A/N: Ahhh sorry for the loooog wait! Explanations at the end because I don't want to talk too much here so you can continue ith the story! What are you still doing here? GO! GO READ THE STORY! XD
Disclaimer: (Wow I havent done this in a while ) I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THIS. Except for Arabella, all the other OCs and the plot. :D If I did own Harry Potter and -gasp- James and Lily, I wouldn't be writing on ffnet now would I? ;)
Last time on Things to Remember:
"Okay, next up are the Chasers!" James shouted. James watched as Arabella and Marlene passed the quaffle swiftly between them across the field in a fast yet comfortable rhythm. Emiline was paired up with a fifth year and although her partner was a little clumsy, they still managed to get across the field a few seconds after Marlene and Arabella. The candidates were then made to practice shooting with Adam as Keeper. Although he wasn't guaranteed a spot, James felt it was best to let those trying out get a taste of what they might be facing if they got into the team. Of course, Adam was a great Keeper and only a handful managed to score. And out of those who scored, only three got in at least five shots: Emiline, Marlene and Arabella. It was clear who James would choose and of course Sirius had to be so kind as to point it out by introducing more of his ready-made magical fireworks.
As if it wasn't already clear based on the Chaser tryouts, Adam was the best out of all those who tried for Keeper, thus concluding the tryouts because hey, the Seeker position was already filled up! It was a long and tiring day but James felt happy as he dismissed everyone for dinner. It was clear how this year's team was going to be a strong one, and boy were they going to win the Quidditch Cup this year!
Chapter 11
Playing Cupid
It was a usual Quidditch practice when James realised he might be developing feelings. Not just the touch-and-go feelings mind you, but maybe the once in a lifetime kind of feelings…
Or maybe it was just the burrito I had for breakfast…
He had begun noticing the slight changes in her. How her hair is always in a ponytail, never down… How her face scrunches up in frustration when facing a tough Arithmancy problem… How she doesn't just smile for anyone one… Even the brand of her shoes!
Wait... Who was I thinking about again?
Unfortunately, James wasn't even sure who this 'she' was. He was having a hard time suppressing his past feelings for Lily and confirming his 'might be' developing ones for Arabella. 'Might be' feelings. As he spent more time with the two girls, he couldn't help feeling those same emotions over and over! Arabella was funny, smart, stubborn and feisty…. And so was Lily.
Maybe those two girls just spend too much time together –No! Wait, I do like Arabella! I think… Gah! What am I thinking? Of course I do! A-and… I'll ask her to… Hogsmeade! Right. Yes, that's what I'll do…
James was determined as he got off his broom and made his way over to where the Chasers were training. He was so 'sure' of his feelings, wasn't he?
~~ L&J ~~
"Hey Marls, you done with that Potion's essay yet?" Lily asked her best friend as she sat down beside her for dinner.
"Well, what do you think Lily? I was with you for 2/3 of the day and did you even catch me doing Potions? Even once?" Marlene snapped. Lily raised her eyebrows and reached to get a bowl of mushroom soup.
"Okaay… Who's got your knickers in a twist?" Marlene gave a small smile and jerked her head to the sixth year boys who just entered the Great Hall.
"Sorry… Just frustrated that I'm not making any progress!" she explained. Lily stared blankly at her, as though not understanding what she meant.
"Progress with what?" the redhead asked innocently.
Marlene rolled her eyes exasperatedly. "Adam, Lily! Adam! Who else? Arghh, you can be so dense sometimes!"
Lily pretended to look hurt but smiled nonetheless. "Of course I knew, silly! Just wanted to hear you say it out loud –didn't know you'd say it that loud though…"
She laughed as Marlene blushed profusely and tried to look at anywhere but at the direction of the sixth year boys. Adam in particular, had his eyebrows raised. "You really like him, don't you?" she asked softly. She watched as her friend tried to deny it with a look that said 'Are you kidding me?' but ended up blushing and stammering in the end.
"Urm… Maybe, I mean.. Y-yes. I really do like him, Lily." Marlene admitted, her face the same colour as Lily's hair.
"Well, I think it's great that you have finally admitted it! I was getting worried that you were never going to tell me…" Lily trailed off, waiting to see her friend's reaction.
"You KNEW? Omgeee was I that obvious? Ahh, what if Adam already knows too and thinks I'm some shy, melodramatic loser?
"… Melodramatic?"
"I ran out of words okay!" Marlene huffed indignantly.
Just then, Arabella came in from her detention with Professor Higgs from Arithmancy. Don't let the name fool you; he's the most unreasonable teacher ever.
"How was it?" Lily asked sympathetically.
"Horrible!" Arabella exclaimed.. "He made me go around cleaning all the armours on the 3rd floor corridor without magic! And all because I hadn't studied for that one quiz and 'failed' it!"
"You're answers were all random magical creatures dear," Marlene pointed out.
"Well, I'm sorry I thought I was still in Care of Magical Creatures!"
"We didn't even have that class on that day!" Lily exclaimed exasperatedly.
"Oh come off it Lily! You have to admit, the teacher is a downright prick!"
Lily shook her head unconvincingly, trying her best to defend her teacher. "If this were another teacher like McGonagall or even Slughorn I'd defend him but… He did give me an A when I didn't draw up my Arithmancy chart with a #1b quill… Not like a muggle A mind you, but an adequate! A freaking ADEQUATE! Uh, and don't even get me started on his stupid sexist rules! Only guys can solve such 'complicated' problems! Don't worry if you ladies don't understand; it's perfectly natural! Lucky for you, we have such talented young men here like… Mr Potter!" Lily mimicked in a low yet girlish tone.
"Haha, James? He can barely solve 1+1!" Arabella exclaimed.
"Hey, I heard that!" James shouted from the other end of the table. "And by the way, it is most definitely equal to window!"
"No!" Sirius protested beside him. "It's 11!"
The girls laughed as the pair began arguing over the 'correct' answer. "James isn't even close! At least Black's got a number!" Lily sputtered out.
"Speaking of James," Arabella added nonchalantly. "Apparently I'm going to Hogsmeade with him this weekend."
The laughter abruptly stopped and the girls all stared mutely at their friend; attracting the attention of some students. The awkward silence was broken by Emily's choking as she sputtered out, "W-what?" Arabella laughed as she patted her friend on the back and looked at the rest, waiting for their reaction.
"I think it's awesome, Ara! Late reactions here, but ya good for you! Awfully jealous here though," Mary said with a wink.
"Yeah…" Lily agreed softly. "Urm… Better take care of that idiot for me!"
Marlene looked cautiously at her best friend but sensing Lily mentally kicking her to say something, added, "Ya! I've heard he likes flowers! Specifically white tigerli- OW! Bloody hell woman!" Marlene rubbed her throbbing ankle and glared at Lily. "I did say something, didn't I?" she muttered under her breath, only to be kicked in the other ankle.
"What Marlene means to say," Lily corrected, ignoring her best friend's death glare. "Is that James is… Sensitive?"
Marlene scoffed humorlessly and dodged the pastry that was flung at her.
"Okay…." Arabella said uncertainly and continued eating her dinner, cautious of the fact that an all-out food war might ensue if the girls continued this conversation. She uttered a quick apology to the boy behind Marlene who had taken the chocolate éclair to the back and looked pointedly at the two culprits.
Lily had the decency to look apologetic and began drinking her soup, not before casting a little charm she and Marlene had learnt back in fourth year.
Marls! Don't tell Ara about me and James!
Marlene looked surprise for a moment before realization dawned on her and she smirked evilly into her pumpkin juice.
Why hello Lily, here I thought you had forgotten about our little mind reading spell!
Oh come off it! You can't tell Ara!
Why not? Since when do you care?
I don't! I just don't want to make things awkward for the two of them…
Ha! As if knowing you date used to be at loggerheads with your best friend would make things awkward!
…
Right. I see your point.
Come on, promise me!
Fine… But are you sure you don't feel anything towards this? Any awkwardness? Sadness? Jealousy, perhaps?
No! Of course not! James and I are just friends-
Who said anything about James? I just meant the relationship as a whole…
W-well, you know what I mean!
No Lily, I don't.
Lily turned to look at Marlene and found her smiling at her innocently with a cream puff in her hands.
Marlene. You. So. Know. What. I. Mean.
Whatever do you mean Lily dearest?
"Gaah! I might be falling for my best friend, okay!" Lily shouted.
Shit!
Shit's right my friend….
Everyone turned to look at the redhead as she blushed furiously.
"Really! I never knew you liked… Dame-ien?" Marlene shouted. "Right, I never knew you liked Damien!" Surprisingly, the rest of the school bought it and went on with dinner as per normal.
Damien. Reallly?
Hey, I almost said James! Or James-ien… Be grateful!
Let's start talking before my outburst becomes weird.
Becomes weird?
"Ya, I never used to like Damien…. Never even noticed him actually.. But ever since we've become best mates around last year, I've started growing fond of him," Lily said with a grin, aware that Mary, Emily and Ara were all listening closely.
"But didn't he use to annoy you like mad? Back home I mean," Marlene asked, determined to get some information out of her.
Lily rolled her eyes, knowing fully well that nothing would stop Marlene and what the heck, best friends shouldn't really keep secrets, right?
"Well, ya but he can be so nice and all the little things that used to annoy me actually seem endearing now…"
"He's cute right?" Mary piped in.
Both Marlene and Lily laughed and couldn't help but disagree slightly.
"Not cute, Mary," Lily said, sharing a glance with Marlene.
"But hot! Super-duper ice cream melting, mind blowing-ly hot!" Marlene finished, the pair giggling uncontrollably in the end.
The rest of the girls all squealed over imaginary Damien and Lily gave Marlene a look that said 'keep quiet or else!' This caused Marlene to smirk. One down, two to go…
~~ L&J ~~
I'm going to go out with James Potter…
James. Potter. Why?
Oh right, he asked me out.
Duh.
But.. why? I thought we were fine as friends. Heck, I can't imagine kissing him… It's like kissing an older brother! Blehh. That's just wrooonnggg…
I don't think I even like him that way! I bet he's going to do something romantic and sweet! Not that I won't appreciate it; I'm just not the Madam Puddifoot's kind of girl! I knew saying yes was a bad idea! What am I supposed to do now? I can't cancel; that'd be rude! I guess I'll just go one that one date and... see how it-Arghhhhh!
Arabella knocked her head against the table in defeat. Coincidentally, she was sitting next to James, her partner for Potions and person she was currently having a mental argument over. Isn't fate just wonderful?
Arabella didn't notice the brunette behind herjump excitedly in her seat.
Woohoo! I am awesome! Two down, only one to-
What the heck?
Arabella turned in her seat, thinking she was hearing things. Great, imaginary voices are cheering in my head. This is just PERFECT.
Whoops! Sorry Ara! Don't worry dear; you're not going crazy. It's just Marls here ;) Well, that doesn't clear anything up... Okay new plan: catch!
The blonde, although very freaked out, caught the crushed ball of paper with ease and immediately smoothed it out.
Bold italic: Marlene
Italic Underline: Arabella
Here we go! Better, yes?
Not really... I still think I'm going crazy!
Arabella crumpled the note up again and threw it to Marlene. Marlene rolled her eyes and quickly wrote a reply.
Basically, Lily and I found this cool spell that can ead-ray inds-may back in fourth year and since a certain black-haired busybody should be looking over your shoulder right about now, can we talk via the pell-say?
Thankfully Arabella understood immediately and quickly muttered, "Incendio...", effectively burning the note before said busybody could decipher the rather simple pig latin. "Hey!" James protested beside her. "What does aid-rai mean?"
Haha hey again!
Arabelaa could not help but roll her eyes in amusement. Okay, now that I am certain I am not going crazy and that you, Marlene, have effectively eavesdropped on my mental argument, I only have one thing to say: WHY THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT?
Heh. Well, let's just say I'm on a missionn :D Okay, before you say anything else, I need you to answer this very important question: do you like James in a potential bf kind of way?
In what way? Oh, OH! Well, honestly, no. I agreed because well, I couldn't say no... I never say no really...
Perfect, SO, how about we get Lily and James together?
Huh? Since when does Lily like James? Aren't they only best mates?
Okay, I know Lils'll kill me when she finds out but never mind that. Let me fill you in on the five years of Hogwarts you have missed...
~15 minutes later~
So that's why things are sometimes awkward between them when the topic of Snape comes up... Also explains why Lily calls Sirius 'Black'.
Yup! Now, I've got a plan that might help them get together and it involves your date so, listen closely...
~~ L&J ~~
"It's rather simple really," Marlene started, facing her best friend. "All you have to do is pretend to be Arabella for a few hours and get a taste of dating the real James Potter without all that cool pretense."
"And you agreed to all this, Ara?" Lily exclaimed, shocked at her two friends.
"Well, yes! I'm not really keen on dating James and it would be rude to cancel," Arabella piped in. "I won't change my mind Lily. James is only like a brother to me and I don't want to hurt him. So I might as well make this date productive by giving the girl of his dreams the chance to get to know him!"
Lily looked skeptical for a moment before she replied, "Two things: One, how am I the 'girl of his dreams'? Dramatic much? And two, who says I don't already know him?"
"Okay, I might have been exaggerating about the whole 'girl of his dreams' part but really, are you sure you know much about him? Besides the fact that he loves Quidditch and that he has changed and is now less of a prick than he was a few years ago? Yeah, I got the whole story from Marlene," Arabella stated, determined to convince Lily.
"Urm.. I know his favourite colour is red...?"
"Look at her! It's the easiest question in the world and yet she's not entirely sure of herself!" Marlene cried out, getting quite worked up.
"So it's not red?" Lily asked meekly.
"OFCOURSE IT'S RED! Lily Alexa Evans, I am going to-"
"Shush, Marlene! Do you want all your hardwork to go up in flames?"
An awkward silence fell upon the three girls as Lily thought, arranging her words carefully.
"Okay, I'll do it. But how am I going to look like her? Acting like Ara'll be easy but well, hello? I am a green-eyed ginger! Not a blue-eyed, blonde haired beauty queen!"
"Woman! We're witches, remember?" Marlene reminded. "And don't describe yourself like that! You're more than a green-eyed ginger! Heck, is that not enough for you! Green-eyed ginger... Gosh that must be fun to say.. What's more, Ara's no beauty queen! Don't underestimate yourself girl!"
"Ya! You're one of the prettiest girls I know- HEY! Did you just insult me?" Arabella cried indignantly, facing Marlene.
Marlene chuckled meekly and turned to address Lily, "Since we don't have a month to brew a Polyjuice Potion, we're just going to have to make to with awesome transfiguration! Right, Ara-the-transfiguration-expert?"
Arabella laughed, forgetting about Marlene's 'insult'. "I should say I am! Well, here I'm a close second anyway..." she trailed off, remembering how James had beat her by half a mark a few weeks ago.
Within half an hour, Marlene and Arabella managed to change Lily's hair and eyes to the right colour, tweaked her facial features a little bit and made her hair slightly longer and poof! In the Room of Requirement there was no Lily Evans- only Marlene, Arabella 1 and Arabella 2!
"Hmmm.. So that's what I look like from the back..." Arabella murmured, clearly quite amused at seeing a double of herself. "Man I look good..."
"What the?" A surprised squeak came from the door and the three girls qhirled around to find Zoey staring wide-eyed at them.
"Oh shizzz," Ara muttered, realising they were going to have to explain all over again, not really willing to obliviate or stun their friend. "Marls, your turn to explain. Sorry but I am knackered.."
"Ohhh," Zoey cooed in realisation. "Well, count me in because no offense you guys, but you kinda missed a spot..." She pointed a a whole chunk of hair that was a mix of red and yellow, causing Marlene to blush furiously. "Ah sorry, that was my fault. I'm just going to sit in that corner and wallow in my shame now!"
Everyone laughed as with a flick of her wand, Lily was a blonde through and through. "When's this date going to be?" Zoey asked.
"Oh! This Friday and- oh. Well, I guess we should change Lily back now eh?" Marlene said from her little corner.
"NOOOO! Gahhh but I feel so lazy right now!" Arabella cried from her comfortable place on the couch. Lily rolled her eyes and shoved her playfully. "Fine, how 'bout we just camp out here? You can stay too if you want Zoey, it'll be fun! I'm sure Emily and Mary will be fine keeping the dorm to themselves for once!"
Soon, the four girls were having pillow fights and pulling pranks on each other (with Ara and Lily mostly being the masterminds since they were identical). Eventually the charms wore off but that did not happen until much later, but until then, the fun and games continued late into the night, bringing the four girls closer than they ever were before.
A/N: Eeeeek! I am SO SORRY this took so long! I was bombarded with exam after exam last week and now I've still got this performance coming up and programmes to sign up for next year. =~= It never stops does it? ANYWAYS, I'll try my best to do weekly updates from now on and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Decided that this story'll be about 20 chapters all in all. (:
So, loved this? Hated this? Drop a review to let me know! Thanks to all who have followed this story until now and I hope you've enjoyed this chapter! Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be finding Doctor Who episodes to watch and just DYING for the next one to come out! Woohoo the Doctor lives! ^^ Ciao~
ShhayyJeei~~