DISCLAIMER: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter characters, now read!!
A/N I'm getting a bit of writer's block, I'm hoping ideas come to me as I go, I want fifth year to be long, but it's hard when I only have so many ideas that I have planned and I'm having trouble thinking of more, so this chapter might be a bit boring, but I don't know. Plus parts of this…I…Erm…wrote late at night when I was quite hyper. So sorry if it's a bit weird.
*~*~*~*~*
CHAPTER 14
Lily and James both felt a rush of memory come back to them of what had happened, and when they got it all sorted out, they look at each other and blushed at what they had said. When you think you are going to die, sometimes it makes you say things you normally wouldn't have.
"Remember now?" Professor Dumbledore asked with that well known twinkle in his eye.
The two of them nodded a bit shocked to be there. 'What the hell got us back?!' Lily thought, and decided to ask. "Professor, how'd you get us back? What exactly happened?"
"You two, some how slipped off into another world I don't know why, and I don't know how you got back. But I am glad that you are. Please tell me everything that happened while you two were there." Dumbledore ordered, and they started telling him everything and when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING, they wanted to figure it out, and if anybody was going to figure it out. It was Dumbledore.
"Yeah, so I said…that…and then Lily and I woke up here." James said, he and Lily were the same shade of red. They also had to tell him what they found in the books. Dumbledore already knew that James was the heir of Gryffindor.
"Ah, so that's what happened." Was all Dumbledore said, he smiled and then excused himself from the room. Not long after that Lily and James found them selves being attacked by their friends.
"What the hell happened!?" Sirius asked as soon as he got in the room, the others stared at them awaiting the answer.
Lily and James explained for the second time that day what had happened, this time leaving out what they had said to each other, so basically, all their friends got out of it was, that the curse caused them to go into another world, and a scary one at that.
"Lily, you seem to have the worst luck, but I have something to ask you." Jimena said sitting next to her friend. Lily looked at her expectantly. "Sierra and me found looked at one of the titles of the books you guys were reading, and I was wondering if your curse was…deadly." Jimena said softly.
Lily didn't know how to answer this question, she knew that it was likely for her and James to die, but she didn't want to tell her friends that. "No, Jim, its not deadly don't worry." Lily put on her best, fake smile for her friends.
*~*~*~*~*
Lily and James didn't talk about what had happened during the night again. They stopped studying together, and Lily even stopped helping the Marauders with the Animagi potion. She knew they could figure the rest out on their own anyway. Lily and James ignored each other as much as possible. But when they went to sleep at night it was a lot harder to ignore each other.
Although the dreams about Lord Voldemort had ended for Lily a while back, the dreams about her husband's death came back and brought her into sleeplessness. James luckily never came into those nightmares, Lily didn't know why, but she was glad, they were quite personal after all.
One night during the same dream Lily had every night, something different happened.
"….and run!" The words were familiar, but Lily always ran no matter what, leaving her husband to die, but this time someone else was waiting in the room when she got their…James.
"James what are you doing here?" Lily seemed to take over her body for once in the dream; I was able to choose what she said.
James shrugged, he obviously didn't know either.
"James, get out leave now! He's coming!"
"Who? What are you talking about?" James asked.
"Voldemort, right now he just killed my husband, now please get out before he kills you too! I don't want to see you die." Lily was flustered, she didn't know what to do, she prayed this wasn't how it would really happen.
"Your husband?!" James asked confused.
"It's a dream James, now leave!" Lily said with the baby still in her arms, she couldn't see the baby's face, just as she couldn't see her husband's.
"Leave to where?" James asked, 'He's got a point.' Lily thought.
"Out the window!" Instead of James listening to her, he just stood beside her and watched the door. At that moment Voldemort stepped in the room.
Lily knew something was different from this dream then the others, and she didn't know what to do, suddenly James tugged on her hand, and her baby was gone from her arms.
Voldemort didn't seem to notice the two of them standing and watching, he was screaming at Lily as her older self. She covered the crib and wouldn't let Voldemort get to her baby.
Voldemort looked annoyed, and the next thing Lily knew, she saw herself drop to the ground dead, and then he walked towards her baby. Lily tried to run to him, but James held her back. Voldemort said the curse, and there was a great explosion.
*~*~*~*~*
Lily woke up sweating and her was racing. She was taking deep breaths, it was still night time, Lily glanced at her clock, and it was four in the morning. Lily moaned, but didn't want to fall asleep; afraid of what her dreams would take her to, Lily hadn't had a good dream for a long time.
Lily got out of bed and headed down to the common room, fully dressed for school that day. She was surprised to see James sitting by the fire, staring into it, evidently deep in thought. He'd been doing it a lot recently.
She took as seat in the chair next to him, and he didn't even notice. Lily cleared her throat several times before he noticed she was there.
"Oh hi Lily." He said distractedly. Then his brain seemed to process that she actually was there. "Lily! What are you doing up at this time of…morning?"
"Nightmare." She said simply.
"Was I in it?" Lily was a bit taken back at the comment.
"Yes actually, you want to hear about it?" He nodded. "First you have to tell me why you're up so early."
"Nightmare." Lily had a feeling that was his reason, so she told him about the dream, she got half finished and he stopped her, and finished it for her. He had had the same exact one.
"James, I want these dreams to stop, for good. I can't take it anymore!" Lily said getting distressed.
"You do, do you?" James said with his eyes laughing.
"Yes James, of course I want to!" She said getting aggravated.
"Well, I was just thinking that you were beginning to like them!" James said grinning wickedly; Lily gave him a horrified look.
"Jerk." She said and turned away from him.
"It's not my fault you keep dreaming about me-."
"I'm not dreaming about you, I'm having nightmares!" Lily said breathlessly. 'This is hopeless.' She thought.
"Whatever you call it." James grinned again and Lily gave up and went back to her dorm, only to get bored, and come back down. Thankfully James was gone. Lily had brought he Charms book with her, and began to study.
*~*~*~*~*
A few hours later students started to trickle down from their dormitories, to go to breakfast. Vanessa and Catty came down, smiling at Lily, and invited her to join them, so Lily went off to get breakfast with them.
Lily entered the Great Hall, and was shocked to be met by Snape.
"Lily, can I speak to you a moment?" He asked, looking uncomfortable. 'He should be.' Lily thought angrily. She hadn't forgotten what he'd done. Lily chose to ignore him, but he grabbed her arm, and Lily snapped.
"Don't touch me, you pig!" Lily shrieked, and all eyes turned towards her. Snape, smartly left her alone, and Lily went to sit down by Vanessa and Catty. Lucky for Lily there were very few people at breakfast, so it wasn't seen by many. But it was enough to get the point across to Snape to leave Lily alone.
*~*~*~*~*
Christmas was coming soon, and Lily was very…unexcited. She was moping around a lot, once she found at that Sierra, was for the first time, going home for Christmas, Lily was mulling over the idea of going to Mindy's, but decided not to, she just couldn't bare to barge in on someone else's Christmas.
Lily didn't even bother to see who else was staying for Christmas; she knew it was going to be boring with out Sierra. Sierra had to go home because of a funeral for her Aunt, who had sadly been murdered. So Lily wouldn't complain about it while Sierra was around, she didn't want to make her feel bad.
The day everyone was leaving, her room mates were finishing packing, and Lily was talking away to them.
"Yeah, I better get lots of presents to cheer me up, since I'm going to have to be sleeping in here all by myself." Lily pouted, by tried to joke about it.
"Lily, that makes worry, try not to get yourself in trouble." Sierra said while shoving some stray books in her trunk for doing homework.
"Guys, what other trouble can I get myself in?" Lily said trying to put a stop to their constant worrying. They hadn't let her alone since the incident with James.
"Lily, Sierra and I are just worried, something might happen, you're even more vulnerable when no one is around." Jimena said with a bit of edge in her voice.
"I don't need you two to be my Mothers thank you very much… Even if I don't have one." She said quietly. The entire room stopped what they were doing and gave Lily sympathetic looks. "Don't worry about me, you all go home and have a Happy Christmas."
Not long after their conversation, Lily was hugging her friends good bye, and was doing very well at holding back her tears. Soon everyone was gone from her dorm, and Lily was alone.
Lily knew she was going to be very bored over break, so she decided to study with her spare time. So Lily picked up all her homework, and got started that evening.
*~*~*~*~*
It was about 8:00 and until then Lily hadn't gotten any visitors, then out of no where, someone popped up behind her, and snatched away her book.
"SIRIUS, can't you tell when someone is doing homework!?" Lily shrieked at him and jumped up to get her book back, but Sirius was grinning like an idiot, and wouldn't give it back.
"Lily, we need to tell you something." Sirius said still grinning crazily.
"What? Is it THAT important? I was doing my transfiguration homework." Lily pouted, and tried in vain to get the book back once more.
"You were doing your homework on the first night with out your friends?!" Sirius said in mock shock.
"So what do you want to tell me?" Lily said getting impatient.
"I can't tell you here, plus the other Marauders have a say in this too." He said, looking towards the second years that were in the room. With that last thought Sirius grabbed her hand and threw her book on the table and dragged her away.
'Sirius-my book!" Lily squealed.
"It'll be there when we get back don't worry." He said and continued to tug her towards the portrait hole. Lily groaned, and soon herself in the Marauders' favorite hideaway.
James, Remus, and Peter were already there. James avoided looking Lily in the eye. Remus on the other hand went right up to her with a grin the same as Sirius'.
"Okay, please tell me what's going on now!" Lily said frustrated.
"We're ready!" Sirius said.
"With the potion? The Charms?" Lily asked figuring it out.
"Lily we're finished, we're trying it out tonight, and next week's the full moon, so we're hoping to works." Sirius said happily, even James and Peter were grinning, they were obviously proud.
"So, why am I here?" Lily asked putting her hands on her hips.
"Well, Remus thought it would be nice, since you helped us and everything, if you got to see if it worked or not." Sirius said, Sirius was in a real chatty mood. Suddenly Remus elbowed him in the stomach. "Oh, and we kind of need your help on saying the charms part."
"I guess so, when are we trying it?" Lily asked, wanting to leave as soon as possible, to retrieve that book that was in the common room unattended.
"Right now!" Remus said, and it was then for the first time Lily noticed that the potions was brewing in the corner, and they had a long list of the charms they were using, sitting on a table.
Lily took a deep breath. "Okay let's get started."
The five of them worked busily for the first hour making preparations, sadly (a/n not!) Peter couldn't help much. The next hour was spent taking the potions, and it involved correct timing. Then for the next thirty minutes, the three boys were chanting the charms, and it was quite a tongue twister, and was long, so they had to memorize it first, one mess up, and it would, and did go wrong.
Peter messed up pronouncing an 'a' by instead of saying it like in the word 'way' had said it like in the word 'start'. When he said that, he ended up passing out, and it happened quite a few times before he got it right.
James was the first to get it completed, by oddly enough, nothing happened, he seemed to glow for a moment, then it stopped. The same thing happened to Sirius not long after, and a half an hour after him Peter did too.
"Now what?" Peter asked, once they were finished, they all looked at each other not knowing what to do.
"This is the part where you guys try and turn into your animal, I guess." Lily told them, a little annoyed that they hadn't thought past this step. James glared at her when she said this, but she ignored him, like always.
"Guys, you remember, just do what the book said." Remus told them encouragingly. Lily closed her eyes when she saw James start to glow brightly and he started screaming in pain. Remus was a quick thinker and put a silencing charm on the room.
Lily was too afraid to open her eyes, then the same screaming came from Sirius, and soon Peter, it was a horrible sickening sound, and Lily covered her ears. (A/N why couldn't have Peter died!?)
The next thing Lily knew Remus was laughing and Lily found herself getting pounced on by a big shaggy dog, that was quite adorable, but Lily didn't say this aloud.
"Get off me, oh I bet your Sirius!" Lily said with a groan, as the big dog got off her. With a little pop Sirius was looking at her in his normal body.
James was grinning happily, but he had already changed back to human form so she didn't find out what he was, then Lily saw an ugly fat rat scurry across the floor.
"Ack! Peter you're a rat!" Lily squealed and jumped into Remus' arms.
Peter popped into his regular self scowling. "I can't believe I'm a damn rat." He muttered.
"Suits you perfectly Peter dear." Sirius said in a high voice.
"James, do show me what you turn into." Lily said stepping away from Remus, blushing a bit; James glared again, but turned into a very beautiful stag. Lily gaped at him, she went up to him and patted him on the nose, and recognized his eyes were the same chocolate brown they always were. "James, you are one good lookin' stag!" Lily said laughing, and immediately James reappeared as himself, grinning from ear to ear.
"Oh, you really think so?" He asked.
"No, I was just being polite, Sirius though he was an adorable dog." Sirius faked a blush.
"Well, that was…awesome!" James said.
"Yes it was amazing, now I need to go before…I get my book stolen since Sirius made me leave it in the common room." Lily said, and made a run for the door. Remus stopped her by standing in front of her.
"Lily, I get the feeling you've been ignoring us for relatively long time now." He said, the other boys nodded in agreement. "Sierra and Jimena talk to us more then you do, and they…have ex relationships with some of us." Remus said and his eyes flickered to James and Sirius (the guilty ones).
"I've just been busy is all you know, studying, prefect responsibilities, homework, more studying, and keeping tabs on all Professors that might be death eaters." Lily lied; she hadn't exactly told anyone why she had just stopped talking to them.
"Lily, you study too much, I think you should lighten up a bit with the study load." Sirius said, in a serious tone.
"I can't stop studying, I want to be head girl, so I have to keep up with my work, and try to learn whatever I can that might come in useful…somewhere." Lily stuttered a bit since she made it up as she went along. "You never know what could happen at Hogwarts. Now please let me go back." Lily said giving Remus a push.
Remus showed no sign of giving in "Moony, let her go." James spoke up, she knew why too, but she didn't think of it, and just took off to get away from them, and tried to run away from the quilt.
*~*~*~*~*
(A/N same place, Lily's off in la la land for now, sorry!)
"James, do you know something that you would like to share with the rest of the class?" Sirius asked; it came out as a joke, but it was a real question.
"Nothing important guys don't worry about it." James shrugged off the question. The rest of them sensed that they weren't going to get any more out of him, and let it go.
"I think Lily needs to be cheered up, or at least have her mind taken off all that studying!" Remus muttered.
"I have an idea for that." Sirius said grinning.
"Pranks?" James asked, liking the idea.
"Of course, what else goes through Sirius' mind?" Remus asked.
"So do I get a nick name now?" Sirius asked in a child like way, thus bringing on Moony, Padfoot, Prongs, and Wormtail, The Marauders.
*~*~*~*~*
Lily picked up her book and homework parchment and went up to her dorm; it was getting late so she went on a head and went to bed.
Lily lay awake, wishing she could tell her friends what was going on between her and James. Truly nothing was going on, but something almost had…But it never could, but it was tearing Lily up inside, she missed having James as her friend, but she didn't want to risk it, so she forced herself to stay away from him. Lily could never allow herself to get close to him, or any other man for that matter, because then she might end up falling in love with them, and that was a serious problem.
*~*~*~*~*
Lily woke up and found that instead of normal toes, today she had webbed feet, and that wasn't normal. She looked at her fingers and noticed that they too were webbed, she the noticed that she was sporting a wonderful beak. 'They turned me into a DUCK!!' Lily wanted to scream, but decided better of it.
Lily hoped to God she could talk normal, she couldn't. Lily's temper got the better of her. She put on her uniform, and snuck over to the boys' dormitories, she was very happy that her nightmare had woken her up; for once something useful came out if it. This way she could sneak over there and not be seen…Looking like a duck.
She opened the Marauders' dorm door, and came in squawking like a duck. It had the effect that she wanted. Four very tired looking boys appeared from behind their bed curtains, she noted that James blushed a bit…he wasn't wearing a shirt from her point of view, he was very good looking with out one too. Lily mentally smacked herself for thinking like that.
Remus came up to her trying not to laugh, "What is it that you need, Miss Quackers?" That sent the rest of them into laughter, but Lily only glared.
"Change me back!" She tried to say but it came out like "Quack, Quack, Quack!" This only made them laugh harder.
"Lily, what did you say? I couldn't understand you!" Sirius said laughing so hard that he fell to the floor when he tried to get up.
"Lily, you look like a really cute duck, seriously, it suits you!" Remus said turning purple from laughter.
Lily let out a scream that sounded more like an incessant squawk. Lily didn't shut up, until they finally told her it would wear off in a few hours, when they told her that she slapped James in the face with her webbed hand, since she knew it was him who came up with it, since she'd been there when he found out about it.
After that Lily stomped off to her dorm, in a very bad mood, or so the Marauders thought, truthfully, she was quite happy they had done it. It was quite funny if you thought about it happening to someone else, and it also gave her a reason to prank them.
Lily immediately went to her Charms book, which had information about the type of Charm she planned on putting on the renowned Marauders.
It looked easy enough, she prayed it would work.
Then Lily turned to a different page in the book, and found a different spell that would make it all worth while. Then the last part would be a little bit harder, but she was sure her wonderful 'Wizard Radio' would take care of it, since she owned the song, even if it was muggle. James, of course would be getting special treatment.
Smiling with satisfaction, Lily headed down to breakfast, since her beak had faded away, and her fingers and toes were no longer webbed together.
(A/N what is little Lily planning!? I know and it's making me laugh, I hope I can get it out correctly in words!)
*~*~*~*~*
Once at breakfast, Dumbledore announced that there would be a special event on Christmas Day that would be quite enjoyable, and that students should bring their money. Lily didn't think much about it, but decided to try and remember to bring money to the Christmas Feast.
All day long Lily pretended to be over the entire 'duck incident'. She told the Marauders they were obsesses with poultry, and left it at that.
Finally it was time for dinner, and Lily's plan was coming into action, she grabbed 'Wizard Radio' and her tape with the song that she was transferring the music from.
(A/N just as I started to type this part I got the serious *achoo* sneezes, so forgive me if I make typos from when I sneezzzed. *oops*)
Lily got to the Great Hall and was pleased to see that it was full of students, many had stayed home that year. Probably because so many of them had lost their parents to Voldemort.
She made sure to sit near the Marauders, and half way through dinner she uttered some words, turned on some back ground music and the Marauders were standing on the table doing some very interesting dances, to wonderful music…
James was the obvious lead singer, started belting out the first lines…
The echoes were done by Sirius, Remus, and Peter.
(A/N some of it's a bit off, I didn't type the lyrics so leave me alone! PLUS I know this is an 80's song but who cares? 'RESPECT')
"What you want (hooo) baby I got it
What you need (hooo) you know I got it"
James started walking along the table pointing at people and smiling cheekily, but his eyes said something different, he was terrified.
"(Hooo) all I'm asking (hooo) is for a little respect
(Just a little bit) when you come home
(Just a little bit) hey baby (Just little bit)
When you come home (Just a Little Bit) Mister"
Lily saw the shock on their faces when they had to say Mister.
Right behind James, the rest of the Marauders were butt bumping and doing disco moves. And swinging their hips around.
"I ain't gonna do you wrong while you're gone
I ain't gonna do you wrong 'cause I don't wanna
All I'm asking is for a little respect when you come home"
At this point James was jumping up and down, and smiling at all the girls, making them blush. Not to mention, every time he sang 'baby' he would shake is butt around, getting himself quite a few cat calls from his 'audience'.
"(Just a Little Bit) Baby (Just a little bit)
When you come home (Just a little Bit) Yeah
I'm about to give you all my money
And all I'm asking in return honey"
James at this point, took out what money he had and flung it into the audience, Lily hadn't planned that.
"Is to give me my profits when you get home
(Justa Justa Justa) Yeah baby when you get home"
At this verse the Marauders pretended to sing into microphones, and continued to shake their butts, and skip around the table.
"(Just a little Bit ) Yeah ( Just a little bit )"
Then James came over and did something Lily didn't expect, he pulled her up on the table, much to her horror, and sang the next line to her, making her turn beet red, and James couldn't control it…or could he?
"Hooo your kisses sweeter than honey and guess what so is my money
All I want you to do for me is give it to me when you get home
James and the Marauders continued to swing around in each other's arms. Lily made a dash for her seat.
( Re re re re spect) Yeah baby whip it to me
( Just a little bit) when you get home now ( Just a little bit)
R-E-S-P-E-C-T find out what it means to me"
At this point the Marauders pointed at Lily and shook their heads, demanding respect!
"R-E-S-P-E-C-T take out the TCP ohhhh (Sock it to me, etc.)"
Then they continued to belt out the words, dancing around like fools for the rest of the song.
"A little respect oh yeah (Just a little bit)
A little respect (Just a little Bit)"
At the ending they jumped into their seats and sat down next to a hysterically laughing Lily.
This was when The Marauders came into control of their own bodies, and noticed just how hard everyone around them was laughing.
"Lily!!" They shouted at her, but she fell out of her seat laughing, and she wasn't the only one, the entire student body that stayed; was red in the face with laughter.
Sirius had the sense to stand up and bow, James, Remus, and Peter followed, bowing at their applauding audience.
(A/N this song was sung by Aretha Franklin)
"Lily! I thought you were over that prank from this morning?!" James said sitting back down next to her.
"I was." She said smiling, and then broke into laughter again. "But, do you remember the Chicken incident?"
"Yeah?"
"I wasn't over that."
James grinned, and the five of them continued to eat, ignoring the looks they got from everyone around them.
Then the much expected detentions came from Professor McGonagall, who actually smiled when she gave them to Lily.
The Marauders grinned at Lily, proud that she had gotten herself a detention, for a good cause.
Little did Lily know that they were already planning pay back time.
*~*~*~*~*
Lily left the Great Hall getting a ton of 'Good Show' and so did the Marauders, not to mention the fact that every girl in school thought they were singing to 'them'. Lily went to the common room, and sat down trying to keep an explosion of giggles from occurring.
'I HAVE to tell Sierra and Jimena!' Lily thought. So Lily raced to her dorm, and wrote them letters, with excruciating detail of that evenings events.
*~*~*~*~*
Lily should have known, and maybe deep down, she did know the consequences, of playing a prank on The Marauders, but she couldn't resist it. Unfortunately, for the Marauders, their prank didn't go as well as they would have liked…
*~*~*~*~*
Lily went down to lunch the next morning (Christmas Eve) in a very good mood, she'd spent the morning studying, as best she could, but the Marauders kept looking at her the entire time, and making her laugh, remembering the night before.
(A/N another song, I just love putting them in there, this song is done by Whitney Houston "I will Always Love you" I have a thing for music that was around when I was either barely born, or not even born, so leave me alone! I am also proud to say I did the lyrics to this next song all by myself!!! Two tries and I had it all! This song actually has meaning to the fic, I'm proud of myself.)
Lily took her seat at the table, quietly eating, when the Marauders came and joined her. They each had the grin on their faces, the mischievous one. Lily was just about to ask them what they were up to, when she felt her self standing up from her seat (luckily not on the table) her voice became magically magnified and she started singing the words very quietly because that's how it starts…
If I, should stay—
Lily started walking along between the isles of tables.
I would only be in your way—
So I'll go---
But I know
I'll think of you, every step of the way---
At this point Lily pointed at everyone; well it was directed at the guys.
And I------will always love you---
Will always love you-------
You--- my darling you
Hm-----
Bitter sweet memories
That is all I'm taking with me—
Lily put her hand over her heart, to be dramatic.
So good bye—please don't cry
At this verse Lily looked directly at James, and seemed to sing towards him. And he knew it.
We both know I'm not what you neeeed---
And I---------------!!!
Will always love you-------------- I will always love you----------
(No lyrics for a while)
I hope—life treats you kind
And I hope you have all you dreamed of---
And I wish you joy- and happiness
But above all this I wish you love---
Lily walked up to James, and smiled at him…
And I----------!!!!!!
Will always love you------------will always love you----will always love you---- etc
I will always love you----
I will always love you---------------------
As she sang that last part she looked away from James, and sang to the school, trying to correct her 'mistake.'
Darling I love you---
Ohhh I'll always love you-----ooo
Lily bowed and took her seat, blushing the color of her hair, and didn't notice her applause; Lily was a very good singer, so it wasn't as funny as it had been the night before. She didn't look at James all through the rest of dinner, not even when McGonagall gave them detentions, Lily was disappointed to hear she would be serving her detentions with them, that very evening.
As soon as Lily finished with lunch she ran up to her dorm, to hide from James, she didn't know what to say to him, it would be quite awkward. She finally decided if they did ask anything, she would say it was the dancing charm.
So Lily spent the day in her dorm studying and finishing her Potions Essay.
*~*~*~*~*
Lily got to detention later then everyone else, which was held in the Great Hall, they were setting up for tomorrow evenings event, which none of them knew what it was. They had to decorate and such things for Christmas, but the weird part was the small plat form that was set up in the center of the room.
Through out the detention Sirius complained about having detention on Christmas Eve, but he was the only one to really talk much, the rest of them just hurried up with everything, wanting to leave.
Finally they were finished and they all rushed up the stairs and went to bed, getting ready for Christmas, the next day…Well all went to bed, but not all fell asleep.
*~*~*~*~*
Lily woke up Christmas morning and noticed that once again, something was a little bit…off. For one thing her finger nails were red and green, Christmas colors. Her bed curtains had holly designs all over them. (A/N ha ha Holly is my name and I got to put it in the story!!)
Lily knew who was responsible for the change in her bedding, but didn't bother to do anything about it…Not just then anyways. Lily got up, ignored her presents at the end of her bed, and went to the bathroom; she passed by a mirror and screamed in horror.
Her hair was its normal color, but with splotches of green all over making it look hideous. Not to mention the "Happy Christmas" 'tattooed' on her forehead.
Lily didn't have to go find the perpetrators, they returned to the scene of the crime. Sirius, James, Remus and Peter entered her room, carrying their own presents and dumped them on the floor of her dorm. Lily glared at them, but they just smiled.
"Ahem, what are you guys doing here?" Lily asked, trying not to let on the she was very angry with them.
"Just came to open presents with you, since you're all alone this year and all." Remus said innocently.
"So how do you four like my new look?" She asked sickeningly sweet.
"Nice." Sirius said, looking her up and down. James and Peter just blushed and did a weird nod.
Remus grinned brightly. "I do love it myself."
"I'm sure James does too." Sirius muttered, and James elbowed him in the stomach, but Lily didn't notice because she was looking at her presents.
Lily and the Marauders didn't get each other anything, but it was expected since Lily had ignored them for a month or so.
They opened presents, and Sirius was more then happy to model his new socks he got from his Great Aunt, but everyone insisted that it was okay if he didn't.
They were easily the ugliest socks Lily had ever laid eyes on. They were bright red and green and sang Christmas carols frequently; did I mention the voice from the socks sounded exactly like Sirius' which is a disaster when trying to carry a tune.
Everyone covered their ears, and took cover when Sirius ignored their pleas and went on ahead and put the socks on. Lily had her eyes and ears covered, and was very shocked when he put the socks on HER!
"Sirius, don't I look like enough of an ornament already?!" Lily shrieked and tried to get away from him, but Remus and Peter caught on and held her down and Sirius hurriedly put the socks on her feet, and they continued to sing horridly.
Unfortunately for Lily, Remus knew a good amount of charms, and was able to cast one that kept the socks on Lily's feet for a few hours.
Lily pouted all morning after that and wouldn't come out of her dorm until she was able to get them off, and the Marauders felt obligated to stay with her and keep her company, or in other words…make her miserable.
Lily spent the next few hours listening to nonsense from them all, except James who was being unusually quiet, Lily had a good guess as to why, but would never voice it.
Lily and The Marauders went down to lunch, and Lily unfortunately still looked like a tree ornament, and the songs were still on her, so the Marauders sensing that she wouldn't want to go in public looking like that, picked her up and carried her, much against Lily's protests.
"Put me down! All four of you! Right now!" Lily cried out. They ignored her and continued to carry her among the four of them, "Watch you hands Sirius!" Lily snapped. Strangely at that comment Lily wasn't the only one to glare.
They arrived in the Great Hall, and Sirius' socks were still singing on Lily's feet. Lily who had still been protesting to be put down, was finally dropped. And she tried to run from the Great Hall, but the four of them pushed her into a seat, and sat on either side of her so she couldn't escape. Lily didn't fail to notice the whispers, most of them from the girls' saying "The three hottest guys in school just carried her to breakfast and she's MAD, I don't believe her!" Lily smiled to herself; it was quite funny if you thought of it THAT way.
Lily ate lunch as quickly as she could which wasn't very fast since it was so much fun, and excused herself, trying to get away, but was only followed by the Marauders. 'What is wrong with them? Can't they take a hint?!' Lily thought aggravated to herself.
So Lily spent her Christmas day smothered in attention by the Marauders, even the very shy Peter. Lily tried many times to escape, but failed. Her hair, eyes and finger nails went back to normal color sometime through out the day, and the socks came off.
Remus challenged Lily to a game of Wizard chess, which she had scarcely played, and ended up losing miserably, even with James' help and he was an expert at the game.
When it was time for dinner Lily remembered that they were suppose to bring money, so Lily went and got all the money she had, and so did the Marauders, not knowing what it was for.
"What do you think Dumbledore has planned?" James asked on their way down to The Great Hall.
"I have no idea." Lily answered him.
"It could be anything knowing him, he loves surprising us." Remus said.
"I hope its more presents, I love presents!" Sirius said, and he strongly reminded Lily of a little boy.
"I doubt that, it might be a performance of some sort, remember yesterday they made us set up that plat form?" Lily said thoughtfully.
"Yeah, that could be it." James agreed.
"What kind of performance is what I'm wondering about." Remus said shaking his head slightly, Lily didn't want to know what he was thinking about; he had a strange look on his face.
"What are you thinking, Moony?" Sirius asked.
"I'm just thinking of other performances of this week." The rest of them all groaned, and Lily blushed crimson.
"Lily, I did love your performance yesterday." James said and Lily playfully punched him in the shoulder.
"It was terrible, I looked like an idiot up there! And unlike you guys, I was all by myself!" Lily scolded them. "You guys had not right to do that either, what I did to you was pay back for turning me into a duck!"
"Half duck." Sirius corrected with a laugh. Lily gave him a death glare.
"I didn't deserve it though-."
"Your right Lils, we're sorry." Remus said trying to stop her from raving on more.
"Yeah, sure you are! Let's get to the Great Hall before I do something you'll regret later, like giving you permanent headaches or a permanent-." Lily didn't get to finish her sentence because they entered the Great Hall, and it looked different.
The platform they had setup the night before was in the center of the room, and there were chairs set up facing it like an audience. Lily was really beginning to get curious other students were already sitting in the chairs, so Lily and the Marauders took their seats, ready to find out what was going on.
(A/N I didn't get this idea from myself, I got it from 'Who wants to buy a Lily Evans?' by Rebecca Padfoot Weasley, read it I thought it was funny! But I changed it around a lot so it has my personal touch to it. Also I was listening to the Scooby Doo theme song when I wrote this, so do forgive me! I'm trying hard to finish this chapter!!)
Everyone got quiet as Dumbledore walked onto the platform, apparently to explain what was going on.
"All right, I'm glad to see so many eager faces to find out what this Grand Event is for tonight. Now some of you may know about the attacks of the Dark Lord." Whispers arose as he said this. "And since there have been so many attacks, we are raising money for the orphans, and families who have lost loved ones, and need some financial help." Lily started to fidget in her seat as he said this part. "So to get those families and children some money and to lighten up the mood around here. I decided to have a charity event, which involves buying some of our wonderful students." Before Dumbledore could say another word, the entire room was buzzing with noise. He finally got everyone quiet. "You don't have to participate if you don't want to, but either way it will be fun to watch." He said this with a familiar twinkle in his eye.
Professor Dumbledore continued to explain the rules: If you buy a person you cannot ask them to do anything 'against school rules' as he had said. If YOU were bought, you had to do whatever they asked, and there would be a charm to placed on you to make sure you followed through. If you were bought you would be theirs until midnight that very night, not very long.
Lily thought it sounded fun, but wasn't sure if she wanted to go through with it herself, and there was no one she wanted to buy…except maybe one messy haired boy, with glasses. But she didn't have enough money to buy him with all the other girls after him.
Dumbledore asked the Divinations teacher to do 'bidding' and asked for the first volunteer. Surprisingly enough the first person who went up, was Carrie, Sirius' girl friend from last year.
She got several bids and was soon bought at 50galleons; no one had bought much money since they didn't know what they would be doing.
The next person was a rather cute Hufflepuff that Lily didn't know much about except he was a fourth year. A little information was given out about each person who went up and Lily found out that he "Enjoys Quidditch, favorite class are Herbology, and has a fondness for muggle popsicles."
They went through a few more people, and Lily failed to notice the looks the Marauders were throwing at her, because Lily was to busy thinking whether or not she should go up there.
'If I go, I could be bought by Snape, and who knows what he'll ask her to do. But it was for a good cause. And she might be bought by some one she knew, and it might be funny.'
In the end Lily found herself volunteering to go up there. The Marauders and several other boys gave cat calls to her.
"Lily Evans is a fifth year Gryffindor Prefect, loves Charms, and hates the color green when it's in her hair." A few people laughed at the last comment. "She loves playing Quidditch but has an extreme fear of bludgers." More laughs, then the bidding began.
"5 galleons!" a fourth year called out. (A/N only boys bet on her.)
"8 galleons!" a small third year called out, Lily grinned at him.
"15 galleons!" a sixth year called out, Lily was beginning to wonder why people she didn't even know were bidding on her.
"20 galleons!" a very hot seventh year called.
"25 galleons!" It was Snape 'yuck!' Lily prayed he didn't bet anymore.
"30 galleons!" James yelled out and seemed to glare at Snape, Lily remembered why James would even think of bidding for her, and tried not to blush.
"35 galleons!" A fifth year from Ravenclaw called, and Lily recognized it as Marvin, and smiled brightly at him, laughing, she knew he was joking, or was just trying to get in on the fun.
"40 galleons!" Snape called out again.
"45 galleons!" Remus called, probably trying to save her.
"50 galleons!" Snape called again, Lily remembered then that Snape had a lot of money and could probably win easily, it just depended on how much he'd brought with him.
"55 galleons!" Sirius called; at this Lily noticed the glares all the girls were giving her.
"60 galleons!" Snape yelled getting frustrated, Lily was becoming the highest paid for person.
"65 galleons!" Peter called weakly, Lily knew that was the most the Marauders had brought, and unless they put their money together Lily was in trouble.
"70 galleons!" Snape bellowed, Lily noticed the Marauders bent over talking about something.
"100 galleons!" Remus yelled out, raising the bid up by thirty, Lily knew they must have put their money together.
"150 galleons!" 'Wow!' Lily thought, that was a ton of money.
"175 galleons!" Remus who seemed to have become the spokes person of the Marauders. Lily noticed everyone was gasping at the amount of money that was getting bided on.
"200 galleons!" Snape said this with a bit of worry; Lily had a feeling that was all he had.
"201 galleons!" James yelled, knowing they had just won.
"Any more takers?" The divinations professor asked. "Going once, going twice, sold to James Potter for 201 galleons!" Lily blushed, not many people noticed that the Marauders had put their money together to get her, but James was the one to 'collect his prize' and also had to do the honors of giving the Professor the money. A lot of girls whined and complained as Lily was pulled off the platform, by James, James however was laughing. Lily was blushing a bright cherry red.
"So, I own you for the evening don't I? Or should I say me and the Marauders do." When James said this Lily let out a loud groan, knowing she was going to have a long night.
"Not going up there yourselves are you?" Lily asked the Marauders when she got back to her seat.
"Hell no! We'd never come out alive!" Sirius said, Lily thought his ego was a bit too high.
Lily smirked at him, "Well, anyways thanks for buying me guys, I thought Snape was going to get me…Imagine what he'd make me do!" Lily and the Marauders shuddered at the thought.
"Lily would you mind scratching my head? It's rather itchy." Sirius asked pointing to his head.
"For your information, since James was the one who 'collected me' I am only forced to do what he tells me to not what you guys say." Sirius looked a little disappointed, but James grinned wickedly.
"Lily scratch my good friend Sirius, head please." James ordered, and Lily did as she was told.
"And I thought I was lucky to have been bought by you guys, Snape seems rather appealing at the moment." Lily said, and the boys looked at her in shock, but Lily didn't correct herself.
"Let's go to the common room guys, and Lily." James said standing up, and Lily not being able to stop herself, walked up to the common room, before the boys were barely out of their seats.
"Let's go get her, James watch what you say to night, or you might end up regretting it!" Sirius said running after Lily who was already at the door.
*~*~*~*~*
(A/N damn I have to get to bed, this chapter is taking me a lot of work, writer's block remembers! This chapter took me two or three nights, so it's a bit confusing in my author notes. So what'd you guys think? This chapter had some interesting stuff in it…Song fics I'm not crazy about a lot of them, but some of them are quite funny. Please review! REVIEW REVIEW!! It doesn't have to be a big one, just say: I read your story! And I could care less; I just like the fact that people have read it! Some interesting stuff to happen next chapter… This chapter wasn't too long was it?? What kind of Chapters do you like? This length is good for me its only 22 pages, with all those author notes and stuff, it doesn't seem tooooo long. So tell me long? Or short chapters?)
*~Sierra~*
A/N I'm getting a bit of writer's block, I'm hoping ideas come to me as I go, I want fifth year to be long, but it's hard when I only have so many ideas that I have planned and I'm having trouble thinking of more, so this chapter might be a bit boring, but I don't know. Plus parts of this…I…Erm…wrote late at night when I was quite hyper. So sorry if it's a bit weird.
*~*~*~*~*
CHAPTER 14
Lily and James both felt a rush of memory come back to them of what had happened, and when they got it all sorted out, they look at each other and blushed at what they had said. When you think you are going to die, sometimes it makes you say things you normally wouldn't have.
"Remember now?" Professor Dumbledore asked with that well known twinkle in his eye.
The two of them nodded a bit shocked to be there. 'What the hell got us back?!' Lily thought, and decided to ask. "Professor, how'd you get us back? What exactly happened?"
"You two, some how slipped off into another world I don't know why, and I don't know how you got back. But I am glad that you are. Please tell me everything that happened while you two were there." Dumbledore ordered, and they started telling him everything and when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING, they wanted to figure it out, and if anybody was going to figure it out. It was Dumbledore.
"Yeah, so I said…that…and then Lily and I woke up here." James said, he and Lily were the same shade of red. They also had to tell him what they found in the books. Dumbledore already knew that James was the heir of Gryffindor.
"Ah, so that's what happened." Was all Dumbledore said, he smiled and then excused himself from the room. Not long after that Lily and James found them selves being attacked by their friends.
"What the hell happened!?" Sirius asked as soon as he got in the room, the others stared at them awaiting the answer.
Lily and James explained for the second time that day what had happened, this time leaving out what they had said to each other, so basically, all their friends got out of it was, that the curse caused them to go into another world, and a scary one at that.
"Lily, you seem to have the worst luck, but I have something to ask you." Jimena said sitting next to her friend. Lily looked at her expectantly. "Sierra and me found looked at one of the titles of the books you guys were reading, and I was wondering if your curse was…deadly." Jimena said softly.
Lily didn't know how to answer this question, she knew that it was likely for her and James to die, but she didn't want to tell her friends that. "No, Jim, its not deadly don't worry." Lily put on her best, fake smile for her friends.
*~*~*~*~*
Lily and James didn't talk about what had happened during the night again. They stopped studying together, and Lily even stopped helping the Marauders with the Animagi potion. She knew they could figure the rest out on their own anyway. Lily and James ignored each other as much as possible. But when they went to sleep at night it was a lot harder to ignore each other.
Although the dreams about Lord Voldemort had ended for Lily a while back, the dreams about her husband's death came back and brought her into sleeplessness. James luckily never came into those nightmares, Lily didn't know why, but she was glad, they were quite personal after all.
One night during the same dream Lily had every night, something different happened.
"….and run!" The words were familiar, but Lily always ran no matter what, leaving her husband to die, but this time someone else was waiting in the room when she got their…James.
"James what are you doing here?" Lily seemed to take over her body for once in the dream; I was able to choose what she said.
James shrugged, he obviously didn't know either.
"James, get out leave now! He's coming!"
"Who? What are you talking about?" James asked.
"Voldemort, right now he just killed my husband, now please get out before he kills you too! I don't want to see you die." Lily was flustered, she didn't know what to do, she prayed this wasn't how it would really happen.
"Your husband?!" James asked confused.
"It's a dream James, now leave!" Lily said with the baby still in her arms, she couldn't see the baby's face, just as she couldn't see her husband's.
"Leave to where?" James asked, 'He's got a point.' Lily thought.
"Out the window!" Instead of James listening to her, he just stood beside her and watched the door. At that moment Voldemort stepped in the room.
Lily knew something was different from this dream then the others, and she didn't know what to do, suddenly James tugged on her hand, and her baby was gone from her arms.
Voldemort didn't seem to notice the two of them standing and watching, he was screaming at Lily as her older self. She covered the crib and wouldn't let Voldemort get to her baby.
Voldemort looked annoyed, and the next thing Lily knew, she saw herself drop to the ground dead, and then he walked towards her baby. Lily tried to run to him, but James held her back. Voldemort said the curse, and there was a great explosion.
*~*~*~*~*
Lily woke up sweating and her was racing. She was taking deep breaths, it was still night time, Lily glanced at her clock, and it was four in the morning. Lily moaned, but didn't want to fall asleep; afraid of what her dreams would take her to, Lily hadn't had a good dream for a long time.
Lily got out of bed and headed down to the common room, fully dressed for school that day. She was surprised to see James sitting by the fire, staring into it, evidently deep in thought. He'd been doing it a lot recently.
She took as seat in the chair next to him, and he didn't even notice. Lily cleared her throat several times before he noticed she was there.
"Oh hi Lily." He said distractedly. Then his brain seemed to process that she actually was there. "Lily! What are you doing up at this time of…morning?"
"Nightmare." She said simply.
"Was I in it?" Lily was a bit taken back at the comment.
"Yes actually, you want to hear about it?" He nodded. "First you have to tell me why you're up so early."
"Nightmare." Lily had a feeling that was his reason, so she told him about the dream, she got half finished and he stopped her, and finished it for her. He had had the same exact one.
"James, I want these dreams to stop, for good. I can't take it anymore!" Lily said getting distressed.
"You do, do you?" James said with his eyes laughing.
"Yes James, of course I want to!" She said getting aggravated.
"Well, I was just thinking that you were beginning to like them!" James said grinning wickedly; Lily gave him a horrified look.
"Jerk." She said and turned away from him.
"It's not my fault you keep dreaming about me-."
"I'm not dreaming about you, I'm having nightmares!" Lily said breathlessly. 'This is hopeless.' She thought.
"Whatever you call it." James grinned again and Lily gave up and went back to her dorm, only to get bored, and come back down. Thankfully James was gone. Lily had brought he Charms book with her, and began to study.
*~*~*~*~*
A few hours later students started to trickle down from their dormitories, to go to breakfast. Vanessa and Catty came down, smiling at Lily, and invited her to join them, so Lily went off to get breakfast with them.
Lily entered the Great Hall, and was shocked to be met by Snape.
"Lily, can I speak to you a moment?" He asked, looking uncomfortable. 'He should be.' Lily thought angrily. She hadn't forgotten what he'd done. Lily chose to ignore him, but he grabbed her arm, and Lily snapped.
"Don't touch me, you pig!" Lily shrieked, and all eyes turned towards her. Snape, smartly left her alone, and Lily went to sit down by Vanessa and Catty. Lucky for Lily there were very few people at breakfast, so it wasn't seen by many. But it was enough to get the point across to Snape to leave Lily alone.
*~*~*~*~*
Christmas was coming soon, and Lily was very…unexcited. She was moping around a lot, once she found at that Sierra, was for the first time, going home for Christmas, Lily was mulling over the idea of going to Mindy's, but decided not to, she just couldn't bare to barge in on someone else's Christmas.
Lily didn't even bother to see who else was staying for Christmas; she knew it was going to be boring with out Sierra. Sierra had to go home because of a funeral for her Aunt, who had sadly been murdered. So Lily wouldn't complain about it while Sierra was around, she didn't want to make her feel bad.
The day everyone was leaving, her room mates were finishing packing, and Lily was talking away to them.
"Yeah, I better get lots of presents to cheer me up, since I'm going to have to be sleeping in here all by myself." Lily pouted, by tried to joke about it.
"Lily, that makes worry, try not to get yourself in trouble." Sierra said while shoving some stray books in her trunk for doing homework.
"Guys, what other trouble can I get myself in?" Lily said trying to put a stop to their constant worrying. They hadn't let her alone since the incident with James.
"Lily, Sierra and I are just worried, something might happen, you're even more vulnerable when no one is around." Jimena said with a bit of edge in her voice.
"I don't need you two to be my Mothers thank you very much… Even if I don't have one." She said quietly. The entire room stopped what they were doing and gave Lily sympathetic looks. "Don't worry about me, you all go home and have a Happy Christmas."
Not long after their conversation, Lily was hugging her friends good bye, and was doing very well at holding back her tears. Soon everyone was gone from her dorm, and Lily was alone.
Lily knew she was going to be very bored over break, so she decided to study with her spare time. So Lily picked up all her homework, and got started that evening.
*~*~*~*~*
It was about 8:00 and until then Lily hadn't gotten any visitors, then out of no where, someone popped up behind her, and snatched away her book.
"SIRIUS, can't you tell when someone is doing homework!?" Lily shrieked at him and jumped up to get her book back, but Sirius was grinning like an idiot, and wouldn't give it back.
"Lily, we need to tell you something." Sirius said still grinning crazily.
"What? Is it THAT important? I was doing my transfiguration homework." Lily pouted, and tried in vain to get the book back once more.
"You were doing your homework on the first night with out your friends?!" Sirius said in mock shock.
"So what do you want to tell me?" Lily said getting impatient.
"I can't tell you here, plus the other Marauders have a say in this too." He said, looking towards the second years that were in the room. With that last thought Sirius grabbed her hand and threw her book on the table and dragged her away.
'Sirius-my book!" Lily squealed.
"It'll be there when we get back don't worry." He said and continued to tug her towards the portrait hole. Lily groaned, and soon herself in the Marauders' favorite hideaway.
James, Remus, and Peter were already there. James avoided looking Lily in the eye. Remus on the other hand went right up to her with a grin the same as Sirius'.
"Okay, please tell me what's going on now!" Lily said frustrated.
"We're ready!" Sirius said.
"With the potion? The Charms?" Lily asked figuring it out.
"Lily we're finished, we're trying it out tonight, and next week's the full moon, so we're hoping to works." Sirius said happily, even James and Peter were grinning, they were obviously proud.
"So, why am I here?" Lily asked putting her hands on her hips.
"Well, Remus thought it would be nice, since you helped us and everything, if you got to see if it worked or not." Sirius said, Sirius was in a real chatty mood. Suddenly Remus elbowed him in the stomach. "Oh, and we kind of need your help on saying the charms part."
"I guess so, when are we trying it?" Lily asked, wanting to leave as soon as possible, to retrieve that book that was in the common room unattended.
"Right now!" Remus said, and it was then for the first time Lily noticed that the potions was brewing in the corner, and they had a long list of the charms they were using, sitting on a table.
Lily took a deep breath. "Okay let's get started."
The five of them worked busily for the first hour making preparations, sadly (a/n not!) Peter couldn't help much. The next hour was spent taking the potions, and it involved correct timing. Then for the next thirty minutes, the three boys were chanting the charms, and it was quite a tongue twister, and was long, so they had to memorize it first, one mess up, and it would, and did go wrong.
Peter messed up pronouncing an 'a' by instead of saying it like in the word 'way' had said it like in the word 'start'. When he said that, he ended up passing out, and it happened quite a few times before he got it right.
James was the first to get it completed, by oddly enough, nothing happened, he seemed to glow for a moment, then it stopped. The same thing happened to Sirius not long after, and a half an hour after him Peter did too.
"Now what?" Peter asked, once they were finished, they all looked at each other not knowing what to do.
"This is the part where you guys try and turn into your animal, I guess." Lily told them, a little annoyed that they hadn't thought past this step. James glared at her when she said this, but she ignored him, like always.
"Guys, you remember, just do what the book said." Remus told them encouragingly. Lily closed her eyes when she saw James start to glow brightly and he started screaming in pain. Remus was a quick thinker and put a silencing charm on the room.
Lily was too afraid to open her eyes, then the same screaming came from Sirius, and soon Peter, it was a horrible sickening sound, and Lily covered her ears. (A/N why couldn't have Peter died!?)
The next thing Lily knew Remus was laughing and Lily found herself getting pounced on by a big shaggy dog, that was quite adorable, but Lily didn't say this aloud.
"Get off me, oh I bet your Sirius!" Lily said with a groan, as the big dog got off her. With a little pop Sirius was looking at her in his normal body.
James was grinning happily, but he had already changed back to human form so she didn't find out what he was, then Lily saw an ugly fat rat scurry across the floor.
"Ack! Peter you're a rat!" Lily squealed and jumped into Remus' arms.
Peter popped into his regular self scowling. "I can't believe I'm a damn rat." He muttered.
"Suits you perfectly Peter dear." Sirius said in a high voice.
"James, do show me what you turn into." Lily said stepping away from Remus, blushing a bit; James glared again, but turned into a very beautiful stag. Lily gaped at him, she went up to him and patted him on the nose, and recognized his eyes were the same chocolate brown they always were. "James, you are one good lookin' stag!" Lily said laughing, and immediately James reappeared as himself, grinning from ear to ear.
"Oh, you really think so?" He asked.
"No, I was just being polite, Sirius though he was an adorable dog." Sirius faked a blush.
"Well, that was…awesome!" James said.
"Yes it was amazing, now I need to go before…I get my book stolen since Sirius made me leave it in the common room." Lily said, and made a run for the door. Remus stopped her by standing in front of her.
"Lily, I get the feeling you've been ignoring us for relatively long time now." He said, the other boys nodded in agreement. "Sierra and Jimena talk to us more then you do, and they…have ex relationships with some of us." Remus said and his eyes flickered to James and Sirius (the guilty ones).
"I've just been busy is all you know, studying, prefect responsibilities, homework, more studying, and keeping tabs on all Professors that might be death eaters." Lily lied; she hadn't exactly told anyone why she had just stopped talking to them.
"Lily, you study too much, I think you should lighten up a bit with the study load." Sirius said, in a serious tone.
"I can't stop studying, I want to be head girl, so I have to keep up with my work, and try to learn whatever I can that might come in useful…somewhere." Lily stuttered a bit since she made it up as she went along. "You never know what could happen at Hogwarts. Now please let me go back." Lily said giving Remus a push.
Remus showed no sign of giving in "Moony, let her go." James spoke up, she knew why too, but she didn't think of it, and just took off to get away from them, and tried to run away from the quilt.
*~*~*~*~*
(A/N same place, Lily's off in la la land for now, sorry!)
"James, do you know something that you would like to share with the rest of the class?" Sirius asked; it came out as a joke, but it was a real question.
"Nothing important guys don't worry about it." James shrugged off the question. The rest of them sensed that they weren't going to get any more out of him, and let it go.
"I think Lily needs to be cheered up, or at least have her mind taken off all that studying!" Remus muttered.
"I have an idea for that." Sirius said grinning.
"Pranks?" James asked, liking the idea.
"Of course, what else goes through Sirius' mind?" Remus asked.
"So do I get a nick name now?" Sirius asked in a child like way, thus bringing on Moony, Padfoot, Prongs, and Wormtail, The Marauders.
*~*~*~*~*
Lily picked up her book and homework parchment and went up to her dorm; it was getting late so she went on a head and went to bed.
Lily lay awake, wishing she could tell her friends what was going on between her and James. Truly nothing was going on, but something almost had…But it never could, but it was tearing Lily up inside, she missed having James as her friend, but she didn't want to risk it, so she forced herself to stay away from him. Lily could never allow herself to get close to him, or any other man for that matter, because then she might end up falling in love with them, and that was a serious problem.
*~*~*~*~*
Lily woke up and found that instead of normal toes, today she had webbed feet, and that wasn't normal. She looked at her fingers and noticed that they too were webbed, she the noticed that she was sporting a wonderful beak. 'They turned me into a DUCK!!' Lily wanted to scream, but decided better of it.
Lily hoped to God she could talk normal, she couldn't. Lily's temper got the better of her. She put on her uniform, and snuck over to the boys' dormitories, she was very happy that her nightmare had woken her up; for once something useful came out if it. This way she could sneak over there and not be seen…Looking like a duck.
She opened the Marauders' dorm door, and came in squawking like a duck. It had the effect that she wanted. Four very tired looking boys appeared from behind their bed curtains, she noted that James blushed a bit…he wasn't wearing a shirt from her point of view, he was very good looking with out one too. Lily mentally smacked herself for thinking like that.
Remus came up to her trying not to laugh, "What is it that you need, Miss Quackers?" That sent the rest of them into laughter, but Lily only glared.
"Change me back!" She tried to say but it came out like "Quack, Quack, Quack!" This only made them laugh harder.
"Lily, what did you say? I couldn't understand you!" Sirius said laughing so hard that he fell to the floor when he tried to get up.
"Lily, you look like a really cute duck, seriously, it suits you!" Remus said turning purple from laughter.
Lily let out a scream that sounded more like an incessant squawk. Lily didn't shut up, until they finally told her it would wear off in a few hours, when they told her that she slapped James in the face with her webbed hand, since she knew it was him who came up with it, since she'd been there when he found out about it.
After that Lily stomped off to her dorm, in a very bad mood, or so the Marauders thought, truthfully, she was quite happy they had done it. It was quite funny if you thought about it happening to someone else, and it also gave her a reason to prank them.
Lily immediately went to her Charms book, which had information about the type of Charm she planned on putting on the renowned Marauders.
It looked easy enough, she prayed it would work.
Then Lily turned to a different page in the book, and found a different spell that would make it all worth while. Then the last part would be a little bit harder, but she was sure her wonderful 'Wizard Radio' would take care of it, since she owned the song, even if it was muggle. James, of course would be getting special treatment.
Smiling with satisfaction, Lily headed down to breakfast, since her beak had faded away, and her fingers and toes were no longer webbed together.
(A/N what is little Lily planning!? I know and it's making me laugh, I hope I can get it out correctly in words!)
*~*~*~*~*
Once at breakfast, Dumbledore announced that there would be a special event on Christmas Day that would be quite enjoyable, and that students should bring their money. Lily didn't think much about it, but decided to try and remember to bring money to the Christmas Feast.
All day long Lily pretended to be over the entire 'duck incident'. She told the Marauders they were obsesses with poultry, and left it at that.
Finally it was time for dinner, and Lily's plan was coming into action, she grabbed 'Wizard Radio' and her tape with the song that she was transferring the music from.
(A/N just as I started to type this part I got the serious *achoo* sneezes, so forgive me if I make typos from when I sneezzzed. *oops*)
Lily got to the Great Hall and was pleased to see that it was full of students, many had stayed home that year. Probably because so many of them had lost their parents to Voldemort.
She made sure to sit near the Marauders, and half way through dinner she uttered some words, turned on some back ground music and the Marauders were standing on the table doing some very interesting dances, to wonderful music…
James was the obvious lead singer, started belting out the first lines…
The echoes were done by Sirius, Remus, and Peter.
(A/N some of it's a bit off, I didn't type the lyrics so leave me alone! PLUS I know this is an 80's song but who cares? 'RESPECT')
"What you want (hooo) baby I got it
What you need (hooo) you know I got it"
James started walking along the table pointing at people and smiling cheekily, but his eyes said something different, he was terrified.
"(Hooo) all I'm asking (hooo) is for a little respect
(Just a little bit) when you come home
(Just a little bit) hey baby (Just little bit)
When you come home (Just a Little Bit) Mister"
Lily saw the shock on their faces when they had to say Mister.
Right behind James, the rest of the Marauders were butt bumping and doing disco moves. And swinging their hips around.
"I ain't gonna do you wrong while you're gone
I ain't gonna do you wrong 'cause I don't wanna
All I'm asking is for a little respect when you come home"
At this point James was jumping up and down, and smiling at all the girls, making them blush. Not to mention, every time he sang 'baby' he would shake is butt around, getting himself quite a few cat calls from his 'audience'.
"(Just a Little Bit) Baby (Just a little bit)
When you come home (Just a little Bit) Yeah
I'm about to give you all my money
And all I'm asking in return honey"
James at this point, took out what money he had and flung it into the audience, Lily hadn't planned that.
"Is to give me my profits when you get home
(Justa Justa Justa) Yeah baby when you get home"
At this verse the Marauders pretended to sing into microphones, and continued to shake their butts, and skip around the table.
"(Just a little Bit ) Yeah ( Just a little bit )"
Then James came over and did something Lily didn't expect, he pulled her up on the table, much to her horror, and sang the next line to her, making her turn beet red, and James couldn't control it…or could he?
"Hooo your kisses sweeter than honey and guess what so is my money
All I want you to do for me is give it to me when you get home
James and the Marauders continued to swing around in each other's arms. Lily made a dash for her seat.
( Re re re re spect) Yeah baby whip it to me
( Just a little bit) when you get home now ( Just a little bit)
R-E-S-P-E-C-T find out what it means to me"
At this point the Marauders pointed at Lily and shook their heads, demanding respect!
"R-E-S-P-E-C-T take out the TCP ohhhh (Sock it to me, etc.)"
Then they continued to belt out the words, dancing around like fools for the rest of the song.
"A little respect oh yeah (Just a little bit)
A little respect (Just a little Bit)"
At the ending they jumped into their seats and sat down next to a hysterically laughing Lily.
This was when The Marauders came into control of their own bodies, and noticed just how hard everyone around them was laughing.
"Lily!!" They shouted at her, but she fell out of her seat laughing, and she wasn't the only one, the entire student body that stayed; was red in the face with laughter.
Sirius had the sense to stand up and bow, James, Remus, and Peter followed, bowing at their applauding audience.
(A/N this song was sung by Aretha Franklin)
"Lily! I thought you were over that prank from this morning?!" James said sitting back down next to her.
"I was." She said smiling, and then broke into laughter again. "But, do you remember the Chicken incident?"
"Yeah?"
"I wasn't over that."
James grinned, and the five of them continued to eat, ignoring the looks they got from everyone around them.
Then the much expected detentions came from Professor McGonagall, who actually smiled when she gave them to Lily.
The Marauders grinned at Lily, proud that she had gotten herself a detention, for a good cause.
Little did Lily know that they were already planning pay back time.
*~*~*~*~*
Lily left the Great Hall getting a ton of 'Good Show' and so did the Marauders, not to mention the fact that every girl in school thought they were singing to 'them'. Lily went to the common room, and sat down trying to keep an explosion of giggles from occurring.
'I HAVE to tell Sierra and Jimena!' Lily thought. So Lily raced to her dorm, and wrote them letters, with excruciating detail of that evenings events.
*~*~*~*~*
Lily should have known, and maybe deep down, she did know the consequences, of playing a prank on The Marauders, but she couldn't resist it. Unfortunately, for the Marauders, their prank didn't go as well as they would have liked…
*~*~*~*~*
Lily went down to lunch the next morning (Christmas Eve) in a very good mood, she'd spent the morning studying, as best she could, but the Marauders kept looking at her the entire time, and making her laugh, remembering the night before.
(A/N another song, I just love putting them in there, this song is done by Whitney Houston "I will Always Love you" I have a thing for music that was around when I was either barely born, or not even born, so leave me alone! I am also proud to say I did the lyrics to this next song all by myself!!! Two tries and I had it all! This song actually has meaning to the fic, I'm proud of myself.)
Lily took her seat at the table, quietly eating, when the Marauders came and joined her. They each had the grin on their faces, the mischievous one. Lily was just about to ask them what they were up to, when she felt her self standing up from her seat (luckily not on the table) her voice became magically magnified and she started singing the words very quietly because that's how it starts…
If I, should stay—
Lily started walking along between the isles of tables.
I would only be in your way—
So I'll go---
But I know
I'll think of you, every step of the way---
At this point Lily pointed at everyone; well it was directed at the guys.
And I------will always love you---
Will always love you-------
You--- my darling you
Hm-----
Bitter sweet memories
That is all I'm taking with me—
Lily put her hand over her heart, to be dramatic.
So good bye—please don't cry
At this verse Lily looked directly at James, and seemed to sing towards him. And he knew it.
We both know I'm not what you neeeed---
And I---------------!!!
Will always love you-------------- I will always love you----------
(No lyrics for a while)
I hope—life treats you kind
And I hope you have all you dreamed of---
And I wish you joy- and happiness
But above all this I wish you love---
Lily walked up to James, and smiled at him…
And I----------!!!!!!
Will always love you------------will always love you----will always love you---- etc
I will always love you----
I will always love you---------------------
As she sang that last part she looked away from James, and sang to the school, trying to correct her 'mistake.'
Darling I love you---
Ohhh I'll always love you-----ooo
Lily bowed and took her seat, blushing the color of her hair, and didn't notice her applause; Lily was a very good singer, so it wasn't as funny as it had been the night before. She didn't look at James all through the rest of dinner, not even when McGonagall gave them detentions, Lily was disappointed to hear she would be serving her detentions with them, that very evening.
As soon as Lily finished with lunch she ran up to her dorm, to hide from James, she didn't know what to say to him, it would be quite awkward. She finally decided if they did ask anything, she would say it was the dancing charm.
So Lily spent the day in her dorm studying and finishing her Potions Essay.
*~*~*~*~*
Lily got to detention later then everyone else, which was held in the Great Hall, they were setting up for tomorrow evenings event, which none of them knew what it was. They had to decorate and such things for Christmas, but the weird part was the small plat form that was set up in the center of the room.
Through out the detention Sirius complained about having detention on Christmas Eve, but he was the only one to really talk much, the rest of them just hurried up with everything, wanting to leave.
Finally they were finished and they all rushed up the stairs and went to bed, getting ready for Christmas, the next day…Well all went to bed, but not all fell asleep.
*~*~*~*~*
Lily woke up Christmas morning and noticed that once again, something was a little bit…off. For one thing her finger nails were red and green, Christmas colors. Her bed curtains had holly designs all over them. (A/N ha ha Holly is my name and I got to put it in the story!!)
Lily knew who was responsible for the change in her bedding, but didn't bother to do anything about it…Not just then anyways. Lily got up, ignored her presents at the end of her bed, and went to the bathroom; she passed by a mirror and screamed in horror.
Her hair was its normal color, but with splotches of green all over making it look hideous. Not to mention the "Happy Christmas" 'tattooed' on her forehead.
Lily didn't have to go find the perpetrators, they returned to the scene of the crime. Sirius, James, Remus and Peter entered her room, carrying their own presents and dumped them on the floor of her dorm. Lily glared at them, but they just smiled.
"Ahem, what are you guys doing here?" Lily asked, trying not to let on the she was very angry with them.
"Just came to open presents with you, since you're all alone this year and all." Remus said innocently.
"So how do you four like my new look?" She asked sickeningly sweet.
"Nice." Sirius said, looking her up and down. James and Peter just blushed and did a weird nod.
Remus grinned brightly. "I do love it myself."
"I'm sure James does too." Sirius muttered, and James elbowed him in the stomach, but Lily didn't notice because she was looking at her presents.
Lily and the Marauders didn't get each other anything, but it was expected since Lily had ignored them for a month or so.
They opened presents, and Sirius was more then happy to model his new socks he got from his Great Aunt, but everyone insisted that it was okay if he didn't.
They were easily the ugliest socks Lily had ever laid eyes on. They were bright red and green and sang Christmas carols frequently; did I mention the voice from the socks sounded exactly like Sirius' which is a disaster when trying to carry a tune.
Everyone covered their ears, and took cover when Sirius ignored their pleas and went on ahead and put the socks on. Lily had her eyes and ears covered, and was very shocked when he put the socks on HER!
"Sirius, don't I look like enough of an ornament already?!" Lily shrieked and tried to get away from him, but Remus and Peter caught on and held her down and Sirius hurriedly put the socks on her feet, and they continued to sing horridly.
Unfortunately for Lily, Remus knew a good amount of charms, and was able to cast one that kept the socks on Lily's feet for a few hours.
Lily pouted all morning after that and wouldn't come out of her dorm until she was able to get them off, and the Marauders felt obligated to stay with her and keep her company, or in other words…make her miserable.
Lily spent the next few hours listening to nonsense from them all, except James who was being unusually quiet, Lily had a good guess as to why, but would never voice it.
Lily and The Marauders went down to lunch, and Lily unfortunately still looked like a tree ornament, and the songs were still on her, so the Marauders sensing that she wouldn't want to go in public looking like that, picked her up and carried her, much against Lily's protests.
"Put me down! All four of you! Right now!" Lily cried out. They ignored her and continued to carry her among the four of them, "Watch you hands Sirius!" Lily snapped. Strangely at that comment Lily wasn't the only one to glare.
They arrived in the Great Hall, and Sirius' socks were still singing on Lily's feet. Lily who had still been protesting to be put down, was finally dropped. And she tried to run from the Great Hall, but the four of them pushed her into a seat, and sat on either side of her so she couldn't escape. Lily didn't fail to notice the whispers, most of them from the girls' saying "The three hottest guys in school just carried her to breakfast and she's MAD, I don't believe her!" Lily smiled to herself; it was quite funny if you thought of it THAT way.
Lily ate lunch as quickly as she could which wasn't very fast since it was so much fun, and excused herself, trying to get away, but was only followed by the Marauders. 'What is wrong with them? Can't they take a hint?!' Lily thought aggravated to herself.
So Lily spent her Christmas day smothered in attention by the Marauders, even the very shy Peter. Lily tried many times to escape, but failed. Her hair, eyes and finger nails went back to normal color sometime through out the day, and the socks came off.
Remus challenged Lily to a game of Wizard chess, which she had scarcely played, and ended up losing miserably, even with James' help and he was an expert at the game.
When it was time for dinner Lily remembered that they were suppose to bring money, so Lily went and got all the money she had, and so did the Marauders, not knowing what it was for.
"What do you think Dumbledore has planned?" James asked on their way down to The Great Hall.
"I have no idea." Lily answered him.
"It could be anything knowing him, he loves surprising us." Remus said.
"I hope its more presents, I love presents!" Sirius said, and he strongly reminded Lily of a little boy.
"I doubt that, it might be a performance of some sort, remember yesterday they made us set up that plat form?" Lily said thoughtfully.
"Yeah, that could be it." James agreed.
"What kind of performance is what I'm wondering about." Remus said shaking his head slightly, Lily didn't want to know what he was thinking about; he had a strange look on his face.
"What are you thinking, Moony?" Sirius asked.
"I'm just thinking of other performances of this week." The rest of them all groaned, and Lily blushed crimson.
"Lily, I did love your performance yesterday." James said and Lily playfully punched him in the shoulder.
"It was terrible, I looked like an idiot up there! And unlike you guys, I was all by myself!" Lily scolded them. "You guys had not right to do that either, what I did to you was pay back for turning me into a duck!"
"Half duck." Sirius corrected with a laugh. Lily gave him a death glare.
"I didn't deserve it though-."
"Your right Lils, we're sorry." Remus said trying to stop her from raving on more.
"Yeah, sure you are! Let's get to the Great Hall before I do something you'll regret later, like giving you permanent headaches or a permanent-." Lily didn't get to finish her sentence because they entered the Great Hall, and it looked different.
The platform they had setup the night before was in the center of the room, and there were chairs set up facing it like an audience. Lily was really beginning to get curious other students were already sitting in the chairs, so Lily and the Marauders took their seats, ready to find out what was going on.
(A/N I didn't get this idea from myself, I got it from 'Who wants to buy a Lily Evans?' by Rebecca Padfoot Weasley, read it I thought it was funny! But I changed it around a lot so it has my personal touch to it. Also I was listening to the Scooby Doo theme song when I wrote this, so do forgive me! I'm trying hard to finish this chapter!!)
Everyone got quiet as Dumbledore walked onto the platform, apparently to explain what was going on.
"All right, I'm glad to see so many eager faces to find out what this Grand Event is for tonight. Now some of you may know about the attacks of the Dark Lord." Whispers arose as he said this. "And since there have been so many attacks, we are raising money for the orphans, and families who have lost loved ones, and need some financial help." Lily started to fidget in her seat as he said this part. "So to get those families and children some money and to lighten up the mood around here. I decided to have a charity event, which involves buying some of our wonderful students." Before Dumbledore could say another word, the entire room was buzzing with noise. He finally got everyone quiet. "You don't have to participate if you don't want to, but either way it will be fun to watch." He said this with a familiar twinkle in his eye.
Professor Dumbledore continued to explain the rules: If you buy a person you cannot ask them to do anything 'against school rules' as he had said. If YOU were bought, you had to do whatever they asked, and there would be a charm to placed on you to make sure you followed through. If you were bought you would be theirs until midnight that very night, not very long.
Lily thought it sounded fun, but wasn't sure if she wanted to go through with it herself, and there was no one she wanted to buy…except maybe one messy haired boy, with glasses. But she didn't have enough money to buy him with all the other girls after him.
Dumbledore asked the Divinations teacher to do 'bidding' and asked for the first volunteer. Surprisingly enough the first person who went up, was Carrie, Sirius' girl friend from last year.
She got several bids and was soon bought at 50galleons; no one had bought much money since they didn't know what they would be doing.
The next person was a rather cute Hufflepuff that Lily didn't know much about except he was a fourth year. A little information was given out about each person who went up and Lily found out that he "Enjoys Quidditch, favorite class are Herbology, and has a fondness for muggle popsicles."
They went through a few more people, and Lily failed to notice the looks the Marauders were throwing at her, because Lily was to busy thinking whether or not she should go up there.
'If I go, I could be bought by Snape, and who knows what he'll ask her to do. But it was for a good cause. And she might be bought by some one she knew, and it might be funny.'
In the end Lily found herself volunteering to go up there. The Marauders and several other boys gave cat calls to her.
"Lily Evans is a fifth year Gryffindor Prefect, loves Charms, and hates the color green when it's in her hair." A few people laughed at the last comment. "She loves playing Quidditch but has an extreme fear of bludgers." More laughs, then the bidding began.
"5 galleons!" a fourth year called out. (A/N only boys bet on her.)
"8 galleons!" a small third year called out, Lily grinned at him.
"15 galleons!" a sixth year called out, Lily was beginning to wonder why people she didn't even know were bidding on her.
"20 galleons!" a very hot seventh year called.
"25 galleons!" It was Snape 'yuck!' Lily prayed he didn't bet anymore.
"30 galleons!" James yelled out and seemed to glare at Snape, Lily remembered why James would even think of bidding for her, and tried not to blush.
"35 galleons!" A fifth year from Ravenclaw called, and Lily recognized it as Marvin, and smiled brightly at him, laughing, she knew he was joking, or was just trying to get in on the fun.
"40 galleons!" Snape called out again.
"45 galleons!" Remus called, probably trying to save her.
"50 galleons!" Snape called again, Lily remembered then that Snape had a lot of money and could probably win easily, it just depended on how much he'd brought with him.
"55 galleons!" Sirius called; at this Lily noticed the glares all the girls were giving her.
"60 galleons!" Snape yelled getting frustrated, Lily was becoming the highest paid for person.
"65 galleons!" Peter called weakly, Lily knew that was the most the Marauders had brought, and unless they put their money together Lily was in trouble.
"70 galleons!" Snape bellowed, Lily noticed the Marauders bent over talking about something.
"100 galleons!" Remus yelled out, raising the bid up by thirty, Lily knew they must have put their money together.
"150 galleons!" 'Wow!' Lily thought, that was a ton of money.
"175 galleons!" Remus who seemed to have become the spokes person of the Marauders. Lily noticed everyone was gasping at the amount of money that was getting bided on.
"200 galleons!" Snape said this with a bit of worry; Lily had a feeling that was all he had.
"201 galleons!" James yelled, knowing they had just won.
"Any more takers?" The divinations professor asked. "Going once, going twice, sold to James Potter for 201 galleons!" Lily blushed, not many people noticed that the Marauders had put their money together to get her, but James was the one to 'collect his prize' and also had to do the honors of giving the Professor the money. A lot of girls whined and complained as Lily was pulled off the platform, by James, James however was laughing. Lily was blushing a bright cherry red.
"So, I own you for the evening don't I? Or should I say me and the Marauders do." When James said this Lily let out a loud groan, knowing she was going to have a long night.
"Not going up there yourselves are you?" Lily asked the Marauders when she got back to her seat.
"Hell no! We'd never come out alive!" Sirius said, Lily thought his ego was a bit too high.
Lily smirked at him, "Well, anyways thanks for buying me guys, I thought Snape was going to get me…Imagine what he'd make me do!" Lily and the Marauders shuddered at the thought.
"Lily would you mind scratching my head? It's rather itchy." Sirius asked pointing to his head.
"For your information, since James was the one who 'collected me' I am only forced to do what he tells me to not what you guys say." Sirius looked a little disappointed, but James grinned wickedly.
"Lily scratch my good friend Sirius, head please." James ordered, and Lily did as she was told.
"And I thought I was lucky to have been bought by you guys, Snape seems rather appealing at the moment." Lily said, and the boys looked at her in shock, but Lily didn't correct herself.
"Let's go to the common room guys, and Lily." James said standing up, and Lily not being able to stop herself, walked up to the common room, before the boys were barely out of their seats.
"Let's go get her, James watch what you say to night, or you might end up regretting it!" Sirius said running after Lily who was already at the door.
*~*~*~*~*
(A/N damn I have to get to bed, this chapter is taking me a lot of work, writer's block remembers! This chapter took me two or three nights, so it's a bit confusing in my author notes. So what'd you guys think? This chapter had some interesting stuff in it…Song fics I'm not crazy about a lot of them, but some of them are quite funny. Please review! REVIEW REVIEW!! It doesn't have to be a big one, just say: I read your story! And I could care less; I just like the fact that people have read it! Some interesting stuff to happen next chapter… This chapter wasn't too long was it?? What kind of Chapters do you like? This length is good for me its only 22 pages, with all those author notes and stuff, it doesn't seem tooooo long. So tell me long? Or short chapters?)
*~Sierra~*