I have a fanfic suggestion for anyone who wants to read something that has a wonderfully characterized Pansy Parkinson. That fanfic is Save Yourself by LanaMariah. It's great, and anyone who hasn't read it should!
Also, I am looking for a beta-reader. If anyone is interested, please e-mail me at dramaqueenliz@yahoo.com!
Kiss The Boy (03)
WHAT: Gryffindor Quidditch Trials
WHEN: 1 October, 1978
WHERE: Quidditch Pitch
INTERESTED?
SEE MADAM MAE
PROFESSOR ANDREW FIGG
OR
GRYFFINDOR QUIDDITCH CAPTAIN JAMES POTTER
FOR MORE DETAILS
The flyer which I held in my hands at that moment was one of many posted on the large bulletin board outside of the Great Hall. Normally I would have walked by the board without so much as a second glance, but that day the flashing sheet of paper had caught my attention. Excitedly, I shoved the flyer into my robe pocket and ran over to Bella, who was saving me a seat next to her at the Gryffindor table for breakfast.
"Bella! Guess what I found!" I exclaimed, taking the flyer out of my pocket and brandishing it as if it were the most valuable thing in the world. Bella eyed me suspiciously as she took the flyer from my hand to read.
"Quidditch Trials... 1 October... Pitch... Andrew Figg or James Potter for details..." Bella trailed off as she folded the flyer in half and set it down on the table in front of her. Then she looked up at me, confusion evident in her eyes. "And this has anything to do with you or me how...?"
I rolled my eyes at her as I sat down in the empty chair to her left. As I poured myself a glass of orange juice and took a piece of toast with butter and strawberry jam, I explained, "Bella, I want to try out for Quidditch! It's the perfect opportunity for me to finally have a chance with James!"
"Or Andrew," added Bella dryly, pursing her lips. "Lily, you know you've never shown any interest in Quidditch before. In first year, you could barely get the broom ten feet off the ground."
Through a bite of my toast, I asked, "Like you did any better?"
"No, and I never said I did," Bella responded, helping herself to some bacon that was sitting in front of me. "I'm also not the one who wants to try out for Quidditch, a sport that neither you nor I even know the rules to!"
I polished off the rest of my toast rather quickly, then stared at Bella for a moment. "It couldn't be too hard to learn." Coyly, I added, "After all, Andrew is flying instructor; I'm sure he'd help us out with our flying skills..."
Bella shook her head so fiercely that strands of her hair fell out of her ponytail. She held up her hand. "No way, Lily! And how the hell did an 'us' even get involved in this? Last time I checked, trying out for Quidditch was a 'Lily' thing, not a 'Lily and Bella' thing."
"What? You expected me to actually go by myself?" When Bella nodded and turned her head to fill her goblet with milk, I turned her head to me again and put on my best "puppy dog face". Bella could never deny me what I wanted when I did that, and I could see it working then and there as her eyes softened considerably.
Bella eyed me with apprehension. "Lily, I don't know about this..."
"Please?" If she said no again, I was prepared to grovel at her feet. This was something I really wanted; it was new, it was a risk, and I had already decided that risks were going to be taken on my part this year. I was just going to take Bella along for the ride. "Pretty please, Bella?"
Her resolve was quickly diminishing. "Dammit, Lily!" she cried out. When those words left her mouth, I knew I had won and I grinned joyously.
"Oh, Bella, you're the best best friend a girl could ever ask for!" I cried, swinging my arms around her and hugging her about her neck. "You have no idea how much this means to me! When do you think Andrew could start instructing us?"
Bella had a death glare fixed on me, but I ignored it. Slowly, she said, "Lily, I trust your intentions completely, but please don't fall for Andrew again. If this is a way for you to get closer to him, don't do it. Please."
"Bella, you know I don't like him anymore," I replied honestly. "I like James; you know that! I just really want to try something I've never done before. And I don't have my whole life to do it, either." I saw the tears that sprung to Bella's eyes before she wiped them away, pretending they had never been there.
"Okay, Lily. I'll ask Andrew sometime today."
Happiness swelled up inside of me, and I found myself hugging Bella once again. "Thanks! You're the greatest!" With that, I stood up and ran from the Hall.
Later that night, there was a knock on my door. Slightly angry for being interrupted while I was reading, I sighed and marked my spot in the book, Quidditch Through the Ages. I was trying to read up a little bit about Quidditch before Andrew began the flying lessons for Bella and me.
I opened the door and opened my mouth to say something, but stopped when I found myself eye level with a bare, very muscular and sweaty, fresh-from-Quidditch practice chest. Words refused to leave me and all I could do was open and close my mouth over and over again. I felt quite stupid as I lifted my head to stare up at him. James Potter. I finally managed to squeak out a, "Do you need something?"
James glanced at me funnily, but then rolled his eyes, obviously not even trying to hide it. "Yeah, Leeanne-"
"Lily," I interrupted, correcting him. I hated it when people got my name wrong. After all, it was just a simple four-letter word that wasn't that difficult to remember. "Like the flower," I added, as an afterthought.
"Okay," James said. "Anyway, Lynn-"
"Lily," I said again. Honestly, how hard was it to remember "Lily"?!
"Whatever!" I could sense James's growing agitation with me, but I didn't care. "Dumbledore just said that there's going to be a Head meeting in the morning regarding projects that we're supposed to do together, LeeLee."
"It's Lily, James. L-I-L-Y," I said for the third time. Nobody else ever had that much trouble remembering my name, so I was beginning to think he was just carrying on like that to irritate me.
"Okay!" he exclaimed. "Sorry, Flower." James paused, as if allowing me a chance to correct him, but I found it tedious and futile. He'd probably end up calling me something incredibly far from my name, like Nosheen*, even if I put all my efforts in trying to correct him. When I said nothing, James shrugged and continued, "Tomorrow morning, before first class. Don't forget." He turned and walked to his room.
As soon as the door to his room closed, I closed mine and leaned up against it, letting out a small squeal as I did so and clutching my chest.
I'd just had an encounter with a sexy, shirtless, albeit slightly dense, James Potter! My life was complete!
I glanced over at the journal on my bedside table, remembering the first entry I'd made. I remembered my ambitions. I remembered that I was dying. And then talking to James didn't seem like such a big deal to me anymore... a single tear slipped down my cheek.
Lily,
Andrew said he would help us with flying.
-Bella
Bella,
Really?! Yes! I'm so excited!
-Lily
L,
One condition, though.
-Bella
B,
And what's that?
-L
L,
He says you can't fall for him again.
-B
B,
Was that a you condition or a he condition?
-L
L,
Okay, you caught me. He didn't say that. He was thrilled and there were no conditions.
-B
B,
That's what I thought. Honestly, do you not trust me, Bella? I said I'm not going to go for your brother again, and you should believe me!
-L
L,
Okay! I'm sorry! I believe you.
Sort of.
-B
B,
Thanks ever-so-much. Ugh, Snape is staring over here at us. He's going to try to take this note from us, so I better go.
-L
L,
Oh, look. Here he comes!
-B
Snape walked across the room, his robes swishing about his ankles and his greasy black hair hanging to his shoulders. He was glaring deviously at me through his beady black eyes, making me squirm in my seat. He was obviously enjoying it.
"Miss Evans, what is so terribly interesting that you and Miss Figg have been passing notes about it all throughout my class, when both of you should have been paying attention to my lesson? Your Potions marks are not so high that you can pass without taking notes," he said in an icy tone.
Bella quickly responded, "Lily and I were discussing how absolutely delightful your class is, Professor." A sugary sweet smile was on her face in an instant. "We always learn so much."
Snape looked sour, but he answered with a mere, "Be that as it may, you need to spend more time listening than gibbering. Ten points from Gryffindor each. I would have expected much more composure out of the Head Girl, Miss Evans." He turned around and strode back to the front of the room.
Bella nudged me in the side, leaning over to whisper to me. "What a jackass."
"Such obscenities will not be tolerated in my classroom, Miss Figg." It was then that I decided Snape had very sharp hearing. I reminded myself that whenever I was around him from then on, I should talk quieter. "The result of your behavior, Miss Figg, is a detention and twenty more points taken from Gryffindor."
Several groans from the Gryffindors as well as a few laughs from the Slytherins resounded as Snape sneered maliciously. It didn't come as a shock to me that he enjoyed taking points from Gryffindor; as a professor, he could do that now. When he was still a student and a Slytherin prefect, he jumped at each and every valid opportunity to take points from Gryffindors, but sometimes the points were not taken. When he took them now, it was a sure thing.
Snape almost looked pleased at the response he'd gotten from his class. He smirked as he glanced at Bella once more. "Please see me after class; we'll work out the details of your detention then." His back was turned once more as he used his wand to make a piece of Muggle chalk write the homework assignment on the Muggle chalkboard at the front of the room.
Bella didn't seem fazed, for she rolled her eyes and muttered, "Bastard," under her breath. This time, however, her curse was much softer and Snape didn't hear her, luckily.
We worked on our classwork for the rest of the period in silence. No one dared to speak in louder than a quiet whisper, for nobody wanted to lose any more points. After all, Bella and I had done a fine job of that ourselves. When the bell signaling the end of class rang, it was almost as if a collective breath that the class had been holding was exhaled, and we all filed out, save for Bella who ventured to Snape's office to "work out the details" of her detention.
I waited for her outside of the classroom door for a little over ten minutes before she came storming out, nearly directly colliding with me. "Shit, Lily," she said, a slight amount of anger in her voice. "Don't jump out on people like that!"
Bella's bad moods were times that you didn't dare mess with her, and as she seemed to be in the middle of one of them at the moment, the thought of telling her that I didn't jump out at her didn't even cross my mind. I merely responded with a meek, "I'm sorry."
"It's all right. I shouldn't have bit your head off anyway; it's not your fault Snape is an insufferable git who is out to make the life of every Gryffindor a living hell!" When the sentence was out of her mouth, Bella began quickly walking down the corridor, toward the Gryffindor tower. Our free period was up next, so I followed her, running to stay at her side.
Once the two of us were standing outside of the portrait of the Fat Lady, she stopped and looked at me. "What, you're not going to go back to your quarters and drool over James some?" she asked bitterly.
"I will if you don't want me here," I answered, trying to not let Bella get to me. "I was going to ask you what your detention is."
"I'm sorry," she apologized again. "I shouldn't be taking my anger at Snape out on you. You didn't do anything." There was a long pause before Bella sighed, turned to the Fat Lady, and said the password. Before swinging open, the Fat Lady eyed me suspiciously, as if I were an intruder, and warned me to stay out of trouble.
"Anyway," Bella said, stepping inside, "I have to clean the trophies in the trophy room Saturday while everybody else goes out to Hogsmeade."
I shrugged. "I don't guess that could take too long," I replied, sitting down on the big couch in the center of the room. Bella sat down beside of me and gave me a withering look.
"Did I forget to mention? I can't use magic."
"How pleasant," I murmured, patting Bella on the back. "Well, I'll stay behind and help you, if you want."
Bella looked thoughtful for a moment, as if she were mulling my offer over. Finally, she let out a defeated sigh and said, "No, it's not fair for you to have to serve detention for something I did. I just need to learn to keep my mouth shut. I've learned my lesson, believe me."
I laughed as I watched Bella fall back on the couch dramatically, a hand over her forehead. "Woe is me," she declared seriously before giggling wildly. Shaking my head, I started laughing with her.
*Sheenie, I love ya honey!
AN: Sorry, I couldn't resist sticking in a bit of dense!James. The name thing was just too much fun.
Well, this chapter was intended to be chapter 04 instead of 03, but I couldn't seem to write enough for chapter 03. I didn't think it would be fair for me to not post anything, especially since I already had this written for several days now, so I just made this chapter 03. I hope that this wasn't too big of a time jump!
Wow, I just realized that there's only been mention of Sirius, Remus and Peter! Oh no, I'll have to stick them in somewhere in the next few chapters. They've been terribly neglected...
I'm taking out the disclaimer now. I'm pretty sure everyone gets the idea that most everything belongs to JK Rowling, and I see no need to reiterate myself every chapter.
Just to let you all in on what my plans are regarding fanfiction, I have a little note! I'm currently busy writing the first chapter of my very first D/Hr fanfic, and I'm very excited about it. I'm trying to steer clear of the cliches of D/Hr fandom and I'm busily developing a plot. The first chapter will probably not be posted for a while, but that's okay, right?! Right! Although the plot is not entirely made up yet, I have a title for the fanfic, which will be the Latin word "Sempiternam", meaning everlasting.
To end this slightly long AN, I just want to say that the prologue of this has been submitted to FictionAlley and will be housed on The Dark Arts. I've no idea when it will be posted for viewing... soon, I hope!
Black Ice-(Thanks a lot!) Cai - Dragon Saviour-(That's a lot of "more"s!) Clavel-(Aw, thank you so much!) MegHarts-(Thanks!) Interested Reader-(Thank you... and not *exactly* like Jamie in "A Walk to Remember". Just similar. Hehe! Thanks again.) Gabby Evans-(I'm thinking about what I should do with the ending, since it's not definite how I will end it. I guess whether the ending will be sad or happy will depend on how well the characters and my planned-out plot will behave along the way. But I am strongly leaning toward a sad ending.) princess pixie ice-(Thanks! And it possibly could get interesting... hehe) kristatwen-(Thanks a lot!) Myrtle-(Well, here's your next chapter! Thank you!) Slinkimalinki-(*L* Your review was great. Thanks a lot. And as for winterguard, it's indoor colorguard; and the colorguard are the girls/boys who spin flag/weapons (not real ones) with the marching band during pregame/halftime at football games. One again, thanks for the review.) pommekitty-(Thanks. But you see, the ingredients needed to brew the potion have been banned from the wizarding world, as well. *L* Jealous!James, oh yes... I always love a Jealous!James!... but what about a Jealous!Andrew?) anon-(Aw, thank you!) Lilyflower8602-(Yes, I do believe James did get up on the wrong side of the bed. *L* And Lily is sort-of torn between her feelings for Andrew and James, but she likes James more. She's just very confused at this point; it's like, Andrew's her old crush and she's having these old-crush feelings again. Yeah, I make no sense, so just ignore me. Thanks again.) tta-(*L*, thanks and I'm glad! I have a friend who used to think that my boyfriend, before I started going out with him, was gay and wouldn't leave me along about it, so that's where I got that from. And as for the Snape thing, oops- let's just pretend! Thanks for telling me, though.) Demonstar-(Aw, that's sweet of you! Thanks!) Tylendel-*Yeah, even I'll admit that is it. *L* I absolutely loved the book though. Thanks!) Oliverwoodschic-(Thanks!) Elle-(Thanks!) SiriDragon-(Of course I'll write more! *L* Thanks!) AshAngel-(Yes, and that's probably because this story is slightly based on "A Walk to Remember". Thanks!) Lilo and Stitch-(Awesome name. Thanks a lot!) icechick1205-(Thank you.) The Infallible Teller-(He'll be making more appearances throughout the story, most definitely. As for whether it's AU or not... well, it depends on the ending. It could or could not end up being AU.) blank-(Thank you.) MarshmallowDove-(Is this SweetSinger? And I know what you mean. Thank you! And winterguard... well, in my county and in this area where I live, there's only one, and that's the winterguard I am in. I guess it depends where you are. Thanks!) kittywhiskerlips-(Thanks! Here's more!)
~drama queen