AN: Hiya! I'm having a worst luck here… firstly, my parents banned half my time on the computer, which is a lot, nonetheless. Next, I can't write much [blame them] because I never write anything on paper, unlike some writers. I write everything on the computer. Lastly, I can't write much since my parents are always suspecting me doing different sorta things each time. No, they do NOT know about me writing at all o_O;; okay, enough of this. And nooo… there's about 2 more chapters before this year ends!! Be grateful; I actually planned to make it longer. Hope you enjoy this part!
bunny chan
Disclaimer: blah blah blah. Boring stuff.
The Marauding Five : Year Two
Chapter 10: Just Friends?
It was night at Hogwarts and the stars were twinkling brightly as they spread themselves over the midnight blue sky, decorating it beautifully. Remus and Sirius skipped into the second year girls dorm before bursting the door open. A very enraged James is following after them with a red face.
'Good morning! Guess what we have here?' Sirius greeted as he kicked the door open. No sooner had he done that when James caught up with him and strangled him right there and then. The five girls watched on, amused.
'What have you got?' Lily asked curiously.
'Not for you to know. It's for Tally and the other girls,' Remus said as Sirius tried to free himself from his best friend's choking.
'L- let m- m- me g- g- go…'
'Don't you dare, Remus! Give it to me!' James warned as he proceed to strangle Sirius even more.
'Sorry James, but we promised Tally we'll show her,' Remus said happily as he waved a picture in his hands. Understanding what it is at last, Tally jumped to reach that photo. But Lily, being Lily and always curious, reach out her hand to grab the photo before her friend could.
'No, Lily!!! Don't rip it! I wanna see it!!!!!' Tally squealed as she tried to reach it from Lily, jumping in process.
'What's this anyway?' Lily ask, as she pulled the photo from her pocket and leapt onto her broom, soaring into the air.
'Come back!! I wanna see it!!!' Tally called to Lily, who was sitting on her broom and inspecting the photo. She turned red and flew straight at Remus, knocking him down in process.
'Where'd you get this? I was so sure you didn't have a camera then!' Lily demanded.
'Lily, you take Remus and I'll take Sirius! So that's what happened,' James said angrily as he tried to bite Sirius.
'Hey! I found it just only a while ago!' Remus said, laughing as Lily had started tickling him helplessly.
Tally bent over to catch the photo, which was flying around because of the waves Lily and James were doing whilst trying to kill their two friends. The girls crowded over her and see the photo.
'Oh, it's so sweet!' Sita said.
'No it's not! Gimme back! Gimme back!!!!' Lily said as she grabbed her wand. 'Accio!' the photo flew into her hands.
'You learned accio???' Remus asked from under Lily's weight.
'Yes. Now tell me!!!' Lily replied as she continued to tickle him.
'They got it when they were searching the cupboard. Last year, Sirius dumped a camera there and this year, they found out that it still has one undeveloped film. And you know the rest,' James answered, elbowing Sirius as a final blow.
'You didn't tell me,' Tally said, looking hurt.
'But you guys make a cute couple,' Pertsy said dreamily.
'Cut it off! Cut it off! I have the reasons here. You want it?'
Nods.
'One; we do NOT make a cute couple. Two; we are friends. Best friends, to be exact. We're also childhood friends so there is no way how one can fall in love with their childhood friend. Never. Three; that was last Christmas. Know why I'd rather die now? Four; it is not sweet. Five; what makes you think we're in love??? Goodness sake, we're only twelve and you guys are getting sick! Six; Remus, Sirius, you promised!' Lily screamed.
'Calm it, Lily, calm it! Maybe you'd want to keep this as a history in making memory,' Sita said, handing the photo to Lily. The red-head took it calmly and to everyone's (minus James) horror, she started ripping it into tiny little shreds.
'What are you doing?' Pertsy asked, shock.
'If it was mine, I'd keep it!!' Nina cried.
'But it isn't yours. Besides, I "saw" myself ripping it, Tally, so don't bother asking. Sirius, Remus?' Lily said, turning to the two boys.
'Yes, Lily?'
'Hand me those copies. Now,' Lily said with a dangerous tone. Gulping, Remus handed Lily a huge stack.
'You made this much?' Sita asked in surprise.
'Sirius, I mean all of them,' Lily said as she walked over to Sirius and pulled a photo from his robes pocket.
'Hey! I wanna keep it for memory!!' Sirius cried as he tried to grab it back but was stopped by James.
'No! Lily, burn them!! Burn them! If you rip them, Sirius will collect all the pieces and glue them together!' James said. Nodding, Lily threw them on the floor and burn all the photos, including the ripped shreds. Satisfied, James left the dorm, pulling Sirius and Remus after him by their ears.
Tally, Nina, Sita and Pertsy gazed sadly at the burning pile of photos in their dorm.
'Good riddance,' Lily said when all turned into white ashes. She muttered a water spell and water gushed from her wand, putting the fire out.
'Not,' Nina said sadly.
'By the way, you said it was last Christmas. The previous photos were also of last year. How are your feelings for James?' Tally asked, nibbling on a sugar quill.
'What?!'
'How are your feelings for James? Also, what do you think of him?' Tally repeated.
'What do you mean?'
'Surely you hadn't even a speck of feeling for him?' Pertsy asked in disbelief.
'What about you? You tell me yours and I'll tell you mine! Deal?'
'Nope. Never. Tell us now. We're four, you're one,' Sita said in a logical tone.
'Unless you forget, I'd learned some of the seventh year spells and I'm ready to find someone to be my guinea pig.'
Gulping, they turned away.
'I'm going for a walk now. Pretty hungry actually,' Lily said as she walk out of the door and close it. The girls were still muttering about hating Lily because she knows enough to curse them with uncountable and uncurable spells and hexes. Lily smiled to herself before heading to the fourth floor and into the Marauder's secret hiding place. Their very own secret room.
Lily crawled in through the mirror hole before shutting it tightly. She didn't want to stay at the dorm tonight for she was very sure that the girls will most probably fire her with all sorts of questions, whether or not they will get their curses from her. Magicking herself into her nightdress, she went to her bed and glanced at the two beds at the far end. Sirius and Remus' beds. She walked over to Sirius bed and pulled Seriously Sirius (Sirius' teddy) and started drawing doodles on it. She look at her work proudly before putting the teddy down again, which now had a very weird face. His eyes were seperated in two different places, his nose is on his forehead, his mouth near the ear and the ears were stuck onto it's belly. Lily had also drawn extra eyes and mouths on it. She giggled silently to herself.
Turning to Remus' bed, she hunted for his camera. Finding the silver-coated camera, she muttered a spell on it and a photo popped out. She grinned happily and pocketed the photo.
Walking back to her bed, she saw a lump in the bed next to hers. That's odd, I remembered no one was there before, Lily said to herself. Being a curious one, she lifted up the covers. She screamed. For inside, is a one eyed monster, green and purple along with only a few strands of hair. It is big and bulky, to Lily, that is. Suddenly, she heard a giggle. And then it turned into a laugh. Suspicious, she pulled the covers over again. Someone with messy hair and glasses. James Potter.
'What are you doing here?' Lily asked.
'What am I doing here? Getting away from Sirius and Remus. Gosh, you looked so funny!' James laughed as he rolled over to face Lily.
'When did you get here? No one was here before.'
'When you were decorating Seriously Sirius. Good job, I must say,' James said as he inspect the now weird-looking teddy. Lily bowed courteously.
'What are you doing here?'
'I? I'm getting away from Tally and the girls. They're insane at the moment.'
'So's Remus and Sirius. What did you do to Remus' camera? I saw you pulling something from it.'
'Nothing. Just this,' Lily grinned, handing over the photo. Only that it isn't a photo. On it is;
'Dear Monsieur Lupin,
I must kindly inform you that you are insulting me by taking useless photos that are always ripped by Fraüline Evans and Monsieur Potter. I wish not to be taken this way as the photos I produce are masterpieces and having them ripped is an insult to it.
I wish to tell you now that my job with you is over and I'm quitting as a camera. I do not appreciate it when my masterpieces are ripped into tiny shreds, like glasses especially when I took great effort in developing it and focusing the picture automatically for you.
Quitting,
Your Camera,
Romulus'
'That's it? His camera is called Romulus? And it's quitting?' James asked in disbelief.
'Yep! And everytime he takes a photo, this will come out! Neat huh?' Lily said happily.
'Definitely. Why're you where anyway?'
'I'd said already! I'm running from the girls! They're asking me things. Very stupid ones.'
'Oh? Such as?'
'My feelings for you. Isn't that utterly stupid? I mean, we were best friends ever since our carefree and innocent days of childhood! How can it be that we even have feelings for each other? They even ask what I think of you! Isn't that silly?' Lily said, laughing as she sat on her bed.
'What did you answer?'
'Huh? Answer? No, I threatened them with spells.'
'So, what did you think of me?' James asked.
'What? Pardon?'
'What. Did. You. Think. Of. Me. What did you think of me?'
'A friend?'
'Lily, be serious!'
'If I be Sirius, you'll be at your wits' end already!'
'Lily!'
'Fine. What was your question again?'
'What do you think of me? And be serious!'
'Okay, okay. Hmm… you're sweet, very kind, caring, funny, nice to talk to, easy to pour into-'
'What do you mean by that last part? I'm easy to bully?'
'Huh? Oh, you're easy to confront to. Sirius is just too stupid and Remus is just too solemn. You're the only one I can really talk to. Tally isn't much help because she keeps popping up questions like "Lil, what do you think of James?" or "Oh, Lily, don't you have any feelings for him?" or "When are you going to grow up?"'
'Okay. Go on.'
'You're like my brother! I never had one, so you're mine!' Lily said joyfully.
'Sure. I'm your brother along with Sirius and Remus, aren't I?'
'Yep! Sirius the Silly; very nice whenever you wanna get back at someone. Remus the Sensible; just one that will stop you from doing anything that is too stupid. James the Head; one to talk to and you're like my oldest brother. Now my turn. What did Sirius and Remus asked?'
'Exactly the same as the girls.'
'Okay, so what do you think of me now?'
'Sorry, top secret.'
'Teeeellllll meeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'
'Hey, I was just kidding!'
'Tell me already! I told you mine!'
'You're like my sister.'
'That's it?'
'Yes.'
'You're boring.'
'I resent that!'
'You were supposed to!' Lily said before hugging him happily. 'G'night!'
'Night Li.'
And they turned the lights off.
Lily lay in bed, thinking, as she played with a lock of her hair. So, James only thinks her as a sister, nothing much. But why didn't he pour in everything? With Lily's ability to read minds, James was probably the hardest as Lily always had a pain in head when she tried to read it. Like an unknown barrier that knows that Lily is trying to read it. When Lily managed to read it at last, all that came to her was static. Nothing much there, but it's like everything is confused. Maybe he is confuse, Lily said to herself as she turned to his bed, which was next to hers. He looked cute when he was sleeping, Lily giggled to herself before hitting herself hard. What are you thinking, Evans? She scolded herself.
He's your friend, so don't even go there.
Go where?
Stop acting innocent!
Huh?
You like him.
No I don't. You're a fool to think like Nina and Tally and-
Fine, but like him.
As a friend.
No, as a brother.
Yeah right. I forgot that part.
Thank me for reminding!
Why must I? You're me!
Stupid…
Calling yourself stupid isn't good. I'm you and you're me.
'Lily, we want to tell you something,' a soft whisper said as Lily's voices in her head stopped abruptly. Lily strained herself to listen as a picture came swirling to her. The same blurry picture she'd seen for the first time in the crystal ball. It didn't sharpen, as it usually did. Lily heard her own voice asking back.
'What?'
'Don't be too surprise or too angry with us, please, but this is really important.'
'Really? Then I'll be off now. James' expecting me.'
'Lily, it's important! You have to know it!'
'Sure. How come you wouldn't let me read your minds?'
'Lily, we know today's your fourteenth birthday and you want to enjoy that now, but this is really urgent.'
'Fine, what could be this urgent anyway?'
'Lily, this may come to a shock to you.'
'Just say it already!'
'You're-'
Then Lily's vision stopped. The image disappeared from her mind and the words sank into Lily. So this will happen on my fourteenth birthday, huh? Okay, I'll bet those two people are mom and dad and on my birthday, Lily said to herself as she fixed the pieces slowly. I still wonder what that urgent thing is…
'Li? You can sleep?' James asked.
'Nah. When tomorrow's a Sunday? I don't think so.'
'Correction. Today is Sunday. It's twelve at the midnight already.'
'So what have you been doing just now? You were asleep.'
'I wasn't. I was just… thinking.'
'Oh? About what?'
'I don't know. Your question?'
'Speaking of it, why didn't you answer everything?'
'What?'
'You didn't answer my question. All that came out pointed to only one word.'
'Well, what else am I suppose to say?'
'I don't know. Maybe you don't want me to know that you think me stupid and bossy?'
'Huh? Why would I think you that?'
'I dunno. You just didn't answer everything. I can feel it.'
'Whatever.'
'You're not sharing with me and neither are you with Sirius or Remus. Why?'
'I think too complicate things? I don't know.'
'Forget this.'
'What were you doing?'
'… thinking.'
'Really? It seems that you saw something.'
'Since when are you psychic?'
'You mean it's true?'
'Not exactly. I saw this vision that I saw for the first time in the orb.'
'Voldemort?'
'No! It's really weird. It sounds quite urgent anyway, like it's my destiny or something.' Lily shivered.
'You're cold?'
'Not exactly. How about raiding the kitchens?'
'Are you nuts? McGonagall's patroling tonight!'
'How'd you know?'
'There's a timetable.'
'Oh.'
'How about wizard chess?'
'Sure!'
James got out Lily's chess set as they began arranging the positions of the chess pieces. Lily tried again to look at James' mind, figuring that since he's too busy thinking about moving his chess pieces, he'd concentrate less in keeping his mind out. But just when Lily had neared into crashing in, a loud thunder sounded. Lily jumped at it.
'What?'
'Nothing, that storm frightened me.'
'Okay. Check!'
Lily grumbled to herself. Seriously, she shouldn't have left her other side of the brain to play it. It's hopeless at chess. Lily moved her queen to capture the knight as the Knight called out 'Help!' to it's crews. Her King whooped.
'Checkmate! Hah! Next time, you'd better move your pawns and your Queen! Don't leave your king in a too tight protection! Else, you'll just end up not protecting but losing,' Lily said happily as James' king threw his crown down in defeat before glaring at James. 'Are you sick?' Lily asked, seeing James silent. James was listening to Lily when she said the last few words.
'Huh? Oh, no. How about we build a card castle?' James suggested.
'Sure, why not?' Lily said as she search for her pack of cards.
Don't leave your king in a too tight protection… James' mind echoed Lily's words. Else, you'll end up losing. Lily had said that before. What does she means? James asked himself silently as she steadily placed a card atop the other. Open up? A silent voice suggested.
Whatever for?
You need someone to talk to. Lily's the one. Like she'd said you are hers.
What do you mean?
You ought to have a talk sometimes with someone. Anyone. Choose Lily!
Oh, of all the millions I'd known, why her?
She knows you best?
Maybe.
What do you mean by maybe? Hello!! James, you'd been knowing her from the moment she was breathing!
Yeah, thanks. I know that very well.
I hadn't pointed out the obvious.
And what is it?
She's poured out hers to you. Whom did she tell when she's upset? You. Whom did she confront to whenever she's sad? You. Whom did she tell when she got those dreams with Voldemort? You! Just pour it back!
Whatever.
Listen to my advice and just do it.
Whatever.
JAMES!
Fine! I will! I hate arguing with you…
I know you did.
Sure.
'James? James? You seem far off,' Lily said, waving a hand before James' eyes.
'Sorry Li. I was thinking.'
'About?'
'Nothing much.'
'Arguing with yourself in mind?'
'How'd you know?'
'Nothing with psychic. I just did that. Oh, it's your turn!'
James turned to look at the cards. It looked like an old fairytale castle you see in those storybooks. It's surpising how you can do it with only cards. Like magic. Wait, it is magic! We used magic to glue them! James said, reminding himself. Carefully, he attached another card to the top.
'There! Finished!' he said triumphantly.
'Now what do we do?' Lily asked.
'How about we talk?'
'About what? And you're not fun to talk to! You keep everything to youself!'
'Hey, we can talk about Snape?'
'Yuck. Never at night.'
'How about we invent a new prank?'
'That's the idea I liked! What do we do?'
'Thinking papers?'
'Never. We can always try "talking" papers. Like one that will "talk" back to you. You may need it as you don't like talking about your thoughts.'
How'd she know? 'Maybe. We can try, but I'm not using it!'
'Well, we can put a little of ourselves in it.'
'What?'
'I mean we add a little part of ourselves. You know, give the paper characteristics. See, I made a sample!' Lily pulled out a piece of parchment, quite blank except for a little doodle of herself at the corner of it. 'Try writing on it!'
James pulled out a quill and started writing in it. 'My name is James Edward Potter.' To his surprise, the words sank in as if gobbled by the paper and a writing bloomed across the parchment. 'Hiya James! It's Lily here!' James turned to Lily, who was grinning at it. He continued writing.
'Hello Lily. What are you doing inside here? You're just beside me!' that, too, sank in as the violet ink bloomed across again. 'I had a little of myself in here. Like it? I invented this! This way, we can talk!'
'Wow, Lily, how'd you made this?' James asked in wonderment as he turned back to Lily.
'I used the Talking Charm and the Disappearing Charm. Weird, isn't it?'
'Is there even such charms?'
'Yeah, why not?'
'Whatever. Let's make a few of these! I'll keep this one, if you don't mind?'
'Sure, take it. Whenever you feel like talking, you can always write in it. That way, you can talk to me however far I am!'
'Really? Cool! Wait, let me try to make one. Have an extra parchment?'
Lily took out what seemed to be five hundred rolls of parchment. 'Sneaked into Hogsmeade for these.'
'Okay, let's try the talking charm and disappearing charm?'
'Yeah, wait, I'll do that part for you. Chatrus!' the parchment shone violet. 'Invisubles!' the parchment gave a slight shimmer and a shiver. 'Now, put yourself in it.'
'How?'
'Use the Reiting Spell.'
'Weird, but okay.' James performed the Reiting Spell and the parchment shook suddenly and fell down, motionless. 'And it's done?'
'Yep! Look at this,' Lily said as she wrote down her name. 'Hiya James! This is Lily here!'
Just like the parchment before, the words sank before the ink bloomed again. 'Hello Lily! How are you?'
'Simply magic!' James said in amazement. 'Well, it is anyway.'
'How about we do one of both ourselves in it and give them to Sirius, Remus and the girls? They'll be shocked!' Lily suggested. Immediately, James agreed to the idea. They grabbed seven parchments before performing the spells and charms on them. They decided to give it a test.
'Hello, my name is Tally Chapman.'
'Hulo Tal! Lily here!'
'Hi Tal! James here!'
'Simple wonderful!' Lily said happily before adding a small doodle at the corner of her and James waving.
'How do we give them the parchments?' James asked as they rolled the parchments up.
'Simple. We just say it's a present!'
'You think Sirius'll believe that?'
'He will. Why shouldn't he? Besides, it's only an innocent parchment!'
'Innocent? With us in it? I think not!'
'Well, who cares?'
'Li, it's already two. Let's just get back to bed, okay? I'm tired!'
'I'm not sleepy yet! Let's just talk?'
'Nah! We'll do so tomorrow. I'll bet Sirius and Remus'll barge in tomorrow, take one of the parchments we'd just finished magicking and doodle on it. Keep the rest of them so they'll play on the ones we left!' James said, yawning as he climbed into bed.
'Good night!'
'G'night! Don't let the bed bugs bite!'
'Sure.'
And the two went to bed without another thought.
The very next morning, Sirius and Remus bounced into the room and started jumping up and down on Lily and James' bed, grinning together.
'Get up, get up!!!' Remus said as he jumped restlessly on Lily's bed.
'Getup! Getup! Getup!! Getup now!!!' Sirius cried happily as he jumped on his best friend's bed.
'Shutup! Lemme go to bed,' Lily's muffled voice came from under her covers as she buried deeper. James just agree with a grumble. Sirius, annoyed, turned to the table to see what they had been doing. He saw a stack of castle cards, wizard chess board and several empty papers. Empty papers? Sirius' mind perked as he jumped down and ran towards it and grabbed the papers. At the corner was a small doodle of Lily and James waving and next to it lay a quill. Must be their homework or something, Sirius thought evilly as he dipped the quill with ink and started writing over the parchment: 'James And Lily Loved Each Other.'
He looked back to admire his work. Suddenly, the words faded and two sentences bloomed at the same time, both carrying the same message: 'SIRIUS!!! WE DO NOT!!' Sirius stared at it in shock. He turned behind, expecting an invisible hand writing that. He turned to Lily and James, who were still sleeping and then at Remus, who was looking at the castle with amusement.
'Who wrote this?' Sirius asked out loud.
'Wrote what, Si? Interesting castle,' Remus said as he tried to fall over it. A sort of wall prevented him to and the boy was flipped over. 'Ow…'
'Remus! Look, I write in this paper and it comes out these words!' Sirius said, shoving the parchment to Remus.
'It's empty.'
'What? How could it be? I wrote in it "James and Lily loved each other" and then these words bloom up! It said "Sirius!!! We do not!!"! Honest, Remus!'
'When are you ever honest?'
'If you don't believe, go on and try! Go on, here's a quill!' Sirius said as he shoved Remus the quill.
'Okay, I'm a werewolf,' Remus said, writing down the words across the parchment. The words sank into the paper as two sentences, one above the other, bloomed in the same ink.
'Hello! Remus, isn't it? I recognise your writing!'
'You're Remus, aren't you? How're you?'
'What??? How'd it know?' Remus asked as he jumped back in fright. Sirius put on an expression which plainly said 'See??'. Interested, Remus grabbed the quill again and started writing.
'Yes, my name is Remus Romulus Lupin. Who are you?'
'See, it is you!! Told you so! You owed me five sickles! Oh, Lily, by the way.'
'Fine… here's your sickles, smart alec. Hey Remus! James here! Sirius with you?'
'Lily?? James?? Why're you in the paper? Sirius' here.'
'My invention. Cool, isn't it? Sirius, you'll pay!!!'
'Well, Li invented it and she taught me how to use it and stuff. Grab one each!'
'Interesting,' Sirius said as he woke Lily and James up again with ice-cold water. 'Wake up! I wanna talk!'
'Whadyou want Sirius?' Lily yawned as she rubbed her eyes tiredly.
'I hate cold water… whadyou want now?' James mumbled as he fumbled for his glasses.
'What's with those papers? How come they write back?' Sirius demanded.
'Told you he'll go inspect them!' James said happily.
'Yeah, he always does anyway,' Lily shrugged.
'You guys! Interesting thing here!' Remus called as he pocketed a parchment. 'I'll take one, okay?'
'You're supposed to. We wanna give it to you guys later,' Lily said, yawning again. 'And Sirius? Don't you dare think me that way again.'
'Think what?' Sirius asked innocently.
'Don't you deny it! I can see it already, okay? Wipe off that thought before I curse you.'
'And what did you see?'
'What do you mean James and I love each other? You really want to be killed, don't you?'
'Not exactly… I still treasure my life.'
'I hope you like your teddy now,' James grinned. Sirius turned to Seriously Sirius only to find his bear in a total derranged state. 'What had you done to him?' Sirius wailed as he tried to put everything back. The poor bear now had his eyes arranged atop each other and his mouths all plastered on his cheeks.
Remus reached for his camera under his bed to take a photo of Sirius and Seriously Sirius, only to find a note sliding out like a little printer from the place the photo was developed. He stare at it with astonishment. He hadn't even clicked yet and it's already developing? He picked the photo from the ground, only to read a note about his camera quitting his job as a camera. 'You can't possibly quit! No! Don't!!!!' Remus cried as he tried to think of excuses so that it won't quit. But being a camera and thoughtless, it can't possibly decide it's fate and understand it's wailing owner.
'Just what had you two done?' Sirius and Remus cried, turning to Lily and James. No answer. The two had ran off with the other parchments. Angrily, Remus pulled out the parchment and started writing in it.
'What had you two done to my camera???' Remus' writing demanded. As he'd expected, the answers came.
'Next time, don't be too nosy. I hate those stupid photos but I do enjoy ripping them. I bet your camera hates it's masterpieces ripped!'
'Dare you ask me another question about my feelings for Lily again? I think not!'
Remus and Sirius groaned inwardly together.
'What about my teddy? What have you got against Seriously Sirius?'
'Nothing. I thought he'd like a new look, like Dumbledore's gargoyle.'
'Don't ask me. I think it's pretty interesting. A new fashion, isn't it, Lily?'
'Definitely.'
'So we hope you enjoyed it! Tata!'
The two had murderous looks in their eyes. 'Lily, James, you'll pay for this!!!!!!'
'Do you think so?' the words bloomed.
'Nope.'
'Stupid parchments. Make yourself invisible again!' Sirius retorted. The words immediately vanished. 'I hate Lily's inventions… I mean, the one with Norris was fine but having one that thinks isn't exactly fun.'
'I resent that!' the words bloomed quickly and "sounded" angry.
'Enough already!' Remus said in an exasperated tone.
'Fine.' The words seems pretty hard as ink squirted almost everywhere.
**
Lily and James went over to Dan, Thomas, Tally, Nina, Pertsy and Sita with the parchments. They stared at the two of them. First with amzement, next with fright. Had they charmed this parchment so that it squirts water whenever they write on it? or had they decided to turn good and give parchments to everyone? Somehow, the latter doesn't seem sensible.
'What's this for?' Tally asked curiously, turning it over to see if any charms are hidden in it.
'Just for fun. Lily's invention. Pretty neat, actually. Try and write on it!' James said as he handed a quill to Tally. The girl took a deep breath and decided to take the risk of being cursed.
'Tally, are you sure?' Dan asked worriedly.
'Course I am! I'd rather this than being cursed by Lily,' Tally retorted.
'Do be careful!' Sita pleaded. Everyone held their breaths sharply as Tally took the quill from James. She took another breath and wrote on it. The six others closed their eyes and waited for the scream that was to come. Nothing. They opened their eyes again, only to see fully bloomed words on the paper with violet ink.
'What do you mean? "Hi Tally! Lily here!" and "Hey Tal! Took the risk, didn't you?"' Tally asked, turning to the two grinning Marauders.
'Well, it's Lily's invention. It's a thinking paper! In it, we'd preserved ourselves into the parchment. So long as you write into it, it'll be us that reply. Not our real selves, of course, but the selves we preserved in this parchment,' James explained.
'You put your souls in here?' Sita asked in bewilderment.
'No. We just add a little of ourselves. Very little. Like our personalities and such,' Lily explained proudly.
'Cool! Then we can always have a good chat when we're apart,' Tally commented. 'I know what I'll ask.'
'Oh, if you're thinking of that, Sirius had tried it already.'
'I hate you when you know what I'll be doing,' the blonde pouted. She pocketed her parchment. 'Thanks.'
'Welcome. By the way, I think Sirius and Remus are coming. We'd better run now! Toodles!' Lily said before grabbing James and running away.
'What were you going to ask this parchment?' Dan asked.
'Just watch!' Tally said evilly. Everyone crowded over her as she dipped the quill with ink before writing, 'James and Lily are in love.' The words sank into the parchment slowly, but no sooner had it disappeared when two sentences bloomed.
'I said, don't even try!!!!!!!!'
'And we're not in love!!!'
After those two sentence faded down, a huge one took over. 'SO DON'T SAY IT ANYMORE!'
'Boy, they could be real harsh in here,' Thomas commented.
'Harsh is not the word, Thomas. I think being really hard is one,' Nina said.
Footsteps were heard and the door burst open. The two remaining Marauders stood, looking furiously around.
'Where's Lily and James?' Sirius demanded.
'Ran off.'
'She's going to pay for making my camera quit!' Remus cried as he showed everyone the note his camera had developed.
'Cameras quit? I'd no idea,' Thomas said in an impressive tone.
'And she made Seriously Sirius into a mess!' Sirius wailed.
'We're off now!' the two bellowed as they stormed out.
The six turn to each other.
'Impressive, aren't they?' Dan started.
'Very. How'd they ever managed to not get expelled? Very, very impressive,' Tally added. The others just nodded in agreement. They were silent for a moment.
'Do you think Lily and James are just friends?' Tally asked, popping out the question. This got everyone interesed.
'Nope. They're best friends, like Lily had stressed,' Pertsy said.
'If they're best friends, how come Sirius and Remus, who're also their best friends, weren't always with them? Remember on the day when Lily talked to James on my parents' death? Why James and not Sirius or Remus?' Tally asked, voicing everyone's thoughts.
'They might not admit it, but I clearly stress here that they are not just friends – or best friends,' Dan said.
'Right! I'll bet anything that they'll get themselves engaged by the end of our years! Fifteen galleons, any takers?' Nina said, holding out fifteen galleons.
Immediately, all of them made their bets. Tally said that they'll probably need time, thus bet on their fourth year. Nina betted on their third year as they are progressing quite fast at the moment. Pertsy did some thinking before putting on their seventh year, saying that Lily is just too immature. Sita betted on their fifth year and Dan betted on their fourth year, like Tally. Thomas chose the sixth year, saying that probably they might be old enough by then to think like a proper twelve year old, seeing the Marauders acting like a two year old than twelve.
'Okay, and we'll write this on a parchment,' Nina said, grabbing a parchment and making sure it's not the one that Lily had given. Together, they wrote out everything and placed their signatures on it.
'What will happen? Only time'll tell,' Tally said, grinning, as she penned her sign below.
AN: No romance, sorry ^^;;; no, please don't kill me yet! I'm too young for death! Waitaminute waitaminute! At least I did try to plant some seeds here!! Okay, maybe not planting yet, but I at least had already started ploughing the land *ahem* so let's just say I'll try to write more of romance in future. I'll probably push in more l/j short stories in the meantime so that you wouldn't get too sick of reading these unromantic stories (at least not to me. I dunno what you think). And I know Lily didn't invent the paper thing! Tom Riddle did it before, but Lily maybe found it out by accident, so don't flame! I think I'll run off now before everyone starts pelting me with tomatoes –splat!– uh, I think I'll go now…