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: Harry Potter and all its characters and themes are the property of J.K. Rowling. The only characters I own are Jamie, Hannah, Regan and a few minors. Other than that it's purely fanfic.
Chapter notes: I know. You're all tired of my pathetic excuses, so I'm no going to waste your time trying to explain why I failed to update for SIX FREAKING MONTHS. There is a simple way for me to put this, and here it is: I LIED. I FAIL. I AM AN IDIOT, AND YOU ARE ALL AWESOME. I mean seriously. I asked for encouragement in the form of reviews, and I got it. In fact, you guys kept on giving it to me right up until ten minutes ago, when TMATR got its 150th review (or rather, when I saw it there - but it couldn't have been showing up on the site for long, because I've been checking this story every couple of hours to make sure I'm not creating massive plot holes. Yes, that's how long it's been since my last update). My point is, thank you all for your amazing reviews. They were enough to keep me going, but I still failed at updating. I couldn't ask for better readers. So it's me who's the problem in all this, although really, I've known that for a long, long time.
Pffft, so much for not ranting about my lack of updates. Anyway, some of you asked for a long chapter, so I decided to just go wild with this one. It worked.
You want long? Well, without further ado, I give you... (drumroll)
Chapter Twenty-One - Back on Track
Well, Lily decided, smiles never did last long when you were in your last year at Hogwarts. Especially when they were brought about by somebody who, not a month ago, had been the closest thing to your arch nemesis. This strange new Potter-induced smile was so foreign to Lily that she wasn't sure exactly what she was so happy about. Where the heck had that come from, anyway? Potter was a prat. An annoyingly tall, gangly, smart-aleck prat with bad hair.
If she thought about it, though, his hair wasn't bad so much as rebellious and unruly, and she had to admit there was something cute about the way it always stuck up at odd angles. And he had been awfully nice to her last night at the lake, with all his reasoning and negotiating, so really, how justified was she in calling him a prat?
Whatever. The point was, Lily went to sleep after the Midnight Mischief (as Hannah was now referring to their after-dark adventure at the Black Lake) with a stupid grin on her face, though she wasn't entirely sure why. By the next morning, however, the smile was erased almost instantaneously. The reason?
Transfiguration.
McGonagall was evil. There was nothing else to it. She clearly had some sort of vendetta against seventeen-year-olds, or else she just woke up that morning and thought, "Hey, I think I'll make the seventh years drown in homework today. Death by overload of essays. That sounds fun. MUAHAHAHA."
When Lily sat down in McGonagall's classroom after breakfast, she vaguely remembered the professor having told them the day before that she'd be returning their most recent assessment this morning. A feeling of intense dreading settled in the pit of Lily's stomach as she brushed the feathers off her desk. (According to a source at breakfast, the third years had been experimenting with owls the day before, and after several exploding birds and one near-death experience, McGonagall had ended the class early and swept off in a rage.)
"Read it and weep," the professor said as she strode across the classroom, a bundle of parchment scrolls under one arm. This particular figure of speech was not particularly McGonagall-ish, but she said it in such a way that the whole class went tense with anticipation as she handed the essays back to their owners.
James, who sat with Sirius, was the first to have his assignment returned. From the look on his face, the last thing he was about to do was weep. Potter, though, was always an exception in this class, so there was little to no chance that McGonagall was simply exaggerating.
Lily's parchment landed on her desk several minutes later. She wasn't sure if she wanted to open it. Across the room, she could see Peter dejectedly tearing up his parchment, cheeks bright red as Sirius and James laughed across the classroom at his evident failure.
"Mister Pettigrew," McGonagall called out sharply, "I'm afraid if you don't stop defacing your assignment this instant, I'll have to remove a further three marks from your score."
Peter looked up blankly at her. "But Professor, you've given me zero."
McGonagall's lips were tight. "Well, in that case..."
Regan was grinning as Peter continued to tear his essay to shreds. "Well, that made up for my lousy mark," she said brightly.
Lily smirked. "I swear, Reegs, you feed off that boy's misfortune. It's becoming a bit disturbing, actually."
Regan just shrugged, not bothering to deny it. "Gimme a break. It's not my fault he's such a pitiful excuse for a Marauder. And a wizard. And a human being."
"Bitter, are we?" Sirius asked, leaning sideways out of his seat to smile condescendingly at them. Lily decided it was a good thing McGonagall had recently swapped her with Hannah in the classroom seating arrangement; otherwise, the blonde would definitely have had some nasty retort for him. And frankly, Lily was getting a little fed up with their bickering.
"Nope," Regan replied simply. "Don't see what we have to be bitter about where Pettigrew's concerned. Besides, who needs Transfiguration anyway?"
Lily awaited Sirius's response, but it never came. Instead, a self-satisfied smirk pulled at the corners of his lips and a tall shadow fell across the floor between their desks. Lily looked up.
"Miss Tain," McGonagall started tersely, "I suppose that was your horrific idea of a joke?"
Regan's blue eyes went wide and she froze in place as if she had a blackboard strapped to her torso. "Er... yes. A joke. And a bad one, too." Lily could practically see the anxiety rolling off of Regan in waves as she tried to save herself. "I mean, everybody needs Transfiguration. It's all... you know... um... stuff."
Lily couldn't help it - she had to muffle a snicker in her sleeve at her friend's pitiful attempt at rectification. From the sound of it, she wasn't the only one - Sirius and James, among others, were laughing blatantly. Of course, she mightn't have taken notice of that if James's throaty laugh hadn't sent a shiver up her spine.
Meanwhile, McGonagall was staring with those hawk eyes of hers at Regan, who was slowly shrinking down into her chair. For somebody who, not two minutes ago, had been talking about what a pathetic loser Peter was, she sure did look pretty cowardly now. Then again, it was hard not to when faced with the hawk eyes.
"I'm glad you think so," said McGonagall sharply, and so suddenly that Regan jumped. "Since you'll be spending three hours in this classroom with me after dinner, doing the "stuff" you clearly enjoy so much."
The Marauders' laughs became louder.
Regan blanched. "Um, Professor, that sounds a little wr-"
"In case I haven't made myself clear," McGonagall snapped, "I'm giving you DETENTION."
With that, she swiftly turned around and headed back toward her desk. Regan exhaled. Some of the colour began to return to her cheeks, but she was still visibly shaken. "Ruddy old bat," she muttered under her breath. Unfortunately, her breathing was still so out of control that "under her breath" turned out to be just a bit too loud.
"FOR THREE WEEKS," McGonagall added over her shoulder.
Regan let out a horrified gasp. "But Professor, what about Quidditch? Please don't let it interfere with the tryouts!"
At this, even the Marauders went silent. The class, at present, consisted of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws, and though the Ravenclaws didn't give a damn, every Gryffindor knew that Regan and Hannah made the best gall darn Beater squad ever to grace the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch with their presence. Pulling one of them out of the tryouts was as good as snapping Dumbledore's wand in two.
Well, there was always the other dynamic duo, made up of good old Padfoot and Prongs, but any Gryffindor would agree that the team just wasn't complete without all four of them. McGonagall bloody well knew that too, but for the "ruddy old bat," classroom discipline usually took priority.
McGonagall's lips were pursed as she stared Regan down, narrowing her eyes as if deep in consideration. Regan's eyes, in contrast, were wide with uncharacteristic pleading and worry, an emotion that, coming from Regan, would have shocked Lily if the topic of conversation hadn't been Quidditch.
"I cannot guarantee," McGonagall began, "that your detentions will not clash with the tryouts, but be on your best behaviour until then and you might just get lucky."
The Marauders snickered again, but neither McGonagall nor Regan took any notice. While the professor carried on with the lesson, Regan muttered something incoherent under her breath. Lily suspected it was some variation of "This is all Pettigrew's fault."
The weeks went by in a blur. Soon September was gone, and October loomed ahead with two main prospects in its midst: the annual Halloween feast (which, Lily remembered with a pang of urgency, she and James were supposed to be organising) and, as Hannah reminded her, Marauder-Rogue Combat, Phase Two.
With one month already under her belt, Lily could feel herself settling into all those familiar school routines - study, stress, study, watch back for Marauders, study some more... It wasn't a particularly agreeable schedule, but it was consistent, and that counted for something.
That said, not everything was the same this year. The workload was heavier, and she was no longer just an ordinary Hogwarts student, but Head Girl. This was a big year, she realised, and was going to be very different to the others. Of course, that was all without mentioning the biggest change - the one that had a little something to do with the Head Boy...
She was constantly battling over her emotions toward James, one moment convincing herself it was blasphemy to feel any sort of attraction to a Marauder, the next trying to reason with that more imposing mental voice, explaining that James wasn't just an annoying Marauder anymore, and that there was nothing wrong with liking him. On and on it went until Lily could take no more of it, and simply shut it out of her mind altogether.
It was impossible, however, to keep her thoughts away from that topic for long, especially when James himself kept popping up everywhere she went. When she passed him these days, she wasn't sure what to do - smile? Wave? Offer him the same hard glare she'd been giving him for six years? Their relationship was walking a fine line at present, making communication difficult. She thought he might help her out, maybe greet her in the hallways before she had to make the decision herself, but every time their gazes met, he averted his eyes, ran a hand through his hair and turned red. It was such a James thing to do, but Lily couldn't help but feel a little hurt when he ignored her like that. Even though it was so very unreasonable to feel insulted at disregard from Potter. Of course, it didn't help that whenever James performed the gesture, it made Lily's heart flutter.
Lily was pondering over all this on the way to the Quidditch pitch one breezy Saturday morning. As she walked next to Jamie, pulling her cardigan more tightly around her, she shook her head in disgust. Okay, she thought. Seriously, what has gotten into me? Heart fluttering when Potter does the hair thing? Insulted at the fact that he ignores me? I've gone mental. I have. It's the only possible explanation for all this.
Her facial expression must have given something away, because Jamie turned to regard her with an amused smile. "Something on your mind, Lily?" she asked quietly, as the two of them entered the pitch and went to find a seat in the stands. In the open area, James, this year's Quidditch Captain, was giving a pep talk to a nervous-looking bunch of students from various years. Well, not all of them were nervous, Lily added as an afterthought when she spotted Hannah and Regan doing their usual "get pumped" warm-up and swinging their bats around like fools. She looked back at James, who was being harassed by Sirius as he attempted to go through a list of names. Well, if Potter took one thing seriously, it was Quidditch. He looked so sure of himself out there, so commanding...
Jamie snorted. "Well, that answers my question," she said, and folded her arms in satisfied conclusiveness as the two of them sat down.
"Shut up," Lily said, nudging her with her elbow. She was about to say something to Jamie, but bit her lip, wondering if it was still a touchy subject. Deciding just to go ahead with it, she said teasingly, "Bet you wish Remus were here, huh?" Jamie went tense at the mention of the quiet Marauder, so Lily added, "Sorry. It's just... well, now that Frank's not in the way anymore, I don't see what's stopping you two."
Jamie's eyes narrowed, though they stayed fixed on the Quidditch pitch, where the many Gryffindors were mounting their brooms, getting ready to warm up. She bit her lip, set her jaw and shook her head, saying to Lily, "I'm over it. It's obvious he doesn't feel the same way about me, so why waste my time? And I wouldn't say Frank is completely out of the picture..."
"What?!" Lily said, shocked. "I thought you two agreed things were over. You told me yourself you didn't feel anything for him. Have things changed? I mean... please, Jamie, don't tell me you're still stringing him along."
Jamie looked down at her knees, but shook her head, sending ripples down her long, golden ponytail. "No. I mean... we did. Break up, I mean. I'm just saying that I'm not... well, I'm not burning any bridges. Yet."
Lily didn't know what to say. She'd been so proud of Jamie for taking matters into her own hands on that night a few weeks ago, the night when everything had changed - or rather, when existing changes had been made clearer to them all. This hesitant side that Jamie was demonstrating now, though, made Lily wary. Jamie was known for her gentle nature and her reluctance to hurt people's feelings in situations like the one with Frank, but this time, she thought perhaps it was going too far. Frank was going to get hurt if Jamie decided to cross that bridge again, Jamie was clearly miserable about the whole thing, and Remus - Remus, who, Lily was sure, felt the same thing for Jamie as she felt for him - was just an added victim in the whole mess. Lily prayed Jamie wouldn't do anything stupid. She knew it wasn't likely that she would, but... well, the Marauders weren't the only ones who seemed to have changed as of late.
Suddenly, Jamie spoke up again. "What about you and Potter?" she asked, her voice surprisingly forceful. "You say you don't know what's stopping me and Remus, but what's stopping you two?"
Lily looked hurt at that remark, a fold appearing in her brow. "That's different," she said, swallowing hard as she looked at the black-haired Marauder, flying with such grace overhead.
Jamie raised a sceptical eyebrow. "Is it?"
Even if Lily had had an answer for it, she wouldn't have had time to voice it. For at that moment, somebody walked up to the two of them. Lily and Jamie looked up at the same time; it was Remus. Jamie went tense all over, but Lily offered him a shy smile.
"Hey," Remus said in a friendly tone. "Do you mind if I join you guys? You got the best view of the pitch, and I don't really want to look like a loner sitting all by myself..."
"Sure," Lily said, and Remus sat down on Jamie's right, though he left a considerable gap between them while still maintaining enough proximity to speak to them.
"Where's Peter?" Lily added, only now noticing the fourth Marauder's peculiar absence. Quidditch tryouts were a big thing for the Marauders as well as the Rogues; each group had two players in the team, and for the time they spent on the pitch - in training, team meetings and games - the Marauders and the Rogues could set their differences aside for the good of the team, sacrificing their feud for Gryffindor honour, something that mattered to all of them. Even those who weren't on the team turned up to show their support, so it was odd that Peter hadn't come along.
"Oh," said Remus, frowning. "He broke about thirty of Trelawney's teacups yesterday. Merlin knows how it happened, but anyway, she gave him weekend detention. I think that's the first time I've ever seen Trelawney give detention, actually."
Lily laughed out loud, and even Jamie couldn't help but giggle slightly at that, as uncomfortable as she was sitting between the two of them.
"You'd better not tell Regan," Lily warned. "She'll have a heyday if she hears-"
Just then, a large, dark shape swooped past them, cutting Lily off. They all ducked as it flew by and turned sharply, and then came to a halt facing in their direction. Regan put her hands on her hips (all the while maintaining perfect balance) and looked at them with a huge grin on her face.
"What shouldn't you tell me?" she asked excitedly. "Is it something about Pettigrew? Did he jump off the astronomy tower? Oh, please tell me he did!"
Before the others could reply, James, hovering about twenty metres away, blew a whistle and called out to Regan. "TAIN!" he bellowed. "Just because you've been on the team as long as I have doesn't mean I'm just going to hand your spot to you. Stop harassing the audience and get back over here!"
Regan's shoulders slumped and she rolled her eyes heavenward, looking annoyed. She turned around to stick her tongue out at James, and then faced the others again. "He thinks he gets to make all the decisions," she muttered angrily.
"Well, he is the captain," Remus reminded her, amused.
"Captain schmaptain," Regan said, waving her hand as if swatting a fly away. "If he doesn't keep me on the team, then so help him." She pounded her Beater's bat once into her other hand, and then sped away, back to the congregation of Gryffindors.
Lily shared a look with Remus and Jamie, and then the three of them settled in to watch the chaos that was sure to unfold.
The proceedings were entertaining, to say the least, just as they were every year - although somehow, it was more amusing to watch when it was James Potter who was trying to control it all. There were mid-air collisions, unintentional horizontal pirouettes as people lost their balance (due to the nerves, Lily suspected) and a whole lot of confusion. One boy, trying out for one of the remaining two Chaser positions (technically it was the one remaining position, since there was no way in Hell Potter would replace Sirius), flew into the centre for his tryout, holding a bat in one hand.
"You there!" James called out from his broom, and consulted his clipboard. "Err... what's your name again?"
"Higgins," squeaked the boy, nearly falling off his broom. "Jeffrey Higgins."
Ah. Lily thought she'd recognised the pudginess, the straw-coloured hair, the general lack of composedness and coordination. Jeffrey's older sister, Lucinda, was a Hufflepuff in seventh year, and possessed much the same qualities.
"Okay, Higgins," James went on. "It says here you're trying out for Chaser."
Higgins looked confused. Even from the stands, Lily could see the glimmer of sweat on his brow. "I am," he said, nervously clasping the bat in both hands.
Now it was James's turn to look confused. "You are? Well, what are you doing with that Beater's bat? Chasers don't use them."
People laughed as they looked on from their broomsticks; Hannah and Regan were doubled over as they hovered by the goalposts. Higgins turned bright red. His response was too quiet to hear from so far away, but Lily thought she could make out the words "They don't?" on his lips.
From there, it only got worse. Dozens of hopefuls lined up to try their hand at playing Chaser, but none of them seemed to have quite the grace and dexterity that James, and Sirius as his "tryout assistant" displayed while they tested people. One by one, the unsuccessful players dismounted their brooms and walked dejectedly off the pitch, dragging their brooms behind them.
Then, just as James looked as he was about to tear his hair out, a small girl with long chestnut pigtails flew up next to him. She looked about twelve, but she had perfect control over her broom, and manoeuvred it with impressive agility.
"Excuse me," she said with no hint of shyness, "are you going to let me try out or not? I've been waiting here for ages, you know."
James turned to look at her with a puzzled expression on his tired face. "Who are you?" he asked, his eyebrows knitting together as he looked at his clipboard for the umpteenth time since tryouts had begun.
"Brooks," the girl said. "Ellen Brooks. My mom played Chaser for Slytherin twenty years ago, so I thought I'd give it a try."
James looked bemused at the mention of Slytherin, but he went on all the same. "Oh, right. I think I remember your name from the original list we got. I'm sorry, but we don't usually allow second years on the team. Since most of the other players are at least fifteen, it's hard to work with such big age gaps. You should come back in a few years and give it a try, though."
Ellen folded her arms defiantly. "Well, that's not fair. You haven't even seen me play yet."
James sighed and ran a hand through his dishevelled hair (even now, it didn't fail to make Lily's heart do things that didn't feel like they should be physically possible). "Look, I'm sorry, but I don't have time for-"
Just then, Regan made her second surprise appearance of the day. She swooped around James from behind, causing him to drop his clipboard in alarm. It fell, papers scattering everywhere, until it hit the ground.
"TAIN!" he shouted exasperatedly. "Stop being such a lunatic! I swear, I will kick you off the team."
Regan grinned mischievously, flying around James again, this time playfully ruffling his hair. Lily felt a pang of jealousy, but it was the fact that Regan had the confidence to act that way around him, not her actually doing it, that set it off. How come Lily couldn't be more like that? She tried to picture herself messing up James's hair - and nearly laughed aloud at the thought. No, Lily was much more timid by nature, though she wasn't afraid to stand up for herself. Regan, on the other hand, didn't have a problem doing whatever it was she wanted to do, even if others disapproved. And on the Quidditch pitch, where her confidence was multiplied tenfold (creating results that were almost dangerous), she didn't even have qualms with being almost friendly toward the Marauders. Then again, that was probably because, with Regan, it was difficult to precisely define "friendly."
James continued to look annoyed at Regan's apparent hyperactivity, while Regan herself was grinning like a Cheshire Cat - well, a rather evil Cheshire Cat. She continued flying in pointless show-off-y circles and finally came to a stop beside little Ellen.
"Doesn't seem fair, you know," she said, shrugging her shoulders in that I'm-right-you're-wrong-but-I'm-just-going-to-pretend-to-accept-that kind of way. "She hasn't even tried out yet and you're already turning her down? Man, that's just rude."
Just then, Hannah flew up on Ellen's other side. The younger girl looked confused, albeit very pleased, at all the attention she was suddenly getting.
"Reegs is right," she said. "Give her a go."
James rolled his eyes. "I suppose you'll be begging me to let Firsties on the team next year, then?"
Hannah put on a fake pout. "Aw, don't be like that, Jamesie."
"Yeah, Potter's just being a big meanie," Regan added.
"Alright, alright!" Potter exclaimed in annoyance. "If it'll shut you two up, I'll let her try out. I'm warning you, though - I'm going to be just as ruthless as I've been with everybody else."
Regan and Hannah both gave Ellen high-fives, wished her luck, and flew the couple of yards to where Lily and the others were sitting.
"Man, I hope she's not just a dud with a big ego," Regan muttered as she jumped daringly off her broom and into the stands.
Hannah swung slightly more safely off her own broom, and laughed. "Nah, she'll be good. Her mother's Jolanda Brooks."
"Who?" Regan asked, confused.
Hannah shook her head, smirking. "Honestly, Regan, I thought you were a Quidditch fan. Jolanda Brooks - used to be Dolohov - of the Appleby Arrows holds the world record for the most goals scored while the other two Chasers were down. She played as a single-person team at the World Cup in 1957 and won. She's a Quidditch legend. You're seriously telling me you haven't heard of her?"
Regan shrugged, but her eyes were fixed in marvel on Ellen, who was receiving instructions from James. "Must have escaped my eagerly researching eyes," Regan said sarcastically. "I play Quidditch, Han. I don't read about it."
"Daughter of a legend or not," Lily cut in, "she's twelve. Do you really think she has what it takes to play alongside Potter and Black? Alongside you two?"
Hannah shrugged. "We've been playing since third year, and I was tiny back then. It's not all that different to playing with people your own size."
"Okay," said Lily with a shrug. "I suppose I wouldn't know anything about it. But don't you think it's a little dangerous?"
Before Hannah or Regan could respond, Remus interrupted. "Are you even watching this?" he said, gesturing at the pitch.
When Lily looked up, she wasn't sure what she saw. It just looked like a whole bunch of scarlet blurs, criss-crossind and circling in the air, drawing intricate patterns with their movement. When she looked closer, however, she was shocked at what she saw.
Sirius, James and Ellen were competing fiercely for the Quaffle. Sirius, playing the opposition, kept on trying to steal it and make for the goalposts. James, playing the teammate, was testing Ellen's passing skills as the two of them tried to take the Quaffle to the opposite end of the stadium.
Whatever doubts she'd had before about this young Chaser quickly dissolved into awe as she watched them. Ellen moved in and out between the two of them with amazing coordination and lightning fast reflexes. One moment, Lily would be sure Sirius was about to score - the next, the Quaffle was in Ellen's hands, as if she'd cast a summoning charm. It was an incredible thing to watch; two seventh years who'd met the ultimate match for their skills in a twelve-year-old girl. She wondered how their egos were doing right about now.
From the look on James's face when he slowed down enough for Lily to see it betrayed no real annoyance; there was that sliver of frustration that was only natural when one was struggling to win, but aside from that, he simply looked astounded. Sirius, on the other hand, was positively livid. He snatched the Quaffle again and again from Ellen's hands, or intercepted a pass between her and James, but in the end, she always got it back. When Sirius made a promising breakaway, Ellen caught up and pulled some crazy manoeuvre whereby she dove under Sirius's broomstick and snatched the Quaffle from his grasp. He was so shocked at this that he ended up hanging from his broom by one hand and had to make his way to the ground to right himself.
By the end of it all, Sirius could no longer contain his aggravation. It did not, however, come out in the way Lily had expected it to.
"Put that girl on the team this instant," he growled at James. He pointed a firm finger at Ellen, who was positively glowing with pride as she held the Quaffle in her small (but evidently very capable) hands.
James looked at Ellen in calm consideration.
"Okay, so that was some pretty good Quidditch you just showed us," he said slowly. "But we need to know that you'll be committed. We practise four times a week, usually at about six in the morning, and you're going to have some angry seventh years whacking Bludgers at you too, so you can't blame us if you go home this summer with a disfigured face."
Ellen only giggled at that, as if he weren't being serious at all. "I'm in second year - it's not like I have anything more important to do. And I can dodge Bludgers."
Lily never heard a definitive yes or no about Ellen's making the team, but she suspected that the enthusiastic pats on the back from both Sirius and James more or less gave the answer away. Hannah and Regan flew back over to congratulate her, and then they proceeded with the tryouts.
Only two people showed up for the Keeper tryouts, and since one of them was completely hopeless (but, despite letting every shot in, failed to understand just how bad he really was) it looked like Carter Brown, Keeper of three years, was to stay on in that position.
Beater tryouts were interesting, if only because of the way James chose to do it. Neither he nor Sirius seemed to want to get bashed up by the rookies, so he gathered the lot of them (about six or seven altogether), handed them each a bat (except for Regan and Hannah, who had already helped themselves), and gave them a simple set of instructions.
"Okay," he called out, silencing them. "I'm going to warn you now, this could get a little messy. I want you to spread out around the edges of the pitch, and I'm going to release the Bludgers. There are two things you need to do: aim and dodge. Do both, and you'll make a decent Beater. Show me some skill, and you might make the team. If you're scared of getting bloodied up, well... choose a different dream."
On the other side of Jamie, Remus snickered. "Never knew he could rhyme," he said.
Things did get messy. The Bludgers flew in all directions, sometimes because the potential Beaters were aiming that way, and sometimes because they were totally incompetent and the savage ball flew far off course, zig-zagging through the air. Some of the players got hit and cried out in pain, but continued in their attempts to demonstrate more skill than the others. It was hopeless, though - not even the best of the others held a candle to Regan or Hannah. The two of them played not only with expertise but with passion; Lily couldn't see from across the field, but she knew the look of concentration and exhilaration in their eyes when they lined up a hit. Every now and then, Regan even let out a malicious sort of cackle as she struck a perfect blow.
As Lily watched her friends, silently satisfied at the fact that, once again, there were definitely no grounds on which James could dismiss them from the team as he always threatened, she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Once it entered her line of vision, she had only a moment to realise what it was - a stray Bludger - and a further millisecond to react. It plummeted toward her at an alarming speed, and her eyes went wide as it headed straight for her face. She came to her senses just in time, throwing herself out of its path and, in the process, falling out of her seat.
"Lily!" Jamie gasped, but just as she said it, another voice echoed hers.
"Lily!" It was James, flying at full speed toward them, a look of utmost panic in his eyes. "Lily, are you alright?"
Lily slowly straightened up, more in shock than anything else. She frantically swept her hair out of her face, swallowed and quickly nodded, embarrassed at her discomposure. "Yeah, fine," she said. "Where did that thing come from?"
James looked relieved, but his face betrayed signs of fury. "Damn fifth years," he said through gritted teeth. "That was Harold Bagley. He can't hit for shit."
"There you go again with the rhyming," Remus remarked with a tight smile.
"Shut up," James said, doing the hair thing he did so often. "These idiots are driving me insane. There's no point even holding tryouts if we're just going to keep the same team we've had for the past three years. Oh, well, except for Ellen. What a find."
Lily smirked, the shock-induced tension beginning to ease from her body. "And to think you were about to turn her away," she said, shaking her head.
James smiled in response, and Lily's heart flipped. Yes, she was going to have to figure out a way to stop that.
"Well, I can tell you, I'm turning Harold away right this second. Tryout's over. I guess those nuts are back on the team." They all turned to look at Hannah and Regan, who were busy playing Bludger tennis.
Before James left, he and Remus seemed to exchange a weird glance. Remus's was knowing with a teasing edge, while James's seemed to say "What are you talking about?". For some reason, the exchange looked vaguely familiar.
"Okay, that's it!" James yelled, after blowing his whistle. There was an irritated tone to his voice. I've seen more skill from an innocent bystander" - he pointed at Lily - "than from any of you, so round up the Bludgers and get out of here."
Hannah and Regan did a few celebratory laps of the pitch, cheering, before landing and going to get changed.
Finally it came to the Seeker tryouts, for which there were at least a dozen Gryffindors lined up. They all looked extremely edgy save for one blonde Sixth Year, who Lily recognised as Avery Williams, whose older sister Rosalie shared a dorm with the Rogues and her best friend Alice Hanby. While Rosalie was confident but well-mannered and fairly modest, Avery was known for her exceptionally... well, varied love life and slightly less conventional manners. Right now, she looked ten times as self-assured as any of the others, and the look she was casting at James caused a deep burning to settle in Lily's chest.
The group had moved so far away from the stands that Lily couldn't hear a word anymore, but she watched Avery with a close eye. Her body language was enough to show that she was here for reasons besides Quidditch, and that that reason was James. She kept on flashing her perfect white smile at him, giving him the puppy dog eyes, flirting so blatantly that Lily wanted to wring her neck.
Whoa, Lily thought, shocked at the ferocity in her own thoughts. It wasn't like James was being unfaithful or anything, Lily reminded herself. The two of them weren't even together. In fact, they weren't even prospectively together, unless you counted James's ten billion proposals in their first six years at Hogwarts, when he'd been joking anyway...
Still, Lily couldn't help but feel anger toward Avery Williams, stuck by James like a magnet as he sorted through the list of names. She was even so bold as to wrap a playful arm around his shoulders as she spoke to him. James looked a little uncomfortable, but he wasn't doing much to fight her off.
"Lily, is there something wrong?"
Lily turned abruptly to see both Jamie and Remus staring at her with identical expressions of concern crossed with amusement.
"No," she blurted out, and tried to swallow her anger and appear perfectly calm. "Why would you think that?"
Remus chuckled and pointed at her hands; Lily looked down and was surprised to see that they were both clenched into tight fists, and her nails were leaving deep red marks in her palms. She gasped, flexed her fingers, and put her hands down onto her lap, colour filling her cheeks. How embarrassing. Did some annoying Sixth Year flirting with Potter really get to her that much? This was it - she really was going mental.
"James doesn't look very happy down there, does he?" Jamie hinted, that mischievous twinkle still in her eyes.
Remus laughed. "Are you kidding me? Prongs lives for that sort of attention." He paused, narrowing his stormy grey eyes. "Well, he'd probably preferred it from somebody else, but..."
Lily meant to turn a death glare on Remus, but he was already looking away, as if deliberately stopping her from responding.
At that moment, Hannah and Regan appeared, having changed out of their Quidditch robes; Lily congratulated them as they sat down, though they didn't much need it.
The Seeker tryouts began. They progressed in alphabetical order, so first up was Julian Adams, a Fifth Year with broad shoulders muscular arms. He didn't have the build Lily usually noticed in Seekers (slim, compact, aerodynamic) but he wasn't actually too bad. He came very close to catching the Snitch several times, and finally managed to catch it after James cast a speed-decreasing charm on it. He did this with every Seeker if they took beyond a certain amount of time to catch it, and continued to slow it down until they were able to get it in their grasp. Adams set the standards quite high, and the others had trouble matching up. After some time, they were down to the last contender.
Avery mounted her broom and took off quickly and smoothly, soaring several metres into the air.
"Ready?" James called out, ready to release the Snitch.
"I'm always ready," Avery replied with a not-so-subtle wink. Remus snorted, Hannah and Regan burst out laughing, and the burning feeling in Lily's torso continued to escalate.
James let the Snitch go, and in a second, it was up in the air, flitting about in every direction. Avery took a moment to gather her senses, and then took off after it. Lily had to admit, this girl was good. She followed the Snitch in one direction and then another, coming with inches of catching it. At one point she nearly had it, but it took off in another direction; her strategies, though, were successful, and she managed to ward it in the direction that suited her, finally catching it even before James had to slow it down.
Regan let out a whistle of astonishment. "Whew, that's the best I've seen since Fabian Prewett six years ago. Our team's gonna be good this year."
Hannah nodded in agreement. "Mmm. Why does it have to be her, though? Everyone knows Avery Williams is a sk-"
At that moment, however, little Ellen Brooks appeared a couple of rows down, approaching them all with a big smile.
"Err... skrewt," Hannah said, and coughed. "Yes, Avery is a big, ugly skrewt..."
"Hey, Ellen," Regan called, waving to the girl as she came closer.
"Hi, Regan. Hi, Hannah," she answered. "Who are these guys?" she asked, pointing at Lily and the others.
Regan grinned. "Only our bestest friends in the entire universe!" she exclaimed gleefully, throwing her arms around Jamie, who simply looked frightened. Then she backed away and regarded Remus with disdain. "Oh, and our greatest enemy."
Hannah laughed. "This is Lily and Jamie, and that's Remus," she explained, pointing at each of them in turn.
Ellen's pale green eyes lit up in recognition. "Oh! You're the Head Girl, aren't you?"
Lily smiled, rolled her eyes and said, "Yup, that's me."
Ellen was in awe. "Wow. I want to be Head Girl when I get to seventh year! Do you have to get good marks and everything?"
Lily thought for a moment. "I suppose, but it's not only that. I'm not exactly sure what they base their decisions on." She smiled to herself at that thought; in the summer, when she'd found out Potter was going to be Head Boy, she'd been horrified, wondering what could possibly bring Dumbledore to pick somebody so completely unfitting for the position.
Ellen turned her gaze to the object of Lily's pondering, and pointed. "So is he, like, your boyfriend?"
Lily went rigid with shock. Hannah snorted, Regan choked her laughter with her fist, and both Jamie and Remus smiled knowingly as Lily stuttered out an answer.
"No!" she exclaimed. "No, no, definitely not."
Ellen looked disappointed at this. "Well he should be," she said, folding her arms over her chest. "Anyway, I have to go to detention now, but I'll see you guys" - she aimed this at Hannah and Regan - "at training."
"Detention?" Remus asked quizzically. "What for?"
Ellen shrugged, nonchalant. "Oh, I kind of pushed a boy down the stairs yesterday. But it wasn't my fault - he got in my way!"
Hannah couldn't contain her laughter; Regan gave Ellen an encouraging pat on the back and said, "That's a good girl. Now go, and walk into detention with dignity."
They all watched her go, and once she's disappeared, Regan turned back to the others. "I think I'm going to like that girl," she said.
"Yeah, and what a Seeker, too- what's so funny, Marauder?" Hannah cut off her sentence when she looked at Remus, and as Lily followed her gaze, she saw that he was shaking with silent laughter. It took him several moments to recover enough composure to speak, but eventually he managed to answer her.
"Peter," he said simply, and then went on to explain: "I think Peter was the boy she pushed down the stairs."
Regan let out a whoop of elation. "I'm going to LOVE that girl!" she cried.
Just then, Sirius and James walked up to them. It had escaped Lily's attention, but she could see now that the tryouts were well and truly over; the balls had been packed up, and the pitch was vacant except for the odd straggler making their way out of the change rooms.
"Fraternising with the enemy, are we?" Sirius said to Remus, raising one eyebrow.
"Actually, it's called being a mole," Remus responded wisely.
Hannah gasped dramatically. "Oh no! How could you, Remus? And we told you all of our most embarrassing secrets..." She shook her head in fake disappointment, but her expression quickly changed to one of taunting. "Speaking of embarrassing," she said, looking at Sirius, "I'll bet your pride is wounded, Black. We all saw you get whooped by a second year girl."
Lily had never seen Sirius blush before, but at that moment, she thought she saw some colour rise to his cheeks. More evident than that, though, was his lividness Hannah for mentioning it.
"Shut it, Milton," he said dangerously. "That was a fluke. And anyway, she's Jolanda Brooks' daughter. Her mother's probably had her on steroids since she was three."
Hannah cast a sidelong glance at Regan, as if to say, "See? Even this turkey knows who she is." Regan stuck out her tongue in return, and Hannah turned back to Sirius. "I think you're just bitter. You know it's okay - I would be too, if I'd been training for this long and didn't have a thing to show for it."
Lily knew that was the breaking point for Sirius; Hannah had hit him where it really hurt. He snapped, yelling at her some more, and the two of them didn't stop bickering until James, who looked very tired indeed, suggested they all go back up to the castle, since it would soon be lunchtime. Lily fervently agreed, mostly because she just wanted to shut the two of them up, and they all left the Quidditch pitch together.
Together, Lily thought with some degree of wonder. Things were certainly changing this year. Before this past September, the Marauders and the Rogues wouldn't have been seen dead together. Well, admittedly, they were often seen as a group in the corridors, but mostly on occasions that involved bickering, pranking or, occasionally, truce-making.
Presently, none of that was going on. Well, that wasn't completely true. Hannah and Sirius kept on trying to verbally attack each other, and would have done so physically if the others hadn't held them back. But why restrain them, Lily wondered? They were supposed to hate each other. It was normal for them to argue to the death like this, because they were a Marauder and a Rogue, and they were probably the most passionately involved team members where the feud was concerned.
Then again, Lily thought with a sigh, it wasn't clear anymore what was normal and what wasn't.
The Rogues had been practising in the Room of Requirement for several weeks now. The incident with the Marauders had done practically nothing to deter them - while it made them a little uneasy, they persisted on the assumption that, after the events of that day, the Marauders wouldn't dare return to the Room. It was naive to make such a guess, but really, there was nowhere else for them to practise this forbidden "art," if you could call it that.
"Regan, clear your mind!" Hannah ordered, frustrated at the lack of progress they'd seen so far. "I know you're thinking about Pettigrew, but you have to tear your thoughts away from beautiful face and CONCENTRATE!"
Regan glared at her. "Okay, maybe I am thinking about Pettigrew, but I'm plotting his murder. There's a difference."
"Not now, you idiot!" shouted Hannah, whacking Regan only semi-gently on the back of the head. "Don't you understand? This is going nowhere! We need to figure out how to do this soon, or... or..."
"Or what?" Lily asked, raising her eyebrows.
"Yeah," Jamie put in, "could you remind us why it is we're doing this in the first place?"
Hannah groaned, crossing her arms and turning her back to them as she began to pace around the oddly landscaped room. "I don't know," Hannah admitted, but there was still an edge to her voice, a strange sort of hopeful sound, that indicated she really did know, but perhaps wasn't willing to explain it.
"We're Marauder-hunting, right?" Lily prompted, walking up behind Hannah. "Since we saw them attacking - well, being attacked by - that tree, you think we should stalk them, so to speak. And it'll be easier to do that in animal form. Am I right?"
Hannah sighed and nodded, but it was clear that the extent of Lily's understanding wasn't doing it for her.
"I just...," she began, but trailed off uncertainly. The others exchanged a concerned glance. A few moments later, Hannah picked up where she left off. "I just think we need something to do as a group. It seems like we haven't been that tight as a team lately, and that bugs me. Remember when we were younger, and getting back at the Marauders was the only thing we ever thought about?"
Lily did remember. In fact, she was fond of those days - the days of plotting and hilarious revenge - but she didn't have a problem with the fact that they'd matured. Hannah, however, seemed exactly the opposite.
"I remember," said Regan. "Like the time we skipped the Halloween feast to trash the boys' dormitory. That was awesome. And McGonagall thought it was the fourth years who did it, too."
Lily remembered that very well. They'd flooded whole room with about six inches of water, replaced the soap in the bathrooms with solidified hippogriff dung (the boys had wondered for weeks why they smelled so utterly repulsive) and turned the bed curtains irreversibly pink. Well, almost irreversibly - they'd gotten Dumbledore in, and, of course, he could fix anything. Still, the horrified exclamations and near-screaming they'd heard through the door when the Marauders returned from the Halloween feast were impossible to forget.
Jamie giggled. "Yeah, and when we used to lock them in broom cupboards on the way to class," she reminisced, smiling at the memory.
There was lengthy silence as they recalled the good old days, when they were thick as thieves, and when they were a solid force against the Marauders. Things hadn't changed so much in that regard, Lily thought, except where the Marauders were concerned. Everyone had matured, as Hannah had said, and so things weren't so black and white anymore. Take Lily and James for an example - just one year ago, they'd fought like cats and dogs (or, to use a more appropriate analogy, one could say they'd fought like Hannah and Sirius), and whenever Potter had shown any affection for her, it was a joke, and his sole aim was to annoy her. Now, she wasn't sure where they stood, but it was somewhere in that blurry region; the division wasn't so distinct anymore.
"I don't want to get all soft about it," Hannah said, her voice tight. "But... it's kind of annoying me, the way things have started off this year. It doesn't even seem like we're in this together anymore. Black still hates my guts, and I hate his, but... things have changed for you guys. I wish they would change for none - or all - of us."
"Hey," Regan said when Hannah finished. "Nothing's changed between me and that dumbass Wormbutt. We're still in this together, against those idiots - all or nothing."
"It's not you I'm talking about, Regan," Hannah responded with a shake of her head, and cast a sad smile toward Lily and Jamie. "Things really have changed for some of us. This year hasn't been the same so far. Everything's getting too serious, but then again, it also seems as if we're not taking the anti-Marauder battle as seriously as we used to."
Regan smirked. "Yes, Sirius is always the issue, isn't he?"
Hannah rolled her eyes and gave Regan a dark look. "Actually, he is. He's just a big fat problem in general. But you know what I mean."
Lily took this opportunity to step in. At first, she wasn't certain what to say in order to reassure Hannah. Things had changed, it was true; Lily wasn't going to deny it any longer. But the Rogues, as friends, and as partners in crime? She didn't feel as if that had changed at all. Maybe their feelings toward the target had changed in some cases, but the team spirit was still there - or so it seemed to Lily. Hannah, apparently, had different ideas.
"Han," Lily started, "maybe things have changed, but we're still the Rogues. And... I don't even know if I even like James." Hannah snorted at this, and Lily bluntly ignored her. She could feel herself becoming more and more confused as she tried to explain her feelings, at which point she concluded that talking about it wasn't helping at all. Still, she went on. "It's not definite. They're still the enemy, and we're still a team. I don't know about you, but I'm still up for this Animagus plan, even though it's probably going to get us into huge trouble..."
Hannah smiled. "Yup, definitely the old Lily."
Jamie stepped forward and spoke shyly. "Lily's right. I'm up for it too." She swallowed, her expression becoming suddenly hard. "And don't worry about what I said in that Truth or Dare game back then... I'm one hundred percent over Remus."
She received doubtful, concerned looks at this, but she averted her eyes, signalling that she didn't want to talk about. Lily and the others respected her wishes, and Regan quickly changed the topic.
"Okay, we're getting sidetracked," she said loudly. "Time to get back to work. We're going to get it right this time, you hear me?"
Hannah nodded fervently; her mood had changed visibly, and it seemed she was reassured, at least for the time being. "Right," she said very seriously, but with a smile on her face. "Everybody spread out, and empty your minds."
"Should be easy for you, Regan," Lily said jokingly. Her eyes were closed by this point, but she could sense that Regan was making a face at her.
The minutes went by as the Rogues attempted the transformation for the umpteenth time, and the ceiling, presumably charmed much the same way as the one in the Great Hall, grew darker as they stood perfectly still, each in their own little chamber of concentration.
Lily focused her every thought on one thing, as hard as it was. She thought of that nimble, sleek female deer, thought of what it would feel like to walk on four legs and have that stunted little tail, to have ears on the top of her head and a long and dainty nose... She thought of the colour, caramel and auburn with a glazing of bronze, and the softness of the fur.
Then, the most amazing thing happened. Lily had grown accustomed to magic of all sorts in her time in the wizarding world, but nothing could have prepared her for this. It was an entirely different sort of magic, and it sent a shivering sensation up her spine and out into her every nerve. She could feel it - she was about to transform. And not just partially, either. The feeling was so grand, so utterly complete, that she knew right then that she was about to make a major breakthrough. She tensed, surprisingly ready for the transition, and then...
A scream.
She opened her eyes, focus broken in an instant. The world around her seemed suddenly different, though it hadn't changed since she closed her eyes.
Well, one thing had changed. Oh, yes - this was definitely not normal.
Hannah stood across from Lily, shaky hands covering her mouth, eyes wide with amazement and a little bit of fear. The space next to her, where Regan had stood several minutes before, was empty; on Hannah's head, a scarlet macaw was perched, its chest feathers proudly puffed out, its claws grasping tendrils of yellow-blonde hair.
"Oh, Merlin!" Lily gasped, expelling a little laugh of delight. "She did it!"
Jamie, who'd opened her eyes as well (Lily noticed, with a fleeting shock, that the silver tail was back, and that she'd sprouted ears and sharp claws) seemed to have lost all power of speech. She stared disbelievingly at the bird on Hannah's head.
Breaking into the silence, Hannah suddenly recovered from her state of astonishment and cried out. "Bloody Hell, Regan, get off my head!"
The Regan bird unhooked its claws and soared upward, circling several times before descending once again. It landed on the Flechbert's Animagus book, perched not far away on its old-fashioned stand, and began doing little head bobs as it danced across the pages.
Hannah suddenly started clapping. "Yes! I knew we could do it!" she exclaimed, giving Lily and Jamie celebratory high-fives. "One down, three to go! Well, two and a half, it looks like," she added, noticing Jamie's newly sprouted appendages. "Wait a sec... Regan, are you able to change back?"
The bird stopped moving, cocked its head, and stood still for some time.
"Well?" Hannah urged.
Regan flapped her wings and flew over to one of the armchairs in the corner of the room, dropping down behind it. There was a lengthy time in which nothing more happened, but finally, Regan's (fully human) head popped up over the back of the armchair.
"Erm, yes, I forgot about this part. Would somebody be a gem and toss me my robes?"
Hannah laughed; Jamie got out her wand and levitated the bundle of robes over to Regan, who caught them gratefully and ducked down behind the chair once again.
Ten minutes later, the Rogues were on their way back to the common room, chattering excitedly about the progress they'd made. They kept their voices down, though it was difficult not to be enthusiastic after making such great headway in one day.
"What did it feel like, Regan?" Jamie asked. "I mean, I've done it partially, so I get some of it... but to transform completely?"
Regan shook her head in wonder. "Weird, I'll tell you. Like, really weird. But then, once it's happened, it's pretty awesome. Except for the whole changing back part." She blushed slightly at the memory.
"It does feel weird," Lily added with a nod. When the others looked at her questioningly, she explained: "I mean, I wouldn't know about the actual transition, but I felt it starting to happen. Like, I knew I was about to turn."
"Yeah," said Regan. "That's what it feels like. Too bad you got interrupted."
Lily shrugged. "Next time, I suppose. Anyway, what's the plan?"
"Yeah," Jamie said, "once we've all got it, when are we going to follow them? And how do we even know they're going back?"
Hannah looked thoughtful. "Well, we don't necessarily have to follow them back to the same place. It'll just be handy to have a way of tailing them without being noticed - well, except for you, Regan. Why'd you have to pick a Goddamn tropical bird?"
"Hey!" Regan exclaimed defensively. "Don't dis the bird. I'll have you know it's ten times more awesome than your Animagus!"
Hannah looked like she was preparing a retort, but stopped mid-thought and frowned. "Well, I suppose I'll agree with that, seeing as mine's sort of... nonexistent. I haven't even gotten close yet. I wonder why..."
"Don't worry," Lily reassured her. "You'll get there, Hannah."
They were approaching a corner at this point in time, and right as Lily finished speaking, two figures popped out - rather quickly, in fact - from around the corner. It was James and Sirius, both somewhat out of breath.
Sirius, evidently having heard the last line of the Rogues' conversation, quipped, "She'll get where? Oh, are you talking about Fat Camp?" He drew in a sharp, apologetic sort of breath through his teeth. "Sorry, but I think there's a point where they reject you because you're too far gone for them to do anything about it."
"Oh yeah?" Hannah shot back. "Well you got into Hogwarts, didn't you?"
Lily didn't enjoy watching them fight, but she had to admit, that was a good call. Even James burst out laughing at his best friend's expense, and Regan let out a loud "Oooooh" while Sirius looked as if he would very much like to murder somebody - preferably Hannah. Before he had the chance to make himself a wanted man, however, Remus came around the corner, panting.
"Quick!" he exclaimed breathlessly, slowing down only momentarily to warn the others. "Filch is coming! Wormtail's lagging, but that'll only hold him off for so long."
"Oops, gotta go," James said in a panic. "Nice catching up, Rogues." With that he ran off, dragging Sirius by the arm.
Lily exchanged a wary glance with the others. "If Filch is coming for them, does that mean..."
Jamie checked her watch; she jerked her head up, wide-eyed, and informed them squeakily, "It's past curfew. We should have been back in the common room an hour ago."
They needed no more prompting than that; almost simultaneously, the four Rogues took off down the corridor, taking every short cut they knew of, and made for the common room at top speed. At one point they heard a shout of "STUDENTS OUT OF BED! AHA, I'VE CAUGHT YOU NOW, BOY!" and a helpless squeal, presumably coming from Peter. Without breaking her stride, Regan let out a jubilant "Yes!". Unfortunately, Filch heard this - they could tell from the frantic footsteps and heavy wheezing that he was on their tails again.
Still, they managed to outrun him, and dove through the portrait hole just in time, slamming it shut behind them. They were unaware, however, of the three bodies lying in a gasping heap on the floor just inside. They stumbled over various body parts and fell; there were numerous grunts as four more bodies were added to the disorderly pile.
At a nearby coffee table, a scared-looking first year looked up from the letter he was writing, stared at them fearfully, and then gathered his things and ran off in a hurry to his dormitory.
Lily was the first one to start laughing. She wasn't sure what was so funny about the situation - in fact, it was rather uncomfortable - but soon, the others joined in with her. It was just so typical; the Marauders and the Rogues causing mayhem in the middle of the night, narrowly escaping punishment, scaring innocent firsties and ending up in a completely ridiculous situation - all the while with Peter left behind to suffer at the clutches of Filch.
Lily smiled to herself. Maybe things hadn't changed as much as she'd thought they had.
Phew. That was a long one. The longest yet, in fact - which I hope did something to make up for the wait.
As you can see, I went kind of overboard torturing dear old Pete in this chapter, but I can't help myself. It's addictive. Really. Try it sometime and you'll know exactly what I mean.
I know this was kind of a filler chapter, but I was getting impatient and decided it was best to fast-forward through the boring stuff so I can get to the BIG, MYSTERIOUS EVENT (which will henceforth be referred to as the BME) which will be happening soon after. I think there will be one more chapter sort of like this one, with nothing really huge happening, but I can guarantee some more intense "Lames" in Chapter Twenty-Two (my double lucky number! YAY! -- don't get it? Read my profile) and, if all goes to plan, BIG DRAMA in the chapter after that.
I don't deserve any reviews after making you wait so long, but I don't suppose you might forgive me just this once? Pretty please?
Once again, you all rock. (Err, no, I'm not using praise as bribery... What on Earth are you talking about?)
~PrincessEarth