Disclaimer: We definitely do not own these characters. Except the ones we made up. Which is not that many. But still. ANYWAY
So we had a little...technical difficulty with Chapters Twelve and Fourteen, so we took twelve off. But here is the REAL chapter fourteen!
***
"Now, class. Today's lesson will be vital in the preparation for your NE–yes, what is it?" Professor McGonagall was interrupted by the arrival of a timid first year. Her eyes were wide as she handed the parchment note to the intimidating professor.
As soon as McGonagall had read the note's contents, she dismissed the trembling girl and turned back to her now unfocused class.
"Miss Morgan?" McGonagall called. Alex's head snapped up. "You're wanted in the Headmaster's office."
Puzzled, Alex started to gather her books and hurried out of the room. On her way, she passed by a group of boys from her year. To her horror, Sirius was among them. Hoping he wouldn't notice her, she turned her head, but it was too late.
"Alex!" Sirius called. "Just the gorgeous girl I wanted to see!"
Alex groaned and turned. "Sirius…this is really not the time." The venom in her voice appeared to get through to him, if his startled appearance was anything to go by.
"Come on, Al!" Sirius pleaded.
"'Al'? Uh, that is NOT my name, Black, and you would be wise to remember it!"
"Ooh, you're so sexy when you're mad," Sirius said with a wink.
"UGH!!! GO AWAY!" Alex screamed at the top of her lungs, attracting a lot of attention.
"Uh…okay," Sirius said dejectedly. Why wouldn't this girl go out with him? He was SIRIUS BLACK. It didn't make sense.
***
Lily hurried out of her Charms class, many books in hand. It seemed as though no matter how many times she stuffed all of her notes into a folder, they always managed to escape and hit the ground! Sighing, she continued walking. She had just turned a corner when–BAM! Lily tumbled down, accidentally falling on top of William Wood, the boy she had run into.
"Oh, my God! I'm so sorry!" they both said at the same time. Laughing, Lily stood up. She began to gather up her papers.
"Here, let me help you," William offered. Smiling her thanks, Lily bent down and tried to put some order to her mess of parchments.
"So…Lily. I was wondering if you might help me with my Potions homework. Potions isn't exactly my best subject…" William trailed off, blushing.
"Oh, of course!" Lily smiled.
"So can we meet up tonight?" William asked hopefully.
"Sur–oh, wait! I actually have plans for tonight, I'm sorry!" Lily realized she had tutoring that night with James.
"Oh. That's too bad. I was hoping we could…" Lily was shocked to see William leaning towards her at an alarming rate.
***
As Alex entered Dumbledore's chambers, she noticed that he wasn't there. Feeling awkward, she hovered around the doorway, twiddling her thumbs. After almost twenty minutes alone, she decided to leave. Alex turned around and screamed!
An extremely perky woman wearing candy pink lipstick had just appeared behind her.
"HELLO! I'm Ms. Peache! I'm going to be your new THERA–" Ms. Peache was cut off by the entrance of Professor Dumbledore, much to Alex's relief.
"Hello, Alex. Why don't you come sit down and we can talk," Dumbledore said.
"Uh…okay," Alex said uncertainly. They sat down, Alex noticing that Ms. Peache was bouncing up and down in her seat.
"A couple of students mentioned that yesterday after breakfast…you, well, got very upset and–"
"I'm fine! Really. I was just tired."
"I'm sure. But regardless, we have decided that it would be beneficial if you spoke to an…analyst for a while. Ms. Peache has agreed to meet with you every day after supper. Starting today."
Alex's jaw dropped. "You can't be serious!" This was so going to ruin her life.
"I assure you, I am," Dumbledore said. "Now, help yourself to a lemon drop on your way out!"
"That's okay," Alex got off the couch and started walking away.
"Oh, and Alex, dear? This starts tonight."
The last thing Alex heard before the door closed was:
"ALBUS, SHE SEEMS LOVELY!!!!"
***
James came into the hallway after his Charms class, listening to Sirius explain his latest scheme to get Lily's friend Alex. Well, really he was only pretending to listen; his mind was elsewhere. He had tutoring with Lily that night, but judging by what had happened last time, he was slightly scared.
All of a sudden, he stopped. James blinked his eyes a couple of times to make sure what he was seeing was real.
"Hey–James, isn't that Lily and William?" Sirius stopped his plotting for a minute to point out what James had already seen–Lily kissing William Wood.
James heard the bell ring, but he couldn't bring himself to look away. Sirius tugged on James' arms, and finally managed to drag James to Defense Against the Dark Arts.
***
"What are you doing?" Lily pulled away from William sharply.
"Uh, obviously I was kissing you…" He retorted.
"I'm sorry, Will. I don't like you like that," Lily said dazedly. She was still in shock. Much to her annoyance, a tiny (irritating) voice in the back of her head registered that James was a better kisser.
Lily hurried away from the corridor, hoping that no one had seen the impromptu kiss, but knowing that everyone would be talking about it by lunchtime. Oh, God! She hoped James didn't hear about it–as if their situation wasn't complicated enough.
"Hey, Lil!" Alex startled Lily out of her musing. "Guess what? You're not the only one who's going to be tortured tonight."
Although Alex's voice seemed normal on the surface, Lily could tell that something was brewing beneath Alex's calm exterior.
"What do you mean?" Lily queried.
"Because of my little 'freak out' yesterday, Dumbledore is making me go and talk to some weird, extremely happy lady after classes!"
"Happy? What exactly do you mean?"
"HER NAME IS MS. PEACHE! And she wears pink lipstick and she's…just HAPPY. All the time!" Alex ranted.
"Well, at least she's not James Potter," said Shayla walking into the room. "Right, Lil?"
"Umm…yeah," Lily said. She really wasn't looking forward to the strains their relationship had been going through, in particular, a certain incident that had happened earlier. If they even had a relationship, that is.
***
Alex lifted the last bite of her Mac&Cheese to her mouth and slowly chewed it.
"C'mon, Alex," Lily tried to comfort her. "It can't be THAT bad. I'm sure she's nice."
"Yeah, if you're one of those Muggle cheerleaders," Alex muttered darkly.
Gwen snorted, despite herself, earning a couple of desperate looks from her friends.
"It will be fine!" Shayla said.
"We promise," Lily pleaded.
"Fine. Whatever, all I'm saying is…if you don't pick good flowers for my funeral I will come back and haunt you," with that, Alex scampered out of the Great Hall.
She glanced at the piece of parchment Dumbledore had given her. He had said that in order to provide complete privacy, he was using a special charm on the paper, and that when she was ready to go, all she had to do was say the word "agito."
Shrugging, Alex put her hand to the paper and whispered, "Agito!"
Alex felt pressure on her skull, immense pressure, but just when she was going to scream, she felt her feet hit the ground.
"Ow!" she yelled.
"WHY, HELLOOOOOO!" Ms. Peache trilled. "How are YOU DOING??!"
"Uh, I'm fine," Alex said shakily. "I'd be better if I wasn't here…"
"Hmmmmmmmmm. I think that means that you SHOULD be here. I'm sensing a little bit of ANGER here. Do you have any ANGER, Alex?"
"NO! I have no bloody anger!"
"Oh dear. Maybe we shou–"
"NO! We shouldn't do anything! I just want to go!" Alex screamed.
"Nowww just sit down and we can discuss this CALMLY," Ms. Peache tried.
"Fine. Whatever."
"DUMBLEDORE, that dear fellow, said that you had a little TANTRUM yesterday. Is this trueeee?"
"Umm, I guess. It wasn't really a tant–"
"Yes it was. IT'S OKAY, just BREATHE through this. Now, tell me–what would you like to do right now to relieve your anxiety?"
"Shoot myself."
"Now THAT is a positive id–WAIT WHAT?"
***
Hey guys! Hope you like the chapter. In the next one there will be lots more James and Lily 'events,'but that chapter will come more quickly if you press that pretty green button and REVIEW!