Disclaimer: ????? Before I forget… I was thinking that after I finish this already-too-long fic, I should make a prequel or a sequel… prequel as in their first year so that I can invent some stuff on how Lily met her friends… Sequel for fifth year when one of them becomes a prefect (is there only one for every House? I don't think so…).
AN – Had to get a new computer…took two weeks to wait for it and two days to install everything and another two days to try to hook the modem and connect to the Internet and find out how to install the drive where I put all my files from the old one…so sorry I'm late.
NicolaPadfoot: What?!!! You have homework over the holidays?! That's an outrage! Okay, so I'm a little clueless on how the education system in Britain works…but that's too unfair… At least in my country we don't have homework over the summer, we have our final exams and go on our merry way for two whole months…
Lunard: You know? How'd you know? Am I that freakin' predictable now? But there's a slight chance that you could be wrong…well, we'll just see then 'cause I didn't manage to get it in this chapter… Hehe. Anywayz-- Four years…older…Molly… I don't really remember…sorry. I'd have to put the blame on my sister, though, because she lent my GoF to her friend, conveniently without telling me…and some important references must be in there. Up to now her friend still hasn't returned it. Cymone, tell Kim to give it back! How many months has it been already? Three?
Magical Mischief Maker No. 5: I think I owe it to you to give a directed thanks… So…thanks. ^_^; For reviewing, I mean… Yeah, and I read your fic, it's cool. It's a good thing Sirius never actually went out with that whore…Alex is twenty times better. Not like the Sirius in this fic…but at least he never really means any of it.
Thanks to all others who reviewed…luv ya!
Chapter 19: Discovery
Lily trudged up the girls' dormitory after a grueling hour of wrestling with a violent rabbit-eating plant. Why was it that Monday was specially reserved for irrational 'practical' quizzes? Didn't any of their teachers know that tiresome activity should always be done on Friday, when they had the weekend to recover?
It was the stupid plant's fault anyway, and right now every single muscle in her body was aching so she forgot about its name. How was she supposed to know that plants weren't cannibals? Was she suddenly the biggest genius of the universe?
Okay, so she was the smartest girl in the fourth year. But that didn't have anything to do with physical strength, right? I need a shower. What I wouldn't give for a shower.
And the fact that Sprout had given her a detention for hexing the damned vicious thing didn't lighten her mood either. Well, what did they think self-defense was for, anyway? Why then would they waste their time teaching witches spells if it was all for nothing? She cursed under her breath, wishing that she could just get to the dormitory and have a nice, long shower and get out of her reeking clothes.
"Rough night?" a voice called from above, half a staircase up.
"Is it that obvious?" Lily asked sarcastically. She hauled her body up that half-staircase and the dorm, summoning all the strength she had left from the follicles of her hair to the tips of her toes. She landed on her bed with a FLUMP!!!
"Who's the bloody person in the bathroom?" she grumbled through her pillow as she listened to the pattering of water to the tiled floor from the showers.
"Celeste, who else?" Chase responded. "I don't know how she does it, but she found a handy spell that wouldn't make her wrinkle up like a prune like all the other people in the world."
"I think she's going for a world record," Kylie piped up from the dresser as she brushed her jet black hair.
"World record, my ass," Lily griped, pulling herself up and stalking to the bathroom door. "Celeste! Get the hell outta there!"
"Just a minute!" Celeste called back, turning off the shower.
"Hurry up!" Lily said impatiently, rapping at the door.
"Yeesh, couldn't ya wait for a little while, Miss I'm-Queen-of-the-World?"
"No, and I think you've already hogged that title," Lily said with a smirk. Celeste opened the door, wearing her flowing nightgown.
"All yours, princess!" Celeste exclaimed, bowing as Lily passed her.
"You wish," Lily laughed, grabbing a fresh towel on the rack and slamming the door.
Celeste looked quizzically at Chase.
"She has better days," Chase answered with a shrug.
"What had her in such a bad mood?" Celeste asked, flopping down on her bed stomach-down and taking out her Muggle Studies homework.
"Herbology. Remember that Swinial Hare-Eater? She was supposed to give it a rabbit leg but she fed it a hairy Mongulus and it went ballistic. You know Sprout, she's dangerous when it comes to hurting her beloved plants, so she gave Lil a detention…"
Celeste laughed. "That's Lil, all right," she commented offhandedly. "Hey, I went to the boys' dormitory about an hour ago, and the potion's almost done," she informed.
"You? Gone to the boys' dormitory by yourself?" Chase asked in amazement.
"Well, you were the one who went around preaching about chilling and being laid-back," Celeste said. "Anyway, that's not the point of discussion in my statement. It'll be ready in half a week."
"I thought they said one and a half," Chase pointed out.
"You know them, anything to speed up your boyfriend's recovery," Celeste said. "I think another reason why they're making so much progress is 'cause Sirius is the master planner when it comes to pranks. With the influence of the Love Potion he's forgotten all about his said role."
"Whatever," Chase said. "'Night, guys," she called to the room.
"'Night," the three girls (in the bedroom) chorused.
*****
"Chase. Chase? Chase!"
Chase snapped her head up from her drawing. "Huh? What?"
Celeste folded her arms across her chest. "I was just saying that it must be hard for you to focus on anything else after everything you went through," she said dryly.
Chase rolled her eyes. "Yeah, and if you already knew that then you would have enough sense not to point out the obvious," she retorted, shutting her sketch pad closed. "What time is it anyway? Are we supposed to go down for lunch now?"
Celeste checked her watch. "Yep," she answered. Chase immediately shoved all her drawing materials under her bed.
"Pig," Celeste accused with a sardonic smile. She leaned over her own bed and magically fixed all of Chase's stuff neatly.
"Perfectionist," Chase sneered back. She tied her hair into a ponytail and stood up. It was Tuesday, but some holiday celebrating a famous wizard cancelled classes for that day.
As soon as they got to the Great Hall, Lily was already leaving it. "Hey, guys! Sorry I can't hang out, I've got a ton of work to do for Transfiguration in the library. See you later!" She ran around the corner, her red ponytail bouncing.
"She's wasting a free day on schoolwork?" Chase asked as they made their way to the Gryffindor table.
"At least some of us set our priorities right," Celeste remarked. "Have you finished your Transfiguration homework?"
"Nah, I'll do it tomorrow," Chase said offhandedly.
Celeste's eyes widened as big as saucers. "Are you kidding?! That's due tomorrow!" They sat down, noticing that the marauders, who never missed a chance for holding eating contests during lunch time, were missing.
"Then I'll copy from Lily and change the wording," Chase replied with a shrug. "What's McGonagall going to do, blame me for plagiarism?"
"But she'll see right through you!"
Chase shook her head, as if not believing that anybody could be that much of a school freak (who is?). "I'll tell her that we used the same book. Really, Celes, you have nothing to worry about…things'll be fine." She passed a bowl of fried chicken to Celeste and dumped several spoonfuls of gravy on hers.
Their meal had minimal conversation as each girl was deep in thought. After a few minutes Celeste stood up. "I still have to research on Ancient Runes. Wanna come?"
"Nah, I already did that. Against my better conscience, I'm actually going to listen to your persistent nagging and do my Transfiguration homework," Chase deadpanned. Celeste slapped her on the shoulder playfully.
"Whatever. At least I know that you finally had some sense to solve your procrastination principles." Celeste waved goodbye and left the Hall.
Chase finished eating after a few minutes and looked around. She willed herself not to look at the Ravenclaw Table, but it was as if there were some terrible force that was inclining her to turn her eyes there. And as was usual when she did stare, her stomach churned.
She didn't know why she always allowed herself to do that. She hated it when she did. Maxine, as usual, was taking advantage of the fact that Chase was the helpless one now and rubbing it in her face by making out with Sirius right there.
Chase felt like her intestines were coiling and knotting themselves tightly. It looked like the chicken she had just eaten wouldn't sit very well…
Maxine's other whore friends who were sitting around them whistled and cheered as Maxine pulled Sirius in for yet another kiss.
Slowly, Chase stood up, her legs shaky. She felt a sudden spurt of anger at her own weakness. No way she was going to let this break her, absolutely no way. But it was like watching a car crash or something…the sight in front of her was so terrible but she couldn't glance away. Her eyes were glued to the horrible spectacle.
Chase groaned inwardly as one on Maxine's sidekicks caught her gaping. She forced her feet to move and shuffled away, her head down.
She heard Maxine's friend whispering something to the group and they broke into irritating, mocking laughter. Chase didn't flinch, nor look back. She wasn't going to concede defeat against a bunch of boyfriend-stealing bitches. Indifference was her trademark, wasn't that what Celeste always liked pointing out?
So why did she suddenly feel like following what those lame magazines said about letting her feelings break free and crying her eyes out?
*****
The library door slammed shut as Lily left it, earning her a withering glare from the librarian. Stupid, stupid, stupid, she cursed inwardly as she barreled down the hallway. She had opened her bag, only to find it exploding with hairless slime-spitting caterpillars, the magical kind she hated the most. She was going to kill Sirius--oh wait, he couldn't have done it, he was still under the potion's influence. What about Remus? Nah, he was too nice to her to pull something like that. James? Playing a prank on your own girlfriend would be one of the most--if not the most--idiotic thing a boy could do, so count him out. And Peter was way too scared of what she could do to him if he dared do that to her so that left…
Goddamned Slytherins, she thought furiously. I'll give them hell once I--
She rounded the corner. There were a pretty lot of people in the corridor, but then again, they were simultaneously going in and out of one of the Ancient Runes classrooms, so there must be something school-related going on. Lily went on, pushing through the loads of people, but something made her stop. She saw Chase walking down the corridor, and Maxine, Sirius and two of her slutty followers were trailing after them. Chase couldn't see them because she was poring over a bunch of parchments in her hands.
Lily started to head toward her, but she was still a good distance away. She was near enough to hear the whole confrontation that would follow, though.
As Chase walked past Maxine without acknowledging her, Maxine purposefully bumped her--hard. Chase looked up to snap at whoever the jerk was who adamantly did that, but all the color drained from her face when she saw who it was. It hurt Lily to see her friend in that position.
"Why, hello, Tarlise," Maxine cooed in an over-sweet way, as if they were sorority sisters or something. "Busy with schoolwork, I s'pose?"
"And what reason do you have to care?" Chase asked sardonically, pushing away a stray strand of brown hair that had come loose from her ponytail. A few people turned to stare, obviously thinking they would enjoy a free public spectacle.
"It's just that… You must be very diligent to finish up all that on a free day. Have boys and dates gone out of date already? Or maybe nobody wants to date you since you've become such a dork." Maxine and her friends laughed, but Sirius didn't move.
Was Lily hallucinating…or did she just see a flicker of sadness in his eyes?
"At least I never need to wear supertight tops and skirts that couldn't even cover my butt just so I could get real attention from guys," Chase shot back scathingly. Lily cheered inwardly. You go, Chase.
Maxine's cheeks tinged slightly pink. "Dream on, Tarlise. If you think you're harboring any wolf whistles whenever you pass by a crowd, then you are seriously delusional," she spat.
Chase laughed a mirthless, cold laugh. "So this is what that stereotypes about blondes being dumb means," she muttered. Maxine's friends gave her death glares. "The only reason people whistle after your half-naked frame is because they're mocking you, Eamon," she retorted. "Nobody else would mistake Hogwarts' castle as an enormous, sleazy nightclub to parade in for ten months. That is, aside from you and your friends." A few people whistled and clapped.
"How dare you," Maxine screeched with narrowed eyes.
Chase smirked, but her eyes were still filled with pain as she watched Sirius move protectively closer to Maxine. "I'm stating a known fact. If I ask people to choose which of us is telling the truth, you defending yourself and me proclaiming that you are the most bastardly, bitchy female sex symbol in Hogwarts, who do you think everyone would believe?"
"Shut up, Tarlise," Maxine hissed at her ominously. "Or I will make sure that the rest of your school year would be a living hell for you."
"I'm shaking with fear," Chase shot back, her voice dripping with hate and sarcasm. "And what are you going to do to me, do a spell on me that would apply the thousands of layers of makeup you wear everyday on my face?"
"I won't forget this," Maxine said in a low voice, turning around to stalk away.
"Yeah, that's right. Run away…whore," Chase called after her. People around them snickered.
"That's it!!!" Sirius yelled, turning back around and charging at Chase. Lily ran toward them.
"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?!" Chase yelled as Sirius pinned her against the wall, pointing the tip of his wand to her neck. It was a good thing that the Ancient Runes professor had left five minutes ago and didn't witness this.
"Don't ever insult Maxine again!" Lily heard Sirius bark at her as sparks flew from the tip of his wand, causing shallow cuts to appear on Chase's neck.
Chase pushed him away, her eyes burning with the wounds he had inflicted and with the fact that he would go to all lengths just to hurt her. Her. His girlfriend. Maxine and her friends smirked, clearly thinking they had won. The spectators gasped as blood started to trickle down from Chase's cuts in droplets.
Chase muttered a spell under her breath which caused the wounds to close up. Sirius pointed his wand at her again to hurl another curse.
"Anguinio!" he shouted, and Chase dodged the curse.
"Stop it, Sirius!" Lily screamed at him, finally reaching them and wrenching the wand out of Sirius's grasp. She slapped him hard and he recoiled.
"Lil! What are you doing--" he started to say, but Lily cut him off.
"How could you ever attempt to hurt Chase! You stupid, two-timing freak!" she cursed him, dragging him farther from Maxine.
"What are you talking a--"
"Just shut up and we'll see what James and Remus will say about this! How could you do that to her, she never even did anything wrong--"
"It's okay, Lil," Chase spoke up behind them. Lily dropped her hand, which was pulling Sirius. Sirius rubbed his arm, wincing.
Chase's eyes hardened as she stared defiantly at Sirius. "If he couldn't fight a potion that would make him fall in love with somebody like her, then he really wouldn't be worthy to love from the start," she said flatly. She brushed past Lily, who didn't quite believe what she had just said.
"Furnunculus! Tressin Miasitica! Apprio Mutilus!" Lily hurled all kinds of hexes at Maxine and her sidekicks, who ran away with their hair turning into live worms that stuck to their scalps and scabs appearing on their skin. Their shrieks echoed as they went farther away. Three more days, Chase, she promised. Three more days and I swear I'll murder her by then. Even before those Slytherin scum.
*****
"There! Leave it for half an hour and it'll be complete!" James exclaimed, putting the antidote's cauldron on top of a floating flame.
"Did you make it spill-proof yet?" Peter asked cautiously, peering at the purple concoction.
"Spill-proof, leak-proof, unnecessary-added-stuff-proof, other-people-attempting-to-drink-it-proof, and fade-proof," James confirmed.
"In a word, foolproof," Remus added.
"Gee, thanks, Mr. English whiz," James said. He crouched down, looking into his trunk where he had safely kept the potion, inspecting it carefully.
"Don't mention it," Remus deadpanned.
James sat up straight. "Wait, we have to keep Sirius in here until he drinks it, remember? He can't be running off to Maxine, he needs to drink the potion at the exact moment the moon rises--"
"That's not stated in the books," Remus protested, flipping open a gigantic hardbound.
"Yeah, I just said that so you wouldn't witness the final stage," James said with an evil grin. Remus threw his wand at the back of James's head, and it bounced off, landing into James's trunk.
"Hey, watch it!" James warned, picking up the wand carefully. "Keep that lycanthropic adrenaline in check, Werewolf Boy."
Half a week had passed, and the potion was finally finished. The marauders had carefully planned it, triple-checking if they had done the whole procedure right. Inside the dimly-lit room, they (at least James) made the final preparations.
"Where is Sirius, anyway?" Peter asked.
"Think Celes and Lil hunted him down," James said absentmindedly, shutting the trunk closed and locking it with a gazillion spells.
"Whoa, aren't you laying it a little too thick there, Jamie?" Remus asked as James conjured thick chains out of thin air.
"Nope, it needs all the protection it can get," James remarked. "And we're going to have the man of the next twelve hours to guard it for us."
"Sirius?" Remus and Peter said at the same time.
"Yep," James said. "He's the drinker, he should look after his own potion. We did most of the other stuff anyway."
The door opened a crack and light streamed in. "Here he is!" Lily's voice invaded the quiet of the room and she pushed Sirius in. Celeste followed quickly behind and Lily came in last, slamming the door.
"Good! Where's Chase?" Remus asked them.
"In the library, tutoring some kid or other," Lily replied. "Honestly I can't get her. She already has all these homework and Quidditch as is, but she still goes on helping little kiddos with theirs."
"She has to preoccupy herself with that stuff since she's stressed," Celeste pointed out. "Where have you been, Lil? Haven't you read the latest issue of Witch Weekly? It's right there, on the test about--"
"Blah, blah, blah," Lily said, rolling her eyes. "Chase is never stressed."
"Yeah? Well, you've never gone out with somebody you said you couldn't stand either," Celeste countered.
"She went out with Snape?!" James cried angrily.
"Don't be insulting!" Lily answered. "I did nothing of the sort!"
"I meant you, dummy," Celeste chuckled at James, lightly punching him on the shoulder.
"I am not a dummy," James disputed.
"Let's just get down to business, okay?" Remus interrupted them. "Sirius, you stay here and watch over Jamie's trunk--"
"What for?"
"He--er--I mean, we made a really important potion that would fool the Slytherins," Peter stuttered.
"How?" Sirius asked curiously.
"We'll tell you later!" James put in. "Right now you have to watch it for us. Don't let anybody lay a hand on it, okay?"
"Except us," Lily added. "And keep the room darkened. This is really important, Siri. Don't let us down!" And she bounced out of the room.
"We're pretty perky today, aren't we?" Celeste asked her sardonically.
"Don't flatter yourself. We're going to get the real Sirius back in twelve hours," Lily whispered as soon as they went out of the dormitory. "Wait until Chase sees him!"
"Happy, happy, joy, joy," Celeste said without enthusiasm.
"Ha ha. We'll get the real joy as soon as Maxine gets a sight on him," Lily said devilishly.
"Yeah!" Celeste's eyes instantly sparkled. "That girl is asking for some serious beating."
"Not just some," Lily added. "C'mon! Are you going to help me list down some hexes to teach her with or what?"
"Right behind you, sergeant!" Celeste said with mock salute.
"That's the spirit," said Lily.
*****
It was late. There were still two hours until Sirius could drink the potion, so James decided to take a stroll around the castle to get his mind off things. McGonagall would have screamed her head off if she found out that James was walking around after dark, but this time he didn't need to be cautious.
This time he had an Invisibility Cloak.
His dad had sent it to him right after he had found out that Gryffindor had won the Quidditch Cup. It had arrived this morning, when everyone was still asleep. He had promised Sirius he'd take him with him on his first ever trip…but given the circumstances, he had to break that.
As he rounded the corner, a chilly air swooped past him. He turned around and realized it wasn't the wind at all--it was Peeves.
"Who's there?" Peeves cackled, turning upside-down in an Indian-style position. "Don't try and hide, now, Peeves knows you're there even if you're unseen…" He gave a gleeful laugh and spun around before righting himself and narrowing his eyes at where James was standing.
"Shhh, Peeves, it's just me," James hissed. He whirled around as a yellow light, probably a lamp, headed their way. Apollyon Pringle was probably doing his nightly rounds.
"Why, it's pottery Potter, isn't it? Me thinks we should report misbehaving students, yes…"
"Quiet, Peeves, Pringle's coming," James said, quieter this time.
"Thought you were going to be more well-behaved this year, I heard you then," Peeves cackled on. Apollyon Pringle stood in the end of the hall.
"I think I hear voices here, Precious," he told to his cat, and walked toward them.
Luckily the hall was wide and spacious, and James easily avoided colliding with the caretaker. His heart rate sped up slightly as Precious the cat looked his way, sniffing.
"Peeves, have you seen any students out of bed now?" Apollyon asked him.
Peeves grinned in a way like Sirius did. "Maybe, maybe not," he singsonged.
"Come now, Peeves, this is serious," Pringle said, a bit annoyingly.
"Isn't Peeves job to look out for unruly delinquents, sir, it certainly isn't," Peeves mocked. He spun around again and knocked over a vase sitting on a hall side table. A loud crash rent the air.
"That was a priceless antique! Peeves, the Headmaster will hear of this!!!" Pringle cried, chasing after an amused poltergeist. "Come back here, you imprudent, wrecking abomination!" His words reverberated down the whole corridor, and James made a mental note to thank Peeves later. Or maybe tomorrow.
This looks familiar… James said, peering around him. An ancient-looking purple tapestry hung, covering a good part of the wall. He had been here before, he realized. There had once been a time when he found a hidden room with the enigmatic book in it, but he had heard that opening books like that in a long-undiscovered place was not a good idea. But what the hey? He could use a little adventure for tonight. (yep, the first scene in Chapter 4…)
He pulled back the tapestry, and there it was: the carving of a hippocampus.
"We meet again," the hippocampus spoke. "But care you remember, what is the word for entry?"
"Marauders," James said, inclined to laugh at the hippocampus' formality. But the action seemed inappropriate somehow…what with the sudden ominous feeling in the air.
The hippocampus split in half, and since James had unlocked the door last time, his entry was fairly easy. It looked the same as before; the same beaten old couch and the weird-looking book that seemed to suck up all the air in the place. James crept toward it cautiously, making sure that the door was firmly closed behind him.
"Lumos," he murmured, and the small light cast an eerie air in the room. James felt vaguely like the lead actor of a horror movie.
The six-point star glittering on the front of the cover interested him. He poked the book with his wand. It didn't seem to look threatening, but it didn't look quite ordinary either.
Shrugging, he decided to get it over with and opened the book using his wand. The pages flipped several times and landed on a blank section, the pages strangely white and spotless. Even the edges were smooth and untouched. But James knew he had left this ages ago. Shouldn't the book have yellowed a bit during that time? Then again, what if it had been here for longer than months?
He didn't have time to decipher those questions as words appeared on the left page. He squinted as the words blurred slightly before straightening. Just like the six-point star, they shimmered in a queer blue ink.
Tsalto nlli wenec shcaek eesu oyasne vetub
Tsape rutuft neserp sega pymnid nifl liwu oy
Ebot ma erdu oyl lani atno ci
Ees ton nacsreh tot ahwu oywo shi
(lol JK style)
"What the hell does this mean?" James muttered, moving closer to look at the words. But they didn't waver or change.
"Argh, better just leave it alon--" he said in frustration, but suddenly the pages disappeared and a mixture of colors swirled across the two pages. And then he saw it.
He blinked, clearly this was an illusion. But it was still there. Right on the page was a very familiar scene… the boys' dormitory, to be exact. And there was Sirius, sitting on a stool beside James's trunk and passing the time by conjuring glittery balls of fire and choreographing a dance for them (don't ask me how fireballs dance…).
There's Sirius…maybe this book shows things that are happening in the present in some other place…
He glanced at his watch. One and a half hour until Sirius had to take the potion! He had to make himself scarce, and fast. "Uh-oh, gotta get goi--"
But the picture of the moving Sirius in the dim dormitory dissolved and another took its place. It showed a black-haired boy with glasses, probably about seven year old, mounting a broom with a man that seemed like an adult replica of him standing beside him and appearing to be coaching him. James remembered that day, the day he first learned to fly…
A loud explosion outside, probably Peeves' doing, jolted him from his memories. Without a second thought, he grabbed the book, pulled on his cloak, and left the room. Wait till the guys found out about his latest discovery…
*****
It was almost 11:30 p.m., half an hour before the others said they would come back. Sirius had stayed perched on that stool beside James's trunk for apparently two hours straight, though he didn't know exactly why. It was probably a spell of James's or Remus's doing…but right now Sirius was too bored to care.
He glanced at James's trunk curiously. What kind of potion was in there? James didn't tell him, but it must be really important for them to guard it so securely. Sirius was just passing the remaining time trying to guess the name of the potion and its spell effects when--
The door opened a crack and a suspicious-looking person came in, tiptoeing across the room, towards James's trunk. Intruder alert!!! Sirius's brain screamed. He jumped off his stool and shouted all the curses that could come into his head.
"Diminon! Bicud Dullia! Parasitus! Tenaculi! Leguminium Cochius!"
The 'intruder' stopped short as the first few hexes hit him. "Argh! Sirius--"
"Racilius! Oculi Oredon! Stupefy!" Sirius kept shouting until he was sure that the intruder was subdued. He rolled over the thief, who was lying face first on the floor. He gasped when he found who it was.
"JAMES?!" he shouted. He was severely hexed, his ears four times their larger size, green leafy rigid stuff protruding from his head, his glasses broken as his nose had exceeded the size of even Snape's, one of his eyes shrank smaller than a lima bean…and that was just for his face….
"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, really I am, James," Sirius said in a panicked voice. "Please…don't be mad, WELL, WHAT D'YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, STEALING FROM YOUR OWN TRUNK?!!! THAT'S THE STUPIDEST THING YOU COULD EVER DO--"
"I mean," he said hastily when James groaned, "I'm sorry…I apologize… Are you okay, James? No, of course you're not… Here, I'll reverse everything…don't hex me back, please don't hex me back…"
"Finite Incantatem," he whispered, and slowly all of his hexes faded away. James was still unconscious though. Sirius groaned. "Oh no, he's going to kill me when all this is over…" He dragged James to his bed and left him there as a few fungus things disappeared from his hands. It was then that Sirius noticed the book.
He crept cautiously up to it, as if afraid it was going to pounce on him. Well, if Jamie brought it up here, it must be safe, his inner voice reasoned. He wouldn't just bring a dusty mysterious ancient book up here just for the sake of looking at it as if it were a magical artifact--
His thoughts were interrupted as the book flipped open by itself, stopping at a page just before the very middle one. Sirius peered at it, it--it showed something he didn't quite remember in his head…but he could feel his heart beating faster as he watched…
It was a scene of him and that girl who had trashed Maxine in the hall full of a bunch of people… It was her…with him. It must have been around the Christmas season because they were throwing snowballs at each other and laughing. He saw himself bewitching some snowballs so that they would automatically head straight for her, and she just did the same to him and by the end of it they were extremely wet. James and Lily suddenly appeared in the background, smiling as they stared at them. Who was she? Why was she with him, when she was Maxine's enemy, the one who he heard Maxine whisper to him who was so blatantly evil to her right before she burst into tears?
But the girl didn't look much like a villain to him in that picture. She seemed…happy. Her turquoise blue eyes twinkled as she laughed, and she looked pretty. Way more than Maxine ever could be, even without the makeup…
Suddenly the door cracked open, and Sirius shoved the book under his bed. Remus, Peter, Celeste and Lily appeared in the doorway, smiling at him. What was going on?
"C'mon, Sirius, this is the moment of truth," Lily said excitedly, bouncing on the balls of her feet. She dashed over to James's trunk and had to say "Alohomora" about a gazillion times before it opened. She carefully took the potion out.
"Drink up!" Peter said as Lily carefully brought the potion to them.
"What are you talking about? I'm not going to drink that--you said that was for the prank--and I'm not going to be the guinea pig for your jokes--"
"Shh, this'll make you remember everything," Celeste said soothingly.
Remember…the dark brown-haired girl with the sparkling eyes…Chase, her name was. But he couldn't try to remember, his head was starting to hurt…
Lily pinched his nose and held it there as she forced him to drain the whole flask of potion. It tasted funny, but it didn't taste bad. A swirl of color spun as he looked around at them, a swirl of colors flashed in his head--scenes of the things they said he should remember. But they suddenly disappeared, with the last scene of Chase laughing and smirking in amusement at what he just said--then all became black.
*****
The sun was shining brightly outside. The birds were chirping sweetly…but Chase felt none of the happy-cheery feelings of nature as she flung herself out of bed and dragged herself to the shower. Beautiful morning, my ass, she cursed to herself. She was a morning person, usually anyway. But something was bothering her today. Today was the day that Sirius, as Lily told her, was officially back to normal.
She felt the tears sting her eyes as the water pounded against her back. She knew it was just the potion that made him do what he did, but that was beside the point. He still hurt her--even physically. She knew it was stupid--and irrational--to wallow over guy problems. She couldn't stand those fashion magazines that Celes insisted she read. Where Celeste lectured her on reading her books and finishing her homework--mostly in Transfiguration--on time, she in turn would lecture Celeste to stop being such a 'stereotypical follow-the-crowd popular princess' and face the reality that fashion magazines do not solve everything, if anything at all.
Chase sighed as she toweled off. And today was one of the worst days ever…even if it was Friday, they had double Transfiguration first and second period, and she couldn't stand Transfiguration. Not that she didn't like McGonagall or anything, but she just hated the damn subject. She laughed inwardly as she remembered her conversation with Lily long ago…not that it mattered. She still sucked at changing things into another.
The other four girls were still asleep--no wonder, it was so early. Celeste and Lily must have spent the whole night hanging out in the boys' dormitory, celebrating Sirius's 'coming-to' and discussing how they would make sure the two of them could stay together--yeah, right. It would take a powerful Memory Charm to make Chase forget what Sirius did to her…or at least a potion that would wipe out all the wounds in her heart. (Yuck, I can't believe I just wrote something love-related corny…sorry, but I'm not used to this and I hate it.)
She got dressed into her black robes, slipped her leather boots on and swiped her hat from the hat stand as she left the room. Maybe she could eat an early breakfast today and finally finish her Transfiguration report--she still hadn't managed to polish her work last night.
The Great Hall was nearly empty except for a few early-morning freakaziods who routinely woke up at the break of dawn everyday. She sat down alone on the Gryffindor table (the early birds consisted most from Hufflepuffs) and watched as the plates magically piled with food. She was just spearing bacon with her fork when a voice came behind her.
"Is this seat taken?"
She felt her insides freeze up, but she was too…what, angry? No, she never was. Hurt? But that was stupid, it was just a potion… Chase couldn't quite figure out what exactly she was feeling and groped for a response.
"It's not like anyone's going to wrestle you for it," she said indifferently as Sirius laughed and sat beside her. How could he just look like they were friends again? Was she supposed to magically forget all the pain he had caused her--all the hateful tears she shed just because of him? She wasn't supposed to cry--she hated crying, and she hated it when people cried. Just like Celeste did at the end of each school year… It was a sign of weakness, weakness that a person couldn't handle their feelings on something. At least Celeste had a sensible reason, but Chase hadn't, it was just over a boy…
"So where are Lily and Celeste?" Sirius asked in a normal tone. Didn't sound much like the furious bastard that he was when he swore he'd curse her for calling Maxine a whore.
"Still asleep," Chase said evenly, not giving him the satisfaction of eye contact that would assure him that she wasn't mad.
"Oh," said Sirius, his usually confident tone faltering as he shifted in his seat uncomfortably. He barely ate as he talked. This was strange. Chase usually couldn't drag him away from all the colossal amounts of food he accumulated in ten gigantic dinner plates. And that was just breakfast.
Chase finished her bacon and eggs and stood up.
"Where are you going?" Sirius asked, standing up as well.
"I'm going to finish my Transfiguration homework," Chase answered coolly. She slung her backpack over her shoulder.
"I'll help you," he said quickly. "I finished mine already--"
"Thanks, but the rest is pretty easy," she interrupted, forcing a smile. "Later," she muttered.
"Wait!" Sirius called, jogging up to her. "Listen, Chase. I'm really sorry, it was just the potion and you know I never meant any of it, honest--"
"I know that," Chase said, walking faster. "I know it isn't your fault--"
"And you know I'd never hurt you, it was just that whore Maxine and all her bitchy antics--"
That made Chase crack a smile. "She is that," she admitted, a little less uncaringly.
"Yeah, and I promise that we'll give her what she deserves for trying to do that to--"
Sirius stopped short as Maxine entered the Hall. For a moment Chase thought that the reversing potion really didn't work, after all, it was just made by a bunch of bright fourth years.
Maxine narrowed her eyes as they landed on Sirius and Chase--together. She walked over to them, her face taut, but she gave Chase a triumphant smile. Clearly she thought the love potion was still taking effect.
"Come, Siri, it's time for breakfast," she cooed in a sugary voice.
Instead of following her, Sirius eyed her up and down with disgusted disdain. "And why the bloody hell do you think I would do that?" he said in an icy voice.
Maxine took a step back. She mustn't have expected him to say that. Chase smirked. So the resident prostitute had gotten the shock of her life. Quite a dose of karmic medicine to start off the day.
"W-what are you talking about, Sirius? Don't you remember what she did? She-she insulted me in front of all those people yesterday!" Maxine stuttered with a nervous laugh, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder in what she thought was a flirtatious way.
"I don't care if Chase said anything about you. As far as I know, if she does say anything, it's probably true," Sirius snarled at her. Maxine's eyes widened with fear.
"How can you say that to me?" she whispered in disbelief. Then she glanced at Chase. "How can you come back to her?"
Chase just stood there, her eyes finally regaining the sardonic twinkle from long ago, back when all this hadn't happened. "Beggars can't be choosers, Eamon," she said. "You'll be lucky if you can even find someone decent. Why don't you crawl back to those nerds that you must have copulated with just so they'll make a love potion for you?"
"You arrogant little b--" Maxine started to say with slit eyes.
"You're the only bitch around here, Eamon," Sirius said, stepping between them before Maxine could finish her sentence.
Maxine's eyes stared quizzically at him with a mixture of disbelieving amazement and shock that he could speak so harshly to her. She jumped back and started to stalk away, looking like a wounded puppy. Her lackeys trailed after her, occasionally looking back at Sirius as if expecting him to blurt out that he was kidding.
"Thanks," Chase said, smiling genuinely for the first time in weeks.
"Don't mention it," Sirius said back. Hopefully…he thought, they were back. Where they belonged.
*****
That night the marauders were in the dormitory. Sirius was poring through the extremely thick prank book that Chase had given him. He hadn't had a chance to open it yet, thanks to Maxine.
Remus was teaching Peter how to do the Sapient Charm. He still couldn't quite get it done after a while, and Remus had to use Sirius as a tester.
"Hey guys--the atomic mass of oxygen is 1.5999 x 101--look at this--double, double, toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble--prank that I--density equals mass over volume--found on this page--Sn = a/r-- Quit it, Remus--Naught's had, all's spent, where our desire is got without content-- I told you to stop already-- When the hurly-burly's done, when the battle's lost and won-- Stop, I say, or I'll really hex you-- What's done cannot be undone-- Finite Incantatem!"
Remus laughed. "See? Now you try it, Pete, it's really easy--"
Sirius slammed his book shut and grabbed his wand from the bedside table. "No way! You stupid werewolf, I'll teach you how to--"
"You should be in a play, Sirius, you recite Macbeth quite well," Remus observed.
"Who's Macbeth?" asked James, who was muttering some sort of incantation that obviously controlled the movements of the scenes in the book.
"A Muggle fiction character created by Shakespeare," Remus explained. "What're you looking at there?"
"The girls' dormitory," James replied.
"The showers?" Peter asked in disbelief.
"Jamie's a pervert," Sirius spoke up from his bed.
"Don't be a prat, Peter, why would I want to do something like that?" James asked, though his face was beet red.
"Because you want to see Lil's body," Sirius smirked. James threw a Martin Miggs comic book at him.
"If there's a pervert between the two of us it's you, Padfoot," James retorted.
Sirius grinned devilishly. "Oh yeah? Then whose magazines were under Peter's bed, the ones that focused on--"
"Shhh!" Remus said, waving at Martin, who was asleep on his bed.
James grinned too. "Y'know, I think I'm starting to notice something about our horny werewolf--"
"That wasn't me!" Remus protested.
"Yeah, right. And Sirius is Snape's best friend," James quipped.
"Whatever you think, it wasn't me," Remus said, throwing up his hands. "C'mon, Pete, I think you're getting the hang of it."
"Changing the subject," Sirius accused with a glint of amusement in his dark blue eyes.
Remus was about to retaliate when James suddenly said, "Hey, Chase is leaving the dorm."
"So?" was Remus's grumpy response.
"I think she looks angry about something…" James trailed off.
Remus glanced at Sirius. "Well, it's obvious what she's so mad about, then," he laughed as Sirius scowled at him.
"That's okay, Sirius, just pour on all that lovey-dovey mushy sayings on how you can't live without her when she's mad, girls love that kinda stuff," James advised in a mocking tone.
"Maybe it works on Lily, but Chase isn't a typical femme fatale, James," Remus said with a smirk.
"Yeah, she hates mush and sentimentality," Peter chimed in.
James scowled. "Well duh, I was teasing Sirius, you morons. Can't you tell a joke when you hear one?"
"Sorry. Do you know that your 'extremely obvious' funny jokes are actually subtle and hard to decipher, Mr. All Around Comedian?" Sirius asked him.
"Whatev--" James started to counter, but he looked back at the book. "That's weird…a phoenix just flew into the room…"
His three friends burst into laughter. "Yeah, right, James. Now that's really funny. Everybody knows that phoenixes are rare, Dumbledore even got Fawkes from a faraway tropical country, they're not going to swoop in on Hogwarts by the flock," Sirius teased.
"No, really, and it's got a letter attached to its leg… Celeste's opening it…"
"Well, read it then!" Sirius said impatiently, though he didn't look up from his prank book.
"Okay, okay, you should be lucky I figured out how to zoom in and out of scenes…" James muttered, saying a bunch of words that would make the letter larger.
Celeste started to read it--James still couldn't focus the scene on the letter--Celeste was turning pale as a ghost--what was that about? James said the controlling words furiously fast--the scene started to zoom in on the letter--
"HOLY SHIT!!!"
His three friends looked up imperceptibly, stunned.
"What? What is it?" Remus asked in concern.
"It's--it's Chase…" James said, paling slightly.
"Chase?! What happened to her? Did she get hurt?" Sirius exclaimed anxiously. "Oh no. She left the room a while ago, didn't she? What if those Slytherin thugs attacked her? What if--"
"What happened, James?" Peter interrupted Sirius.
James just stared down at the book in his lap. The three marauders hurriedly crept away from their posts to look…
*****
AN - Gotta--hate--cliffhangers… -_- School sucks…I must've filled three whole pages of math notebook paper writing s-c-h-o-o-l s-u-c-k-s on the little boxes during math class… I've got to figure out an excuse to make my parents believe that my fanfic is--er--schoolwork. Wait, I know! "No mom…this is beneficial. It's supposed to improve my writing skills, not to mention my grammar and spelling… What? This is not a Harry Potter fanfic…it's about the marauders, okay? M-A-R-A-U-D-E-R-S marauders… there's not a single mention of a Harry Potter in this story! See? Yeah, I know that witchcraft is bad and everything… No, I'm not reading the books anymore, I finished all of them already… What? Burn them? Are you out of your mind?!!! I mean, don't burn them, you're going to waste a whole lot of money… Right. Read the Bible, read the Bible, read the Bible…read Harry Potter--kidding…renounce Harry Potter and magic (say what? The hell with--). I didn't say anything mom…really…jeez, do I have to read the whole Bible? Waaaaiitt!!! Don't throw them in the fire!!! Okay, okay, I'm reading the Bible already (grumble grumble). Fine! But I already told you that this isn't a Harry Potter story, it's the marauders, there's a big difference… Besides, if I don't keep writing, my grades in Communication Arts would greatly and dramatically falter… Now, you wouldn't want that to happen, would you?"
That went well… as usual I am desperate for reviews… so…review. I must've written that word so may times, it doesn't look like a word anymore… R-E-V-I-E-W… Weird, it doesn't really look like a word…