Disclaimer: I own nothing save characterization and plot, the rest belongs
to J.K.
Author's Note: No idea what this one is going to be about, as a matter of fact this whole story has an ending in my head but not a lot body so I am thinking it up as I go along. Makes it interesting. This chapter is for Moonlight, going through my reviews I noticed she was one of the first to review this story and then I noticed that she still is. I would also like to mention that the first review was in April when this story was in "development" so she really has stuck with it. Thanks Moonlight!
****RICHARD HARRIS: MAY HE TRIUMPTH IN THE NEXT GREAT ADVENTURE****
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"Sweet Lily "
"My mum? Really?" Harry looked surprised and Sirius nodded.
"Yea, everyone thought she was the sweet little angel," Sirius caught his breath as he said the word and his voice stumbled.
"From everything I've pieced together she was the good one and you guys were the bad boys." Harry said looking down at the article. They hadn't changed the page yet and Harry caught in the corner of his eye a small girl tying a handkerchief around her knee in the lower corner of the picture.
"She just didn't get caught. We took the heat for half of her pranks you know." Sirius said indignantly, "I became greats friends with cleaning solutions I tell you that. It's a magic school so do we make them practice in detention? No, physical labor. Has to be illegal you know." Sirius ranted on and on.
"I'm sure you got the credit for the pranks as well." Harry smirked.
"That's not the point. Here let me show you. Your mum took this one as well, thought it would be funny." Sirius turned to the next page and Harry saw three pictures. One with Peter, James, Remus, and Sirius; another one was of the whole Gryffindor House and the last one was of Peter, James, and Sirius scrubbing the floor and by the looks of it the charms room floor. "Her prank and we paid for it. Wasn't funny, actually the prank was fair but this," he slapped the photo with his fingers as he gestured to it, "wasn't."
"What did she do?" Harry asked, not believing it was his mother, she had always thought of her as a sweet quiet girl and his father as the rambunctious one.
"Just after Halloween we started color charms and they had become the average prank, the Slytherins had red hair and the Gryffindors usually had green. Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws didn't really wage in our little war. Probably because it was fueled by James and Snape and they didn't want to get involved. Your dad and I had learned a few advanced charms in this area and we started to add spots and flashing words. Things like "Snape the Grease ball" not advanced really or very cleaver as I look back on it but they were advanced nonetheless. After a few weeks the heads of houses became a bit peeved about the flashing hair, said it was disturbing their class and they put spells on every single student wand, disabled the charm during class hours. Well James and I had decided to find a way around the little inconvenience but your mum beat us to it."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Fade into memory~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Lily?" Sirius said over a goblet of orange juice. He looked at the slim girl in wonder, in one hand she held the goblet and with another she shoved a piece of toast in her mouth. While chewing she held up one finger to tell Sirius to wait a moment. "Come on Lily, chew, chew, chew. That's it, now swallow. What's the hurry? We still have fifteen minutes until Charms start." She held up the finger again, lifted the goblet and downed it all with one slug. As she put the goblet back on the table Sirius gave her a small round of applause and then smirked when she tabbed at the corner of her lips with a napkin. "Have to stay lady like, don't want to be a slob do we Lily?"
"Of course not! Now I have to run, don't want to be late for Charms class. " She put her satchel on the seat and started to leaf through the books, closed it up and slung it over her shoulder.
"Hi Lily, do you think I could have a look at your transfiguration essay?" James said as he strolled in, ruffling her hair as he took a seat. She quickly pushed it back in place.
"What happen to the high and mighty James Potter, what did you call yourself? Oh yes, Lord of the pins. I thought you knew everything about transfiguration." She reached back into her bag as she spoke and withdrew a blue folder.
"I can do the spells but I don't know the history of ancient switching spells. Doing the magic and knowing its history are completely different things." James levitated the pitcher of orange juice in front of him, making it go back and forth before it poured into a glass. "Please."
" You are getting better at the levitation charm. Didn't I tell you practice makes perfect. Now about that essay. Did you even try?" Lily questioned skeptically.
"I swear I did!" James said, looking around at the other boys for conformation.
"Don't look at me James, I was out at the kitchens." Sirius said watching James plea.
"Remus! You saw me working on it right?" He turned to Remus Lupin who had lowered his book to watch the on goings. He had missed a few classes and was making up the work.
"I was in the Potions room remember? Had to make up a few lessons and all." James gave Remus a sarcastic smile and turned to Peter who raised his hands at once.
"Don't even ask James. I was with Sirius." James turned a looked at Lily with a pleading glance.
"I was. Please Lily." James said.
"Ok, but only because I am in a rush. I'll save you guys seats. See you there." She handed James the folder and rushed out of the hall; glancing to make sure the charms professor was still chatting away.
"What's the rush about?" James asked as he scratched a quill across the parchment, concealing his work from the professor's table with a large bowl of fruit
"She said she didn't want to be late for charms. She's gone bonkers you know, rushing to class like that." Peter said.
"Instead of strolling in late like some of us prefer." Remus muttered as he turned the page.
Meanwhile Lily was up in the dorm. Reaching under her bed and pulling out a few cans of paint. If the Slytherins thought they were going to get away with giving her a voice-changing potion in her goblet last week they were mistaken. If she couldn't charm them she would use what she had, paint.
James, Remus, Peter and Sirius strolled into charms class with approximately two minutes until the bell rang. Spotting Lily they took their seats. James, Peter, and Sirius in the back row and Lily and Remus a row in front of them and to the side. Lily giggled as James levitated his books.
"What's so funny?" he questioned digging through his papers and handing her back her report.
"Nothing. You are getting very good at that." Lily said, one of her arms was at her side, her wand pointed up towards the ceiling.
"Splendid Mr. Potter!" Said Professor Wittlebee as he entered the room and placed his briefcase on his desk.
"Oh, it's nothing sir." James made his books do flip-flops and then fall into the desk in front of him.
"No, it's very good. You should have no problems with the advanced form of that charm we are covering today. You might even be able to help me. Excuse me." The Professor went and stood by the door, ushering the pupils in.
"James, open mouth and insert foot." Sirius whispered from his side.
"Didn't it take you nearly a week to learn how to do that?" Peter asked.
"I learned how to do it though." James said pushing his hair back as he often did during stressful times.
"He'll do fine." Lily smirked. He eyes watching the other side of the room, the Slytherins were talking amongst themselves and Professor Wittlebee was gathering papers.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence Lily. Do you think you could convince the rest of them?" He motioned towards Sirius, Peter, and a very quiet Remus.
"James do you think you could show me how to do the levitation spell again. I want a quick review before class starts?" Remus looked questionally at her.
"Lily you know it the best, better than James. Even though that isn't hard to do." Remus went on.
"Hey!" James shot Remus a look and turned to Lily. "Sure." He started to lift his wand.
"Not yet." Lily's eyes dazzled with mischief.
"Why not?" James asked. Professor Wittlebee turned and when he was a few feet from the group Lily nodded to him.
"Now." Lily said as she muttered something under her breath.
"OK, wing." James voice was interrupted by the Slytherins' outcries from the other side of the room. With his arm still raised James looked over and cracked up. The Slytherins were covered in paint. Pink, blue, green, and Red. The paint also had been charmed and was flashing in different shade. His wand was still raised from the spell as the paint cans clanked against the floor.
"Mr. Potter!" Professor Wittlebee yelled, catching sight of the Slytherins and James cracking up with his wand still raised. Peter, who had been practicing James motions, also had his wand raised and Sirius turned to look in wonderment at James.
"You didn't tell me?" Sirius asked in a hurt voice between his boisterous laughs,
"I didn't do it." James replied as he looked at a pink Snape, and another laugh grew in his throat.
"Mr. Potter and Mr. Pettigrew." He looked at Sirius who was still looking at James with a hurt expression. "Will serve detention tonight. You all will clean the floor; no magic and it will glean. So you understand me." It was a statement, not a question. Looking at Snape and the other rainbow colored Slytherins he grinned. It was a pretty good prank and if he was going to have detention for it he might as well take the credit he thought. The three boys nodded at Professor Wittlebee. As the professor turned to clean up the boys James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus waved with full smiles at the other boys. Lily rolled her eyes. It figured, she did all of the hard work and they got the credit.
"Well worth it." James said in his seat and he turned to look at Sirius.
"I thought you didn't do it?" Sirius questioned. Still taunting the Slytherins as he spoke.
"Who cares?" James said with clinched teeth as he grinned at one of the Slytherins.
"Besides, I did." Lily reached down and pulled out her charms book. The boys turned towards her with a mixture of admiration and shock.
"You?" Peter piped in.
"Yes." She put a quill behind her ear.
"Really?" Peter said again.
"Yes, now if I were you I would I would be quiet and get through this lesson." She opened up to chapter four. "I'm more surprised at you guys, thinking James could pull that off."
"Why is everyone insulting me today?" James said in a whisper as Professor Wittlebee wrote on the board.
"Because it's so easy." Remus began to copy the notes into his book.
"Don't forget fun." Sirius added.
"You know what?" James said with a huff.
"What?" Peter replied.
"I'm not talking to you guys." James turned with a hurt expression and remain silent the rest of the lesson, only looking toward Sirius to poke him back.
The day went on in silence until Dinner. Lily, Sirius, Remus, and Peter followed James. All of them attempting to break the silence. After a while Sirius began to mime, telling James to do the same. He didn't like the mimicked reply. Dinner passed in silence and Lily stood up and say goodnight to the boys. She was going to the Library to do some work, Remus was off to the Astronomy Tower and the others were off for detention.
"See you guys later." Lily said, waiving to them all.
"Later Lily." Peter said with a grumble at the impending doom of detention.
"See you then." Sirius handed her his books. "Can you drop this off in the common room for me?"
"Mine too." Peter dropped his books in front of her.
"Ok." Lily struggled to lift them all and James felt the threat of his good manners coming back. Blasted mother and her blasting mothering he though. Without speaking he picked up half of the pile and nodded at her.
"Thanks James." Lily said as she waved goodbye at Remus another Gryffindor who was seated by them.
"Thanks Lily! Thanks James!" Sirius yelled from the table as the two went towards the door.
"We have just enough time to get another piece of pie and then we have to be at detention in twenty minutes." Sirius said.
"Well I want to go to the tower now, have a lot to catch up on." Remus departed and left the two to their food.
Meanwhile Lily and James were nearly at the portrait and Lily couldn't get James to say a word.
"I have to run, a Ravenclaw said he was going to look up some potion ingredients for the draught and I need those books. See you later and James, I'm sorry." She ran down the hall, her hair bouncing. They had just dropped off all of the books and James only had ten minutes to get to the Charms room, which was past the Library. He didn't feel like talking, not with any of his friends anyway. He was just upset. After Lily turned the corner James sped up. He didn't need to be late for detention. As he neared the library he heard muffled voices.
"I know you did it Mudblood. Potter doesn't have the brains."
"Shows how little you know. He's brilliant."
"That's only because you like him."
"I do not!"
"I guess I'll have to take your word for it Mudblood."
"And if I did do it do you really want to call me a Mudblood? Aren't you scared I might get my revenge?"
James knew the voices at this point. One was Lily and the other was Snape.
"I'm not scared of you." Snape said as he drew closer to her. Lily gripped her wand, spells running through her head. "It seems you are scared of me though?"
"I'm not. Now back away. I can smell your breath." Lily's voice broke in.
"Don't you know your place? Lowly Mudblood. I bet you aren't even accepted in the Muggle World are you? Don't fit in at all. You aren't a witch? You're a."
"Stop it right now." Lily said, her voice growing small. While Lily was strong, but in will and physically she a bit sensitive. James felt his jaw tighten. "I said move it!" Her voice was strong again, brave. "I would rather be a Muggle than the likes of you."
"Potter is 'the likes of me' you know. He's a pure blood too." Snape went on.
"James is nothing like you. He's smart and your dumb. He's brave and your scared. He's kind and loyal. You two are nothing alike. Now if you will excuse me, no let me change that. I don't care if you excuse me. I have to go to the library." James heard the library door open and close and stood in the shadow.
"Stupid girl, I'll show her one day." Snape turned the corner.
"She's anything but stupid and if you lay a hand on her I'll get you Snape. She's my friend and nobody touches my friend." Snape jumped as James walked out of the shadows. "Scared?"
"No."
"I guess I'll have to settle with leaving you enacted for the moment but know that I will always be watching." James stared hard at Snape with loathing.
"Your words are like wisps of clouds Potter, they mean nothing. I must be going now, have friends to catch up with."
"Who?" James asked surprised.
"None of your business." Snape walked away but under the folds of his robe he held his wand. James stood a few moments in front of the library. He didn't trust Snape. Looking at his watch he saw the moments tick away and he only had a 3 minutes.
"A jog couldn't hurt." He said as he raced down the hall, arriving just on time.
Lily blew a piece of hair out of her face and look at the book once again. Why would she ever have to know this she thought as she re-read the passage for the fourth time. Looking over her paper she reminded herself that she was already three inches over the requirement and she really didn't have to go into the history of the draught's development so with a flourish she added a conclusion and threw her books into her bag and grabbed her camera. When Lily had sent home a few wizard photos that James had taken to her parents they had sent her the money to buy one of her own. It was silver with a brown shoulder strap and her name engraved on the side. With a smirk she said her good-byes and headed to the charms room.
"She is going to pay, girl or not a girl. This isn't right." Sirius said as he scrubbed the floor. "This bloody stuff won't come off!"
"Try the soap Sirius." Peter muttered as he worked on a corner.
"Hasn't been helping you much has it? Been in that same spot for an hour so don't tell me what to do." Sirius grunted
"It's bad enough without hearing you two argue." James said, he was using his fingernail to pull off the paint.
"Talking again are we?" Sirius said with hope in his voice.
"Apparently." James said as he removed a particularly large bit of paint.
"Thank you James, I was getting tired of Sirius complaining." Peter added in.
"He just likes the sound of his own voice." James put in and Sirius quickly replied.
"You would like it too if you sounded like mine."
"Sirius, has anyone ever told you that you are too modest?" James questioned sarcastically.
"Has anyone ever told you that you are too sarcastic?" Sirius said.
"No." James said as he went at the floor again with vigor. Professor Wittlebee had left half an hour ago and James was eager to leave as well.
"James, you are sarcastic." Peter put in.
"Ha." Said Sirius as he poked his sponge up in the air to make his point.
"You both are." Came a feminine voice from the door, "Now smile." Lily was leaning on the doorframe with her bag next to her while she snapped a few pictures.
"Lily!" Peter yelled.
"Yes?" She replied as she put the camera down just in time because James threw a soapy sponge in her direction and it hit her in the head. It wasn't hard or heavy enough to hurt her but bubbles were in her hair. "James!" She picked it up and threw it back at him.
Sirius and Peter joined in as the sponge fight went on. Lily grabbed a bucket of water and threw the water onto Sirius and turned to run and he chased her but instead ran straight into James who dumped water onto her head, her hair plastered to her face. After a quarter-hour they all were drenched, soapy and exhausted, all falling to the floor.
"That was fun." Lily rang out her hair.
"We still have to clean the floor though." Sirius said in a disheartened voice.
"Without magic." James added with a sigh.
"Yea, thank a lot Lily." Peter put in.
"Ok, alright you made me feel a bit guilty." Lily said as she stood up.
"Really? Why?" Sirius muttered in a sarcastic voice.
"I'm sorry you guys got in trouble now if you let me finish I'll tell you how I am going to help you." She looked at them all in turn as they nodded. "Professor Wittlebee said you couldn't use magic, he never said anything about me now did he?" She withdrew her wand and with a flourish the floor sparkled and shone except for a little blemish here and there. Sirius smiled widely and Peter nodded as he looked around the room. James knelt down for a closer examination.
"You missed a spot." He said as he stood, rolling down his wet sleeves and pushing his already unruly hair back.
"Had to make it look convincing you know." She waved her wand again and they were all dried.
"Thanks Lily." Peter said as he patted his robe.
"No problem." She lifted her bag over he shoulder. "It's getting late, we should get back to the common room."
"Yea, I'm exhausted." Sirius yawned.
"Ditto." Came Peter's voice.
"From what?" Sirius asked as they left the room, Lily waited for James.
"Come on." Lily said.
"I am, do you think you could teach me that spell?" He asked.
"Which one?" She blew out the nearest candle and used her wand to send a gust of wind at the others.
"The cleaning one, our dorm isn't tidy to say the least." He closed the door behind them.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Fade out of memory~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Sirius looked at the amazed expression on Harry's face, apparently he hadn't thought his mum capable of such things and Sirius couldn't blame him. She looked like the proper little English girl from afar but once you really knew her you saw that there was more too her, she was different in the best way possible. She was Lily and there was no other way to put it.
"I told you she wasn't as sweet as she looked." Sirius said.
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Do you have any idea how long that took to write? Nearly three weeks on and off. It's probably one of the longest chapters I have ever written but I was a bit carried away in the flashback. I know it feels a bit choppy at some points and you can probably tell when I had to stop and when I started up again. I hope you guys like it. Now onto the thanks yous. If I miss you let me know.
Heather: Thanks! I hope you like this flashback as well.
Black Lace: Thank you so much! I love writing Sirius and I really wanted to do this story line, I hadn't come across something like this so I decided to give it a try.
Moonlight: Yes, that is why Snape has a crooked nose. I couldn't resist. I feel a bit sorry for him but I just had to. If it wasn't for his role in Goblet of Fire I would have been even nastier to him. Still have to make him pay for what he did to Remus and Sirius in Prisoner of Azkaban though. (Makes mental note to cause him great pain). Check the author's note at the top too.
Esperanza: Thanks! I wanted to have a different meeting, I was tired of them bumping into each other at the feast or on the train, I also needed an excuse to have James and Snape meet; I think there was more than Quidditch involved in their hatred.
Black Lace: Lol, another Sirius fan! YAY! He is the best isn't he? Glad you like it so far.
Liz: Nope she doesn't write. Girl of Your Dreams was to her because it was her birthday.
LaminaCourt: Lol, I probably would have blown it up too. I love the way you think. I like the idea of memories too; it gives me a way for Harry to interact with his parents through Sirius in a strange round about way.
WeasleyTwinLover1112: Thanks. Lol, I hope you like the way he told off Snape in this one.
I think I have everyone but if I did miss you it was a mistake and just tell me and I will try to make it up to you. If you want to be notified of an updated just tell me in your review or if I do e-mail you and you don't want me to just tell me. I plan on updating soon so please check back! Everyone, please review. It makes me more confident in my writing and then I don't worry so much about posting and thus write more. I need reviews like oxygen if that makes sense. If you review (love it or hate it, just review) I will thank you in the next chapter. Until then.
~ Katie Black
Author's Note: No idea what this one is going to be about, as a matter of fact this whole story has an ending in my head but not a lot body so I am thinking it up as I go along. Makes it interesting. This chapter is for Moonlight, going through my reviews I noticed she was one of the first to review this story and then I noticed that she still is. I would also like to mention that the first review was in April when this story was in "development" so she really has stuck with it. Thanks Moonlight!
****RICHARD HARRIS: MAY HE TRIUMPTH IN THE NEXT GREAT ADVENTURE****
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"Sweet Lily "
"My mum? Really?" Harry looked surprised and Sirius nodded.
"Yea, everyone thought she was the sweet little angel," Sirius caught his breath as he said the word and his voice stumbled.
"From everything I've pieced together she was the good one and you guys were the bad boys." Harry said looking down at the article. They hadn't changed the page yet and Harry caught in the corner of his eye a small girl tying a handkerchief around her knee in the lower corner of the picture.
"She just didn't get caught. We took the heat for half of her pranks you know." Sirius said indignantly, "I became greats friends with cleaning solutions I tell you that. It's a magic school so do we make them practice in detention? No, physical labor. Has to be illegal you know." Sirius ranted on and on.
"I'm sure you got the credit for the pranks as well." Harry smirked.
"That's not the point. Here let me show you. Your mum took this one as well, thought it would be funny." Sirius turned to the next page and Harry saw three pictures. One with Peter, James, Remus, and Sirius; another one was of the whole Gryffindor House and the last one was of Peter, James, and Sirius scrubbing the floor and by the looks of it the charms room floor. "Her prank and we paid for it. Wasn't funny, actually the prank was fair but this," he slapped the photo with his fingers as he gestured to it, "wasn't."
"What did she do?" Harry asked, not believing it was his mother, she had always thought of her as a sweet quiet girl and his father as the rambunctious one.
"Just after Halloween we started color charms and they had become the average prank, the Slytherins had red hair and the Gryffindors usually had green. Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws didn't really wage in our little war. Probably because it was fueled by James and Snape and they didn't want to get involved. Your dad and I had learned a few advanced charms in this area and we started to add spots and flashing words. Things like "Snape the Grease ball" not advanced really or very cleaver as I look back on it but they were advanced nonetheless. After a few weeks the heads of houses became a bit peeved about the flashing hair, said it was disturbing their class and they put spells on every single student wand, disabled the charm during class hours. Well James and I had decided to find a way around the little inconvenience but your mum beat us to it."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Fade into memory~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Lily?" Sirius said over a goblet of orange juice. He looked at the slim girl in wonder, in one hand she held the goblet and with another she shoved a piece of toast in her mouth. While chewing she held up one finger to tell Sirius to wait a moment. "Come on Lily, chew, chew, chew. That's it, now swallow. What's the hurry? We still have fifteen minutes until Charms start." She held up the finger again, lifted the goblet and downed it all with one slug. As she put the goblet back on the table Sirius gave her a small round of applause and then smirked when she tabbed at the corner of her lips with a napkin. "Have to stay lady like, don't want to be a slob do we Lily?"
"Of course not! Now I have to run, don't want to be late for Charms class. " She put her satchel on the seat and started to leaf through the books, closed it up and slung it over her shoulder.
"Hi Lily, do you think I could have a look at your transfiguration essay?" James said as he strolled in, ruffling her hair as he took a seat. She quickly pushed it back in place.
"What happen to the high and mighty James Potter, what did you call yourself? Oh yes, Lord of the pins. I thought you knew everything about transfiguration." She reached back into her bag as she spoke and withdrew a blue folder.
"I can do the spells but I don't know the history of ancient switching spells. Doing the magic and knowing its history are completely different things." James levitated the pitcher of orange juice in front of him, making it go back and forth before it poured into a glass. "Please."
" You are getting better at the levitation charm. Didn't I tell you practice makes perfect. Now about that essay. Did you even try?" Lily questioned skeptically.
"I swear I did!" James said, looking around at the other boys for conformation.
"Don't look at me James, I was out at the kitchens." Sirius said watching James plea.
"Remus! You saw me working on it right?" He turned to Remus Lupin who had lowered his book to watch the on goings. He had missed a few classes and was making up the work.
"I was in the Potions room remember? Had to make up a few lessons and all." James gave Remus a sarcastic smile and turned to Peter who raised his hands at once.
"Don't even ask James. I was with Sirius." James turned a looked at Lily with a pleading glance.
"I was. Please Lily." James said.
"Ok, but only because I am in a rush. I'll save you guys seats. See you there." She handed James the folder and rushed out of the hall; glancing to make sure the charms professor was still chatting away.
"What's the rush about?" James asked as he scratched a quill across the parchment, concealing his work from the professor's table with a large bowl of fruit
"She said she didn't want to be late for charms. She's gone bonkers you know, rushing to class like that." Peter said.
"Instead of strolling in late like some of us prefer." Remus muttered as he turned the page.
Meanwhile Lily was up in the dorm. Reaching under her bed and pulling out a few cans of paint. If the Slytherins thought they were going to get away with giving her a voice-changing potion in her goblet last week they were mistaken. If she couldn't charm them she would use what she had, paint.
James, Remus, Peter and Sirius strolled into charms class with approximately two minutes until the bell rang. Spotting Lily they took their seats. James, Peter, and Sirius in the back row and Lily and Remus a row in front of them and to the side. Lily giggled as James levitated his books.
"What's so funny?" he questioned digging through his papers and handing her back her report.
"Nothing. You are getting very good at that." Lily said, one of her arms was at her side, her wand pointed up towards the ceiling.
"Splendid Mr. Potter!" Said Professor Wittlebee as he entered the room and placed his briefcase on his desk.
"Oh, it's nothing sir." James made his books do flip-flops and then fall into the desk in front of him.
"No, it's very good. You should have no problems with the advanced form of that charm we are covering today. You might even be able to help me. Excuse me." The Professor went and stood by the door, ushering the pupils in.
"James, open mouth and insert foot." Sirius whispered from his side.
"Didn't it take you nearly a week to learn how to do that?" Peter asked.
"I learned how to do it though." James said pushing his hair back as he often did during stressful times.
"He'll do fine." Lily smirked. He eyes watching the other side of the room, the Slytherins were talking amongst themselves and Professor Wittlebee was gathering papers.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence Lily. Do you think you could convince the rest of them?" He motioned towards Sirius, Peter, and a very quiet Remus.
"James do you think you could show me how to do the levitation spell again. I want a quick review before class starts?" Remus looked questionally at her.
"Lily you know it the best, better than James. Even though that isn't hard to do." Remus went on.
"Hey!" James shot Remus a look and turned to Lily. "Sure." He started to lift his wand.
"Not yet." Lily's eyes dazzled with mischief.
"Why not?" James asked. Professor Wittlebee turned and when he was a few feet from the group Lily nodded to him.
"Now." Lily said as she muttered something under her breath.
"OK, wing." James voice was interrupted by the Slytherins' outcries from the other side of the room. With his arm still raised James looked over and cracked up. The Slytherins were covered in paint. Pink, blue, green, and Red. The paint also had been charmed and was flashing in different shade. His wand was still raised from the spell as the paint cans clanked against the floor.
"Mr. Potter!" Professor Wittlebee yelled, catching sight of the Slytherins and James cracking up with his wand still raised. Peter, who had been practicing James motions, also had his wand raised and Sirius turned to look in wonderment at James.
"You didn't tell me?" Sirius asked in a hurt voice between his boisterous laughs,
"I didn't do it." James replied as he looked at a pink Snape, and another laugh grew in his throat.
"Mr. Potter and Mr. Pettigrew." He looked at Sirius who was still looking at James with a hurt expression. "Will serve detention tonight. You all will clean the floor; no magic and it will glean. So you understand me." It was a statement, not a question. Looking at Snape and the other rainbow colored Slytherins he grinned. It was a pretty good prank and if he was going to have detention for it he might as well take the credit he thought. The three boys nodded at Professor Wittlebee. As the professor turned to clean up the boys James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus waved with full smiles at the other boys. Lily rolled her eyes. It figured, she did all of the hard work and they got the credit.
"Well worth it." James said in his seat and he turned to look at Sirius.
"I thought you didn't do it?" Sirius questioned. Still taunting the Slytherins as he spoke.
"Who cares?" James said with clinched teeth as he grinned at one of the Slytherins.
"Besides, I did." Lily reached down and pulled out her charms book. The boys turned towards her with a mixture of admiration and shock.
"You?" Peter piped in.
"Yes." She put a quill behind her ear.
"Really?" Peter said again.
"Yes, now if I were you I would I would be quiet and get through this lesson." She opened up to chapter four. "I'm more surprised at you guys, thinking James could pull that off."
"Why is everyone insulting me today?" James said in a whisper as Professor Wittlebee wrote on the board.
"Because it's so easy." Remus began to copy the notes into his book.
"Don't forget fun." Sirius added.
"You know what?" James said with a huff.
"What?" Peter replied.
"I'm not talking to you guys." James turned with a hurt expression and remain silent the rest of the lesson, only looking toward Sirius to poke him back.
The day went on in silence until Dinner. Lily, Sirius, Remus, and Peter followed James. All of them attempting to break the silence. After a while Sirius began to mime, telling James to do the same. He didn't like the mimicked reply. Dinner passed in silence and Lily stood up and say goodnight to the boys. She was going to the Library to do some work, Remus was off to the Astronomy Tower and the others were off for detention.
"See you guys later." Lily said, waiving to them all.
"Later Lily." Peter said with a grumble at the impending doom of detention.
"See you then." Sirius handed her his books. "Can you drop this off in the common room for me?"
"Mine too." Peter dropped his books in front of her.
"Ok." Lily struggled to lift them all and James felt the threat of his good manners coming back. Blasted mother and her blasting mothering he though. Without speaking he picked up half of the pile and nodded at her.
"Thanks James." Lily said as she waved goodbye at Remus another Gryffindor who was seated by them.
"Thanks Lily! Thanks James!" Sirius yelled from the table as the two went towards the door.
"We have just enough time to get another piece of pie and then we have to be at detention in twenty minutes." Sirius said.
"Well I want to go to the tower now, have a lot to catch up on." Remus departed and left the two to their food.
Meanwhile Lily and James were nearly at the portrait and Lily couldn't get James to say a word.
"I have to run, a Ravenclaw said he was going to look up some potion ingredients for the draught and I need those books. See you later and James, I'm sorry." She ran down the hall, her hair bouncing. They had just dropped off all of the books and James only had ten minutes to get to the Charms room, which was past the Library. He didn't feel like talking, not with any of his friends anyway. He was just upset. After Lily turned the corner James sped up. He didn't need to be late for detention. As he neared the library he heard muffled voices.
"I know you did it Mudblood. Potter doesn't have the brains."
"Shows how little you know. He's brilliant."
"That's only because you like him."
"I do not!"
"I guess I'll have to take your word for it Mudblood."
"And if I did do it do you really want to call me a Mudblood? Aren't you scared I might get my revenge?"
James knew the voices at this point. One was Lily and the other was Snape.
"I'm not scared of you." Snape said as he drew closer to her. Lily gripped her wand, spells running through her head. "It seems you are scared of me though?"
"I'm not. Now back away. I can smell your breath." Lily's voice broke in.
"Don't you know your place? Lowly Mudblood. I bet you aren't even accepted in the Muggle World are you? Don't fit in at all. You aren't a witch? You're a."
"Stop it right now." Lily said, her voice growing small. While Lily was strong, but in will and physically she a bit sensitive. James felt his jaw tighten. "I said move it!" Her voice was strong again, brave. "I would rather be a Muggle than the likes of you."
"Potter is 'the likes of me' you know. He's a pure blood too." Snape went on.
"James is nothing like you. He's smart and your dumb. He's brave and your scared. He's kind and loyal. You two are nothing alike. Now if you will excuse me, no let me change that. I don't care if you excuse me. I have to go to the library." James heard the library door open and close and stood in the shadow.
"Stupid girl, I'll show her one day." Snape turned the corner.
"She's anything but stupid and if you lay a hand on her I'll get you Snape. She's my friend and nobody touches my friend." Snape jumped as James walked out of the shadows. "Scared?"
"No."
"I guess I'll have to settle with leaving you enacted for the moment but know that I will always be watching." James stared hard at Snape with loathing.
"Your words are like wisps of clouds Potter, they mean nothing. I must be going now, have friends to catch up with."
"Who?" James asked surprised.
"None of your business." Snape walked away but under the folds of his robe he held his wand. James stood a few moments in front of the library. He didn't trust Snape. Looking at his watch he saw the moments tick away and he only had a 3 minutes.
"A jog couldn't hurt." He said as he raced down the hall, arriving just on time.
Lily blew a piece of hair out of her face and look at the book once again. Why would she ever have to know this she thought as she re-read the passage for the fourth time. Looking over her paper she reminded herself that she was already three inches over the requirement and she really didn't have to go into the history of the draught's development so with a flourish she added a conclusion and threw her books into her bag and grabbed her camera. When Lily had sent home a few wizard photos that James had taken to her parents they had sent her the money to buy one of her own. It was silver with a brown shoulder strap and her name engraved on the side. With a smirk she said her good-byes and headed to the charms room.
"She is going to pay, girl or not a girl. This isn't right." Sirius said as he scrubbed the floor. "This bloody stuff won't come off!"
"Try the soap Sirius." Peter muttered as he worked on a corner.
"Hasn't been helping you much has it? Been in that same spot for an hour so don't tell me what to do." Sirius grunted
"It's bad enough without hearing you two argue." James said, he was using his fingernail to pull off the paint.
"Talking again are we?" Sirius said with hope in his voice.
"Apparently." James said as he removed a particularly large bit of paint.
"Thank you James, I was getting tired of Sirius complaining." Peter added in.
"He just likes the sound of his own voice." James put in and Sirius quickly replied.
"You would like it too if you sounded like mine."
"Sirius, has anyone ever told you that you are too modest?" James questioned sarcastically.
"Has anyone ever told you that you are too sarcastic?" Sirius said.
"No." James said as he went at the floor again with vigor. Professor Wittlebee had left half an hour ago and James was eager to leave as well.
"James, you are sarcastic." Peter put in.
"Ha." Said Sirius as he poked his sponge up in the air to make his point.
"You both are." Came a feminine voice from the door, "Now smile." Lily was leaning on the doorframe with her bag next to her while she snapped a few pictures.
"Lily!" Peter yelled.
"Yes?" She replied as she put the camera down just in time because James threw a soapy sponge in her direction and it hit her in the head. It wasn't hard or heavy enough to hurt her but bubbles were in her hair. "James!" She picked it up and threw it back at him.
Sirius and Peter joined in as the sponge fight went on. Lily grabbed a bucket of water and threw the water onto Sirius and turned to run and he chased her but instead ran straight into James who dumped water onto her head, her hair plastered to her face. After a quarter-hour they all were drenched, soapy and exhausted, all falling to the floor.
"That was fun." Lily rang out her hair.
"We still have to clean the floor though." Sirius said in a disheartened voice.
"Without magic." James added with a sigh.
"Yea, thank a lot Lily." Peter put in.
"Ok, alright you made me feel a bit guilty." Lily said as she stood up.
"Really? Why?" Sirius muttered in a sarcastic voice.
"I'm sorry you guys got in trouble now if you let me finish I'll tell you how I am going to help you." She looked at them all in turn as they nodded. "Professor Wittlebee said you couldn't use magic, he never said anything about me now did he?" She withdrew her wand and with a flourish the floor sparkled and shone except for a little blemish here and there. Sirius smiled widely and Peter nodded as he looked around the room. James knelt down for a closer examination.
"You missed a spot." He said as he stood, rolling down his wet sleeves and pushing his already unruly hair back.
"Had to make it look convincing you know." She waved her wand again and they were all dried.
"Thanks Lily." Peter said as he patted his robe.
"No problem." She lifted her bag over he shoulder. "It's getting late, we should get back to the common room."
"Yea, I'm exhausted." Sirius yawned.
"Ditto." Came Peter's voice.
"From what?" Sirius asked as they left the room, Lily waited for James.
"Come on." Lily said.
"I am, do you think you could teach me that spell?" He asked.
"Which one?" She blew out the nearest candle and used her wand to send a gust of wind at the others.
"The cleaning one, our dorm isn't tidy to say the least." He closed the door behind them.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Fade out of memory~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Sirius looked at the amazed expression on Harry's face, apparently he hadn't thought his mum capable of such things and Sirius couldn't blame him. She looked like the proper little English girl from afar but once you really knew her you saw that there was more too her, she was different in the best way possible. She was Lily and there was no other way to put it.
"I told you she wasn't as sweet as she looked." Sirius said.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Do you have any idea how long that took to write? Nearly three weeks on and off. It's probably one of the longest chapters I have ever written but I was a bit carried away in the flashback. I know it feels a bit choppy at some points and you can probably tell when I had to stop and when I started up again. I hope you guys like it. Now onto the thanks yous. If I miss you let me know.
Heather: Thanks! I hope you like this flashback as well.
Black Lace: Thank you so much! I love writing Sirius and I really wanted to do this story line, I hadn't come across something like this so I decided to give it a try.
Moonlight: Yes, that is why Snape has a crooked nose. I couldn't resist. I feel a bit sorry for him but I just had to. If it wasn't for his role in Goblet of Fire I would have been even nastier to him. Still have to make him pay for what he did to Remus and Sirius in Prisoner of Azkaban though. (Makes mental note to cause him great pain). Check the author's note at the top too.
Esperanza: Thanks! I wanted to have a different meeting, I was tired of them bumping into each other at the feast or on the train, I also needed an excuse to have James and Snape meet; I think there was more than Quidditch involved in their hatred.
Black Lace: Lol, another Sirius fan! YAY! He is the best isn't he? Glad you like it so far.
Liz: Nope she doesn't write. Girl of Your Dreams was to her because it was her birthday.
LaminaCourt: Lol, I probably would have blown it up too. I love the way you think. I like the idea of memories too; it gives me a way for Harry to interact with his parents through Sirius in a strange round about way.
WeasleyTwinLover1112: Thanks. Lol, I hope you like the way he told off Snape in this one.
I think I have everyone but if I did miss you it was a mistake and just tell me and I will try to make it up to you. If you want to be notified of an updated just tell me in your review or if I do e-mail you and you don't want me to just tell me. I plan on updating soon so please check back! Everyone, please review. It makes me more confident in my writing and then I don't worry so much about posting and thus write more. I need reviews like oxygen if that makes sense. If you review (love it or hate it, just review) I will thank you in the next chapter. Until then.
~ Katie Black