Disguised as a Good Girl: Chapter 8
Lily stood by the ticklish pear, tapping her foot impatiently. One more minute until they were all late. Only one more minute. And she was not going to sit there waiting for the boys if they didn't show up on time. If it wasn't worth their time and effort be there when they promised, then she had better things to do. She could be doing homework, or curled up comfortably in a cushioned chair reading, or studying for the N.E.W.T.s, or curled up comfortably in a soft chair reading, or . . . "Why am I doing this?" Lily moaned softly.
A perky face wearing an all too familiar mischevious grin materialised in front of her. Sirius. Lily groaned. "You've been here all along, haven't you?"
Three more heads popped up. James, Peter, and Remus, respectively. All three were grinning madly. "You're doing this because you love us," Sirius announced. "You know you do. Or at least, you love James." James reddened slightly. Wait a minute . . . Lily moved in for a closer look. James Potter blushing? Perhaps it was just the lighting . . . yes, that was probably it. Whatever it was, it was gone now, and James staring at her with his eyebrows raised. She couldn't blame him; she must have looked rather odd while she was peering intently at his face. Lily stepped back as she realized what she was doing.
"What is it?" James asked curiously.
"Umm . . . nothing. Shall we go now?" Lily asked, quickly changing the subject.
"Okay. Get under the cloak."
A few minutes later, after quite a lot of complaining and bumping and stubbed toes and knocked heads, Lily found herself squished between James and Peter. She was hot and uncomfortable and grumpy and she didn't like the way James's elbow kept pushing into her side . . . "We don't have to wear this thing the whole time we are there, do we?" she hissed in James's ear, frowning as his hair tickled her nose.
"No," James whispered back. "As soon as we get to the tunnel, we can get out from under the cloak."
Lily breathed a small sigh of relief, smiled, and winced as Peter's heavy foot came sharply down on top of her toes. "Peter, could you try and look where you're stepping?" she complained.
"Sorry," Peter said apologetically. He looked up as he talked to meet Lily's eye. Lily had a slight sense of foreboding--Peter should have his attention firmly focused on his feet--and sure enough, an instant later, Peter was lying flat on his back, grasping his ankle. He had tripped over an unexpected stair in their path. The ankle looked painfully twisted.
Lily dropped down besides him, and the other boys gathered around, their faces wrought with concern, leaving the cloak to fall to the floor. "Are you okay?" she asked.
Peter's face was contorted with pain, and tears were starting to seep out from under his eyelids. "I don't think so," he whimpered. "It . . . hurts."
"Do you need to go to the hospital wing?" Remus inquired.
"I don't know," Peter sniffled.
"Can you walk?" Sirius spoke up.
"I don't think so . . . I can try, if you like."
"No, you don't need to do that. Listen, we'll help you stand up. You can lean on Remus and me for support; that way, if you can't walk, at least you won't fall. If you need help, we'll get you to the hospital wing. Okay?"
Peter nodded. Remus and Sirius both grasped one of Peter's hands, while James stood behind to catch him if he fell. Slowly, with quite a bit of assistance from the other boys, Peter managed to rise to his feet, grimacing as he put weight on the injured ankle. He didn't look as if he could stand on his own, much less walk. He tentatively put one foot forward, and fell back into the arms of his friends. "You guys, I don't think I can do it," he gasped out.
"Don't worry about it," Remus said kindly. "We'll just take you up to the hospital wing. You don't mind if we go to Hogsmeade without you, do you?"
"No, that's fine."
"Lily, James, why don't you two go to Hogsmeade ahead of us? You can go get a Butterbeer or something. We'll meet you in the Three Broomsticks. We shouldn't be long."
"Wait a minute," Lily cut in. "I'm not sure that's the best idea. We can just wait, you know, and then we can all go together--except Peter, of course."
"Listen, we just want to get Peter up to the hospital wing fast." Remus spoke urgently. "We don't need your help, that would be too many people, it would be confusing. Besides, you know that Madam Rellan doesn't like too many kids to be up there at once."
"What will you do without the cloak?"
"Lily, we've been pranksters for a long time. Longer than we have had the cloak. Trust me, we know how to get around without being seen."
"But--"
"Just go. We'll meet you there soon. James, if we're not there in an hour, just come on back."
Reluctantly, Lily picked up the cloak and shoved it over her head. James followed her and started walking down the length of the hallway. Now that there were only two people under the cloak, they moved along at a much quicker pace. Walking with James wasn't that bad, Lily reflected. Unlike Peter, he kept his feet to himself, and his elbow was no longer jostling her every few seconds. And away from his crowd of admirers, he seemed more relaxed, as if he didn't feel like he needed to impress everyone all the time. He didn't even make any effort to start a conversation, but instead walked in silence.
He stopped abruptly besides the grey stone statue of a one-eyed witch. He pulled his wand out, and, pointing it at the statue, murmured "Dissendium." Lily watched, wide-eyed, as the hump of the statue slowly slid open, revealing a small opening that undoubtedly was the entrance to the tunnel. James looked around, and, confident that no one was watching, slipped out from under the cloak. "Follow me," he whispered. A moment later, he had disappeared into the blackness behind the statue.
Lily tentatively climbed into the hole. It was small, and dark, and Lily was feeling a bit claustrophobic. But she had to go on now. Ignoring her thoughts, she slid down several feet until she reached the bottom. James was waiting for her; his wand was lit, but the light that it emitted was dim and did little to illuminate the passage that extended in front of them. Lily pulled out her own wand and whispered "Lumos." There, that was a little better; at least now she could see James's face, although his eyes looked hollow and almost ghostly in the shadows.
"Come," James said quietly, and they started to walk. The only sound was the patting of their feet against the soft earth. James seemed determined not to say anything; either that, or he was too deep in thought to want to talk. 'I'm not going to be the first one to talk,' Lily thought stubbornly at first; and then, as the minutes lengthened and it seemed that she had been walking in silence for a very long time, 'Come on, just say something!' But James kept his peace.
Finally, Lily heaved a great sigh of defeat. "Do you want to talk?" she asked James timidly. Only someone who knew her very well--better than anyone at Hogwarts did--could detect the slight hint of annoyance to her voice.
"Er . . . okay," James said.
"Umm . . . so, do you come here often?"
"Come where? This tunnel, you mean? Or Hogsmeade?"
"There are other tunnels?"
"Yeah, a few."
"Oh. Cool."
They lapsed into silence again. This time it was James who spoke first. "I think we're almost there."
"That's good. I was starting to think it went on forever."
"I know, it's pretty long."
"Yeah."
"Look, here are the stairs. Make sure you don't trip."
Lily looked up. And up . . . her gaze traveled higher and higher until the steps blended into the surrounding darkness. She groaned. "We have to climb all those?" she asked incredulously.
"Sorry. But it's the only way to get into Honeydukes. Don't worry, there aren't as many as it looks like."
"That's good." They started to climb. James was wrong; there were as many as there appeared to be. More, maybe. But they ascended quickly, and within the next ten minutes, with aching legs, they arrived at the trapdoor. James threw the invisibility cloak over both of them, and pulled himself up through the trapdoor, with Lily close behind him.
Their first stop at Hogsmeade was the Three Broomsticks, where they were to meet Sirius and Remus. James looked longingly towards Zonko's, but he trailed after Lily obediently when she entered the inn, only pausing at the door to throw one last mournful glance at the joke shop. Lily pushed her way through the crowded room until she found them a nice little table.
Lily was staring at her feet. James was gazing earnestly at his hands. Both were avoiding eachother's eyes.
It was then that James caught sight of Rosmerta, the extremely pretty daughter of the owner of the inn, who also happened to be a fifth year at Hogwarts. Immediately, he went into his "popular boy" mode. He flashed a brilliant smile at Rosmerta, and another brilliant smile at his beautiful girlfriend, Lily. He reached over and took her hand. Not having seen Rosmerta, Lily was utterly astonished by this seemingly voluntary gesture of affection. She smiled at him nicely . . . 'Maybe the boy isn't so bad after all,' she thought.
Meanwhile, Rosmerta had made her way over to their table. "Hi, James," she said brightly. Lily's expression darkened. "Hi . . . er . . . hi!"
"This is my girlfriend, Lily," James said. "Lily, this is Rosmerta."
"Nice to meet you," Lily muttered.
"You too! I always love meeting friends of James's. They are always so nice!" Rosmerta waited expectantly for Lily to say something kind and cheerful and sweet.
"Oh," Lily said.
Rosmerta gave her a strange look. "Well . . . do you guys want something to drink?" She giggled, as if she had said something funny.
"No thanks . . . that is, I don't. Do you want anything, Lily?"
"No, I'm not thirsty." Anything to get rid of her . . .
"Oh. Okay, then I have to get back to my other customers . . . my mom is sick today, that's why I'm here. Normally I would be at school, but Mum thought I should help out."
"You could stay here with us," James offered.
"I'd love to, but really, I have to go help," she said reluctantly.
Lily waited for her to go.
After a few more minutes, Rosmerta turned around and trudged away. James slumped back into his chair as soon as her back was turned, letting go of Lily's hand in the process.
Lily felt herself starting to get angry. What, was this guy using her or something just so he could show off in front of his pathetic little fans? Urgh. She was not going to stand for it. He wouldn't even talk to her. Basically, she was fed up.
"James," she said calmly, "this is a pathetic relationship."
James looked up, startled. "What?"
"I said this is a pathetic relationship," Lily said louder.
"Wha-why?" James sputtered.
"Look at us! We have nothing to say to each other! Whenever another one of your admirers comes around, then you put on the appearance of the loving boyfriend. But that's all it is! A facade."
"That's not true!" James couldn't believe . . . she couldn't . . . she wouldn't . . . he wasn't getting dumped, was he?
"James, why are you so worried about being popular?" James had to lean in to hear Lily; her voice was almost inaudible.
"What do you mean?" James felt stupid saying it; it was so obvious what she meant. But he really didn't want to go into it.
"Come on, you know exactly what I mean. You go out of your way to make it seem like you are the most popular boy around! Never without a girlfriend, never without tons of fans ready to swoon at your feet, with a great sense of humor, and part of the most exclusive group at Hogwarts. Why is it so important to you?"
James could feel his face flushing. "It's not like there's any big history behind it or anything. I just like having lots of friends, okay?"
Lily shook her head. "Everyone likes friends, James, but we aren't all as obsessed with popularity as you are."
"Not everyone knows what it feels like when everyone hates you," James muttered.
"What do you mean?" Now Lily was the one feeling stupid.
"It's just that when I was a little kid, everyone hated me, you know? We lived in this little town, and we had this big mansion; at first, everyone was jealous, but they didn't hate me, exactly. But then, this one kid started teasing me because I had no friends. He said that no one liked me. So I accidentally set fire to his house--" James flushed again-- "I didn't mean to or anything, I was just so mad, and I didn't know how to control my magic. But somehow word got around, and then everyone really started to hate me. They were all afraid that I was going to set fire to their house next; everyone who didn't have fire alarms or burglar alarms got them. I don't think it would have been so bad if they weren't already envious of me, but I guess they were happy to find an excuse to hate me." James paused.
"And?" Lily prompted.
James shrugged. "That's about it. After that, I got a tutor and totally excluded myself from the group of kids my age. But I really didn't like not having friends--" James swallowed visibly-- "and I just thought that it would be a good idea to become popular so I wouldn't have to worry about being lonely anymore."
True, it wasn't a tragic tale. It was probably something that millions of kids all over the world had experienced, in one form or another. But Lily was feeling more kindly towards James at that moment than she would ever have thought possible. She, of all people, knew that it could be hard to be alone.
"I understand," she said softly.
"Don't tell anyone, please."
"I won't."
James looked at the clock. "We should be going," he said. "I guess Remus and Sirius couldn't make it."
Lily nodded, and together, they got up and started back to Hogwarts.
Yay! I've finally got it out! Sorry it took so long. But it's here now, and it's a pretty long chapter, too. This part may not be as funny as the others were, but I had to go ahead and start redeeming James; after all, if Lily married him, I think he should be at least a somewhat nice guy. And I'd made him into a total jerk. I'm hoping that he is only a bit of a jerk at this point. But don't worry, the funnies aren't over yet. No, not for a long time . . .
I'm not going to bother to venture a guess on when the next chapter may come out. It seems that I'm always wrong.
Thank you so much to all of you fabulous, wonderful, marvelous, exceptional, and any-good-descriptive-word-that-you-can-think-of reviewers! I really can't love you all enough. As always, if you would like me to review a story of yours, just tell me in your review, and I promise I will get to it. (Dragonessa Smith, I'm coming!)
Please Review!
Lily stood by the ticklish pear, tapping her foot impatiently. One more minute until they were all late. Only one more minute. And she was not going to sit there waiting for the boys if they didn't show up on time. If it wasn't worth their time and effort be there when they promised, then she had better things to do. She could be doing homework, or curled up comfortably in a cushioned chair reading, or studying for the N.E.W.T.s, or curled up comfortably in a soft chair reading, or . . . "Why am I doing this?" Lily moaned softly.
A perky face wearing an all too familiar mischevious grin materialised in front of her. Sirius. Lily groaned. "You've been here all along, haven't you?"
Three more heads popped up. James, Peter, and Remus, respectively. All three were grinning madly. "You're doing this because you love us," Sirius announced. "You know you do. Or at least, you love James." James reddened slightly. Wait a minute . . . Lily moved in for a closer look. James Potter blushing? Perhaps it was just the lighting . . . yes, that was probably it. Whatever it was, it was gone now, and James staring at her with his eyebrows raised. She couldn't blame him; she must have looked rather odd while she was peering intently at his face. Lily stepped back as she realized what she was doing.
"What is it?" James asked curiously.
"Umm . . . nothing. Shall we go now?" Lily asked, quickly changing the subject.
"Okay. Get under the cloak."
A few minutes later, after quite a lot of complaining and bumping and stubbed toes and knocked heads, Lily found herself squished between James and Peter. She was hot and uncomfortable and grumpy and she didn't like the way James's elbow kept pushing into her side . . . "We don't have to wear this thing the whole time we are there, do we?" she hissed in James's ear, frowning as his hair tickled her nose.
"No," James whispered back. "As soon as we get to the tunnel, we can get out from under the cloak."
Lily breathed a small sigh of relief, smiled, and winced as Peter's heavy foot came sharply down on top of her toes. "Peter, could you try and look where you're stepping?" she complained.
"Sorry," Peter said apologetically. He looked up as he talked to meet Lily's eye. Lily had a slight sense of foreboding--Peter should have his attention firmly focused on his feet--and sure enough, an instant later, Peter was lying flat on his back, grasping his ankle. He had tripped over an unexpected stair in their path. The ankle looked painfully twisted.
Lily dropped down besides him, and the other boys gathered around, their faces wrought with concern, leaving the cloak to fall to the floor. "Are you okay?" she asked.
Peter's face was contorted with pain, and tears were starting to seep out from under his eyelids. "I don't think so," he whimpered. "It . . . hurts."
"Do you need to go to the hospital wing?" Remus inquired.
"I don't know," Peter sniffled.
"Can you walk?" Sirius spoke up.
"I don't think so . . . I can try, if you like."
"No, you don't need to do that. Listen, we'll help you stand up. You can lean on Remus and me for support; that way, if you can't walk, at least you won't fall. If you need help, we'll get you to the hospital wing. Okay?"
Peter nodded. Remus and Sirius both grasped one of Peter's hands, while James stood behind to catch him if he fell. Slowly, with quite a bit of assistance from the other boys, Peter managed to rise to his feet, grimacing as he put weight on the injured ankle. He didn't look as if he could stand on his own, much less walk. He tentatively put one foot forward, and fell back into the arms of his friends. "You guys, I don't think I can do it," he gasped out.
"Don't worry about it," Remus said kindly. "We'll just take you up to the hospital wing. You don't mind if we go to Hogsmeade without you, do you?"
"No, that's fine."
"Lily, James, why don't you two go to Hogsmeade ahead of us? You can go get a Butterbeer or something. We'll meet you in the Three Broomsticks. We shouldn't be long."
"Wait a minute," Lily cut in. "I'm not sure that's the best idea. We can just wait, you know, and then we can all go together--except Peter, of course."
"Listen, we just want to get Peter up to the hospital wing fast." Remus spoke urgently. "We don't need your help, that would be too many people, it would be confusing. Besides, you know that Madam Rellan doesn't like too many kids to be up there at once."
"What will you do without the cloak?"
"Lily, we've been pranksters for a long time. Longer than we have had the cloak. Trust me, we know how to get around without being seen."
"But--"
"Just go. We'll meet you there soon. James, if we're not there in an hour, just come on back."
Reluctantly, Lily picked up the cloak and shoved it over her head. James followed her and started walking down the length of the hallway. Now that there were only two people under the cloak, they moved along at a much quicker pace. Walking with James wasn't that bad, Lily reflected. Unlike Peter, he kept his feet to himself, and his elbow was no longer jostling her every few seconds. And away from his crowd of admirers, he seemed more relaxed, as if he didn't feel like he needed to impress everyone all the time. He didn't even make any effort to start a conversation, but instead walked in silence.
He stopped abruptly besides the grey stone statue of a one-eyed witch. He pulled his wand out, and, pointing it at the statue, murmured "Dissendium." Lily watched, wide-eyed, as the hump of the statue slowly slid open, revealing a small opening that undoubtedly was the entrance to the tunnel. James looked around, and, confident that no one was watching, slipped out from under the cloak. "Follow me," he whispered. A moment later, he had disappeared into the blackness behind the statue.
Lily tentatively climbed into the hole. It was small, and dark, and Lily was feeling a bit claustrophobic. But she had to go on now. Ignoring her thoughts, she slid down several feet until she reached the bottom. James was waiting for her; his wand was lit, but the light that it emitted was dim and did little to illuminate the passage that extended in front of them. Lily pulled out her own wand and whispered "Lumos." There, that was a little better; at least now she could see James's face, although his eyes looked hollow and almost ghostly in the shadows.
"Come," James said quietly, and they started to walk. The only sound was the patting of their feet against the soft earth. James seemed determined not to say anything; either that, or he was too deep in thought to want to talk. 'I'm not going to be the first one to talk,' Lily thought stubbornly at first; and then, as the minutes lengthened and it seemed that she had been walking in silence for a very long time, 'Come on, just say something!' But James kept his peace.
Finally, Lily heaved a great sigh of defeat. "Do you want to talk?" she asked James timidly. Only someone who knew her very well--better than anyone at Hogwarts did--could detect the slight hint of annoyance to her voice.
"Er . . . okay," James said.
"Umm . . . so, do you come here often?"
"Come where? This tunnel, you mean? Or Hogsmeade?"
"There are other tunnels?"
"Yeah, a few."
"Oh. Cool."
They lapsed into silence again. This time it was James who spoke first. "I think we're almost there."
"That's good. I was starting to think it went on forever."
"I know, it's pretty long."
"Yeah."
"Look, here are the stairs. Make sure you don't trip."
Lily looked up. And up . . . her gaze traveled higher and higher until the steps blended into the surrounding darkness. She groaned. "We have to climb all those?" she asked incredulously.
"Sorry. But it's the only way to get into Honeydukes. Don't worry, there aren't as many as it looks like."
"That's good." They started to climb. James was wrong; there were as many as there appeared to be. More, maybe. But they ascended quickly, and within the next ten minutes, with aching legs, they arrived at the trapdoor. James threw the invisibility cloak over both of them, and pulled himself up through the trapdoor, with Lily close behind him.
Their first stop at Hogsmeade was the Three Broomsticks, where they were to meet Sirius and Remus. James looked longingly towards Zonko's, but he trailed after Lily obediently when she entered the inn, only pausing at the door to throw one last mournful glance at the joke shop. Lily pushed her way through the crowded room until she found them a nice little table.
Lily was staring at her feet. James was gazing earnestly at his hands. Both were avoiding eachother's eyes.
It was then that James caught sight of Rosmerta, the extremely pretty daughter of the owner of the inn, who also happened to be a fifth year at Hogwarts. Immediately, he went into his "popular boy" mode. He flashed a brilliant smile at Rosmerta, and another brilliant smile at his beautiful girlfriend, Lily. He reached over and took her hand. Not having seen Rosmerta, Lily was utterly astonished by this seemingly voluntary gesture of affection. She smiled at him nicely . . . 'Maybe the boy isn't so bad after all,' she thought.
Meanwhile, Rosmerta had made her way over to their table. "Hi, James," she said brightly. Lily's expression darkened. "Hi . . . er . . . hi!"
"This is my girlfriend, Lily," James said. "Lily, this is Rosmerta."
"Nice to meet you," Lily muttered.
"You too! I always love meeting friends of James's. They are always so nice!" Rosmerta waited expectantly for Lily to say something kind and cheerful and sweet.
"Oh," Lily said.
Rosmerta gave her a strange look. "Well . . . do you guys want something to drink?" She giggled, as if she had said something funny.
"No thanks . . . that is, I don't. Do you want anything, Lily?"
"No, I'm not thirsty." Anything to get rid of her . . .
"Oh. Okay, then I have to get back to my other customers . . . my mom is sick today, that's why I'm here. Normally I would be at school, but Mum thought I should help out."
"You could stay here with us," James offered.
"I'd love to, but really, I have to go help," she said reluctantly.
Lily waited for her to go.
After a few more minutes, Rosmerta turned around and trudged away. James slumped back into his chair as soon as her back was turned, letting go of Lily's hand in the process.
Lily felt herself starting to get angry. What, was this guy using her or something just so he could show off in front of his pathetic little fans? Urgh. She was not going to stand for it. He wouldn't even talk to her. Basically, she was fed up.
"James," she said calmly, "this is a pathetic relationship."
James looked up, startled. "What?"
"I said this is a pathetic relationship," Lily said louder.
"Wha-why?" James sputtered.
"Look at us! We have nothing to say to each other! Whenever another one of your admirers comes around, then you put on the appearance of the loving boyfriend. But that's all it is! A facade."
"That's not true!" James couldn't believe . . . she couldn't . . . she wouldn't . . . he wasn't getting dumped, was he?
"James, why are you so worried about being popular?" James had to lean in to hear Lily; her voice was almost inaudible.
"What do you mean?" James felt stupid saying it; it was so obvious what she meant. But he really didn't want to go into it.
"Come on, you know exactly what I mean. You go out of your way to make it seem like you are the most popular boy around! Never without a girlfriend, never without tons of fans ready to swoon at your feet, with a great sense of humor, and part of the most exclusive group at Hogwarts. Why is it so important to you?"
James could feel his face flushing. "It's not like there's any big history behind it or anything. I just like having lots of friends, okay?"
Lily shook her head. "Everyone likes friends, James, but we aren't all as obsessed with popularity as you are."
"Not everyone knows what it feels like when everyone hates you," James muttered.
"What do you mean?" Now Lily was the one feeling stupid.
"It's just that when I was a little kid, everyone hated me, you know? We lived in this little town, and we had this big mansion; at first, everyone was jealous, but they didn't hate me, exactly. But then, this one kid started teasing me because I had no friends. He said that no one liked me. So I accidentally set fire to his house--" James flushed again-- "I didn't mean to or anything, I was just so mad, and I didn't know how to control my magic. But somehow word got around, and then everyone really started to hate me. They were all afraid that I was going to set fire to their house next; everyone who didn't have fire alarms or burglar alarms got them. I don't think it would have been so bad if they weren't already envious of me, but I guess they were happy to find an excuse to hate me." James paused.
"And?" Lily prompted.
James shrugged. "That's about it. After that, I got a tutor and totally excluded myself from the group of kids my age. But I really didn't like not having friends--" James swallowed visibly-- "and I just thought that it would be a good idea to become popular so I wouldn't have to worry about being lonely anymore."
True, it wasn't a tragic tale. It was probably something that millions of kids all over the world had experienced, in one form or another. But Lily was feeling more kindly towards James at that moment than she would ever have thought possible. She, of all people, knew that it could be hard to be alone.
"I understand," she said softly.
"Don't tell anyone, please."
"I won't."
James looked at the clock. "We should be going," he said. "I guess Remus and Sirius couldn't make it."
Lily nodded, and together, they got up and started back to Hogwarts.
Yay! I've finally got it out! Sorry it took so long. But it's here now, and it's a pretty long chapter, too. This part may not be as funny as the others were, but I had to go ahead and start redeeming James; after all, if Lily married him, I think he should be at least a somewhat nice guy. And I'd made him into a total jerk. I'm hoping that he is only a bit of a jerk at this point. But don't worry, the funnies aren't over yet. No, not for a long time . . .
I'm not going to bother to venture a guess on when the next chapter may come out. It seems that I'm always wrong.
Thank you so much to all of you fabulous, wonderful, marvelous, exceptional, and any-good-descriptive-word-that-you-can-think-of reviewers! I really can't love you all enough. As always, if you would like me to review a story of yours, just tell me in your review, and I promise I will get to it. (Dragonessa Smith, I'm coming!)
Please Review!