The Outsider

Sorry for being SO long, please read my longer author's note at the bottom. Meaning of the chapter title? Je ne sais pas (I don't know). I just had the Spiderman theme song going through my head one day.

The Outsider: Chapter 4

She's Got Radioactive Blood

For the first Hogsmeade weekend of the term, things were rather normal, or at least as normal as life could be at Hogwarts. Lily Evans, prefect, top of the fifth year class, was, as normal, alone in her dormitory, debating with herself about whether or not to actually go to Hogsmeade. After much internal bickering, she decided to bite the bullet and go.

After a brief broomstick ride, Lily leaned her broomstick on the broomstick rack outside Honeydukes (Makers of Original Magical Candies Since 12 AD). She entered the loud shop, the favourite of many Hogwarts students, including Peter Pettigrew. Opting to look at the "Psychedelic Sweets" first, she picked up a rather odd looking lollipop, labeled "Vinolentus Suckers". Lily decided to try the candy, admitting that she really needed something to pick up her mood as a seventh year bumped into her, nearly knocking her over.

As Lily placed the fuscia and magenta swirled lolly on the counter ("Two knuts please"), the man smiled, and gave Lily a knowing wink. "Yes, we have to be careful that the authorities don't find out that we're making these. The secret ingredient, as you'll soon find out, is very popular with young people."

Lily gave a small, bemused nod, and left the shop, increasing her pace as she neared the door. She finally stopped her frantic amble, and stopped at a park bench, nearly one and a half blocks from the busy candy store. Relieved to be alone, and with her head throbbing, Lily quickly sat down and sighed. People were acting slightly odd lately, now that she thought of it. Yes, like that Amos Diggory, suddenly deciding to grow a beard, for a seventeen year-old he looked oddly reminiscent of the nearly hundred-and-twenty year old Dumbledore! Sigh again. Well, what can I say, I go to Hogwarts, arguably the strangest school in all the British Isles.

But, aside from her complaints, Lily furiously loved her school. Every quidditch match (well, before she made the team) she could be found in the stands, mind you only if you looked hard enough because she always watched at the back, wearing a ridiculous outfit that reminded some of a rain slick. Now, this was a girl who secretly bought the Hogwarts t-shirts in every shade of the rainbow (they were enchanted) when they carried the short lived Hogwarts clothing line in Madam Malkins.

Back on track, Lily pulled the lollipop out of the paper bag and stared at it. Hmm, that guy was not right in the head, should I eat this? Hee hee, or maybe I should feed it to someone's owl. Hmm, no, bad idea. ah, what the hell, I better just eat it before it melts in my hand. So Lily carefully pulled off the wrapper and examined the sucker. Finally deciding that it looked edible, she summoned up her courage and took a lick.

To Lily's surprise, it didn't really taste much like anything. A little disappointed, she looked at it strangely until a strange noise could be heard over the trees in Hogsmeade Park. She quickly wrapped up the rest of her lolly in the wrapper and placed it carefully in her pocket.

The source of the noise was soon apparent. Whooping as they ran through the trees, the four most infamous boys in the school, led by Sirius Black, came into view. Lily had no idea what they were doing, nor did she care. Silently, she slipped behind the bench, not consciously aware that she was eavesdropping.

"I say we give it up altogether. It will never work." Remus Lupin was always the voice of reason, and a little dull in Lily opinion, although it wasn't really in her place to say.

"Oh, go stuff yourself. Muggles really aren't as useless as they act." Lily felt herself steam inwardly at Sirius' words as he continued, "You see, there's this guy I saw on a visiontelly or something at my aunt's house. You remember her James? Yeah, the Squib one who married a Muggle. Anyhoo, Muggles have these things that show people in some kind of box. I suppose they think it's entertainment. So like I was saying, there was this guy, his name was James, yeah like yours, Blond or something. And it was amazing, all this guy did was kill some sort of bad guys, and he always had all these chicks. He is some sort of god. So what I'm saying is, we have to go and find him. He is my idol.

"This is my plan," Sirius continued, "we all come to my house at Christmas holiday, and try to find this guy. I've got to know his secret, if we find it we'll be sex gods or something. Woohoo!"

"Oh God. Not another one of your harebrained schemes," Peter sighed. "My toenails better not disappear this time."

"Peter dearie, of course they won't --"

"Don't you be calling me dearie, it's odd." Peter looked at Sirius with a disgusted expression on his face.

"Well, as I was trying to say, this plan can't go wrong!"

"Hey Sirius, I think I know who you're talking about. Wait no, maybe not. Yeah, well whatever you are talking about, it sounds really dangerous." Remus added.

Now, by this time, poor Lily had had enough. She let out a loud snort, and then attempted to cover it up with her palm. Realizing that she had indeed been eavesdropping, she slowly tried to crawl away under a bush.

Unfortunately, James, who had developed very acute hearing from being a lookout for the past five years while following Sirius on his prank sprees, heard Lily's snort and became ever more suspicious after hearing several twigs snap. Motioning for his friends to be quiet, he tiptoed over to Lily's bush, and knowingly parted the branches. Suddenly, the four Marauders heard a shrill scream, followed by a burst of high pitched giggles.

Underneath the bush, with twigs and an assortment of leaves caught in her dark red hair was Miss Lily Evans, giggling madly while clutching her gut. All four young men stared at her wearing identical looks of disbelief on their faces.

It looked as if she was trying to speak, but all they could hear were a few forced out words. "You ... stupid ... Bond ... freaks ... hee hee ... nutters ... hairy ... hee hee ... chest ... Scotland ... HA!"

And with a final loud laugh, her face contorted with a look of pain and she proceeded to *ahem* toss her cookies all over the woodland floor and, unfortunately, on James Potter's new brown loafers.

"Hmm, veery eenteresting," Sirius put on his falsetto mad scientist voice. "Zee leetle girl seems to have ee bit of ee stoomach proobleem." With that, he picked up a stick and swirled around the strangely magenta-coloured *ahem*chunky liquid with it.

Remus, always the observant and sensitive one, said, "Yes, well thanks for the, erm, observation Sirius, but Lily over here needs some help." He addressed the girl, who was groaning and rocking back and forth on her heals. "Lily, do you need to go into a washroom?"

She weakly nodded as the three boys (Peter had left right away after a glance at her barf) gently lead her to the Three Broomsticks, the closest establishment containing a washroom. While Remus held the door open, James and Sirius supported Lily as they walked into the restaurant.

Sirius continued with his fake voice as they made their way to the washroom. "Eet's okay leetle ladee, Ooncle Seereeus ees heer --"

He was cut off when James and Remus simultaneously yelled, "SHUT UP SIRIUS!"

The odd looking group encountered a problem once they got to the women's washroom. James spoke up for the first time since they had found Lily. "Erm, Lily, are you gonna be okay to go in by yourself?" To his horror, she feebly shook her head. "Alright guys, who is gonna go in with her?"

Sirius shook his head. "I'm a regular in there, and Madam Rosmerta said last week that if she catches me in the women's washroom again, I can't come into the Three Broomsticks ever again."

Remus looked embarrassed. "Sorry James, but I just can't do it. You're gonna have to."

James took a deep breath and resigned himself to his dreadful fate. "Alright, fine. But you guys stay out here and try to keep anyone from entering. Just stall them, okay?"

And with that, he slowly pushed open the door glanced around for anyone else in the washroom. Relieved, he noticed that it was empty. Carefully picking up Lily, who had collapsed on the floor, he walked in.

James' first reaction was surprise. He had expected coloured fountains and fancy tiles like the Prefects Bathroom at Hogwarts, but instead it looked almost identical to the men's washroom in the Three Broomsticks (with a certain exception). As he carried Lily over to the closest stall, the mirror over the sinks called out to him in a Southern (American) drawl, "Hey you! You're not suppose to be in here!" The mirror's attention then turned to Lily. "Eww, what's wrong with her?"

James ignored the mirror, and hoisted Lily down. "Umm, do you feel better now?" he asked awkwardly, slightly embarrassed at their surroundings.

Lily began to nod, but then began to throw up again, this time into the toilet. James looked concerned, "It's okay, it's okay. I'm here. You're going to feel better. It's okay." He began to soothingly rub her back in small circles, and continued to comfort her.

Once she was finished, Lily sat down on the cold tile and leaned her head back against the stall door. Blinking, she suddenly realized who she was with. "James," she said hoarsely, "what are you doing here in this--" she paused as she looked around and took in her surroundings, "washroom?"

Uncomfortable with Lily's unwavering gaze at him, James looked down at his hands. "Well, uh, we were in the park, and you were under a bush or something. Then you started to," he gulped, "you know, hurl, and you kinda collapsed. Me, Sirius, and Remus brought you here."

"Hmm, then where are they now? Why are you here anyway? I -- I don't want to sound rude, but, well, we aren't exactly the best of friends. Hey, why are you here in the ladies washroom?" a note of panic crept into Lily's voice. "I mean, we are in the ladies washroom, right?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I guess I forgot to tell you --"

"Oh, shut up Potter. Okay, I won't ask. So, what did possessed you to come in here with me? You never answered my question." Lily grinned mischievously.

Uneasily, James picked at some dirt stuck between the tiles of the stall floor. "Like I already told you, you were a little bit out of it and Sirius and Remus couldn't come in, so I had to."

"So, then Sir James Potter, why don't you leave this poor little damsel in distress and get back to your friends, hmm? I'm sure they're waiting for you." A trace of bitterness was apparent in Lily's voice. "I mean, who, let alone the most popular young bachelor in all of Hogwarts, would want to stay with Little Miss Surly Evans."

"Oh, it is my gentlemanly duty of course. To save all ladies in peril from the presence of evil. Yes, and how could I forget, there is always the possibility of shag upon the way, yes?"

"Ah shit. Now I'm really going to be sick." And she was.

Wiping her mouth with her now dusty sleeve, Lily continued, "If I had enough energy you would currently be subject to the single most painful bitch slap that your adorable little dimpled cheek has ever experienced. I'll hafta give you a rain check, hun."

"I hope you won't take offense if I happen to burn that rain check. What did you eat anyway?" James asked as he gazed at his sullied shoe.

"Oh just a little lolly I picked up at Honeydukes." She took the wrapper out of her jacket. "I dunno what it is exactly. Must be some kind of new product or something. You can have it if you want, here I'll just do a simple sanitation charm."

She did, and handed it to him. Cautiously, James took the sticky lollipop and held it up into the light to examine it. He slowly held it up to his nose and took a little sniff. "Hmm, it seems to be okay. Looks like it meets Ministry recommendations for foreign foodstuffs ... my Dad is a Ministry bigwig. Okay, I think I'll have a taste." Lily giggled as he nervously brought the lolly in question up to his mouth and licked it as his tongue flicked out of his mouth.

"Hmm, it tastes alright to me. Wait, no. Oh shit. Lily, do you know what this is?"

"No, I was bored so I looked at candy in Honeydukes. This particular lollipop looked interesting, so I bought it."

"Do you, by any chance, happen to remember what it is called?"

"Umm, let me see. Violent-is or something. I just don't remember."

"Oh damnit. It must have been 'Vinolentus'. Shit, Lily, you're a witch, can't you read latin? Do you know what that means?"

"No, I don't." Anger began to creep up into Lily's voice. "I'm just a muggle-born witch!"

"Well, that hasn't stopped you before." James' tone turned deadly serious. "Lily, you are a brilliant witch. Judging by the 'Vinolentus' label, you have probably just consumed a large amount of alcohol. Honestly Lily, how could you not have known that? You are at the top of the class and --"

"Bullshit! I just work my friggin' ass off! Do you think that it's easy being a minority, everyone hating you because you're different? Yeah, I see you and your three pureblood buddies, Remus, Sirius, and Peter. Have you not noticed the segregation that goes on in our school, let alone in all wizarding society? Because it's there. It is. I have had to live through it every day of my whole damn life here at Hogwarts. And what are you doing? Nothing. You and your pureblood clique are off having a good time, while the rest of us mudbloods are off to fend for ourselves." Lily was so mad that she began to spit out her words. "There are three, yes three, muggleborn witches and wizards in our year. Abbelona Glockenspiel in Ravenclaw, Nigel Reynolds in Hufflepuff, and me." Now she was so mad that she didn't notice her bad grammar. "It is not easy. No one gives a shit about us.

"Well, I mean, Dumbledore is nice about it. Every week he calls me to his office and asks if I'm having any problems. He knows that everyone hates me. I don't mean to be a bitch. Everything has just been so difficult since I got into Hogwarts. I almost wish that I had never received that owl four years ago. You know, I just have to keep up my guard. Not let anyone know my pain. I hate it."

During her long spiel, James had tried to get in a few argumentative words in to challenge her negative view of wizarding society. Now, however, he only had words of comfort. "Lily, I honestly never knew this. Is it really that bad? I just assumed you were a bitch by nature. I - I - I'm sorry."

Lily unconsciously felt a large tear well up in her eye and slowly begin its voyage down her left cheek.

James continued. "I always figured that I was a good person. Everyone seems to like me, I suppose. I don't know, I was just brought up to be chivalrous to others; when I was little my parents raised me to always say please and thank you. You know, at parties I always had to say 'Thank you for inviting me' and all that crap. So, what I'm saying is that I just always help people who need it. I never really realized how cliquish and discriminatory I had become. Will you forgive me?"

Wiping away the tears with clenched fists, Lily answered him, "God, James, do you honestly think that a few well-chosen words would heal the hurt that I have lived through? Because they don't. And, while I suppose that in a way I do forgive you, this does not change anything between us. To tell you the truth, I am thoroughly embarrassed that I told you so much about how I feel. Sure, maybe we have some understanding, but that doesn't mean shit. Thank you for your help, I will see you in class."

Lily then proceeded to push herself up with the assistance of the toilet seat and marched out of the washroom, ignoring the inquiries of the nosy mirror. As James watched her leave, he doubted her announcement that nothing had changed between them. During her tipsy walk out of the room, he thought that he had seen the faint glimmer of a grin as she turned to leave.

"Oh shit. How the hell do I get out of here now?!"

*****

Well, our dear James appears to be in quite the predicament now, doesn't he? That was a fun but difficult chapter to write, so I'm dreadfully sorry for the wait. I really am. I just single-handedly broke about 63 of the unspoken rules of fanfiction. You can flame me if you want. I kind of really want a flame. Oh and if you do flame me, please, in the proper tradition of flamers worldwide, misspell and have poor grammar. Please ignore everything I may have said before about being nice. Now I am up to some constructive criticism and flames. YAY!

Now, thank you all my wonderful reviewers. You kick some serious bum. (Yes, and I was going to put in that terrible Sirius/serious joke in but decided against it.)

One other thing - if anyone is interested in beta-reading for me, please email. While this means that it will take even longer to get this out, it will help immensely. Thank you very much. Please email me at smiles_n_chuckles99@yahoo.com if you are interested.

Oh, and I should probably let you know where I got the whole washroom idea from. Well, my English teacher last semester told the class about how her brother and his wife got together. On their first date they were at a restaurant and he began to throw up. Apparently she stayed with his in the washroom the entire time and helped him to feel better. After that he knew that she was going to be the woman that he would marry. Aww. The hopeless romantic that I am absolutely thinks that that is so sweet. *sigh*. Also I was home from school with a stomach flu when I began to write this chapter.

Thank you all and enjoy your lives!

More about Sirius and Remus in the next one I believe!