In This Chapter - Some questions about Natalie are answered and some creepy stuff happens! ^^
Further author's notes at bottom, thanks!
Lily sighed, flipping through the Potions book in her hands. She was worried, and not only about completing the bone-growing potion on time but also about Natalie and her willingness to help James.
Lily didn't want to seem jealous, that was for sure; especially since she had no real reason to be. James was going out with HER, not Natalie. He spent 80% of his day at HER side, not Natalie's. She had absolutely no reason to fret over Natalie giving her boyfriend a simple bottle of potion; one that would help HER project, in fact.
Still she couldn't help the odd feelings inside her, telling her to make sure Natalie knew her proper place; away from James.
'Was this how he felt about Severus and I?' she asked herself, biting her lip and replacing the book into it's place on the library shelf.
She could hear footsteps behind her. Perhaps it was Beatrice or Katie; coming to make her feel worthless? Worse, what if it was Natalie? Before she had time to ponder further, she heard the voice of Peter Pettigrew.
"Lily?"
She turned around, putting on a smile as she did so. "Peter."
"James is looking for you," Peter said, coming further down the row toward her. Lily liked Peter; he was always nice and extremely gentle with her. While she often felt that the other boys were keeping secrets from her (they used odd secret nicknames, talked in code about things she didn't understand), Peter seemed utterly honest and never uttered a strange word in front of her. The boys sometimes called him 'Wormtail', which she didn't think was very nice, but Peter never seemed to mind.
"Oh, is he?"
"Yeah, he was wondering if you were coming down for dinner," Peter leaned against the shelf and glanced at her with dark eyes.
"And he sent you up here to ask that?"
"Well, no. He just wanted to know, Lily. I thought I'd go out and find you for him."
"Very nice of you, Peter. Care to walk a lady to Gryffindor tower?"
She smiled playfully and he nodded, taking her arm and leading her out of the library.
"Wanted to congratulate you on the great save of yours in Potions class, Lillian."
"Oh," she paused, "thanks."
"I'm sure you're getting a lot of that after the marvelous show you put on in there."
"I wouldn't really call it a show," she paused again. "Peter - what do you know about Natalie?"
At the mention of the name, he tensed up. "Natalie Rigel?"
She nodded.
"Well...she's the daughter of an Apothecary owner. You've head of Rigel's Apothecary, right?"
Lily hadn't.
"It's in a village called Sharatan, we Pettigrew's have a summer home there. Anyway - Natalie comes from a very, very nice family. And she's a good person."
Lily really couldn't say her opinion on Natalie was that high.
"I really, really like her, Lil." Peter added, smiling. "I've been in awe of her since, well, forever. I saw her for the first time when I was ten; I mean she was beautiful even then..." Peter's voice trailed off.
"Beautiful," Lily said, tasting the word in relation to Natalie.
"Yes, Lily. On the day I met her it was raining outside and it was just about to be nighttime...and she was dancing under a streetlight, just like an angel..." Again he trailed off, paused. "And I didn't want to interrupt her but she saw me, and she looked at me... She's got wonderful eyes, Lil - really enchanting eyes."
Lily couldn't remember looking Natalie in the eyes, not once in her entire time at Hogwarts.
"I've been in love with her ever since..."
"In love? Really, Peter?"
He nodded. "Yeah but she's a pretty girl. I've got no business liking pretty girls - I'm not cut out for them."
"Why do you say that, Peter?"
He didn't reply, for they were approaching the Portrait hole. Lily gave the password (ophiuchus), because it was a long word and Peter couldn't quite pronounce it right. As they stepped inside, Lily seemed to be crowded by younger Gryffindors, all of whom had, 'Heard of that marvelous save in Potions class.'
After braving the crowd of First, Second, and Third Years - Peter and Lily made there way further into the room in a search for Remus, Sirius, and James.
Sirius was talking to a blushing, wriggling, and eye-batting Beatrice in one-corner, as Remus and James watched from across the room. Peter and Lily joined Remus and James.
"That's disgusting," Lily remarked, gesturing toward Beatrice and Sirius.
James looked down at Lily. "Nah, its okay - Sirius doesn't that Beatrice is that bad."
The blonde girl was smiling up at Sirius, a look of adoration in her angel-blue eyes. Lily looked away, searching the Common Room. Her eyes landed on someone, looking her way.
Natalie.
***
'That Lillian Evans thinks she's so special,' Natalie thought to herself, gazing at the girl with perfect white skin and long red hair. Natalie watched, as Lily looked her way with those green eyes. Green; the color of evil and calamity, color of devil himself. Natalie hated the color green, just as much as the hated the Muggle bitch.
Lily had everything. Beauty, an unknowing grace, power, and his love. Everything Natalie wanted, Lillian had.
Never, even in Natalie's wildest dreams, could she beat Lily at anything. She was always that one thing that sat in her way. Even Beatrice and Katharine, who were vain, were better.
Natalie had a gift, (actually natalie had many, many gifts to share with her classmates) that of Prophecy. She took Divination seriously, took her predictions to be the very truth. Sometimes her visions frightened her; many were of murder (he needs to be forgiven, please forgive him, forgive!) and of Voldermort. She never told anyone about her visions, usually she was afraid. But what scares her most...
Sometimes
(she wants to force herself to say something as he stands, as he pushes himself up but she is not able. she can only hold her child tighter to her neck and let the tears fall down.)
she
(this is what it's like to be helpless.)
even
(it is her fault, she is the reason.)
enjoys
(time is slowing around her, to a crawl.)
them.
('will you do my will, lillian?')
Yes, that's the part that scares her.
It is a gift, though. A gift and not a curse. She's sure of it.
***
Dinner that night was actually nice for Lily - the boys talked only of the Potions projects due in two weeks.
"Speaking of which, James, we've got some work we have to do on our project after dinner," she said, secretively.
"Okay."
Sirius raised his eyebrows, suggestively. "Going to work on your Chemistry together?"
Lily giggled, "Oh, shut up, Sirius."
"Well, James - full moon in threes nights," Remus said, his voice filled with a certain edge.
Lily had discovered that the boys were all extremely interested in Moon Charts; ever so often they'd ask her to draw one up for them and she would do so, gladly. But they'd never tell her what they needed the charts for.
"I'm aware," James said, taking a sip of Pumpkin juice and looking toward Lily.
"Yes, it should be a good one." Sirius added, as an afterthought.
Remus was looking a little sick, "I should probably go."
"And we should probably go with you," Peter added.
"Yeah," Sirius said, pushing his way out of his chair. "James?"
"I'll see you guys later," James replied, downing the last of his Pumpkin juice. "So - potions?"
"I was doing some research earlier and the only way to test Mermaid scales for strength is to taste them. In water."
"Yeah?" His goblet had instantly refilled itself and he was sipping it.
"So I was thinking, the two of us and the Prefects bathroom - later tonight..."
"Huh?!"
"You heard me, James - we'll meet in the Prefects bathroom in about an hour. Bring two sets of two goblets and your potion. I have to speak to Professor Croll, for just a moment." She pushed herself up from the table and walked away, James watching her go.
***
They entered the Prefects bathroom, not together - because that would be suspicious, two hours later. James had two sets of goblets, Lily had both potions.
"This certainly is an odd thing to do," Lily commented, while pulling off her bathrobe. She'd transfigured herself a swimsuit about thirty minutes earlier and it was on under the robe. She didn't want to imply anything so early in the relationship.
"Yeah," he muttered. She could feel his eyes on her, she felt power and fear enter her immediately and she chewed at her bottom lip, as she always did when nervous.
"Why don't we get to work!" she cried, turning knobs left and right. As the steam began to fill the air and cover her from view, she began to calm down. James started the water on the other side of the tub, as well.
She settled herself into the tub, all tension gone now, and let herself gaze at the goblets; one set gold and one set silver. The two bottles of potions sat beside each other, next to the cups.
James poured the first bottle into the golden goblets, "The potion you brewed with your own hands, Lillian." He handed her one of the goblets and took the other. She took a small drink.
Almost at once she felt herself growing slightly numb inside. She closed her eyes, concentrating on the taste; like some odd, bittersweet candy. The second sip wasn't quite as bad.
She saw James smiling at her. Numbly, she couldn't keep herself from not smiling. She leaned in and kissed him.
When they separated, James picked up Natalie's bottle.
'Dear god,' Lily thought to herself, 'here we go.'
She set the golden goblet on the edge of the tub and waited. There was a burst of air from just above her and she shivered. Suddenly, Lily heard glass breaking; James had dropped Natalie's bottle of potion on the edge of the pool.
But why?
"James Potter?!" a whiny, little-girl voice cried. "James, WHAT are you DOING!"
Lily looked up and saw the ghost that populated one of the girl's bathrooms.
"Lily - meet Myrtle. She's a cousin of mine."
Lily gasped, suddenly realizing the resemblances. The cloud of nothingness that was Myrtle, had messy black hair held in two little-girl pigtails and wore the same glasses that everyone on James's father's side of the family seemed to wear.
"James! If Aunty could see you like this... Who IS this girl, James?! What ARE you doing WITH HER?!" Myrtle kept crying in confusion.
"Myrtle, this is my girlfriend - Lily."
"James, if Aunty only knew..."
James was already crawling out of the tub. "Lily - you can go ahead and get dressed if you want. Myrtle and I are going to clean up this mess." He gestured toward the broken glass that had been Natalie's bottle. "Just take the rest of your solution and go up to the dorms."
"Okay," Lily whimpered, scared out of her mind. She got out of the bathtub and pulled her robe back on again, tying the sash quickly. Being careful not to cut herself in the glass, she picked up the bottle of solution she'd made.
"Goodnight," she whispered.
"'Night," he said, concentrating on the glass.
He didn't even seem to notice when she slipped away.
to be continued...
chapter title: things they never see - "And you see/the things they never see/all you wanted/I could be/now you know me/and I'm not afraid"
All of Natalie's weird Lily/James visions come from my own story - Immortality ( http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=1109415 ) . Give it a read!
Also - http://www.angelfire.com/rebellion/naberrie/augurey/index.html - is a wonderful Harry Potter RPG which I own with a friend of mine, Christopher - please check it out and consider joining! It's all about a Wizarding school set in America and is played totally by original characters.
Last, but not least, - http://www.naberrie.dot.nu - is my collective. ^^;
Thanks and don't forget to review!
Happy New Year Everyone!!!
Further author's notes at bottom, thanks!
Lily sighed, flipping through the Potions book in her hands. She was worried, and not only about completing the bone-growing potion on time but also about Natalie and her willingness to help James.
Lily didn't want to seem jealous, that was for sure; especially since she had no real reason to be. James was going out with HER, not Natalie. He spent 80% of his day at HER side, not Natalie's. She had absolutely no reason to fret over Natalie giving her boyfriend a simple bottle of potion; one that would help HER project, in fact.
Still she couldn't help the odd feelings inside her, telling her to make sure Natalie knew her proper place; away from James.
'Was this how he felt about Severus and I?' she asked herself, biting her lip and replacing the book into it's place on the library shelf.
She could hear footsteps behind her. Perhaps it was Beatrice or Katie; coming to make her feel worthless? Worse, what if it was Natalie? Before she had time to ponder further, she heard the voice of Peter Pettigrew.
"Lily?"
She turned around, putting on a smile as she did so. "Peter."
"James is looking for you," Peter said, coming further down the row toward her. Lily liked Peter; he was always nice and extremely gentle with her. While she often felt that the other boys were keeping secrets from her (they used odd secret nicknames, talked in code about things she didn't understand), Peter seemed utterly honest and never uttered a strange word in front of her. The boys sometimes called him 'Wormtail', which she didn't think was very nice, but Peter never seemed to mind.
"Oh, is he?"
"Yeah, he was wondering if you were coming down for dinner," Peter leaned against the shelf and glanced at her with dark eyes.
"And he sent you up here to ask that?"
"Well, no. He just wanted to know, Lily. I thought I'd go out and find you for him."
"Very nice of you, Peter. Care to walk a lady to Gryffindor tower?"
She smiled playfully and he nodded, taking her arm and leading her out of the library.
"Wanted to congratulate you on the great save of yours in Potions class, Lillian."
"Oh," she paused, "thanks."
"I'm sure you're getting a lot of that after the marvelous show you put on in there."
"I wouldn't really call it a show," she paused again. "Peter - what do you know about Natalie?"
At the mention of the name, he tensed up. "Natalie Rigel?"
She nodded.
"Well...she's the daughter of an Apothecary owner. You've head of Rigel's Apothecary, right?"
Lily hadn't.
"It's in a village called Sharatan, we Pettigrew's have a summer home there. Anyway - Natalie comes from a very, very nice family. And she's a good person."
Lily really couldn't say her opinion on Natalie was that high.
"I really, really like her, Lil." Peter added, smiling. "I've been in awe of her since, well, forever. I saw her for the first time when I was ten; I mean she was beautiful even then..." Peter's voice trailed off.
"Beautiful," Lily said, tasting the word in relation to Natalie.
"Yes, Lily. On the day I met her it was raining outside and it was just about to be nighttime...and she was dancing under a streetlight, just like an angel..." Again he trailed off, paused. "And I didn't want to interrupt her but she saw me, and she looked at me... She's got wonderful eyes, Lil - really enchanting eyes."
Lily couldn't remember looking Natalie in the eyes, not once in her entire time at Hogwarts.
"I've been in love with her ever since..."
"In love? Really, Peter?"
He nodded. "Yeah but she's a pretty girl. I've got no business liking pretty girls - I'm not cut out for them."
"Why do you say that, Peter?"
He didn't reply, for they were approaching the Portrait hole. Lily gave the password (ophiuchus), because it was a long word and Peter couldn't quite pronounce it right. As they stepped inside, Lily seemed to be crowded by younger Gryffindors, all of whom had, 'Heard of that marvelous save in Potions class.'
After braving the crowd of First, Second, and Third Years - Peter and Lily made there way further into the room in a search for Remus, Sirius, and James.
Sirius was talking to a blushing, wriggling, and eye-batting Beatrice in one-corner, as Remus and James watched from across the room. Peter and Lily joined Remus and James.
"That's disgusting," Lily remarked, gesturing toward Beatrice and Sirius.
James looked down at Lily. "Nah, its okay - Sirius doesn't that Beatrice is that bad."
The blonde girl was smiling up at Sirius, a look of adoration in her angel-blue eyes. Lily looked away, searching the Common Room. Her eyes landed on someone, looking her way.
Natalie.
***
'That Lillian Evans thinks she's so special,' Natalie thought to herself, gazing at the girl with perfect white skin and long red hair. Natalie watched, as Lily looked her way with those green eyes. Green; the color of evil and calamity, color of devil himself. Natalie hated the color green, just as much as the hated the Muggle bitch.
Lily had everything. Beauty, an unknowing grace, power, and his love. Everything Natalie wanted, Lillian had.
Never, even in Natalie's wildest dreams, could she beat Lily at anything. She was always that one thing that sat in her way. Even Beatrice and Katharine, who were vain, were better.
Natalie had a gift, (actually natalie had many, many gifts to share with her classmates) that of Prophecy. She took Divination seriously, took her predictions to be the very truth. Sometimes her visions frightened her; many were of murder (he needs to be forgiven, please forgive him, forgive!) and of Voldermort. She never told anyone about her visions, usually she was afraid. But what scares her most...
Sometimes
(she wants to force herself to say something as he stands, as he pushes himself up but she is not able. she can only hold her child tighter to her neck and let the tears fall down.)
she
(this is what it's like to be helpless.)
even
(it is her fault, she is the reason.)
enjoys
(time is slowing around her, to a crawl.)
them.
('will you do my will, lillian?')
Yes, that's the part that scares her.
It is a gift, though. A gift and not a curse. She's sure of it.
***
Dinner that night was actually nice for Lily - the boys talked only of the Potions projects due in two weeks.
"Speaking of which, James, we've got some work we have to do on our project after dinner," she said, secretively.
"Okay."
Sirius raised his eyebrows, suggestively. "Going to work on your Chemistry together?"
Lily giggled, "Oh, shut up, Sirius."
"Well, James - full moon in threes nights," Remus said, his voice filled with a certain edge.
Lily had discovered that the boys were all extremely interested in Moon Charts; ever so often they'd ask her to draw one up for them and she would do so, gladly. But they'd never tell her what they needed the charts for.
"I'm aware," James said, taking a sip of Pumpkin juice and looking toward Lily.
"Yes, it should be a good one." Sirius added, as an afterthought.
Remus was looking a little sick, "I should probably go."
"And we should probably go with you," Peter added.
"Yeah," Sirius said, pushing his way out of his chair. "James?"
"I'll see you guys later," James replied, downing the last of his Pumpkin juice. "So - potions?"
"I was doing some research earlier and the only way to test Mermaid scales for strength is to taste them. In water."
"Yeah?" His goblet had instantly refilled itself and he was sipping it.
"So I was thinking, the two of us and the Prefects bathroom - later tonight..."
"Huh?!"
"You heard me, James - we'll meet in the Prefects bathroom in about an hour. Bring two sets of two goblets and your potion. I have to speak to Professor Croll, for just a moment." She pushed herself up from the table and walked away, James watching her go.
***
They entered the Prefects bathroom, not together - because that would be suspicious, two hours later. James had two sets of goblets, Lily had both potions.
"This certainly is an odd thing to do," Lily commented, while pulling off her bathrobe. She'd transfigured herself a swimsuit about thirty minutes earlier and it was on under the robe. She didn't want to imply anything so early in the relationship.
"Yeah," he muttered. She could feel his eyes on her, she felt power and fear enter her immediately and she chewed at her bottom lip, as she always did when nervous.
"Why don't we get to work!" she cried, turning knobs left and right. As the steam began to fill the air and cover her from view, she began to calm down. James started the water on the other side of the tub, as well.
She settled herself into the tub, all tension gone now, and let herself gaze at the goblets; one set gold and one set silver. The two bottles of potions sat beside each other, next to the cups.
James poured the first bottle into the golden goblets, "The potion you brewed with your own hands, Lillian." He handed her one of the goblets and took the other. She took a small drink.
Almost at once she felt herself growing slightly numb inside. She closed her eyes, concentrating on the taste; like some odd, bittersweet candy. The second sip wasn't quite as bad.
She saw James smiling at her. Numbly, she couldn't keep herself from not smiling. She leaned in and kissed him.
When they separated, James picked up Natalie's bottle.
'Dear god,' Lily thought to herself, 'here we go.'
She set the golden goblet on the edge of the tub and waited. There was a burst of air from just above her and she shivered. Suddenly, Lily heard glass breaking; James had dropped Natalie's bottle of potion on the edge of the pool.
But why?
"James Potter?!" a whiny, little-girl voice cried. "James, WHAT are you DOING!"
Lily looked up and saw the ghost that populated one of the girl's bathrooms.
"Lily - meet Myrtle. She's a cousin of mine."
Lily gasped, suddenly realizing the resemblances. The cloud of nothingness that was Myrtle, had messy black hair held in two little-girl pigtails and wore the same glasses that everyone on James's father's side of the family seemed to wear.
"James! If Aunty could see you like this... Who IS this girl, James?! What ARE you doing WITH HER?!" Myrtle kept crying in confusion.
"Myrtle, this is my girlfriend - Lily."
"James, if Aunty only knew..."
James was already crawling out of the tub. "Lily - you can go ahead and get dressed if you want. Myrtle and I are going to clean up this mess." He gestured toward the broken glass that had been Natalie's bottle. "Just take the rest of your solution and go up to the dorms."
"Okay," Lily whimpered, scared out of her mind. She got out of the bathtub and pulled her robe back on again, tying the sash quickly. Being careful not to cut herself in the glass, she picked up the bottle of solution she'd made.
"Goodnight," she whispered.
"'Night," he said, concentrating on the glass.
He didn't even seem to notice when she slipped away.
to be continued...
chapter title: things they never see - "And you see/the things they never see/all you wanted/I could be/now you know me/and I'm not afraid"
All of Natalie's weird Lily/James visions come from my own story - Immortality ( http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=1109415 ) . Give it a read!
Also - http://www.angelfire.com/rebellion/naberrie/augurey/index.html - is a wonderful Harry Potter RPG which I own with a friend of mine, Christopher - please check it out and consider joining! It's all about a Wizarding school set in America and is played totally by original characters.
Last, but not least, - http://www.naberrie.dot.nu - is my collective. ^^;
Thanks and don't forget to review!
Happy New Year Everyone!!!