Why Love Potions Are Bad
Chapter Two
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Lily closed her eyes, set her jaw, and balled her hands into fists. "Sirius," she said calmly, but James cut her off.
"Sirius! What the bloody hell did you do!?!?! I'm going to -"
"Kick your bloody ass!" finished Remus, Peter also nodding. Sirius looked nervous.
"Why does everyone always blame me?!?! I'm innocent!" cried Sirius.
Everyone stared at him, eyebrows raised.
Sirius sighed. "Okay, I admit it! The jig is up! I did it! Don't kill me, Lil!" Sirius threw his arms over his head in a protective fashion.
"Aha!" snapped Lily. "I knew it!"
Snape was still carrying on. "Lily! Lily, oh Lily my love!" He started toward the Gryffindor table, oblivious to everyone's stares.
"Get me out of here," whispered Lily, through clenched teeth, before doing what all girls would have done in her situation.
She fainted dead away in James' arms.
-
Under the Invisibility Cloak with her, James and Remus carried Lily out of the Great Hall. Everyone wondered where they'd gone, so Peter and Sirius made some excuses - "Ah, Lily went to help them with Magical Creatures homework," before the two of them snuck out.
"I can't believe you did that to Lily," said Peter, shaking his head. "I honestly can't believe you did that."
Sirius hung his own head, studying the floor intently. "I didn't know it'd be that strong."
"But still!"
"Oh, c'mon, Peter, you've helped me pull dozens of pranks on other innocent people," said Sirius, shrugging. "How is this any different?"
"Because....because," Peter stuttered, "It's LILY! Lily's like a sister to us, and has been for years! You JUST DON'T pull pranks on her!"
Meanwhile, up at Gryffindor Tower, Remus and Lily lay down an unconcious Lily on the empty common room's couch.
James glanced at her, brushing a stray hair out of her face. "She's cute like this."
Remus rolled his eyes. "You'd probably say she was cute if she had just woken up in the morning at six a.m."
"Depends on what we'd done the night before," said James, his mind on what all teenage boys' minds are on, and a grin on his face. Then he sobered. "Do you know a charm that'll wake her up?"
Remus shook his head. "I used to...but I've forgotten. I guess we could do it the Muggle way...."
"What's that?"
"Ice water." Remus conjured a bucket full of cold water. "Will she kill us or thank us?"
"Who knows," said James, shrugging. "Let me guess....I do honors."
Remus nodded, handing him the conjured bucket. "What, do you think I'M dumb enough to dump ice water on Lily? You're the only one who can get away with that. Or at least the only one she wouldn't kill."
James took the bucket, shutting his eyes tight. "Don't kill me, Lil," he murmurred, before dumping its' contents on the red-haired thirteen-year old's head.
"Arrrrrrghhh!" Lily screamed, her green eyes popping open. "What the....James? Remus?" She blushed, realizing that her robes were sticking very close to her frame. "What the heck did you do that for?!"
"James wanted to see what you looked like with your robes hanging that close to you," said Remus mildly. James shot him a death glare, so he hurriedly added, "Actually, you fainted, and we forgot the charm that's supposed to wake you up, so we did ice water instead."
Lily shivered, folding her arms over her front so the boys couldn't see anything. "Well, I suppose I should thank you for not taking me to Madam Pomfrey, but right now, I'm freezing. It's the dead of winter and I just had water d - dumped on m -me!" Her teeth began to chatter, so James threw his cloak over her and guided her up the stairs to the girls' dorms. "And it's ENNERVATE!" she yelled as they dissappeared from sight.
Remus, still sitting in the common room, shook his head. "Yep. They'll end up getting married. I can tell."
"Who'll get married?" squeaked Peter, tumbling into the common room, Sirius close behind him.
Remus glared at Sirius. "Just talking to myself; don't worry about it. Sirius, I hope you know of a good reversal spell, or James and Lily both will spit fire at you."
Sirius sighed. "It was only a joke!"
"BE that as it may," snapped Remus, "Let's skive off of Magical Creatures -"
"But....Remus! If I skip one more class, Dumbledore will expell me!"
"I don't care. We're going to the library to find a counter spell, or James will have a death sentence on your head."
So, while Lily was drying off and James was - well - somewhere, Remus, Peter, and Sirius were in the library, looking for a countercurse.
"Wait...." said Peter, shutting his book. "Didn't Professor Abbot say that a potion could make a man love a woman for LIFE?"
Remus' and Sirius' mouths dropped. "No, no, no...." groaned Sirius. "That must mean that there's no counterspell or potion, right?"
"It would appear so," said Remus, sighing, and slamming his book shut. "I haven't found anything in here. I guess it'll just have to wear off."
Sirius let his head drop to rest on the book he'd been reading - Counter-Curses for Everyday Problems. "What if it doesn't wear off? Then this is the end. James and Lily are going to kill me."
"It would appear so," said Peter. "Buh-bye."
"See you in the afterlife," said Remus, picking up the books to put them back on the shelf.
-
After Lily changed into drier clothes, she and James went to Magical Creatures.
"Where are the rest of the guys?" asked Paralee, meeting up with them in the middle of the front lawn. "The last I saw them, they headed out after you guys."
"I don't know," said James, as Lily murmurred, "I don't give a crap at where Sirius is."
"Who would?" asked Joelle, as Sibyl Trelawney, a fourth year, came running toward them. "Oh no. Look out for the four-eyed fruitcake."
"Isn' tha' just great. She predicted me death las' week," said Sarah-Anne, glaring in the girl's direction. "She's defn'ly batty."
"Beware!" cried Sibyl. "There's a huge blizzard coming! Run for cover! Run for shelter before it reaches us! HURRY!" Arms flailing, she ran in the castle and slammed the door.
The gang all looked at each other, and immediately cracked up laughing. "I think that - she's - gone from fruity - to something worse!" Paralee choked out, her face red with laughter.
"I agree! She's been partying with Professor -" A gust of wind cut Lily off. "Uhoh. Don't tell me this is one of Sibyl's real predictions."
"Nah," said James. White flakes began to drift down. "So it's a few snow flakes. Like it's anything to worry about!"
There was another howl of the wind, and snow began falling so thickly, they could barely see each other, much less the castle.
"Nothing to worry about, right?" Lily yelled over the wind. "No wonder you're horrible at Divination, James!"
"Stop bickerin'!" Sarah-Anne shouted. "This isn' th' time to be discussing Divination! How in th' name o' Queen Mab are we going to find the castle in this?" She thought for a moment. "Link arms! We need ta stay together. Go ten steps left."
"Left? Why left? Why not right?"
"PARALEE, JUST DO IT!"
"Fine, fine, I'm overruled...hey, what's that glow?"
A circle of golden light was making it's way towards them.
"Angels?" asked Sarah-Anne, stopping dead in her tracks and causing everyone to stumble. "Blimey, we aren't goin' "home", are we?"
"Lily! Lily, dear, wherever art thou?" came a voice from the light. "I'll save you!"
"Unless Snape has d-died and become an angel, no, we aren't g-going "home" just yet." Lily groaned, her teeth beginning to chatter. "We might as well ask him for h-help, you know. It's better than freezing to d-death out here because we can't f-find the castle."
"You realize that you'll have to deal with h-him," said James warningly.
"I'll talk to Dumbledore. Surely h-he can come up with a solution...oi, Snape! Over here!"
"Coming, my dear, I'm coming!"
Sarah-Anne, Joelle, Paralee, and James all collectively groaned. "Well, exc-c-cuse me!" Lily retorted. "It's n-not as if I want to be called "dear"! By him, anyways!"
"Then b-b-by who?" asked Joelle.
"I'd r-rather not say!"
"Who?"
"PARALEE, ON TH' NAME O' MERLIN, SHE'D RATHER NOT SAY!"
Snape's sillhouette became distinguishable. "Lily dearest, I didn't know you had these creeps with you." He swept his wand-light over the group. "Come along, sweets, and these infedels can find their own way."
"Oh no, they can't," snapped Lily. "We're all going back, assuming that you still know the way. And let's g-go, I'm c-cold!"
"Aren't we all," muttered James. Snape turned to him.
"What was that, Potter? Mocking the lady?" Snape's eyes narrowed.
"SNAPE! The CASTLE!" yelled Lily. "We're FREEZING TO DEATH!"
Snape's mood immediately turned when he looked upon Lily. "Very well, m'lady. Take my hand."
Lily moaned, looking at James. He gave her an apologetic look, and took her left hand. Snape grasped her right, and everyone else fell into line as they slowly made their way back to the castle.
~
The next day was Saturday, and the Hogsmeade trip was cancelled due to the large blizzard outside.
"Great," said Lily, "We're snowed in with Snape. This is SO great. The ideal perfect weekend."
"It could be worse," Paralee pointed out. "You could owe some life-debt to him - wait. We ALL do. It's worse."
"Paralee -" Sarah-Anne started, but cut off before she started cursing the girl in Gaelic.
James groaned. "Don't remind me, Para. Please don't remind me that Snape saved our lives yesterday...doesn't that make us all indebted to him? Oh, sheeesh."
"And we weren't there," said Remus gleefully. "I'm SO glad. You don't understand how glad I am."
Lily, Paralee, James, Joelle, and Sarah-Anne gave him a look that plainly meant that he should shut up, and Remus complied immediately. Sarah-Anne's punches hurt.
Sirius, sitting alone in the corner, was doing some heavy thinking. And that was quite unusual for the likes of him.
Thanks to his... "antics", five Gryffindors now owed a Slytherin - their greatest enemy, Severus Snape - a life debt. Life debts were important to wizards and witches, and he knew that all five would keep it even if Severus Snape was the one they owed their debts to. And, in addition to that, Snape had a huge crush on Lily.
Sirius sighed. Sometimes, pranks weren't fun. And sometimes...you had to own up to what you'd done to make things right. So he rose from his chair, opened the portrait-hole, and did the only thing that made sense. He went to see Dumbledore. If he couldn't make things right, no one could. So he walked across the castle, walking up halls, down staircases, through doorways, across halls, and accidentally walking through Nearly Headless Nick. He was in the east corridor on the second floor when he realized he hadn't a clue of where Dumbledore's office was. Swearing to himself, he looked around, wondering which way to go.
"What's the matter, Mr. Black?"
Sirius spun around, and came face-to-face with Professor McGonagall. The middle-aged woman looked different out of teachers' robes and in normal Muggle clothing. Her hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail that hung past her waist.
Noticing his obvious bewilderment, McGonagall sighed. "I'm going to see Muggle relatives, Mr. Black, don't be acting as if you've seen Grindelwald. And why, exactly, are you wandering about? I figured you'd be with Mr. Potter and Mr. Lupin pulling pranks today."
Sirius swallowed. McGonagall's presence always made him feel guilty, especially now. "Er...I needed to speak to Professor Dumbledore, madam."
McGonagall's eyebrows raised questioningly. "May I ask what for?"
*Darn, darn, darn, darn, darn!* thought Sirius. "Er...um...well, you see, yesterday I pulled a prank in Potions class."
"Ahhh," said McGonagall knowingly. "I would assume that you pulled it on a Slytherin by the name of Severus Snape?"
Sirius shifted his feet guiltily, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. "Yes, madam."
"I assumed as much," she said grimly. "Mr. Black, would you like me to take care of this, or would you rather go see Professor Dumbledore?"
"But I thought you were going to see relatives."
"I can postpone it for a few more minutes. Come with me to my office. I'll call Dumbledore there." And, putting a hand on his left shoulder, the Professor firmly guided him to a door on the left side of the corridor. Holding his breath, Sirius resigned himself to whatever fate held for him. Would he be expelled?
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A/N - The third and final chapter will be up when I return from flag camp! PLEASE REVIEW! I had such an overwhelming response to the first chapter, and I thank each and every one of you who took the time to review. Please do it again!
Love, Alicia M. Jennings
Sirius: Why am I always getting into some type of mishap in your fics?
Alicia: Because you're you, Sirius.
Sirius: *starts singing* I gotta be me....
Alicia: *groans* Bye to all, lots of love....get away while you still can....
Sirius: I gotta be me!
