Sometimes, it's quite useful to be ill. For this story, it means that I can upload the next part a few days earlier than I could do otherwise. And writing it is much more fun than sitting in a classroom, almost bored to death by a teacher that could be Professor Binns – except that he isn't a ghost. *g*
However, enjoy part four, and if you were an angel, you'd review!
Nail a pudding on the wall!
Part 4
When the three girls came down in the common room, hairs wet and looking rather refreshed, they sat down in front of the fire, where Sirius and James already were discussing something. Seeing the girls, they suddenly stopped talking, grinned and seemed to change the topic.
"Where's Remus?" Jessie asked as she plopped down in a chair and chose to ignore the amused expression on Sarah's and Lily's faces.
None of the girls noticed the nervous glances James and Sirius exchanged, but they all wondered why it took them so long to mutter the words 'hospital wing, sick'.
"Oh, then I'll see him later." Lily throw back her hair and tied it together in a ponytail. "I need something for my eyes, dunno why, but they've been burning the whole day."
James moved uncomfortable in his chair.
"Oh, er, you're sure? I mean, your eyes look as beautiful as ever" he flashed a look at Sirius who snorted with laughter, "why don't you wait till tomorrow before you go to the hospital wing?"
"James, why should I wait till tomorrow? Is there something about Remus you don't want me to know?"
The boys quickly shook their heads, too quickly.
"You didn't turn him into a parrot or a wolf or something, did you?"
They winced, but shook their heads once again. Lily got up, looking determined.
"Good. Then I'll go now."
She climbed out of the common room before anyone had a chance to do or say something, and was walking down the corridor to the hospital wing, when she heard some noise and a loud laughter. 'Peeves', she thought, and as she didn't really want to meet the castle's poltergeist right now, she opened the door next to her and entered a dark little room she had never seen before.
While Peeves - obviously in a good mood - was flying down the corridor, shaking every suit of armour and tickling the portrait of a woman in turquoise robes who hid behind a man, Lily took a closer look at one of the boxes that were standing in the room and found inside – a cat. It appeared to be sitting there for several hours, she guessed that it had been curious, had jumped inside the box and wasn't able to climb out again, which was no wonder, as it hadn't even enough room to lay down. Lily picked up the cat, fascinated by its bright green eyes and almost dropped it a moment later, when she realized that it watched her with her own eyes. 'Coincidence' she scolded herself, and while she was stoking the cat's black fur, she listened if Peeves was gone. She was about to open the door, when she heard footsteps and the voices of two people and decided to stay a bit longer, she wasn't sure if she was allowed to be in this room here.
"I don't think it's a good idea to visit your classes during the time of your... transformation."
Lily knew the voice that answered Ms Stevens, the school nurse, far too well: Remus.
"But I can't miss such a lot of lessons, Miss. Of course, I can't go to the earliest one, but after that, that's no problem, really!"
"I'm still saying that Albus should tell you not to do it, boy..."
As they passed, the voices trailed off, and a very confused Lily stood in the little room, leaning against the door, holding the cat in her arms and wondering what this conversation had been all about. Transformation? She shook her head to clear her mind. It made no sense at all. Had she been dreaming just like last night when she had seen those three animals walking together in peace, the dog, the stag and the... the... – wolf? Had it really been a wolf? What if she just forgot to put an 'were' in front of the 'wolf'? But that was impossible!
- Was it? It all made sense suddenly. Ms Stevens talking about Remus' 'time of transformation'. The full moon, last or this night. Remus often disappeared. Then those nickname he had gotten from James and Sirius, Moony. - She had never understood the reason for it, the same way she hadn't known why James was Prongs and Sirius Padfoot. Oh, and Peter Wormtail – it was so easy to forget the little boy. Anyway, could they possibly be... – No, McGonagall had told them a few lessons ago that there were only seven registered animagi this century. – But the stag? Prongs??? And the dog – Padfoot? But what about Wormtail? Maybe something small, insignificant.
Lily's head was ringing, but as the cat started to wash her hand with its tiny tongue, she giggled and calmed down a bit. 'I won't tell anyone' she decided. 'Firstly, I'm not sure, and then, Dumbledore knows about it, there's no reason to be so upset, I'm just overreacting.' And with this thought, she opened the door, checked if the corridor was deserted and – as she knew that Ms Stevens wasn't in the hospital wing at the moment – set off for the Gryffindor common room, with the cat following.
***
"I'm going after her." James decided, and as he noticed the questioning glances of Sirius and the two girls, he explained hurriedly: "Maybe, she'll meet Snape, you know how nasty he can be. It's not a good idea to prowl the castle on her own. Not after this backwards-talking spell."
"Do what you like, Prongs. But I hope it won't take you too much time to... er... find the common room again." Sirius grinned personally. "Remember that we have plans for tonight?"
James nodded, crossed the common room and was about to leave through the portrait, when Lily climbed in, looking rather pale, but smiling, a cat on her heels.
"Finally!" Sarah cried. "We've feared that you met Snape on your way, James was on the point of looking after you."
"No, it's okay, I'm fine." That wasn't exactly the truth, but Lily couldn't hardly tell her that she just found out that one of her friends was a werewolf and two, if you count Peter even three, of her friends were unregistered animagi, so she smiled wryly, collapsed in a chair next to Jessie and watched the flames absent-mindedly.
"Er, you haven't seen Remus, have you?"
"Hmm? Sorry, what did you say, Sirius?"
He gave her a strange look. "Oh, I just wondered if you've seen Remus."
"Uh, Remus?" What a stupid answer, but her brain was busy otherwise. "Er, yeah, I saw him. He said that he'd stay in the hospital for this night..."
James as well as Sirius watched her closely, but didn't dare to ask any further in front of Jessie and Sarah, who didn't seem to notice anything unusual.
"Who's this?" Jessie pointed at the cat that had jumped into Lily's lap, curled up and was now purring loudly.
"I don't know exactly, to tell the truth. I met it... on the way back to the common room, and it decided to follow me. Dunno if it belongs to someone in the castle."
James leaned over to stroke the small creature, then he stopped suddenly and looked up at Lily.
"It's got your eyes!"
"Yeah, I know. Coincidence, I think."
"Alright then." Sirius rose. "Are you coming, Jamsie?"
James, who had been gazing into Lily's eyes, seemed to be waking up from a sort of trance, winced, then got up, too, and both boys proceeded to the exit of the Gryffindor common room, waving the girls goodnight and ignoring every question concerning their plans.
"I can't believe that they won't tell us! Have we ever made a secret out of our pranks?" Sarah looked furious. "That cries for revenge!"
Lily shook her head. "Sa, maybe they've got their reasons for not telling us everything, don't you think?"
"So what! Let's visit their dormitory and leave a litte present anyway!"
"And what should this present be? If it's too mean, we'll have three friends less."
"I don't think that it's too mean, just a sort of tiny rooster that'll wake them up at, uh, let's say, five in the morning?"
"Well, that's okay, I guess."
And so the three girls left as well, Sarah ran up to their dormitory to get the miniature of the rooster, and then the three of them climbed the stairs to the boy's dormitory, carefully avoiding any observers.
"Wow, I'd have been ready to bet that they hadn't clean this room for ages. Fortunately I haven't! I'd have lost all my money."
"Hey, look at this!" Sarah was waving with a red book. "Did you know that James is writing in a diary?" She grinned wickedly. "You know, Lil, I'm sure that this would be rather interesting for you."
"No, I don't think so. Besides, it's private, we would betray our friendship if we read it."
"Yeah, you're right. But I'm still saying that it would be rather interesting." She laid the book down, gave it a last, regretting look and opened one of the trunks to put the tiny figure inside, but not before Lily, who was best in charms, had hexed it to crow at five in the morning.
***
The efforts of the girls had been wasted. When Sirius and James (A/N: I know it gets boring, but it doesn't matter: Peter was still in the hospital wing, let's hope it was something really painful!) climbed through the hole in the common room, it was nearly 6 a.m., and the minute rooster was too hoarse to crow anymore.
As they set off for breakfast about one hour later, they had the strange feeling that they hadn't slept at all. Okay, maybe this feeling wasn't strange, because actually, they hadn't slept at all, but sleep more or less, one thing was for sure: It wasn't one of James more brilliant ideas to make up for his lack of sleep in his first lesson of the day, which happened to be Transfiguration. Sirius' dig came too late: When James struggled to open his eyes, the whole class was staring at him, some with gloating, others with astonishment, and most with pity. The last one wasn't uncalled for, considering the fact that McGonagall was approaching him with giant strides and a look that could only be described as 'murderous'.
"In my office, Potter. After the meal. We have to talk about your sleeping habits."
***
At the same time, Lily sat in the Divination classroom, gazing out of the window and ignoring the misty voice of Professor Trelawney, who told them something about tealeaves.
Why can't I just be out there, flying on my broom, perhaps with James showing me some moves?
When she realized what she had been thinking, she shook her head, luckily nobody saw it.
No. I'm not going to fall in love with James. Thirteen's much too young to have a broken heart. Just forget it.
And with some efforts, she directed her attention to her teacher. Or, at least, for a moment. Then she remembered Remus. Now, after some sleep, it was no longer shocking that he was probably a werewolf. In a strange way, it was even cool, she thought, having a werewolf and three unregistered animagi as friends. She wouldn't tell anyone that she knew it, of course, she was sure that Remus wanted to keep it a secret. And with this, the bell rang, and it was time for her next lesson.
***
James stopped for a moment, his hand on the door to Professor McGonagall's office. It wasn't the first time he was there, far from it, but somehow, it was quite different to be here for another reason but a prank. When he knocked on the door and entered the room, McGonagall looked up and told him to sit down, then she studied him for a second or two through her glasses.
"I'm disappointed in you, Mr Potter. Even if you are excellent in Transfiguration, maybe the best student I ever taught, I will not tolerate that you sleep in my lessons. Besides, I thought that your Quidditch team meant more to you. After all, the first match of this year will take place the next weekend!"
That wasn't what James had expected. He had expected three weeks of detention and a countless number of parchments about how to transfigure a chocolate bar in an apple tree - who would like to transfigure a chocolate bar? -, but not a lecture about taking his responsibility as captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team not serious.
"Be that as it may" the Professor went on talking "I'll let you get away with it, but only this time. If this ever happens again, you will get detention for at least a week. Is that clear?"
James nodded, and when he closed the door, he became aware of his jaw that had fallen victim to the gravity. The last time he left McGonagall's office without any punishment, that was... definitely ages ago. But somehow, she was right. The match versus the Hufflepuffs was next Saturday, and he hadn't even thought about it. It was time for a change. Tomorrow, there was team practice anyway, and then he would remind his team not to make light of the Hufflepuffs, they were rather good this year.
***
The rest of the week passed by very quickly, and before you can say Qudditch, it was Saturday and a slightly nervous looking James sat on the Gryffindor table, surrounded with his friends. Sirius, who was one of the beaters, was even louder than normally and created a Fireworks in the middle of the Great Hall with stars that wrote 'Gryffindor for the World Cup!', but his friends knew that this was only Sirius' way of getting nervy.
And then, it was time for the spectators to take their seats and for James to make his obligatory pep talk, which was rather short that day:
"Okay, folks, there's not much to say, only four words: We'll show them!"
With these words, the Gryffindor team entered the pitch, welcomed with screams, whistles, applause, briefly, with incredible racket, that nearly drowned the voice of the speaker, a fifth year Ravenclaw, who was just as excited as the watching crowd.
"And theeeeyyyy're off! - Gryffindor's James Potter's got the Quaffle, a pass to René de la I'll-never-learn-to-pronounce-this-name-correctly Grauvenchon - good play from the Gryffindor Beater, Black - René - sorry, but his last name is too complicated - circles round the Hufflepuff keeper, Sam Rendall, he throws - and the Quaffle's inside! René de la You-know-what-I-mean scores, and a minute after the game started, Gryffindor's in the lead with 10 - 0!"
The Chasers gave each other high fives, then they set off again after the Quaffle, now in possession of a Hufflepuff Chaser, but not for long. Stopped by a Bludger, the boy let go off it, and James made a dive to catch it, then passed it to the third Chaser, Alina Garcia, who made her debut as a player for the Gryffindor Qudditch team. Before the game, she had been nervous, but now she seemed to be in her element and threw it back to James the moment she was sure that every Beater and Chaser of the opposite team was following her. This gave James the space he needed, and he quickly sped towards the goal post, far too quick for the keeper, and marked the second goal for Gryffindor.
The game went on and on, and the Hufflepuffs hardly succeeded in getting near the goal post of the Gryffindors, soon the score was 230-40, then 320-50, and it was obvious that the Hufflepuff team wasn't able to beat Gryffindor, but still, no glimpse of the Snitch. It was slowly getting dark, and although the Quidditch pitch was now lit by a few hundred shining stones that glowed in every colour of the rainbow, it was becoming more and more difficult for the seekers to search for the tiny golden Snitch. They circled high above the Quidditch pitch, narrowing their eyes to slits as they were blinded by the multicoloured lights, but it was no use: The Snitch wasn't there. That's what the Gryffindor Chaser, Kevin Wellington, thought until he saw the Hufflepuff Chaser, a handsome Sixth year called Steven Dunnill, making a grab for it. By then, it was far too late to make any attempt to stop Dunnill, therefore Wellington just flew down to the ground, as exhausted as his other teammates, but none of them unhappy about the way the game had gone. Although they hadn't caught the Snitch, they had won by 390-210, and that wasn't that bad, was it?
The speaker yelled excitedly, the Hufflepuffs and the Slytherins booed, the Ravenclaws cheered along with the Gryffindors, and James' friends - and some of his admirers - rushed towards him, hugged him and the rest of the team, and through the applauding crowd, the Gryffindor team set off for the common room, followed by nearly every house member except Remus, Lily, Sarah and Jessie. The four made a short exursion to the kitchen, and when they entered the common room a few minutes later, they were load with all kind of sweets, pies and cakes. The Gryffindors skipped dinner, instead, they celebrated their leadership in the table of the Quidditch Cup with Dr. Filibuster's Fireworks, dancing brooms, and, of course, dancing Gryffindors.
When McGonagall came through the hole to send them to their beds, none of them had enough energy left to contradict, and so the three girls climbed the stair to their dormitory along with the other girls of their house.
Before they switched of the lights, Sarah collapsed on her bed and grinned happily at Lily.
"I'm sorry, Lil, but your time with James won't be as peaceful as you might hope: Sirius just invited me to the Ball!"
Jessie sat down on her own bed, looking exhausted, but happy, too. "Then we are all going. Lily with James, Sarah with Sirius, and I... with Remus."
Lily smiled broadly and hugged her both friends.
"Congratulations. Although it's not really a surprise, eh, you two?"
Neither Sarah nor Jessie answered, they were simply too tired to think of anything else but sleep. They all laid down, and when the other three girls who shared the dormitory with them entered, Lily, Jessie and Sarah were already fast asleep.
*****
Disclaimer: Why am I not J. K. Rowling? Then all this stuff would belong to me and I wouldn't go to school. But as I'm not, only Sarah, Jessie and some of the Quidditch players belong to me. You can have them, if you want - but why should you want them? ;-)
Oh, and did I ever tell you that I love reviews? Did I? THEN WHY DON'T YOU WRITE ONE???
- Saraléa
P.S. Thanks to those who already reviewed! I love you! *sniff*
P.P.S. Someone - Morgana, I think - asked why I made Lily a third year. Er... Good question, actually. But I don't know the answer. I just felt like doing it.
P.P.S. No, Author Potter, no longer my holidays. They're over...