Chapter 13: A Sirius Moment.
The pupils at the school started to grow accustomed to waking up in the earlier hours to get ready for their lessons. The teachers relished in adding - and in some cases deducting - house points from the four houses. Life seemed to be back to normal for Lily. She wasn't restricted from her magic anymore and she felt free. Of course there was the occasional crack about her being muggle born from the Slytherin's, but she managed to throttle them afterwards. How she managed to get away with it was anybody's guess.
James was getting increasingly excited about trying for the Quidditch team. He spent a lot of time after lessons on his broomstick and Lily had to admit that he seemed to be a natural. He would move swiftly in the air, avoiding Sirius who would throw water balloons (that would burst with a rather peculiar sound) up at him. It was actually quite a good practice as the water balloons would second for bludgers. James would often tease Sirius from his broomstick saying that he'd never make it as a Beater or a Chaser in a Quidditch team. Of course Sirius wouldn't stand for that so he'd start throwing hexes and jinxes instead of the water balloons.
By the time the 'practice' ended, they'd both come down hairy or with as added limb.
***
A week later, on Sunday night, Lily pondered over her Transfiguration homework.
"Gladys, what's that spell that turns a bottle into a shoe horn?" Lily asked while they were studying.
"Hiperthium." Gladys said not looking up from her book.
Lily waved her wand and enunciated the word as clearly as she could. The bottle remained the same. She frowned and tried again. 'Hey! It changed colour…is that a good thing?' She tried again. 'That doesn't look…err…natural.' She tried again. 'Crap!' She waved her wand again a final time and the bottle scrunched itself up. She screamed in frustration and started stabbing at it until it caught on fire.
"Shit!" Lily cursed and started to try and wave the fire out.
"Aqueous." Gladys said clearly, the fire was bathed in water and went out. The bottle was now reduced to cinders.
"If you don't mind me saying, I think you might just need a tutor." Gladys said closing her book and looking at Lily.
"You think?" Lily snarled sarcastically and threw her wand down on the table.
"I would tutor you, but I'm not the best at Transfiguration myself. You should ask James or Sirius. They're quite good at it. And anyway, they might put you out of your foul mood." Gladys said, completely ignoring Lily's harshness. She was used to her mood-swings. Lily scowled at her but she knew she was right. She continued sitting on her spot, not letting her know that she knew she was right.
"Lily Evans! You will go upstairs right now and ask for their help. Grovel if you have to, otherwise you'll be walking around with a rather uncomfortable wedgie. Now get moving!" She said threateningly.
"You do that and you'll be walking around with more than tight underpants!" Lily challenged her. Gladys smirked.
"Oh? You do that and I'll tell him about you know what and you know who." Gladys grinned as Lily's composure fell a little.
"Oh yeah? Then I'll tell him about you know what and you know where and you know why!" Lily said grinning.
"Lily, I don't have a 'him, you know what and you know why!'" Gladys told her.
"You don't? Damn! That was last year wasn't it!" Gladys nodded at that.
"Fine you win this round!" Lily grinned.
"Yep. Now like I said, go and see if James or Sirius will help you. Otherwise I'll do all the things I said I would." Gladys warned and went back to her book. Lily grumbled as she went up the stairs muttering something about 'she always wins.' She took the stairs two at a time and walked down the silent corridor. As was customary to her, she barged into the door on the right.
As soon as she entered, she heard a rather girly scream and a lot of tumbling to the shared bathroom.
"Honestly Lily! Can a man not change in the decency of his own dorm?!" Sirius' voice called from the bedroom.
"A man? You keep telling yourself that pip-squeak!" Lily said laughing and shaking her head.
"Ha ha." Sirius replied as the door opened. "I bet you'd make the same noise if some guy barged in on your dorm when you were half naked! And anyway, you really should learn how to knock. Not just simply barge in with no invitation!" he said huffily.
"Well, I've been doing it for over a year now, you'd think you'd know not to change in the decency of your own dorm, but with your bed curtain drawn or in your bathroom." Lily argued back. They stood in silence for a while.
"Do you even listen to yourself when you talk?!" Sirius asked raising his eyebrow. Lily stood their shocked for a while.
"Alright, I deserved that. I'm sorry Sirius, I'll try to knock next time, can't make any promises though." She warned with a sly grin. Sirius just looked at her and shook his head muttering under his breath.
"So, what's up?" he asked.
"I need help on some Transfig stuff. Can you help?" she asked.
"My, is Lily dearest falling behind in her school work. Tsk tsk. You should be most ashamed of yourself!" Sirius mocked.
"Ha ha." Lily mocked laughed like Sirius had done earlier.
"Alright, then I'll help. Now, step into my humble classroom and Professor Black will show you how it's all done! Never once has he got it wrong and he never will, let me assure you!" Sirius said, self promoting himself and grinning. Lily shook her head and sat at the end of his bed.
They started with the small spells, which annoyed Lily most profoundly. It was the 'needle to pin' change all over again. What made her even madder was the fact that she couldn't do it! This was first year work and she had forgotten it all.
Sirius sighed; this was going to be a long night!
A couple of hours later and she finally got it.
It took a maximum of 79 tries to turn the needle to a pin. That was of course, without the puff of purple smoke forming. After that they went on to other small items like a ring to a ring-pull, a test tube to a quill, and a sock to a piece of parchment. It was dark outside by the time she managed to get the hang of it.
"Ok, now let's try the bottle to the shoe-horn. Try hard and pronounce it properly." Sirius said as he placed the bottle on the bed.
"Hiperthium." Lily said as she waved her wand. Nothing happened.
"Say it like you mean it!" Sirius said as she waved her wand again. It still remained the same shape.
"Hiperthium." Lily said a little louder.
"My cat could probably do this better than you. Try harder Lily!" he commented.
"HIPERTHIUM!" Lily yelled out loud waving her wand.
A huge puff of smoke engulfed them and they started to cough and splutter at it. Lily covered her eyes as they started to tear from it. Sirius squeezed them shut tightly hoping beyond hope that Lily hadn't completely destroyed his bed. But as the hazy smoke began to disappear, where the bottle stood, there was now a bright blue shoe horn in its place. Sirius opened his eyes and waved away any of the lingering smoke.
"Lily! You did it! Don't know how but you did it!" Sirius exclaimed.
"I did?" Lily asked as she removed her hands from her eyes. She saw the gleaming blue shoe horn shining in all its glory.
"I DID!" Lily yelled triumphantly. "I AM THE BEST!" Lily exclaimed and grinned ear to ear. Sirius just grinned and let her preen from her mountain top. And to his utter surprise, she hugged him.
"Thank you! Thank you! I never knew that a complete ass could save my ass in Transfig! You're the best Sirius!" She said whilst hugging him.
"I resent the 'ass' bit on my behalf but yeah, you're welcome!" Sirius said and hugged her back. Happy of her accomplishment. Lily laughed and let him go. She then picked up the shoe horn and admired the shoe horn.
"This is the best ever shoe horn ever." Lily commented.
"Bet I could make a better one." Sirius muttered loud enough so she could hear.
"Hey, don't steal my thunder." Lily pouted and playfully hit him on the arm.
"Sorry. But I don't know about you but I'm bloody tired. So go away so I can go to sleep." Sirius said and shooed her off his bed.
"Well that's nice." Lily said rolling her eyes as she got off clutching her shoe horn and wand. She made for the door.
"What you're not going to tuck me in? No bedtime story? No lullaby? No good night kiss?" Sirius asked and pouted a little.
"Hey, I'm no mother, if I tuck you in, you'll be cocooned like a caterpillar. I don't have any decent bedtime stories and I'm no good at singing." Lily said, ticking off everything on his list.
"Well, what about a goodnight kiss?" he asked grinning mischievously.
He didn't actually expect her to do it. His eyes slammed open when he felt her lips pressed against his kissing him softly and showing no sign of timidity. So he did the only thing he could, and kissed her back. A short time afterwards they separated and both were more than a little flushed. She smiled.
"Goodnight you ass."
***
A/N: Wow! 200 reviews…that's a lot! Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! I'm chuffed with every single review I get and I never expected to get more than 100 on this story! Honestly, you all kick immense ass! So…here is the first part of the Sirius-Lily-James love triangle thing that has been hinted about in the story. I was a bit unsure as to whether they should kiss at 12, I was debating it in my head and I just thought I'd be a rebel and go for it. I also noticed that I'm completely leaving out Gladys, and I like Gladys, so I'll need to slam her in a couple of more scenes. Oh…and it's quite cool, because I finally have some idea of where I'm going with this! So, yeah, it should hopefully be more enjoyable for you to read!
Gary Skinner: Do you by any chance write fanfics on this site? Because I'm sure you're a great author! You're reviews are like a miniature report on each chapter! If you do come to write on this site, tell me, because I'd really love to read your fics!
beyond infinity: I really hope you like this chapter because I spent my whole bloody evening writing this when I really should have been doing homework and practicing my violin for the music recording thing. If I sound crap tomorrow, I'm blaming you! : p Lol…only josking!