A/N- this is chapter two of "Bittersweet". I hope you all enjoyed the first
chapter. I know it'll be hard to remember all those characters, but you
don't really have to. Most of them are not main characters. So, anyways,
enjoy this chapter. Sorry it took me so long!
Disclaimer- I own nothing at all. It all belongs to the Harry Potter people, of which I am not one of.
"I would have done it, I swear, but I completely forgot the answers," Cara stated, crossing her arms and staring at us.
"Sure," I whispered, "There is such a thing as a book. You could have looked it up."
"Why? You know all the answers, anyway. I could just ask you. It's easier," Cara replied.
We were on the train to Hogwarts, about a half an hour into the ride. Cara had taken out her Transfiguration homework, while Leigh and I were playing chess, using my trunk as a table.
"That's cheating," I reminded her.
Cara laughed, "So? We always help each other with our homework."
"That's not the point," I told her, "You're supposed to . . ."
I dropped off, and turned towards the door. I had heard a noise. But it was silent, now.
"What?" Leigh asked.
I shook my head, "Nothing."
Then the noise came again, like footsteps and something banging against something else outside our compartment. I stood up, and heard some voices.
"There's someone outside our door," I said, and swung it open.
I regreted it right away. I was drenched from head to foot in water, water that had been hanging in a bucket over the door. A charm had been used to hold it there, until the door opened, and then dump all over me.
"POTTER! POTTER! BLACK! LUPIN! PETTIGREW! I KNOW YOU DID THIS!" I screamed.
"Lily?" Leigh and Cara asked, walking into the hall.
"What happened? Why are you all wet?" Cara asked.
I glared down the hallway, "Those brats . . . they . . . I'm so going to get thing back for this! JUST WATCH ME!"
"Lily," Cara said, "Just don't kill Remus, please."
I shook my head, "I can't promise anything. But I will, I WILL, kill those stupid Potters. Why, why, did God have to curse us with two of them? One is enough to make my hair curl."
Cara and Leigh laughed. I glared at them.
"It is not funny," I said, "How does their family stand them?"
Hogwarts was still standing when we got there. Cara, Leigh, and I got into one of the first carriages, and rode up to the school.
It was a clear night, the stars shining. But we were all tired and hungry, and didn't much notice it. We walked into the Great Hall, and found our normal seats.
"Can this get started all ready?" Cara groaned from her seat.
Cara sat in the middle of Leigh and I. Leigh and I exchanged glances behind her back, and laughed. She leaned back, and nearly fell off her seat.
"Cara, get up. The first years are being brought in," I said, and rolled my eyes.
I was glancing at the first years, when I saw the other the other occupant of our dorm (besides Cara, Leigh, Violet Potter, and I). Her name was Kylie Bolton, and she sat all alone at the end of the table. She was dressed in all black. We all were, so it didn't stand out much. But I'd seen her out of her uniform. Even her pajamas were black, dramatic black.
"Lils," Leigh hissed as the first name was called up, "Look at the Maruaders."
I glanced over, and felt like vomiting. They were putting something into the pudding.
"Won't be eating that, not for a million pounds," I whispered.
Leigh gave me a weird look, and whispered, "Pounds?"
I shrugged, "Muggle money."
That said enough. Leigh nodded, and turned back to the sorting.
The sorting was a slow process. There were plenty new Gryffindors. Then Dumbledore announced that we were receiving a new exchange student, from Beauxabatons in France, Dominique Liselle Lafayette. She was joining our year, but was sorted into Ravenclaw.
Then, thankfully, the feast began.
"Don't touch the pudding," I whispered to Cara, who didn't even bother to ask.
There was no reason. When someone warned you not to touch some food, you did it without question. It was an unwritten law in Hogwarts. More likely than not, it was because the Maruaders had somehow tampered with it.
We had a nice, pudding-free, meal. However, the rest of the hall seemed to find it entertaining when several people, after eating the tampered pudding, started speaking with soap bubbles coming out. It would have been funny for me, if the Potters hadn't been involved. Cara and Leigh thought it was hilarious.
"Honestly," I said to them when we walked up to the Gryffindor tower, "They're only doing that sort of stuff for attention. It doesn't seem funny when you're the target, now does it."
Cara sighed, and said, "Lils, unfortunately, Leigh and I don't have to worry about that. You are usually the target, so that situation just doesn't relate with us."
"Lily, you had to admit, it was just a bit funny," Leigh told me.
I shook my head, "Nope. I think they're immature prats who deserve to be expelled, or even better, exiled from this hemisphere altogether. I'd give up the telephone for the rest of my life, and the TV."
"Telephone? TV?" Leigh asked.
Cara whispered to her, "Muggle stuff."
Leigh nodded, and I continued without missing a beat.
". Just to see them gone. Oh, they're so. so."
"Brilliant?"
"Wonderful?"
I turned around to see the Maruaders standing there. Sirius and Remus had spoke. The Potters were just standing there, glaring at me. Peter was silent.
"No. Annoying was more the word I was looking for, but now it seems wrong. It's an understatement," I said, turned on my heel, and went up to my room.
"You'd better watch out, Evans! You just might wake up feeling a bit. strange!" Violet Potter shouted after me.
I turned and rolled my eyes, "Try me."
Cara and Leigh ran up the stairs to our room after me.
"Why can't you guys just along?" Cara asked, "This world would be SO much better! Please? Could you just try?"
"She threatened me," I protested.
"But then you had to go and challenge her in reply!" Leigh pointed out, "Not exactly 'trying to get along' now are we?"
I groaned, "I can't get along with them, I just can't!"
"You'd better try. Because we still have a lot of Hogwarts time left, and you're going to be spending it with them," Cara said.
"Not if they get expelled," I replied.
Not that that would ever happen. Just because they got more detentions than anyone else, Dumbledore liked them, and, therefore, wouldn't expell them. He thought they were FUNNY. Not that I have anything against Leigh's grandpa or anything! But. come on. all the other professors can see it. The Maruaders were just plain EVIL.
Violet Potter came up about an hour later, and didn't even say a word to any of us. She looked murderous. Kylie had arrived about a half an hour before her, and had gone straight to bed, though we always thought she didn't really fall asleep, but lay in bed, waiting for us to sleep. We'd never caught her, though.
"Watch it, Evans," she hissed to me.
Cara sighed, and stood up, "Violet, Lily, let's get this over. All right, I want you guys to try something. Instead of the normal 'exchange- insults-greeting, patented by the Potter twins and Lily Evans' why don't you try the 'normal-everyday-people-greeting'. In which people say 'Hi! How are you?' instead of 'Watch it' or 'I'll get you'. It just may shock some people, but that's a risk I'm willing to take."
"Cara," I warned.
"Listen, Hunter, when I want your opinon, I'll ask. But don't expect it. And don't ever, EVER, expect me and Evans to agree on anything, much less actually be able to stand each other's presence for less than a milisecond, if that," Violet Potter hissed, and walked over to her bed.
Cara sighed, and said, "Well, that went well, don't you think."
"Cara, I think we ought to put that to rest for now," Leigh whispered.
Cara nodded, "Yeah."
"POTTER! POTTER! WHICH ONE OF YOU DID THIS?!?!?!?" I screamed at the top of my lungs.
I was standing in the common room, my face red from anger, and my hair cut in odd strips and bright purple, charmed that way.
"Whoa, Lily, nice hairdo," Sirius said, walking into the room, "I think I just woke up."
"WHO DID THIS!?!?!? I'M GOING TO KILL WHOEVER DID THIS! POTTER!!!!!!!!" I screamed.
"Which one?" Violet Potter asked sweetly from beside Sirius.
"You did this, didn't you?" I hissed.
She smirked.
"Oh, you just wait, you. you. prat!" I shouted.
"'Prat?' Is that the best you can do, Evans? Should've known you'd run out of insults by now. I've still got a few up my sleeve," Violet Potter hissed.
I glared at her, and then went back up to our room. Cara and Leigh were standing at the door, awake from all the shouting. Kylie was sitting up in her bed, staring at me.
"Oh, Lils," Leigh whispered.
Cara took a deep breath, "That went too far. It was Violet, I know it was. Oh, they're so childish."
"I'll get them back for this. Turning my hair colors is one thing, but cutting it is a completely different thing," I hissed.
"Okay, okay, sit down, and I'll see what I can do with it. Tonight, I'll cut it, and try to make it even," Cara said.
Leigh gave me my wand, and I took the charm off (Cara wasn't too good with charms, and Leigh was okay, but I was better). My hair returned to it's normal red. Cara stared at it for a second, and then nodded. Slowly, she combed it out, and then searched for a way to put it up so it's length wouldn't show. She finally found one, wrapping it in a bun, so all the hair was tucked away. Thankfully, the shortest clump barely fit, but it fit.
"Oh, I hate her! The rest of them were probably in with her on it, too," I grummbled, "Sometimes I just want to strangle her. If murder wasn't illegal."
"And morally wrong," Leigh put in.
"Yes, and morally wrong, I would just love to pound her little head in. And his, for that matter," I continued.
Cara started, "Just leave Remus alone, okay."
I saw Kylie stand up and leave in the mirror, and didn't say anything. She was wearing heavy, dark, make-up.
A few minutes later, Cara stopped, "Okay, that's the best I can do. We have to get down to breakfast. Don't give them the satisfaction of running."
"I wasn't planning on it," I answered.
I spent the majority of breakfast glaring at the Potters. Cara had to pinch my arm to get me to look at her.
I was in a terrible mood for the rest of the day. After our last class, Leigh went to her grandfather's office to talk to him before dinner. Cara and I returned to the dorm, so Cara could start thinking about how to fix my hair.
*~* Leigh's POV
Grandpa was sitting in his office looking over some papers when I walked in. I new the password, half from being a friend of the Maruaders, half because it was my grandfather's office. When I walked in, Grandpa looked up.
"Hello, Jinx," he said.
"Hi, Grandpa," I greeted, and walked across the room, looking over the portraits of the past headmasters.
"How was your first day back?" Grandpa asked.
I shrugged, "Lily got in another fight with the Potters, and, last night, Violet Potter cut her hair in these really uneven patches and then charmed it so it was purple. We got the charm off, but Cara's going to cut her hair after dinner."
Grandpa chuckled.
"What's so funny?" I asked, "Lily was really mad. She's a redhead through and through when it comes to Violet and James Potter."
Grandpa smiled at me, "Jinx, sometimes people use anger as a sheild."
I sat down opposite him, and raised my eyebrows, "A sheild?"
"Soon, Jinx, soon, I should think, things will change," Grandpa said, "You remember what I said when that change comes."
"What sort of a change?" I asked, my voice small.
"One for the good," Grandpa answered, and looked back down at his paper work.
I got up and went over to Fawkes, Grandpa's pheonix.
Grandpa had promised that I could get my own pheonix when I was in seventh year. I couldn't wait.
"Grandpa," I asked, "This summer, you mentioned starting a dueling club at Hogwarts. Are you still planning on it?"
Grandpa laughed again, "Jinx, nothing's sure yet. The other professors are still undecided."
"Oh, but I haven't dueled in so long!" I protested.
"We'll see, Jinx. Now, we'd best get down to dinner," Grandpa said, "And tell your friends I send them my greeting."
I nodded, "Okay. Remember what I said about the dueling club!"
*~* Lily's POV
Thank goodness Violet Potter didn't come up while Cara was fixing my hair. Cara had found some scissors to cut it with, and was slowly, cutting it so it was as even as the last part.
I tried to sit still, and did it as best I could, but I could sometimes hear Cara sigh when I moved.
"Sorry," I'd whisper.
Leigh was watching from her bed, while working on her homework. Kylie was, I presumed, laying inside her bed with her curtains drawn. She hardly ever talked to us, or Violet Potter. Or anyone for that matter. But people talked about her. They called her names, and I doubted some of them even knew her real name. The Slytherins were the worst. Not only did she only wear black, and had, in second year, died her hair black and put in black eye contacts, but she was muggle-born. So, that was, naturally, a way for them to make fun of her. Sometimes it made me mad, being muggleborn like her. But I always stepped out of it. I could see how hard she could throw a fist.
"There," Cara said, "Done. It's not as good as a hairstylist, but it's something. You might want to get it re-done when you go home."
"My parents'll be thrilled," I whispered sarcastically, picking up the strands of hair that fell down to a point halfway between my shoulders and ears, to about my chin.
Leigh stood up, and walked over, "It doesn't look bad, really. But, just in case, I'd put a guarding charm around your bed tonight. Violet looked murderous at dinner tonight."
Cara nodded, "Yeah, some fourth year Hufflepuff was trying to flirt with James. You know how she gets with that."
Violet Potter had a tendency to over-react. And when she did that, she did it big time. The poor Hufflepuff probably didn't know that her crush's twin sister was a bit of a hothead.
"Poor girl. What injuries?" I asked.
"Uh. I think Violet used the jelly-legs, the arm-bind, and there was one more." Leigh said.
"The dizzy charm."
We all turned to see Violet Potter standing in the doorway, her hands on her hips, and glaring at us.
She had finished Leigh's sentence.
"I figured it was perfect for the situation, being the ditzy, brain- less, bubble-headed Hufflepuff that she was," Violet Potter said, "I'd be careful, Evans, I'm getting quite good at the curse. That girl couldn't walk straight for three hours. I just might be able to manage five on your brain-less skull, maybe six, if I'm lucky."
"You? Lucky? I'm sorry, Potter, but you have no luck," I hissed.
Violet Potter glared at me, "Take that back, you. filthy muggle!"
"Why should I?" I asked.
She continued to glare. I turned around and started to walk to my bed. I wanted to show her I wasn't at all scared of her.
"DIZZANTIUM!" a voice behind me shouted, "Take that you filty Mudblood!"
It seemed like the world had suddenly tipped for everyone in the room, not just me. The curse hit me in the back, and I doubled over. The curse was hard. I could hear Leigh and Cara shouting, and right before the dizziness took over, I could see Kylie's bed curtains opening, and Kylie staring out.
And then, everything started to go. I couldn't see straight. I fell to my knees, and tried to focus my eyesight. It didn't work.
"Lily!" Leigh shouted.
My head hurt so bad. The Dizzy curse was not to be reckoned with. Everything felt strange. My head hurt. Bad.
My friends had somehow managed to get me down to the hospital wing. It was all chaos in the tower. The other girls in the Gryffindor tower that were in their dorms had heard that terrible curse-word, "Mudblood" and it was chaos right away. Gryffindors were known for dispising the use of that word, and here was Violet Potter, shouting it at me, who most of the Gryffindors respected as being one of the top students of my class. And then coming in to see Cara screaming at Violet Potter, Leigh trying to help me up, and Kylie standing there with a strange, shocked, sort of look. Even a few boys had bounded up the stairs to see what was happening. I didn't see most of it. Some of the other girls had gone for McGonagall, who had rushed into help my friends get me down to the Hospital Wing.
Madame Pomfrey put me on a bed right away, and was tsking.
"That girl's too much of a hotheaded. She's really going to hurt someone someday. I'm afraid you'll have to wait out this curse, Miss Evans. There is no antidote," she said, "Your friends will have to return to their dorm. I'll give you a sleeping potion. When you wake up you should be better," she said.
My friends were ushered out, and she actually had to direct the goblet to my mouth because I spilt the first round.
Five minutes later, I slipped into sleep.
When I woke up the next morning, I was, as promised, better. I could see straight, and my headache was mostly gone. I begged Madame Pomfrey to let me go to breakfast, and, after five minutes of arguing that I was 100% better, she let me go.
Cara and Leigh were sitting in our normal seats. They were very happy to see me, and, after they were assured I was fine, the conversation turned to the night before's events.
"Oh, Lils, it's a shame you couldn't have been at the tower last night!" Cara told me right away, "When I told McGonagall what Violet had said, her face went all white. She took her aside, and scolded her. Stuff about being a Gryffindor, and not saying those sort of things, and about our morals. Then she dragged her off to Dumbledore, and used the fireplace to summon her parents. Sirius, Remus, and Peter weren't to happy with her either, not even Sirius. He would have found the curse funny, but after she called you. that name. he was angry. Oh, it was so eventful last night! No one could believe it. Sure, Violet insults you a lot, but she's never gone that far. Kylie was shocked, too. She's muggle-born, and, it shocked her and the other muggle-borns the most."
"Grandpa wasn't happy," Leigh added, "I saw him before breakfast."
Suddenly, there was a collective whisper go through the Hogwarts populace. A brawny owl flew into the Great Hall. And everyone recognized it. It was the Potter owl. Everyone knew it because it came every day for the Potter twins with letters from home, sweets, you name it. But today, it carried a single letter, a bright red envelope.
"A Howler," Leigh whispered.
Everyone in the Great Hall stopped to watch. Sure, the Potter twins did some pretty evil things, but their parents usually took it in good humor. They had never, ever, been sent a Howler, not even when James Potter surpassed the set record for largest amount of detentions in one month, surpassing even Sirius Black.
The Howler was dropped right in front of Violet Potter. Holding her head high, she opened the letter.
"VIOLET ELIZABETH POTTER! WE ARE SO ASHAMED OF YOU! HOW COULD YOU HAVE DONE SUCH A THING? YOU'RE A POTTER! POTTERS DO NOT, EVER, EVER, INSULT MUGGLE-BORNS. AND WE HAVE NEVER, IN THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF THE POTTER LINE, USED THAT WORD. WE ARE ASHAMED OF YOU! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU HAVE DONE? WE ARE KNOWN AS TRUE GRYFFINDORS, AND HAVE NEVER DONE SUCH A THING! YOU ARE AN INSULT TO THE FAMILY NAME! WE ARE THE POTTERS. WE DO NOT, WE DO NOT, INSULT PEOPLE SIMPLY BECAUSE OF THEIR HERITAGE. I DON'T BELIEVE YOUR EXCUSES, AND I DON'T CARE IF SHE PROVOKED YOU! THAT IS NO, NO EXCUSE!
"JAMES HAROLD POTTER, I SWEAR, IF YOU HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS, YOU WILL NEVER LEAVE THE HOUSE AGAIN!
"IF I HEAR ANOTHER WORD FROM PROFESSOR DUMBLEDORE ABOUT YOU BEING MEAN TO LILY EVANS OR ANYONE AGAIN, I WILL PERSONALLY COME TO HOGWARTS AND GET YOU! YOU WILL REGRET IT WITH EVERY BONE YOU HAVE!"
Then, suddenly, the voice went soft.
"Oh, yes, Lily Evans, I'm terribly sorry for what my daughter did to you. I can assure you it will never happen again."
Then, the Howler stopped, and burst into flames.
I looked at my friends, and then we looked at the Potters. They were staring at the Howler, Violet in an angry shock, and James with a strange look that I couldn't quite place.
"I still don't forgive her," I whispered.
A/N- Well, I'm not dead. Partly. No, jk, I'm not at all dead. Just a severe bout of writer's block. You have to forgive me, please! And 14 reviews! Wow! I'm happy. Here's a short hint: Kylie will become a more important player in the next year!!!
Okay, I'm done. REVIEW!!!!
Disclaimer- I own nothing at all. It all belongs to the Harry Potter people, of which I am not one of.
"I would have done it, I swear, but I completely forgot the answers," Cara stated, crossing her arms and staring at us.
"Sure," I whispered, "There is such a thing as a book. You could have looked it up."
"Why? You know all the answers, anyway. I could just ask you. It's easier," Cara replied.
We were on the train to Hogwarts, about a half an hour into the ride. Cara had taken out her Transfiguration homework, while Leigh and I were playing chess, using my trunk as a table.
"That's cheating," I reminded her.
Cara laughed, "So? We always help each other with our homework."
"That's not the point," I told her, "You're supposed to . . ."
I dropped off, and turned towards the door. I had heard a noise. But it was silent, now.
"What?" Leigh asked.
I shook my head, "Nothing."
Then the noise came again, like footsteps and something banging against something else outside our compartment. I stood up, and heard some voices.
"There's someone outside our door," I said, and swung it open.
I regreted it right away. I was drenched from head to foot in water, water that had been hanging in a bucket over the door. A charm had been used to hold it there, until the door opened, and then dump all over me.
"POTTER! POTTER! BLACK! LUPIN! PETTIGREW! I KNOW YOU DID THIS!" I screamed.
"Lily?" Leigh and Cara asked, walking into the hall.
"What happened? Why are you all wet?" Cara asked.
I glared down the hallway, "Those brats . . . they . . . I'm so going to get thing back for this! JUST WATCH ME!"
"Lily," Cara said, "Just don't kill Remus, please."
I shook my head, "I can't promise anything. But I will, I WILL, kill those stupid Potters. Why, why, did God have to curse us with two of them? One is enough to make my hair curl."
Cara and Leigh laughed. I glared at them.
"It is not funny," I said, "How does their family stand them?"
Hogwarts was still standing when we got there. Cara, Leigh, and I got into one of the first carriages, and rode up to the school.
It was a clear night, the stars shining. But we were all tired and hungry, and didn't much notice it. We walked into the Great Hall, and found our normal seats.
"Can this get started all ready?" Cara groaned from her seat.
Cara sat in the middle of Leigh and I. Leigh and I exchanged glances behind her back, and laughed. She leaned back, and nearly fell off her seat.
"Cara, get up. The first years are being brought in," I said, and rolled my eyes.
I was glancing at the first years, when I saw the other the other occupant of our dorm (besides Cara, Leigh, Violet Potter, and I). Her name was Kylie Bolton, and she sat all alone at the end of the table. She was dressed in all black. We all were, so it didn't stand out much. But I'd seen her out of her uniform. Even her pajamas were black, dramatic black.
"Lils," Leigh hissed as the first name was called up, "Look at the Maruaders."
I glanced over, and felt like vomiting. They were putting something into the pudding.
"Won't be eating that, not for a million pounds," I whispered.
Leigh gave me a weird look, and whispered, "Pounds?"
I shrugged, "Muggle money."
That said enough. Leigh nodded, and turned back to the sorting.
The sorting was a slow process. There were plenty new Gryffindors. Then Dumbledore announced that we were receiving a new exchange student, from Beauxabatons in France, Dominique Liselle Lafayette. She was joining our year, but was sorted into Ravenclaw.
Then, thankfully, the feast began.
"Don't touch the pudding," I whispered to Cara, who didn't even bother to ask.
There was no reason. When someone warned you not to touch some food, you did it without question. It was an unwritten law in Hogwarts. More likely than not, it was because the Maruaders had somehow tampered with it.
We had a nice, pudding-free, meal. However, the rest of the hall seemed to find it entertaining when several people, after eating the tampered pudding, started speaking with soap bubbles coming out. It would have been funny for me, if the Potters hadn't been involved. Cara and Leigh thought it was hilarious.
"Honestly," I said to them when we walked up to the Gryffindor tower, "They're only doing that sort of stuff for attention. It doesn't seem funny when you're the target, now does it."
Cara sighed, and said, "Lils, unfortunately, Leigh and I don't have to worry about that. You are usually the target, so that situation just doesn't relate with us."
"Lily, you had to admit, it was just a bit funny," Leigh told me.
I shook my head, "Nope. I think they're immature prats who deserve to be expelled, or even better, exiled from this hemisphere altogether. I'd give up the telephone for the rest of my life, and the TV."
"Telephone? TV?" Leigh asked.
Cara whispered to her, "Muggle stuff."
Leigh nodded, and I continued without missing a beat.
". Just to see them gone. Oh, they're so. so."
"Brilliant?"
"Wonderful?"
I turned around to see the Maruaders standing there. Sirius and Remus had spoke. The Potters were just standing there, glaring at me. Peter was silent.
"No. Annoying was more the word I was looking for, but now it seems wrong. It's an understatement," I said, turned on my heel, and went up to my room.
"You'd better watch out, Evans! You just might wake up feeling a bit. strange!" Violet Potter shouted after me.
I turned and rolled my eyes, "Try me."
Cara and Leigh ran up the stairs to our room after me.
"Why can't you guys just along?" Cara asked, "This world would be SO much better! Please? Could you just try?"
"She threatened me," I protested.
"But then you had to go and challenge her in reply!" Leigh pointed out, "Not exactly 'trying to get along' now are we?"
I groaned, "I can't get along with them, I just can't!"
"You'd better try. Because we still have a lot of Hogwarts time left, and you're going to be spending it with them," Cara said.
"Not if they get expelled," I replied.
Not that that would ever happen. Just because they got more detentions than anyone else, Dumbledore liked them, and, therefore, wouldn't expell them. He thought they were FUNNY. Not that I have anything against Leigh's grandpa or anything! But. come on. all the other professors can see it. The Maruaders were just plain EVIL.
Violet Potter came up about an hour later, and didn't even say a word to any of us. She looked murderous. Kylie had arrived about a half an hour before her, and had gone straight to bed, though we always thought she didn't really fall asleep, but lay in bed, waiting for us to sleep. We'd never caught her, though.
"Watch it, Evans," she hissed to me.
Cara sighed, and stood up, "Violet, Lily, let's get this over. All right, I want you guys to try something. Instead of the normal 'exchange- insults-greeting, patented by the Potter twins and Lily Evans' why don't you try the 'normal-everyday-people-greeting'. In which people say 'Hi! How are you?' instead of 'Watch it' or 'I'll get you'. It just may shock some people, but that's a risk I'm willing to take."
"Cara," I warned.
"Listen, Hunter, when I want your opinon, I'll ask. But don't expect it. And don't ever, EVER, expect me and Evans to agree on anything, much less actually be able to stand each other's presence for less than a milisecond, if that," Violet Potter hissed, and walked over to her bed.
Cara sighed, and said, "Well, that went well, don't you think."
"Cara, I think we ought to put that to rest for now," Leigh whispered.
Cara nodded, "Yeah."
"POTTER! POTTER! WHICH ONE OF YOU DID THIS?!?!?!?" I screamed at the top of my lungs.
I was standing in the common room, my face red from anger, and my hair cut in odd strips and bright purple, charmed that way.
"Whoa, Lily, nice hairdo," Sirius said, walking into the room, "I think I just woke up."
"WHO DID THIS!?!?!? I'M GOING TO KILL WHOEVER DID THIS! POTTER!!!!!!!!" I screamed.
"Which one?" Violet Potter asked sweetly from beside Sirius.
"You did this, didn't you?" I hissed.
She smirked.
"Oh, you just wait, you. you. prat!" I shouted.
"'Prat?' Is that the best you can do, Evans? Should've known you'd run out of insults by now. I've still got a few up my sleeve," Violet Potter hissed.
I glared at her, and then went back up to our room. Cara and Leigh were standing at the door, awake from all the shouting. Kylie was sitting up in her bed, staring at me.
"Oh, Lils," Leigh whispered.
Cara took a deep breath, "That went too far. It was Violet, I know it was. Oh, they're so childish."
"I'll get them back for this. Turning my hair colors is one thing, but cutting it is a completely different thing," I hissed.
"Okay, okay, sit down, and I'll see what I can do with it. Tonight, I'll cut it, and try to make it even," Cara said.
Leigh gave me my wand, and I took the charm off (Cara wasn't too good with charms, and Leigh was okay, but I was better). My hair returned to it's normal red. Cara stared at it for a second, and then nodded. Slowly, she combed it out, and then searched for a way to put it up so it's length wouldn't show. She finally found one, wrapping it in a bun, so all the hair was tucked away. Thankfully, the shortest clump barely fit, but it fit.
"Oh, I hate her! The rest of them were probably in with her on it, too," I grummbled, "Sometimes I just want to strangle her. If murder wasn't illegal."
"And morally wrong," Leigh put in.
"Yes, and morally wrong, I would just love to pound her little head in. And his, for that matter," I continued.
Cara started, "Just leave Remus alone, okay."
I saw Kylie stand up and leave in the mirror, and didn't say anything. She was wearing heavy, dark, make-up.
A few minutes later, Cara stopped, "Okay, that's the best I can do. We have to get down to breakfast. Don't give them the satisfaction of running."
"I wasn't planning on it," I answered.
I spent the majority of breakfast glaring at the Potters. Cara had to pinch my arm to get me to look at her.
I was in a terrible mood for the rest of the day. After our last class, Leigh went to her grandfather's office to talk to him before dinner. Cara and I returned to the dorm, so Cara could start thinking about how to fix my hair.
*~* Leigh's POV
Grandpa was sitting in his office looking over some papers when I walked in. I new the password, half from being a friend of the Maruaders, half because it was my grandfather's office. When I walked in, Grandpa looked up.
"Hello, Jinx," he said.
"Hi, Grandpa," I greeted, and walked across the room, looking over the portraits of the past headmasters.
"How was your first day back?" Grandpa asked.
I shrugged, "Lily got in another fight with the Potters, and, last night, Violet Potter cut her hair in these really uneven patches and then charmed it so it was purple. We got the charm off, but Cara's going to cut her hair after dinner."
Grandpa chuckled.
"What's so funny?" I asked, "Lily was really mad. She's a redhead through and through when it comes to Violet and James Potter."
Grandpa smiled at me, "Jinx, sometimes people use anger as a sheild."
I sat down opposite him, and raised my eyebrows, "A sheild?"
"Soon, Jinx, soon, I should think, things will change," Grandpa said, "You remember what I said when that change comes."
"What sort of a change?" I asked, my voice small.
"One for the good," Grandpa answered, and looked back down at his paper work.
I got up and went over to Fawkes, Grandpa's pheonix.
Grandpa had promised that I could get my own pheonix when I was in seventh year. I couldn't wait.
"Grandpa," I asked, "This summer, you mentioned starting a dueling club at Hogwarts. Are you still planning on it?"
Grandpa laughed again, "Jinx, nothing's sure yet. The other professors are still undecided."
"Oh, but I haven't dueled in so long!" I protested.
"We'll see, Jinx. Now, we'd best get down to dinner," Grandpa said, "And tell your friends I send them my greeting."
I nodded, "Okay. Remember what I said about the dueling club!"
*~* Lily's POV
Thank goodness Violet Potter didn't come up while Cara was fixing my hair. Cara had found some scissors to cut it with, and was slowly, cutting it so it was as even as the last part.
I tried to sit still, and did it as best I could, but I could sometimes hear Cara sigh when I moved.
"Sorry," I'd whisper.
Leigh was watching from her bed, while working on her homework. Kylie was, I presumed, laying inside her bed with her curtains drawn. She hardly ever talked to us, or Violet Potter. Or anyone for that matter. But people talked about her. They called her names, and I doubted some of them even knew her real name. The Slytherins were the worst. Not only did she only wear black, and had, in second year, died her hair black and put in black eye contacts, but she was muggle-born. So, that was, naturally, a way for them to make fun of her. Sometimes it made me mad, being muggleborn like her. But I always stepped out of it. I could see how hard she could throw a fist.
"There," Cara said, "Done. It's not as good as a hairstylist, but it's something. You might want to get it re-done when you go home."
"My parents'll be thrilled," I whispered sarcastically, picking up the strands of hair that fell down to a point halfway between my shoulders and ears, to about my chin.
Leigh stood up, and walked over, "It doesn't look bad, really. But, just in case, I'd put a guarding charm around your bed tonight. Violet looked murderous at dinner tonight."
Cara nodded, "Yeah, some fourth year Hufflepuff was trying to flirt with James. You know how she gets with that."
Violet Potter had a tendency to over-react. And when she did that, she did it big time. The poor Hufflepuff probably didn't know that her crush's twin sister was a bit of a hothead.
"Poor girl. What injuries?" I asked.
"Uh. I think Violet used the jelly-legs, the arm-bind, and there was one more." Leigh said.
"The dizzy charm."
We all turned to see Violet Potter standing in the doorway, her hands on her hips, and glaring at us.
She had finished Leigh's sentence.
"I figured it was perfect for the situation, being the ditzy, brain- less, bubble-headed Hufflepuff that she was," Violet Potter said, "I'd be careful, Evans, I'm getting quite good at the curse. That girl couldn't walk straight for three hours. I just might be able to manage five on your brain-less skull, maybe six, if I'm lucky."
"You? Lucky? I'm sorry, Potter, but you have no luck," I hissed.
Violet Potter glared at me, "Take that back, you. filthy muggle!"
"Why should I?" I asked.
She continued to glare. I turned around and started to walk to my bed. I wanted to show her I wasn't at all scared of her.
"DIZZANTIUM!" a voice behind me shouted, "Take that you filty Mudblood!"
It seemed like the world had suddenly tipped for everyone in the room, not just me. The curse hit me in the back, and I doubled over. The curse was hard. I could hear Leigh and Cara shouting, and right before the dizziness took over, I could see Kylie's bed curtains opening, and Kylie staring out.
And then, everything started to go. I couldn't see straight. I fell to my knees, and tried to focus my eyesight. It didn't work.
"Lily!" Leigh shouted.
My head hurt so bad. The Dizzy curse was not to be reckoned with. Everything felt strange. My head hurt. Bad.
My friends had somehow managed to get me down to the hospital wing. It was all chaos in the tower. The other girls in the Gryffindor tower that were in their dorms had heard that terrible curse-word, "Mudblood" and it was chaos right away. Gryffindors were known for dispising the use of that word, and here was Violet Potter, shouting it at me, who most of the Gryffindors respected as being one of the top students of my class. And then coming in to see Cara screaming at Violet Potter, Leigh trying to help me up, and Kylie standing there with a strange, shocked, sort of look. Even a few boys had bounded up the stairs to see what was happening. I didn't see most of it. Some of the other girls had gone for McGonagall, who had rushed into help my friends get me down to the Hospital Wing.
Madame Pomfrey put me on a bed right away, and was tsking.
"That girl's too much of a hotheaded. She's really going to hurt someone someday. I'm afraid you'll have to wait out this curse, Miss Evans. There is no antidote," she said, "Your friends will have to return to their dorm. I'll give you a sleeping potion. When you wake up you should be better," she said.
My friends were ushered out, and she actually had to direct the goblet to my mouth because I spilt the first round.
Five minutes later, I slipped into sleep.
When I woke up the next morning, I was, as promised, better. I could see straight, and my headache was mostly gone. I begged Madame Pomfrey to let me go to breakfast, and, after five minutes of arguing that I was 100% better, she let me go.
Cara and Leigh were sitting in our normal seats. They were very happy to see me, and, after they were assured I was fine, the conversation turned to the night before's events.
"Oh, Lils, it's a shame you couldn't have been at the tower last night!" Cara told me right away, "When I told McGonagall what Violet had said, her face went all white. She took her aside, and scolded her. Stuff about being a Gryffindor, and not saying those sort of things, and about our morals. Then she dragged her off to Dumbledore, and used the fireplace to summon her parents. Sirius, Remus, and Peter weren't to happy with her either, not even Sirius. He would have found the curse funny, but after she called you. that name. he was angry. Oh, it was so eventful last night! No one could believe it. Sure, Violet insults you a lot, but she's never gone that far. Kylie was shocked, too. She's muggle-born, and, it shocked her and the other muggle-borns the most."
"Grandpa wasn't happy," Leigh added, "I saw him before breakfast."
Suddenly, there was a collective whisper go through the Hogwarts populace. A brawny owl flew into the Great Hall. And everyone recognized it. It was the Potter owl. Everyone knew it because it came every day for the Potter twins with letters from home, sweets, you name it. But today, it carried a single letter, a bright red envelope.
"A Howler," Leigh whispered.
Everyone in the Great Hall stopped to watch. Sure, the Potter twins did some pretty evil things, but their parents usually took it in good humor. They had never, ever, been sent a Howler, not even when James Potter surpassed the set record for largest amount of detentions in one month, surpassing even Sirius Black.
The Howler was dropped right in front of Violet Potter. Holding her head high, she opened the letter.
"VIOLET ELIZABETH POTTER! WE ARE SO ASHAMED OF YOU! HOW COULD YOU HAVE DONE SUCH A THING? YOU'RE A POTTER! POTTERS DO NOT, EVER, EVER, INSULT MUGGLE-BORNS. AND WE HAVE NEVER, IN THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF THE POTTER LINE, USED THAT WORD. WE ARE ASHAMED OF YOU! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU HAVE DONE? WE ARE KNOWN AS TRUE GRYFFINDORS, AND HAVE NEVER DONE SUCH A THING! YOU ARE AN INSULT TO THE FAMILY NAME! WE ARE THE POTTERS. WE DO NOT, WE DO NOT, INSULT PEOPLE SIMPLY BECAUSE OF THEIR HERITAGE. I DON'T BELIEVE YOUR EXCUSES, AND I DON'T CARE IF SHE PROVOKED YOU! THAT IS NO, NO EXCUSE!
"JAMES HAROLD POTTER, I SWEAR, IF YOU HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS, YOU WILL NEVER LEAVE THE HOUSE AGAIN!
"IF I HEAR ANOTHER WORD FROM PROFESSOR DUMBLEDORE ABOUT YOU BEING MEAN TO LILY EVANS OR ANYONE AGAIN, I WILL PERSONALLY COME TO HOGWARTS AND GET YOU! YOU WILL REGRET IT WITH EVERY BONE YOU HAVE!"
Then, suddenly, the voice went soft.
"Oh, yes, Lily Evans, I'm terribly sorry for what my daughter did to you. I can assure you it will never happen again."
Then, the Howler stopped, and burst into flames.
I looked at my friends, and then we looked at the Potters. They were staring at the Howler, Violet in an angry shock, and James with a strange look that I couldn't quite place.
"I still don't forgive her," I whispered.
A/N- Well, I'm not dead. Partly. No, jk, I'm not at all dead. Just a severe bout of writer's block. You have to forgive me, please! And 14 reviews! Wow! I'm happy. Here's a short hint: Kylie will become a more important player in the next year!!!
Okay, I'm done. REVIEW!!!!