A/N: Okay, so before you guys start chucking things at me for not updating, I should tell you that I have a very good explaina-
"Stuff starts hurling my way and I duck for cover*
Geez, didn't I just say that I have a good explanation?
So my dad confiscated the laptop and only gave it back to me today, ok? So I couldn't write anything!
But I'm back now, and here to relieve the suspense off your shoulders!
So here you have it...
Chapter 12!
P.S. This is, once again, written in Lily's POV.
Enjoy!
Chapter 12- I told you so
I entered the Great Hall silently the next day, still thinking about James and that blonde bimbo.
Really, why did it have such a big effect on me? I hated him, remember?
"Hey Lily," said Emmeline cheerily.
"Hey," I replied glumly. "had fun yesterday?"
"It was okay," she admitted. "But did you see Potter and that blonde girl yesterday? Merlin, he made me so angry I almost lashed out at him."
"I saw him too," I admitted. "Heard him calling her 'Rosalinda' or something."
"I can't believe that he would ditch Tiffany like that!" she exclaimed, appearing not to have heard me. "That girl was quietly crying in the restroom yesterday, even refused when I offered her chocolate! I mean, who turns down chocolate?"
"Tiffany, apparently," I noted. "Word on the street now is that Potter's trying to knock that new girl up."
"Oh, I hope that she's sane enough to stop," said Emmeline worriedly.
The both of us were chatting animatedly when suddenly I saw James approach Tiffany, who was sitting a few seats away from us, backed up by his Marauders, Rose, Marlene, Alice and Frank. All of them had a certain gleam in their eyes, and it wasn't mischief.
This can't be good.
Tiffany looked up from her toast, and her face lit up when she saw James. "Hi James, I suppose that yesterday-"
"Save it, Crawfood," spat Rose suddenly. "we know."
I was surprised to see that Tiffany paled a little. "Know what?"
"That you're just a lying cheating scum," said Rose. "That all of this is just a stupid lie, that this-"
"Rose," stopped James. The corners of Sirius's lips were twitching.
I stood up and approached them. "What's going on?" I demanded.
"Not now, Lily," said James in a tight voice.
"Yes, right now," I countered. "I want to know what's going-"
James drew out a file from his bag in front of him and threw it onto the table. It skied all the way towards Tiffany. She took one look at it and gulped.
"W-what's this, honey?" she asked, her voice shaking a little, sounding very falsely bright. James gave her a hard look.
"Ever remember the DNA slip you provided us the other day?" he asked, eyebrows raised.
She nodded slowly. "What are you going on about?" she asked, in a voice that betrayed guilt and nervousness.
What is going on?
"Open it," commanded James. Everyone was watching her expectantly.
More and more people from the Great Hall were crowding around to see what was happening. Tiffany had no choice but to open it. Her eyes scanned down the page and she paled thoroughly. A person over her shoulder yelled out, "Oh My God that's Lucius Malfoy!"
People all around started muttering, and even Emmeline came over and took a look at that paper. "It's true," she whispered.
Over at the Slytherin table, Malfoy's eyes became wider and wider. More people were staring at him, particularly Slytherins, and including his current girlfriend, Narcissa Black.
"This..." said Tiffany in a shaky tone, slowly putting the slip down. "This has to be a fake. The previous one..."
"The previous one, eh?" said James, voice hardening at every word. "Sirius, the DNA slip, please."
Sirius handed him the paper and he held it out for her to see.
"This has my name on it, does it not?" he asked, looking at Tiffany with fierce, piercing eyes that could give Dumbledore a run for his money.
She nodded, getting smaller and smaller under his stare.
He took out his wand. "For those who aren't seventh years, you should know that this is a revealing spell, and it reveals any secrets hidden inside," he announced to the crowd. Then, he pointed his wand at the paper and said, "Specialis revelio!"
Slowly, the parchment started to become black, like being burned by a small flame. Then, it slowly cleared and revealed: Forged. This is the fake copy by the work of Tiffany Crawfood.
The crowd gasped dramatically in Sirius's lead, and I saw Rose roll her eyes a little before staring hard at Tiffany, burning her through her gaze.
"But...he's not the father," she said weakly. "The father is you."
"Then explain why I don't recall ever sleeping with you, or ever leaving the party," demanded James harshly. "Explain why my DNA slip has the word 'Forged' on it. And most importantly, explain why Sirius spotted you and Malfoy in a dark corridor the other day."
The crowd gasped again, and Sirius groaned. "What a way to bring me into the conversation!"
"Not the point, Pads," said James harshly.
Narcissa Black, Malfoy's current girlfriend, turned to him. "What is the meaning of this?" she hissed.
Malfoy backed away in fear. "I-I don't-"
"I leave for five minutes and you take the opportunity to knock-up a mudblood?" she growled, wand in her hand.
"I'm not the father!" he cried. "He's lying!"
"You hypocrite," spat James at him. When he turned back to Tiffany, tears were spilling down her cheeks.
"Please," she sobbed. "I didn't want to hurt anybody, and the dream of raising this child with you-"
"Hurt everyone in the school," he cut in harshly. His whole body was shaking in fury, like he couldn't believe that this girl was still trying to defend herself.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing. This whole thing was just a lie? James is innocent?
A Slytherin was the father?
Merlin, this is so messed up.
"I tried, time and time again, to give you a chance to confess, because I stood my ground that I am not the father. And look where it has got you now," he snarled.
The teachers in the Great Hall were also watching this scene, and none of them were going to interrupt it anytime soon. McGonagall was staring, mouth hanging open in shock.
"James, please-" started Tiffany, but quailed when Rose pointed her wand at her.
"You put me into this bloody mess only about two weeks after I was almost cursed to death, when you knew that my parents were in bloody danger," he continued, his volume raising at every word. "And all you did was continue to hurt me, to destroy friendship I had only so recently earned, to frame me to help someone not worth helping.
"I've had enough, Crawfood. You can either turn yourself in, or as Head Boy, I'll make you," he snarled.
The girl watched him with terrified eyes. "But don't you want the life we could share with this baby? Together, we could be-"
"We could be nothing. I'm sick of this. Rose, take her to see Dumbledore now."
Rose obliged happily. Grabbing her by the collar, she dragged Tiffany away, muttering, "Do this again to my cousin and I'll make sure that you'll get a fate much worse than this."
As soon as she left, the crowd dispersed as well. Some muttered apologies to James, some said that they never believed that it was his baby (yeah, right). Marlene gave him a pat on the back, smiled and went to talk to her teammates.
Emmeline approached James slowly and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Sorry I didn't believe you, James," she mumbled softly.
He chuckled and patted her on the back. She let go and went back to her seat.
As he made his way towards me, I squinted my eyes, bracing myself for the worst. Instead, I was surprised when I felt a pair of arms wrap around me and give me a light squeeze.
When he let go, he chuckled at the look on my face.
"What's wrong, Lily?" he asked.
I stared at him in disbelief. All this time, I was insulting him and now all he does as payback is say, "What's wrong, Lily"?
"What? No 'I told you so'? No 'Why didn't you believe me'" I asked, raising an eyebrow. I had a feeling that he was going to pull one on me after a moment.
He shook his head. "I'm already lucky enough to have you back, Lily."
My heart fluttered at those words. "Friends?"
He nodded and embraced me once more. He smelled strongly of jasmine.
"But since you asked," said Sirius over his shoulder, grinning. "Ha! I told you so!"
It has been almost two weeks since the baby mishap. Dumbledore sent a letter to Tiffany's parents as soon as he received the news, and she was drawn out of the school two days later, after much screaming and fighting scenes in the Great Hall, also including a talk with Lucius Malfoy and a big round of apology to James.
Malfoy and Narcissa have broken up, and he received a Howler a day after Tiffany was taken away from his mother, yelling things about disgracing the family name and 'wait till your father gets you!' True to her word, he got a Howler from his father three days later, which was ten times louder and scarier. Narcissa was looking quite glee until she received news that she was still having an arranged marriage with him. Merlin, her slaps are even scarier than mine.
Meanwhile, when everyone wasn't talking about that situation, they were talking about the upcoming Quidditch match: Gryffindor versus Slytherin. Both teams wanted to win bad.
Slytherin were extremely angry that a Gryffindor had thrashed their name, and was willing to get revenge; Gryffindor was angry with what they did to their star player, and wanted to get revenge too. I have never seen a more dirty fight.
James was driving his team especially hard. Every day, they would enter the common room, worn out from practice, some -like Sirius- not even bothering to do their homework. Even McGonagall was letting us off to let her team practice.
"I hope that my generosity does not go in vain, boys," I heard her mutter to them one day.
They grinned at her. "Consider it won, Professor."
Even off the pitch they were fighting. Marlene had to skip two days of practice due to an ugly fight with the Slytherin chaser, Flint. To say that James wasn't pleased would be putting it extremely nicely.
Well, long story short: Madam Pomfrey had to pull him out by the collar after exploding in the hospital wing, fire and all.
Finally, the big, big day came. James came down for breakfast particularly early, looking more nervous than I've ever seen him. Sirius was looking at his piece of pie on the plate, as if unsure of what to do with it. James tried to force down his soup, but eventually gave up and spat it all out.
Marlene, who was sitting with me again, slowly sat her cup down on the table. "I don't think I can take the pressure," she admitted, hand shaking slightly.
"You guys will be fine," I assured her, smiling.
"Besides," added Rose, who was also sitting with us. "I've had a look of the Slytherin's team, and you guys have absolutely nothing to worry about."
It surprised me that Rose was talking to Marlene. Even after all the mess, the both of them still weren't talking to each other. Marlene must have really freaked Rose out.
Marlene was a little surprised by this gesture too, but hid that expression. "Thanks," she mumbled.
About five minutes later, James gave up on eating. Standing up, he yelled, "Team, changing rooms!" And left with the Quidditch team at his heels.
"Don't worry," said Rose while munching on an apple. "They'll be fine. Especially after what I've planned-"
"What have you planned?" I suddenly shot at her, but she grinned and didn't say anything.
"And Potter scores yet another goal! Another ten points to Gryffindor!"
They were now playing at a score of 160 to 20 for Gryffindor. Rose grinned at me.
"What did I tell you?" she told me, eyes twinkling in the sunlight.
I laughed. "What did you do?"
"Nothing!" she exclaimed, but there was a certain look in her eyes that told me that she was lying.
It's not that I don't like Quidditch, but during the days when James and I were enemies I hated seeing him on the pitch, watching his head inflate even more. And I've never managed to be on a broom, even less to make it to the team. Quidditch is just one of the many things I suck at.
"I think McKinnon has seen the snitch!"
Both of our heads turned at those words. Marlene was indeed chasing after gold and glittery moving extremely fast. At the other side of the field, James scored another two goals.
Finally, Marlene reached out her hand and got her fingers on that tiny, fluttering snitch, and the whole pitch burst into cheers.
"Gryffindor wins, 330 to 50!" yelled the commentator, throwing his microphone into the air and doing some weird jig. James went over and hugged Marlene briefly, and even Sirius gave her a small smile. The rest of the team congratulated her, grinning and talking merrily.
I waited for James outside the boys locker with Rose, carrying something in her hands that was wrapped in tissue. She was grinning from ear to ear, and kept stealing glances from me.
"So you never did tell me what was your little plan," I said, getting back to the topic we had during the match.
She shrugged. "Just a little deal with Regulus that I'll rig the Ravenclaw match their having with Slytherin if he lets Gryffindor win this round. And believe me, I intend on keeping my word."
I gasped. "That's cheating!"
"Is it?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "I haven't done it yet, and there's no proof I'll rig the match the way you think I would."
I stared at her for more answers, but she just kept that mysterious, annoying smile on her face. I sighed.
"Why do you always have to be so mysterious?" I asked hopelessly, waiting for the come back.
"Why do you need to know why I'm so mysterious?" See what I mean?
Suddenly, someone called from behind us, "Rose?"
We turned and I saw Regulus Black standing there. This was one of the few times I managed to get a good look at him, and I wasn't about to waste the opportunity. He was much like his brother, with the long hair and grey eyes, but not as good-looking -but definitely passable- and much more secretive. Rose smiled at him when she saw him.
"Hey Reggie," she greeted. "I'll meet you in the Great Hall later."
He nodded and walked off.
I turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "What? Are you guys dating behind our backs or something?"
"Merlin's pants, no way!" she exclaimed, waving it away. "Just some hanging out time."
"You guys are friends? You do know that Sirius would probably be more furious than Filch during the Marauder's pranking sessions when he finds out, right?" I informed her, not sure if she was aware of the danger.
She shrugged. "I'll take my chances. And besides, since I can't have the real deal, might as well have the second best, eh?"
She smiled sadly at me and left, leaving the tissue thing in my hands.
I stared after her for a moment, until James came out of the changing rooms. "Oh hey Lily," he greeted cheerfully when he saw me.
I smiled at him. "Hey. Rose wanted to pass this to you, but she had to leave."
I handed him the tissue. He opened it to reveal a small snitch, just like the one used in the game moments before.
He chuckled. "Ah, Rose." Then he tucked the snitch into his robe pocket.
Yeah, I kind of suspected that he was keeping it, anyway.
"So rumor has it that Sirius is holding a party in the Gryffindor common room," he told me.
I shrugged. "Since when has he never held one?"
We started walking towards the Heads' common room in comfortable silence.
Until James had to break it with the most uncomfortable subject possible.
"So, ever flew?" he asked, and I groaned.
"If I may remind you the first time I tried to fly landed me in the hospital wing," I reminded him. That memory still made me sick to my stomach.
He chuckled. "Oh yeah, I do remember that incident. But you've seriously never tried flying after that?"
I shook my head. He seemed appalled by my reaction.
"Blimey Lily, I know that you're rubbish at flying, but that doesn't mean you can't improve!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air dramatically. I rolled my eyes.
"Flying is just one of those things I'm not good at."
"But the feeling's great! The rush of adrenaline, the swooping sensation in your stomach, how can you not like flying?" he asked dubiously. I giggled.
"Sorry, but I just don't like flying," I told him, walking away from the incredulous look on his face.
"Okay, that is one of the things I swear I will do today," he vouched, putting his fist on his chest, where his heart should be.
I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
He grinned. "I, James Potter, swear that one day, I will teach you how to fly."
A/N: So, the air's all cleared up now, eh? Brilliant!
So the ending was a bit corny with no drama whatsoever, but I need to let my story cool down once in a while, don't I?
So I got about 3 reviews from the same guy asking about Rose, how can she be a Muggle-born when related to James and stuff like that. I realized that I've left many gaping holes in her life, not that many of you have realized them. So I'm not sure if I'll be revealing them in the story, but I'll just describe them here first anyway.
Rose mother is a squib from the Potter family due to a slight miscarriage with her grandparents, but she never lost her pride and married Dean Anabel, hence gave birth to Rose. They were first living in London when Voldemort came to track down Muggle-borns, and ended up killing Rose's parents when she was twelve. Her uncle and aunt (who are wizards) fled with her to Asia, but went over to visit James and the gang every summer. Her 'parents' came over to London to protect James's family when they were in danger.
Alright, got the story now? Oh, and Rose is horrible in Quidditch, History of Magic (who isn't?) and Ancient Runes.
So here you have it, a full (sorta) biography on Rose Anabel!
There's also another shocking detail about Rose that you still have to know :)
Well, until the next chapter!
And I promise to update earlier this time, now that the laptop is back!
