A/N The disclaimer is always on the first page. This applies to every
chapter I ever write. Right, I know I said I'd put romance into this, and
I have, kind of. But there will be more in the next chapter, and there is
a little bit in this one. Meanwhile, please R/R. I really hope you all
like it, and I think that this is one of my better chapters. If you review
this, I'll review yours! Oh, and please tell me what you think, and how I
can improve, and I will try my best to take your comments into account.
Thanks especially to KittyKat and, of course, to Chloe, for standing by me
through this. Read, enjoy, and review. It's really not that hard! ~Stef
Chapter Seven
For Lily, the first week passed quickly. She became much better friends with the Gryffindor girls, although everyone in Slytherin seemed to take great pleasure in teasing her. She would bet a lot that at least one of them knew Voldemort personally, and would have told him about her. Although Lily was spending a lot of her time with the girls, she still spent most of her time with the Marauders, and occasionally both sat together. This was partly Lily's influence, and she was quite proud of it.
On the first few days back at Hogwarts, Lily had noticed Jill staring at Sirius oddly. She couldn't figure it out, and when she realised, she had to stuff her hand in her mouth to stop her from bursting out into laughter right there in Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall wasn't amused, but she didn't say anything, just glared at Lily.
In retrospect, it was very obvious. Jill liked Sirius!!! So, not very tactfully, Lily came out with it as soon as Transfiguration had finished. She was close enough to Jill by now to be casual with her, and Jill blushed, while denying hotly that she even looked at Sirius at all. That was answer enough for Lily, especially as Anna had noticed it too. She spoke to Anna, and soon had a plan. Lily had never before been successful at matchmaking, but she was still going to try! That same day, she spoke to the Marauders.
"Guys, do you mind if the girls sit with us tonight? Only Anna needs a bit of help with her Transfiguration, and James, you're really good at that!"
"Um… ok." James replied. Sirius and Remus just looked at each other.
"Oh come on! You need to get over your shyness sometime!"
"SHY!" Sirius bellowed, startling a tall Ravenclaw girl passing them. "I'm not at all shy! Haven't I proved that with the countless pranks I've pulled on everyone, girls and guys alike!"
"Yes," Lily replied, "you're perfectly happy to pull pranks on them, but have you ever tried to talk to girls, apart from me?" Lily looked up at his face. "Well, then."
So it was settled, and part one of her plan was put into action. And, although Sirius would never admit it, he was nervous. The Marauders, including Lily, sat in their usual places that evening to do homework. Contrary to most belief, they actually did do homework, they just didn't often let themselves be seen doing it, unless they were up to some mischief and needed cover for planning it.
Lily waved the girls over as they entered the common room, and she moved over on the couch, further from Sirius so Jill could sit there. She was squashing James, but as both Sirius and Jill were giving her death glares, she didn't notice, until his strained voice came out.
"Lily… please!"
"Oh, I'm sorry, James!" Lily said, moving over so he could breathe. "You okay?"
"Just about." James winced, and massaged his ribs. Lily knew that if he was really hurt, he wouldn't be making such a big deal about it, so she just grinned.
"Oh, poor baby! Want me to kiss it better?" Lily teased him.
"You bet he does." Sirius muttered under his breath. Lily rounded on him, squashing James once more. Jill was in the way between them, and she moved as far back in her seat between them to get out of any possible danger. But Lily never got a chance to shout at Sirius, because another strangled yell came out from James.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" James just rolled his eyes. "Are you still okay?"
James grinned at her, and nodded, putting on a virtuous expression. "I will survive."
"…because I've got all my life to live, and I've…" Lily trailed off as everyone stared at her.
"What?" she asked the group in general. "Has no-one heard of that song before?"
"Uh… yes, we have. But Lily? Please don't sing." Remus said, smiling slightly. Lily childishly stuck her tongue out and him, and then remembered they were meant to be doing homework. She went silently back to her work, and the others did the same.
And from that day onwards, they all got together every night to homework together. So, all in all, Lily was pretty proud of herself.
Studying and matchmaking weren't the only things Lily did that term, though. Besides helping the Marauders to play pranks, Lily worked a lot on her Animagus form. Her room was placed at the top of the staircase, between the intersection separating the girls' dorms from the boys'. It was invisible, and only opened when she whispered the password in the ear of the suit of armour in front of it. Lily was pleased with her room. Not only did she have privacy, which she never got at the orphanage, but it provided her with a safe place to work on her Animagus studies, where she wouldn't be interrupted. And it even had its own bathroom!
Sometimes, when the common room was especially rowdy, Lily invited all her friends back to her room to study, or just to chat. She wouldn't tell them the password though, because she didn't want them changing it for a joke. It was just the sort of thing Sirius would do. Lily knew that the suit of armour would never let them in without a password, besides, it had an attitude. Lily was used to it, and she got on quite well with it, but if any of her friends said something that annoyed or offended it, or even insulted Lily, they would find themselves being tripped by every suit of armour in the castle. The suits of armour seemed to have some sort of telepathic link.
Needless to say, Lily was close enough to it to be able to tease it without any severe consequences, meaning that it would trip her, but the others in the castle left her alone. They seemed to know that she and Ferdinand (that was it's name. Lily privately though that was one of the main reasons for its attitude problem) enjoyed the friendly arguments.
But anyway, Lily was privately perfecting her leopard transformation, and one foggy Saturday, half way through term one, she decided to try the complete transformation for the first time. Lily cleared her room, and stood in the (quite large) space between her four-poster and her desk. She concentrated, remembering all the theory, and the partial practice that she had done. Previously, Lily had just worked on transforming parts of her body, so she could change them back if anything went seriously wrong. Now, she was trying the whole thing.
With completely concentration, and after five minutes of hard work, Lily found herself as a leopard. It was the most exhilarating experience Lily had ever felt.
1.1 Chapter Eight
As a leopard, Lily was perfect. But, not only was she perfect, but she was black; pure, coal black. Lily had done her research well, but she was surprised at this. Some leopards were naturally born black, and known as black panthers, but these were unusual, and Lily had never dreamed that she would be one of them. Still, Lily was unique.
She was about four and a half feet long, and her tail, perfectly balanced, added on about another foot. She was all sinewy muscle, and strong. Her claws retracted like cats', but Lily knew that she would be able to climb much better than a cat ever could. She was born to excel, born to be strong, and she would be able to defend herself from anything short of a dinosaur.
Lily felt a great sense of accomplishment as she transformed back, and this time it took only three minutes. With practice, she would be able to transform instantaneously, but now, she was happy just to be able to do it. She had accomplished her goal! She was an Animagus!
Lily left her room with a manic grin on her face to go down to breakfast, and everyone wondered why. Everyone but James, that was. As soon as she left breakfast, he followed her, and asked to talk in her room. Lily agreed curiously, and closed the door behind him.
"So?" she asked.
"You could have told me." James said reprovingly.
"Told you what?" Lily asked with an air of confusion and innocence, but James wasn't fooled.
"What are you?" he asked. "Show me!" He was grinning, and had a look of excitement in his eyes.
"How do you know that it's that I'm so happy about?" Lily asked, stopping her act.
"I did it too, this morning. Please show me?" Lily's grin came back on. It had only left her for a few seconds.
"'k" she replied. Lily stood up, and walked to the centre of her room. She concentrated, and it happened much faster this time. Within a minute, she was in her all powerful form. Lily chased her tail for a bit, spread and retracted her claws, and basically showed off her new body to James. When she turned back, James also had a grin on his face, nearly as big as hers.
"Wow." Was all he could say. After a while, he continued. "How come you never told you were secretly studying to be an Animagus?" he asked.
"Well, you know, I don't know!" Lily shrugged, and grinned even more if possible. "D'you like my animal? She's a leopard!"
"But I though leopards were light brown, with spots."
"Most are tan coloured, with spots, but every so often one is born pure black. An entire litter can be born normally, and maybe one of them will be black. It happens, sometimes, that five of a litter are normal, and the sixth is unusual. I'm just unique."
"You sure are! Want to see my stag?"
"Of course!" James walked to where Lily had been standing for her transformation, and he too concentrated. It took him slightly longer than Lily, but after about a minute he was a stag. Lily gazed at him in awe. James was a majestic creature, large and muscular, and he had long antlers. His fur on top ranged from black to dark brown, but his underbelly was pure white. His legs were long and powerful, and his body was compact, showing muscle, and little fat. James turned back, and Lily jumped up to hug him.
"We did it, we did it, we did it!" She said gleefully.
"We did, didn't we!" James said. "We finally did!" James pulled away from her slowly, almost reluctantly. He kept his hands on her shoulders, and Lily looked into his face, and his dark brown eyes. His manic grin had faded into a soft, shy smile, and her's had too. Slowly, and silently, as if he was afraid to breathe, James leaned closer once more, and kissed her. Lily melted into him, and much too soon, she felt, James pulled away.
"I guess we should go and tell the others that we're Animagi," he said.
James looked at her shyly, with a half-smile on his face, and then he left her room. Lily sat down on her bed to think.
Chapter Seven
For Lily, the first week passed quickly. She became much better friends with the Gryffindor girls, although everyone in Slytherin seemed to take great pleasure in teasing her. She would bet a lot that at least one of them knew Voldemort personally, and would have told him about her. Although Lily was spending a lot of her time with the girls, she still spent most of her time with the Marauders, and occasionally both sat together. This was partly Lily's influence, and she was quite proud of it.
On the first few days back at Hogwarts, Lily had noticed Jill staring at Sirius oddly. She couldn't figure it out, and when she realised, she had to stuff her hand in her mouth to stop her from bursting out into laughter right there in Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall wasn't amused, but she didn't say anything, just glared at Lily.
In retrospect, it was very obvious. Jill liked Sirius!!! So, not very tactfully, Lily came out with it as soon as Transfiguration had finished. She was close enough to Jill by now to be casual with her, and Jill blushed, while denying hotly that she even looked at Sirius at all. That was answer enough for Lily, especially as Anna had noticed it too. She spoke to Anna, and soon had a plan. Lily had never before been successful at matchmaking, but she was still going to try! That same day, she spoke to the Marauders.
"Guys, do you mind if the girls sit with us tonight? Only Anna needs a bit of help with her Transfiguration, and James, you're really good at that!"
"Um… ok." James replied. Sirius and Remus just looked at each other.
"Oh come on! You need to get over your shyness sometime!"
"SHY!" Sirius bellowed, startling a tall Ravenclaw girl passing them. "I'm not at all shy! Haven't I proved that with the countless pranks I've pulled on everyone, girls and guys alike!"
"Yes," Lily replied, "you're perfectly happy to pull pranks on them, but have you ever tried to talk to girls, apart from me?" Lily looked up at his face. "Well, then."
So it was settled, and part one of her plan was put into action. And, although Sirius would never admit it, he was nervous. The Marauders, including Lily, sat in their usual places that evening to do homework. Contrary to most belief, they actually did do homework, they just didn't often let themselves be seen doing it, unless they were up to some mischief and needed cover for planning it.
Lily waved the girls over as they entered the common room, and she moved over on the couch, further from Sirius so Jill could sit there. She was squashing James, but as both Sirius and Jill were giving her death glares, she didn't notice, until his strained voice came out.
"Lily… please!"
"Oh, I'm sorry, James!" Lily said, moving over so he could breathe. "You okay?"
"Just about." James winced, and massaged his ribs. Lily knew that if he was really hurt, he wouldn't be making such a big deal about it, so she just grinned.
"Oh, poor baby! Want me to kiss it better?" Lily teased him.
"You bet he does." Sirius muttered under his breath. Lily rounded on him, squashing James once more. Jill was in the way between them, and she moved as far back in her seat between them to get out of any possible danger. But Lily never got a chance to shout at Sirius, because another strangled yell came out from James.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" James just rolled his eyes. "Are you still okay?"
James grinned at her, and nodded, putting on a virtuous expression. "I will survive."
"…because I've got all my life to live, and I've…" Lily trailed off as everyone stared at her.
"What?" she asked the group in general. "Has no-one heard of that song before?"
"Uh… yes, we have. But Lily? Please don't sing." Remus said, smiling slightly. Lily childishly stuck her tongue out and him, and then remembered they were meant to be doing homework. She went silently back to her work, and the others did the same.
And from that day onwards, they all got together every night to homework together. So, all in all, Lily was pretty proud of herself.
Studying and matchmaking weren't the only things Lily did that term, though. Besides helping the Marauders to play pranks, Lily worked a lot on her Animagus form. Her room was placed at the top of the staircase, between the intersection separating the girls' dorms from the boys'. It was invisible, and only opened when she whispered the password in the ear of the suit of armour in front of it. Lily was pleased with her room. Not only did she have privacy, which she never got at the orphanage, but it provided her with a safe place to work on her Animagus studies, where she wouldn't be interrupted. And it even had its own bathroom!
Sometimes, when the common room was especially rowdy, Lily invited all her friends back to her room to study, or just to chat. She wouldn't tell them the password though, because she didn't want them changing it for a joke. It was just the sort of thing Sirius would do. Lily knew that the suit of armour would never let them in without a password, besides, it had an attitude. Lily was used to it, and she got on quite well with it, but if any of her friends said something that annoyed or offended it, or even insulted Lily, they would find themselves being tripped by every suit of armour in the castle. The suits of armour seemed to have some sort of telepathic link.
Needless to say, Lily was close enough to it to be able to tease it without any severe consequences, meaning that it would trip her, but the others in the castle left her alone. They seemed to know that she and Ferdinand (that was it's name. Lily privately though that was one of the main reasons for its attitude problem) enjoyed the friendly arguments.
But anyway, Lily was privately perfecting her leopard transformation, and one foggy Saturday, half way through term one, she decided to try the complete transformation for the first time. Lily cleared her room, and stood in the (quite large) space between her four-poster and her desk. She concentrated, remembering all the theory, and the partial practice that she had done. Previously, Lily had just worked on transforming parts of her body, so she could change them back if anything went seriously wrong. Now, she was trying the whole thing.
With completely concentration, and after five minutes of hard work, Lily found herself as a leopard. It was the most exhilarating experience Lily had ever felt.
1.1 Chapter Eight
As a leopard, Lily was perfect. But, not only was she perfect, but she was black; pure, coal black. Lily had done her research well, but she was surprised at this. Some leopards were naturally born black, and known as black panthers, but these were unusual, and Lily had never dreamed that she would be one of them. Still, Lily was unique.
She was about four and a half feet long, and her tail, perfectly balanced, added on about another foot. She was all sinewy muscle, and strong. Her claws retracted like cats', but Lily knew that she would be able to climb much better than a cat ever could. She was born to excel, born to be strong, and she would be able to defend herself from anything short of a dinosaur.
Lily felt a great sense of accomplishment as she transformed back, and this time it took only three minutes. With practice, she would be able to transform instantaneously, but now, she was happy just to be able to do it. She had accomplished her goal! She was an Animagus!
Lily left her room with a manic grin on her face to go down to breakfast, and everyone wondered why. Everyone but James, that was. As soon as she left breakfast, he followed her, and asked to talk in her room. Lily agreed curiously, and closed the door behind him.
"So?" she asked.
"You could have told me." James said reprovingly.
"Told you what?" Lily asked with an air of confusion and innocence, but James wasn't fooled.
"What are you?" he asked. "Show me!" He was grinning, and had a look of excitement in his eyes.
"How do you know that it's that I'm so happy about?" Lily asked, stopping her act.
"I did it too, this morning. Please show me?" Lily's grin came back on. It had only left her for a few seconds.
"'k" she replied. Lily stood up, and walked to the centre of her room. She concentrated, and it happened much faster this time. Within a minute, she was in her all powerful form. Lily chased her tail for a bit, spread and retracted her claws, and basically showed off her new body to James. When she turned back, James also had a grin on his face, nearly as big as hers.
"Wow." Was all he could say. After a while, he continued. "How come you never told you were secretly studying to be an Animagus?" he asked.
"Well, you know, I don't know!" Lily shrugged, and grinned even more if possible. "D'you like my animal? She's a leopard!"
"But I though leopards were light brown, with spots."
"Most are tan coloured, with spots, but every so often one is born pure black. An entire litter can be born normally, and maybe one of them will be black. It happens, sometimes, that five of a litter are normal, and the sixth is unusual. I'm just unique."
"You sure are! Want to see my stag?"
"Of course!" James walked to where Lily had been standing for her transformation, and he too concentrated. It took him slightly longer than Lily, but after about a minute he was a stag. Lily gazed at him in awe. James was a majestic creature, large and muscular, and he had long antlers. His fur on top ranged from black to dark brown, but his underbelly was pure white. His legs were long and powerful, and his body was compact, showing muscle, and little fat. James turned back, and Lily jumped up to hug him.
"We did it, we did it, we did it!" She said gleefully.
"We did, didn't we!" James said. "We finally did!" James pulled away from her slowly, almost reluctantly. He kept his hands on her shoulders, and Lily looked into his face, and his dark brown eyes. His manic grin had faded into a soft, shy smile, and her's had too. Slowly, and silently, as if he was afraid to breathe, James leaned closer once more, and kissed her. Lily melted into him, and much too soon, she felt, James pulled away.
"I guess we should go and tell the others that we're Animagi," he said.
James looked at her shyly, with a half-smile on his face, and then he left her room. Lily sat down on her bed to think.