Chapter 4: Plan in Action
After a tiresome and, in James' opinion, gruesome weekend of shopping for the new James it was finally time to test out the new change.
"Come on out James! It can't be that bad," Lily yelled through the door to the boy's dorm.
"Your not seeing what I'm seeing!" he shouted back. They had been going at this for a half hour. James just couldn't believe he let Lily talk him into this. 'It's not to late to turn back' he thought.
"James don't you dare chicken out on me. It's too late to turn back now!" James swung the door open.
"How did you know I was thinking that?" he asked, wide-eyed.
"Your not that difficult to read," she said dismissively looking at James. He was about to say something about being very unreadable when Peter bounded up the stairs.
"Hey Lily," he said not noticing James, "I know about what happened with Barty and all, and I just want you to know that if you can't find a date and your really desperate I can always take you," he said sincerely.
"Well thanks Peter, but James and I agreed to go together. Right James?" For the first time Peter saw James and he had to hold on to the railing so as not to fall down the stairs. James was wearing khaki pants with a light blue button up shirt, a short leather jacket and thin framed glasses. What was the biggest shocker was that his hair was short and actually tame! (Lily was always able to work her own magic when it came to hair).
"James! W-w-what are you wearing? Did you lose another bet?"
"No I just..." he started but was interrupted by Lily.
" I gotta go James. Got a quick meeting this morning. I'll see ya later," and with that she left. Two seconds later her spot was filled with Sirius and Remus who, four seconds later, were on the floor laughing.
After they calmed down a bit Sirius said, "Oh I get it! This is like the time you dressed up for the Pretty Miss Hogwarts Pageant isn't it?" Peter and Remus were sure that this was the reason.
"No this is to get Daphne back." They gave him a weird look. "This can work. What does Daphne hate more than school?"
"Rules?"
"Bathing?"
"Zoe?... No that's me."
"No..well maybe...but she really hates Lily 'Miss Popularity' Evans and all the happy perky stuff she does."
The three guys looked at each other and nodded in agreement, James had finally gone off the deep end.
*~~*~~*
Lily and James sat close together at breakfast and let the rumors form all on there own.
"Oh my gosh, did you hear? They are going out!"
"I heard that there past relationships didn't work because they were caught in a broom closet together."
"I thought it was in the Astronomy Tower."
"No, no. They were caught in the broom closet near the Astronomy Tower."
"Oooohhhh."
"I think someone slipped them a Love Potion. There is no way that they are going out of their own free will! They totally hate each other." Soon all the chatter stopped when Dumbledore stood up.
"Attention students! Please remember that the Giant Squid doesn't cope well with people practicing their disarming spells on him. He can and might retaliate and I'm sure Madame Pomfrey won't be pleased. Also remember the Quidditch game tonight. Slytherin vs. Hufflepuff (last game was Gry vs. Rav) Cheer on your fellow house-mates and classmates.
"We're going to that tonight," Lily whispered to James.
"A Qudditch game! That wasn't part of the deal," he hissed back.
"James we have to! It's one thing to look like I'm going to the ball with a friend, it's another when it looks like I paid the guy."
Sirius leaned over, "You're getting paid?"
While they laughed and Daphne looked on, disgusted at the merriment and whispered conversations between Lily and James.
*~~*~~*
Remus and Sirius were walking by the lake talking to James about his new look.
"Did you see the way McGonagal looked at you? I think she thought that you were gonna pull something. If you did this would make a hell of a lot more sense." rambled Sirius. James ignored him while Remus seemed to be daydreaming. As they kept walking they saw Peter walking towards the Quidditch pitch to get ready for the game.
"HEY JAMES!" he yelled. "NICE PANTS!"
Remus and Sirius burst out laughing.
"He still thinks this is a joke," sighed James.
"James, this is a joke. In fact, this is the ultimate prank!" said Remus.
"I still don't think you know what your doing," said Sirius.
"Look," James said exasperated, "Daphne isn't the type of girl who will swoon over something little..."
"Daphne doesn't 'swoon' over anything," interrupted Remus.
"Sometimes to get what you want you have to go to the extremes," finished James.
"Did I hear something about extremes?" asked a voice behind them. James turned around and was face to face with Daphne.
"What would you care?" he asked trying to be nonchalant, but at the same time trying to control his heartbeat.
"I don't know James...this look...it isn't you."
"Who knows me? I don't even know me."
"I know you," she said quietly. Then a little louder, "Don't let Lily Evans change you." And with that she left. James watched her leave with a little smile on his face. 'This is soooo working' he thought.
*~~*~~*
As Remus left James so he can change to go to the Qudditch game (Heaven Forbid he wore the same thing for more than 4 hours) he decided to head down to the kitchen before the A.L.F's chain themselves to the door and protest house-elf enslavement, then head up to his room and figure out what the latest issue of the Letter should feature. As he was walking he wasn't paying attention to where he was going and smashed into something solid.
"Oh, hey I'm sorry," he apologized quickly, holding on to the person so they wouldn't topple over.
"Damn it Lupin! Watch where your going," screeched the voice known as Zoe.
"Oh it's just you," said Remus letting her go. She stumbled back a bit.
"Look, you made me drop all my stuff," she whined pointing at the floor. Then he did something neither of them thought was ever possible...he bent down and picked up all her books and papers and handed them to her.
"Sorry about that. Now look I have to head down to the kitchens before Anderson and his buddies get there, so later," he said quickly and ran down the hallway, though it had nothing to do with his hunger or the A.L.F's. He left before he could hear the whispered 'Thank you' from Zoe.
*~~*~~*
"AND HUFFLEPUFF SCORES!!!!!" screamed Peter through the megaphone. The score was 70:70 with Hufflepuff putting up a great defense. 3/4 of Hogwarts were cheering for the Hufflepuffs and 1/4 was cheering for its own house, Slytherin. One side of the stands was doing the wave, and when it came to James he just stayed in his seat.
"Come on James. I know this isn't like your bongo parties or whatever you do, but try to enjoy yourself," pleaded Lily.
"First off, we don't have 'bongo parties' and second off I am enjoying myself," said James.
"You are?" asked Lily incredulously.
"Yeah, granted it is more...peppy...than what I'm used to, but I guess Quidditch is my sinful pleasure," he said with a sly smile..
"Really? You? Qudditch?" She couldn't believe it.
"Lily, come now, I've grown up in a wizarding home. Not like Qudditch? It's just not possible. It's unheard of! I would have tried out for the house team, too, if it wasn't for..." he suddenly stopped.
"If it wasn't for what?" Lily gently urged. James looked down at his hands and Lily immediately understood. "If it wasn't for your mom?" He looked up and gave a sad smile.
"I was gonna join in order to make her happy, and I thought that if she was happy then she would get better. But..." he stopped again trying to blink the tears out of his eyes.
"But she died the summer before third year," Lily finished for him.
"Yeah...." he said looking at the people on the brooms. Lily was about to give him a hug when he suddenly got up and murmured a quick "I'll be back in a minute" and left. Lily felt bad for having brought up this sensitive subject, but she was a firm believer in dealing with your problems and not keeping it inside. Especially when it involved James Potter. Last time he kept his emotions bottled in, he punched a hole in the dungeon wall. And that was no easy wall to punch. Not all the potions and charms in the world were able to cure his hand; he had to do it the muggle way with a cast.
"Hey Lily," smiled Zoe as she next to Lily.
"Hey Zoe, where were you?"
"I wanted to get some things to make this more enjoyable."
"Like what?" asked Lily and Zoe pulled out a thermos of hot chocolate.(a/n Did I mention the Ball is in November? No? Well..) "Excellent!"
"So," said Zoe while pouring out some chocolate, "what is going on with you and James Potter?"
"Nothing is going on," said Lily with a straight face.
"Nothing huh? It didn't look like 'nothing.' You two seem very close. Too close for people who are supposed to hate each other."
"We don't hate each other. We used to be great friends before 4th year."
"So, what happened?"
"Puberty," said Lily. Zoe burst out laughing just as James came back with some of the Gryfindor Quidditch team.
"They all had big heads," he was saying.
"Yeah, but they were living large," said Bryan Nicolson, a Chaser.
"But look were living large got them," said Arthur Weasley, the Keeper (A/N I had to put in a Weasley!).
"Living large or not," continued James, "After they won the World Cup they started forgetting about playing Quidditch and concentrating on how many magazine covers and underwear ads they were gonna be featured in."
"That's what I'm saying," agreed Arthur, slapping James on the back.
"Who cares? They will be remembered for that match forever," argued Bryan.
"No, they will be remembered for winning one game, and then becoming a sell-out team just when everyone thought they were on top," retorted Arthur as he put his arms around his steady girlfriend, Molly. Bryan did the same with Arabella, a girl he had been dating on and off for a year, and James decided to put his around Lily. Much to his surprise, and everyone else's, Lily rested her head on his shoulder. The two other couples and Zoe were staring at them, wide-eyed.
"Look," continued James ignoring the looks they were giving them, "it all comes down to one issue...purity of the game. That is the reason why the Chudley Cannons haven't won a major game to date."
"Damn straight!"
"Exactly!"
Then everyone returned to what they were doing before and Lily leaned into James.
"You were right about the Quidditch thing," she smiled.
"Of course I was," he said with mock superiority. Lily poked him in the ribs and they laughed. Then she got serious and said, "I'm sorry about before." He looked at her and said, "It's no problem...really!" he added seeing the look on her face. She was going to say something, but she decided not to talk about it anymore.
"OHHH AND THAT WAS A DIRTY MOVE BY SLYTHERIN, BUT...WHAT?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN NO FOUL!!" yelled Peter into the Megaphone. There was an uproar from the stands. Everyone saw that cobbing, but the ref didn't call a foul.
"Ahhh, come on what was that!" yelled Arthur.
"What's wrong with you ref...are you blind. Everyone saw that! Were the hell were you!" shouted James slapping a high five with Bryan. Peter was about to comment on the audience's reaction when he saw James yelling at the referee and getting praised by the Gryfindor Quidditch team, the team that always just knew Peter, James and the others as the 'Outsiders.' Now, here was an Outsider who looked like an Insider.
'Something is definitely wrong here' thought Peter.
A/N: I know I reposted this chapter about a million times. Anyways I'm glad everyone is enjoying the story so far and I'm enjoying writing it. As for grammar mistakes, when I read over the story I usually just pay attention to the 'feel' of the story. The grammar is my beta readers job, which brings me to my problem. My beta-reader has gone to a planet far far away. I have no idea where she is and the last chapter she truly beta'ed was chapter 1. So now I'm looking for a new one. If anyone is interested in being my beta-reder for this story then all be more than happy to let you.
Another problem is that I have other stories in the works right now and since I have no beta-reader I have no opinion on them. And I like them because I truly believe they are original. If anyone is interested in that too, your more than welcome.
My e-mail address is weird159@aol.com if you are interested or you could just review, anything would be fine. Thank you in advance :o)~
After a tiresome and, in James' opinion, gruesome weekend of shopping for the new James it was finally time to test out the new change.
"Come on out James! It can't be that bad," Lily yelled through the door to the boy's dorm.
"Your not seeing what I'm seeing!" he shouted back. They had been going at this for a half hour. James just couldn't believe he let Lily talk him into this. 'It's not to late to turn back' he thought.
"James don't you dare chicken out on me. It's too late to turn back now!" James swung the door open.
"How did you know I was thinking that?" he asked, wide-eyed.
"Your not that difficult to read," she said dismissively looking at James. He was about to say something about being very unreadable when Peter bounded up the stairs.
"Hey Lily," he said not noticing James, "I know about what happened with Barty and all, and I just want you to know that if you can't find a date and your really desperate I can always take you," he said sincerely.
"Well thanks Peter, but James and I agreed to go together. Right James?" For the first time Peter saw James and he had to hold on to the railing so as not to fall down the stairs. James was wearing khaki pants with a light blue button up shirt, a short leather jacket and thin framed glasses. What was the biggest shocker was that his hair was short and actually tame! (Lily was always able to work her own magic when it came to hair).
"James! W-w-what are you wearing? Did you lose another bet?"
"No I just..." he started but was interrupted by Lily.
" I gotta go James. Got a quick meeting this morning. I'll see ya later," and with that she left. Two seconds later her spot was filled with Sirius and Remus who, four seconds later, were on the floor laughing.
After they calmed down a bit Sirius said, "Oh I get it! This is like the time you dressed up for the Pretty Miss Hogwarts Pageant isn't it?" Peter and Remus were sure that this was the reason.
"No this is to get Daphne back." They gave him a weird look. "This can work. What does Daphne hate more than school?"
"Rules?"
"Bathing?"
"Zoe?... No that's me."
"No..well maybe...but she really hates Lily 'Miss Popularity' Evans and all the happy perky stuff she does."
The three guys looked at each other and nodded in agreement, James had finally gone off the deep end.
*~~*~~*
Lily and James sat close together at breakfast and let the rumors form all on there own.
"Oh my gosh, did you hear? They are going out!"
"I heard that there past relationships didn't work because they were caught in a broom closet together."
"I thought it was in the Astronomy Tower."
"No, no. They were caught in the broom closet near the Astronomy Tower."
"Oooohhhh."
"I think someone slipped them a Love Potion. There is no way that they are going out of their own free will! They totally hate each other." Soon all the chatter stopped when Dumbledore stood up.
"Attention students! Please remember that the Giant Squid doesn't cope well with people practicing their disarming spells on him. He can and might retaliate and I'm sure Madame Pomfrey won't be pleased. Also remember the Quidditch game tonight. Slytherin vs. Hufflepuff (last game was Gry vs. Rav) Cheer on your fellow house-mates and classmates.
"We're going to that tonight," Lily whispered to James.
"A Qudditch game! That wasn't part of the deal," he hissed back.
"James we have to! It's one thing to look like I'm going to the ball with a friend, it's another when it looks like I paid the guy."
Sirius leaned over, "You're getting paid?"
While they laughed and Daphne looked on, disgusted at the merriment and whispered conversations between Lily and James.
*~~*~~*
Remus and Sirius were walking by the lake talking to James about his new look.
"Did you see the way McGonagal looked at you? I think she thought that you were gonna pull something. If you did this would make a hell of a lot more sense." rambled Sirius. James ignored him while Remus seemed to be daydreaming. As they kept walking they saw Peter walking towards the Quidditch pitch to get ready for the game.
"HEY JAMES!" he yelled. "NICE PANTS!"
Remus and Sirius burst out laughing.
"He still thinks this is a joke," sighed James.
"James, this is a joke. In fact, this is the ultimate prank!" said Remus.
"I still don't think you know what your doing," said Sirius.
"Look," James said exasperated, "Daphne isn't the type of girl who will swoon over something little..."
"Daphne doesn't 'swoon' over anything," interrupted Remus.
"Sometimes to get what you want you have to go to the extremes," finished James.
"Did I hear something about extremes?" asked a voice behind them. James turned around and was face to face with Daphne.
"What would you care?" he asked trying to be nonchalant, but at the same time trying to control his heartbeat.
"I don't know James...this look...it isn't you."
"Who knows me? I don't even know me."
"I know you," she said quietly. Then a little louder, "Don't let Lily Evans change you." And with that she left. James watched her leave with a little smile on his face. 'This is soooo working' he thought.
*~~*~~*
As Remus left James so he can change to go to the Qudditch game (Heaven Forbid he wore the same thing for more than 4 hours) he decided to head down to the kitchen before the A.L.F's chain themselves to the door and protest house-elf enslavement, then head up to his room and figure out what the latest issue of the Letter should feature. As he was walking he wasn't paying attention to where he was going and smashed into something solid.
"Oh, hey I'm sorry," he apologized quickly, holding on to the person so they wouldn't topple over.
"Damn it Lupin! Watch where your going," screeched the voice known as Zoe.
"Oh it's just you," said Remus letting her go. She stumbled back a bit.
"Look, you made me drop all my stuff," she whined pointing at the floor. Then he did something neither of them thought was ever possible...he bent down and picked up all her books and papers and handed them to her.
"Sorry about that. Now look I have to head down to the kitchens before Anderson and his buddies get there, so later," he said quickly and ran down the hallway, though it had nothing to do with his hunger or the A.L.F's. He left before he could hear the whispered 'Thank you' from Zoe.
*~~*~~*
"AND HUFFLEPUFF SCORES!!!!!" screamed Peter through the megaphone. The score was 70:70 with Hufflepuff putting up a great defense. 3/4 of Hogwarts were cheering for the Hufflepuffs and 1/4 was cheering for its own house, Slytherin. One side of the stands was doing the wave, and when it came to James he just stayed in his seat.
"Come on James. I know this isn't like your bongo parties or whatever you do, but try to enjoy yourself," pleaded Lily.
"First off, we don't have 'bongo parties' and second off I am enjoying myself," said James.
"You are?" asked Lily incredulously.
"Yeah, granted it is more...peppy...than what I'm used to, but I guess Quidditch is my sinful pleasure," he said with a sly smile..
"Really? You? Qudditch?" She couldn't believe it.
"Lily, come now, I've grown up in a wizarding home. Not like Qudditch? It's just not possible. It's unheard of! I would have tried out for the house team, too, if it wasn't for..." he suddenly stopped.
"If it wasn't for what?" Lily gently urged. James looked down at his hands and Lily immediately understood. "If it wasn't for your mom?" He looked up and gave a sad smile.
"I was gonna join in order to make her happy, and I thought that if she was happy then she would get better. But..." he stopped again trying to blink the tears out of his eyes.
"But she died the summer before third year," Lily finished for him.
"Yeah...." he said looking at the people on the brooms. Lily was about to give him a hug when he suddenly got up and murmured a quick "I'll be back in a minute" and left. Lily felt bad for having brought up this sensitive subject, but she was a firm believer in dealing with your problems and not keeping it inside. Especially when it involved James Potter. Last time he kept his emotions bottled in, he punched a hole in the dungeon wall. And that was no easy wall to punch. Not all the potions and charms in the world were able to cure his hand; he had to do it the muggle way with a cast.
"Hey Lily," smiled Zoe as she next to Lily.
"Hey Zoe, where were you?"
"I wanted to get some things to make this more enjoyable."
"Like what?" asked Lily and Zoe pulled out a thermos of hot chocolate.(a/n Did I mention the Ball is in November? No? Well..) "Excellent!"
"So," said Zoe while pouring out some chocolate, "what is going on with you and James Potter?"
"Nothing is going on," said Lily with a straight face.
"Nothing huh? It didn't look like 'nothing.' You two seem very close. Too close for people who are supposed to hate each other."
"We don't hate each other. We used to be great friends before 4th year."
"So, what happened?"
"Puberty," said Lily. Zoe burst out laughing just as James came back with some of the Gryfindor Quidditch team.
"They all had big heads," he was saying.
"Yeah, but they were living large," said Bryan Nicolson, a Chaser.
"But look were living large got them," said Arthur Weasley, the Keeper (A/N I had to put in a Weasley!).
"Living large or not," continued James, "After they won the World Cup they started forgetting about playing Quidditch and concentrating on how many magazine covers and underwear ads they were gonna be featured in."
"That's what I'm saying," agreed Arthur, slapping James on the back.
"Who cares? They will be remembered for that match forever," argued Bryan.
"No, they will be remembered for winning one game, and then becoming a sell-out team just when everyone thought they were on top," retorted Arthur as he put his arms around his steady girlfriend, Molly. Bryan did the same with Arabella, a girl he had been dating on and off for a year, and James decided to put his around Lily. Much to his surprise, and everyone else's, Lily rested her head on his shoulder. The two other couples and Zoe were staring at them, wide-eyed.
"Look," continued James ignoring the looks they were giving them, "it all comes down to one issue...purity of the game. That is the reason why the Chudley Cannons haven't won a major game to date."
"Damn straight!"
"Exactly!"
Then everyone returned to what they were doing before and Lily leaned into James.
"You were right about the Quidditch thing," she smiled.
"Of course I was," he said with mock superiority. Lily poked him in the ribs and they laughed. Then she got serious and said, "I'm sorry about before." He looked at her and said, "It's no problem...really!" he added seeing the look on her face. She was going to say something, but she decided not to talk about it anymore.
"OHHH AND THAT WAS A DIRTY MOVE BY SLYTHERIN, BUT...WHAT?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN NO FOUL!!" yelled Peter into the Megaphone. There was an uproar from the stands. Everyone saw that cobbing, but the ref didn't call a foul.
"Ahhh, come on what was that!" yelled Arthur.
"What's wrong with you ref...are you blind. Everyone saw that! Were the hell were you!" shouted James slapping a high five with Bryan. Peter was about to comment on the audience's reaction when he saw James yelling at the referee and getting praised by the Gryfindor Quidditch team, the team that always just knew Peter, James and the others as the 'Outsiders.' Now, here was an Outsider who looked like an Insider.
'Something is definitely wrong here' thought Peter.
A/N: I know I reposted this chapter about a million times. Anyways I'm glad everyone is enjoying the story so far and I'm enjoying writing it. As for grammar mistakes, when I read over the story I usually just pay attention to the 'feel' of the story. The grammar is my beta readers job, which brings me to my problem. My beta-reader has gone to a planet far far away. I have no idea where she is and the last chapter she truly beta'ed was chapter 1. So now I'm looking for a new one. If anyone is interested in being my beta-reder for this story then all be more than happy to let you.
Another problem is that I have other stories in the works right now and since I have no beta-reader I have no opinion on them. And I like them because I truly believe they are original. If anyone is interested in that too, your more than welcome.
My e-mail address is weird159@aol.com if you are interested or you could just review, anything would be fine. Thank you in advance :o)~