hated to be in Regan's position at that moment. Opinions of the Marauders were a touchy subject, she knew, but now was as good a time as any to take advantage of the situation and find out what their friends thought about their mortal enemies. Regan's mouth opened at once, even though her eyes showed signs of unwillingness.
"Pathetic git. Suck up. Stupid, useless follower," she said, and Lily was pleasantly surprised, until she added, "I feel a little sorry for him."
The other three howled with laughter at this remark, and Regan blushed while keeping the straight face induced by the Veritaserum. Next, it was Lily's turn to ask. She thought for a moment before she came up with an ideal question.
"In first year," she began. "Was it you who stole the Sorting Hat from Dumbledore's office?"
"Yes." Regan muttered.
"Can I ask her why?" Lily directed this question at Hannah, who nodded briskly. "Why, Regan?" Lily was really starting to enjoy this game.
"I was trying to get Pettigrew moved into Slytherin."
Thunderous laughs echoed around the room once again as Regan's face became even redder.
"Who was your biggest crush in sixth year?" Jamie asked wistfully.
"Blaine Harlow." Regan buried her face in a pillow when the others started shrieking and babbling at each other.
"Blaine Harlow?" Hannah had trouble getting the words out through her wild laughter. "Didn't you spend every minute of your spare time in third year coming up with new ways to hex him?"
"Yes. That was a cover up." Regan admitted unintentionally, her face still hidden.
After a few more minutes of harassment, Regan's truthfulness expired and was replaced by extreme outrage. She made sure to give each of them a good beating with the pillow she had been using to hide her embarrassment before she settled back down with a smug expression on her face.
"I've done my duty," she announced. "Now who's up next for super-humiliating confessions?"
Jamie was the next unfortunate prey that the game turned on. With all reluctance, she took a swig of the cocoa she was drinking, now infused with Veritaserum. Within the second, her face was straight and she was staring at them all attentively.
"My turn to go first," Lily volunteered, eager get the answer to a question she had long wanted to ask. Even though she was fairly sure she already knew her friend's response, she decided that confirmation would be useful. "Do you have feelings for Frank?"
"No." Jamie's reply came without a moment of hesitation, and a vague expression of horror flickered across her face, as if she was shocked by her own answer – she probably was, in fact, horrified that she would say something like this aloud.
"Nice to have that cleared up," Hannah giggled, patting her friend's hand comfortingly. "Now you have our full support if you want to dump him."
"Hannah!" Lily scolded her friend lightly.
"What?" Hannah feigned innocence. "My turn," she said quickly, cutting quickly past that topic. "Jamie, on a scale of one to ten, how jealous are you of Lily's position as Head Girl?"
Lily stopped breathing for a split second, fearing that this answer might cause unease between her and her friend. She knew that Jamie wouldn't let anything come between them – but she was also aware that her friend had hoped for every day leading up to seventh year that it would be her in this position. Expressing just how much she had been disappointed would only add to the guilt Lily felt and the awkwardness between them when the matter came up in a discussion. Lily sighed and reminded herself that Jamie was too kind a person to let such trivial jealousy diminish their friendship.
"Nine," Jamie replied.
"Why not ten?" Hannah was intrigued.
"Because I wouldn't want to be working with one of the Marauders that often."
"Ah." Hannah settled back into her spot, seemingly satisfied with the information she had gotten out of her friend.
Regan sat up immediately, her sapphire eyes gleaming with interest. "Speaking of the Marauders..." she started. "I think I have the perfect question for you, Jame."
Jamie gulped without taking her eyes off of Regan.
"Have you ever had – or, for that matter, do you currently have – feelings for one of the Marauders?"
This sparked interest among the girls. Lily leaned in closer, preparing to hear what she had desperately been wondering over the past few days. Was it... normal, for them to have feelings for their absolute foes? If not, Lily had thought, she must have something terribly wrong with her. But if Jamie admitted to something, then perhaps she wouldn't be so strange after all. Hannah and Regan edged closer to Jamie as well, peering at her intently through wide eyes.
Jamie's face turned a deep shade of crimson. Despite the potion that was working to push the answer out of her mouth, she seemed to stumble over her words in embarrassment. "I... I might – I mean, I guess I – sort of... like... Remus?" It came out sounding more like a question than a statement, but there was no doubt that this was her honest answer to the question – after all, Veritaserum never lied.
"R-Remus?" Lily stuttered, too shocked to speak clearly. Jamie nodded with a weak smile on her red face, clearly almost free of the truth potion's effects. Regan and Hannah gasped, both stunned into silence.
"When did this... I mean, when did you realize that you... you know." Lily managed only fragments of broken sentences.
Despite the fact that all traces of the Veritaserum were gone, Jamie answered Lily without objection, although she looked exceptionally mortified. "In January, sixth year, when we got paired together for that Herbology project," she explained. "I think it may have started sometime before then, but I guess I just didn't pick up on it."
"Wow."
"Lily and James... and now Jamie and Remus?" Hannah finally managed to utter. "This is definitely not normal." She let out a small laugh, but there was very little humour in her tone. Lily's stomach dropped at her words. Not normal. Those had been the very words she had decided were suitable when considering the situation.
"Not normal? This is wacko." Regan's tone, although sardonic as usual, appeased Lily a little, only because she could hear the lighter tone partially concealed underneath. "Marauders and Rogues? What's next, McGonagall and a hippogriff?"
"There's no need to be harsh about it," Jamie said quietly, her face hidden behind her folded arms on her knees. "Unless you really do hate us for it..."
"No, Jamie, it's not that!" Hannah assured her, though her tone was oddly distant. "I just meant that... I suppose things have changed a lot this year, that's all." Their friend said no more, but simply resigned to laying back on her pillows with a deeply thoughtful expression on her face that confused Lily to no end. Hannah obviously had something else on her mind when this topic arose, but what could it be? Surely a friend as loyal and as comforting as her wouldn't overreact so something like this. But when it came to the Marauders and the Rogues and their legendary battle, Lily remembered, anything could be expected.
Suddenly, Regan broke out in song. "All things change, when you don't expect them to," she recited in a wild, squealing, intentionally horrid voice that was obviously induced by the whole pack of chocolate frogs she had devoured earlier. At something like this, the girls could only laugh, despite the unease between them.
It was then that their giggles were interrupted by a slightly muffled noise – the raucous sound of masculine laughter, definitely out of place in a girly haven like this one. She jumped up instantaneously, and she was not the only one to do so; the three others were on their feet in less than a second. They looked heedfully around the room, not one of them daring to speak. The laughter – sounding as though it was coming from the wall opposite to the window – continued until it was proceeded by a shushing sound and then absolute silence. The Rogues exchanged suspicious glances and, following Regan's lead, tiptoed soundlessly to the wall that seemed to be the source of the sound that was now gone.
Evidently acting on a spur-of-the-moment decision, Hannah raised her knuckles and gave the wall a quick rap, but her gesture was only met by three harsh glares of warning from the other girls and continued silence from the other side of the wall.
Lily, rather impatient, soon gave up and started looking around her once again. Maybe they had left the stereo on, and as a result of their sugar high, interpreted the lyrics as something completely different. But that didn't seem likely. The noise definitely couldn't have come from inside the room; that was a fact. But what if –
Her thoughts went no further. At the exact same time that a disturbing realization dawned on her, Lily spotted something on the far wall that confirmed her suspicions. James's dormitory was beyond that wall – she was sure of it. But, thanks Lily and Jamie's spellwork, there was a silencing charm protecting the entire room. There was no possible means of counteracting this charm, unless...
Lily moved closer to the wall, her eyes widening as she did. Unless, she thought. Somebody put a hole in it.
It was right there in the centre of the wall: a small silver ring through which a faint light shone. It was undoubtedly a peephole, and she knew just who was behind it.
"You scumbags!" she shouted, lunging towards the wall and aiming her exclamation directly at the hole. The other three girls turned very quickly and in an instant, they were at her side, looking at her anxiously.
There was one loud, tipsy laugh from the other side of the wall, but aside from that and an: "Ow! Prongsie, what'd you do that for?", they heard nothing. And then, all too suddenly, the hole darkened and a grey eye appeared out of the darkness, glinting with some kind of mischief or excitement. Lily's intake of breath then was sharp, and she did not let it out. Then, a voice – excited and a little garbled – came through the wall.
"Hello, girls."
Oooooooh... cliffhanger...
Let me rephrase that: Ooooooooh... stupid, cheesy, easily guessed "cliffhanger"...
Aside from my attempt at a dramatic ending, I think that chapter went alright. Please, tell me what you think by leaving a review :)