Chapter Four: Of Hair Dye and Evil Slytherins

Lily awoke with a start. According to her Flinstones wristwatch it was seven o'clock. She sighed, rolled over and tried to get back to sleep. She was awoken about thirty minutes later when Taryn asked her if she could use her shampoo because she had accidentally left hers at home. Lily readily agreed, as she thought Taryn was really nice, and would be a good friend. Then-

"OH MY GOD! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Taryn had stepped out of the shower just to find that her normally blonde, wavy hair had been turned an electrifying shade of blue. Lily was stunned. Carolina jumped out of bed, but her feet sank three inches into the honey and shaving-cream mess that Sirius had made the night before. The girls were stunned. Peyton, the other girl in their year, was trying to keep a straight face. Taryn was trying not to cry. Carolina was mouthing wordlessly, and Lily was thunderstruck.

"Nobody move," Carolina had regained her voice. "They might have booby-trapped anything. Taryn, I'm so sorry, but I don't think that we can do anything about your hair. Just tie it up and pretend that you meant to do it. Whatever you do, don't react. Whoever it was just wants to hurt us. But why Taryn? Have you done anything to anyone?"

"I-I don't think so. I mean, I've only met a few people, and they all seemed pretty nice, and-" Taryn's voice was shaking, and she looked rather helpless.

"Wait. Taryn, you used my shampoo, didn't you? That prank was meant for me. I'm really sorry." Lily felt awful. Just because she didn't like James, one of her friends had gotten hurt. "Don't worry. We'll get back at them. C'mon Lina, let's go to a Library. I'm sure that they'll have loads of books full of good stuff we can use on those bastards. Taryn, d'you want to come?" Taryn shook her head, so Lily and Carolina set off for the Library without her. When they walked through the common room, they saw that James and Sirius hadn't come down yet.

"Excellent. I hope no one tortures Taryn too much about her hair. That was really mean. Taryn's pretty awesome and boy, are they going to pay…" Lily growled as the two girls walked in the general direction of the Library.

"Yeah, Taryn's really nice, but Peyton…seems a little…preppy. She's okay I guess. The Library had better have some good books for us. I mean isn't it enough that we got soaked and the Prefects deducted ten points from Gryffindor? I really, really hate James Potter," Carolina said.

"Well, you don't seem to mind Sirius too much," Lily chided. Carolina's cheeks had a pink tinge.

"Yeah? Well you don't seem to mind Remus too much," she retorted. "I wonder what was wrong with him in Defense class. He seemed really ill, and he kept looking at Professor Necare like he was an escaped convict or something…" Carolina got a strange look on her face, an odd mixture of joy and extreme terror. Lily looked at her with one eyebrow raised.

"What?" Carolina asked, seeing the questioning look on Lily's face. "Hey, look! We found the Library!" Carolina seemed to sigh with relief as she and Lily walked in to the tidy room. The Library was gigantic and meticulously clean. They spread out and began searching the spotless shelves for books with interesting titles. After five minutes they met at a small round table and pile up the books that they had found. Lily had pulled down An Aide For Magical Mischief Makers and 101 Useful Bewitchments. Carolina had found Charming Charms and Ye Olde Magic Booke: Thirty Mediaeval Spells to try on Your Enemies. Lily whipped out a piece of parchment and a quill. By eight thirty they had found ten spells to use on the boys.

They scrambled to the Great Hall and crammed several pieces of toast down their throats. Then, they made their way down to the dungeons for their first ever Potions lesson.

The girls skidded into the room and slammed their books down onto a table just as their professor made his way into the room. He was sallow-skinned, and his eyes were inky-black slits. He had a large nose and thick eyebrows which gave Lily the immediate impression of a large, evil vulture. The professor stood at the front of the class, his eyes pouring over every student, as though examining their soul. His eyes lingered particularly long on Snape and a pale, malicious looking boy with slicked back blonde hair.     

"I am here to try and teach you all the subtle art of potion brewing. Some here," he looked pointedly at the Gryffindors, "may find it more difficult," and here he looked at the Slytherins, "while others may excel. Now for roll call.

"Atkins, Pansy?" A large girl wearing what looked like pounds of black eyeliner raised her hand.

"Black, Sirius?" Sirius raised his hand. Even he could tell that this teacher wasn't one to be trifled with.

"Crabbe, George?" What looked like a large boulder responded.

"Doris, Narcissa?" A little Slytherin girl with her golden hair in tight ringlets and an unpleasant look on her face raised her pale hand. 

"Evans, Lillian?" Lily grimaced at her formal name, and raised her hand.

"Goyle, Gregory?" looked exactly like Crabbe.

"Lupin, Remus?" Remus raised his hand.

"Malfoy, Lucius?" The blonde boy raised his hand, this time with and ugly sneer set on his face.

"Mateson, Carolina?" Carolina raised her hand.

"Miller, Taryn?" Her hair was attracting loads of strange looks and snickers, and she was hiding her face behind her collapsible cauldron.

"O'Meara, Peyton?" was sitting next to Taryn.

"O'Neill, Lara?" was another Slytherin girl.

"Pettigrew, Peter" raised a trembling hand.

"Potter, James" casually raised his hand with a smirk in Severus's direction. And finally, with "Snape, Severus?" roll call was over. Then they got down to business. Professor Centia took special care to speak quietly so that only the Slytherins, who had grabbed the seats in the front row, nearest the Head of their House, could hear. The Gryffindors had no idea what to do, as they hadn't heard the directions, so they just sat there for the whole hour, because Professor Centia refused to repeat his instructions.

"If you had been listening, you ignorant, pathetic excuses for students, then you would have heard my specific and thorough directions you irrelevant brats." At the end of his little speech all the Slytherins were snorting into their cauldrons full of a simple sleeping draft, and the Gryffindors were furious. Carolina stood up tipping her chair over in rage, and Sirius and James glared at him with pure hatred in their eyes. Centia looked at Carolina.

"Miss Mateson, isn't it?" Carolina did not move. "Pick up your chair and sit down immediately if you have nothing to say."

"I do have something to say you-" Carolina began to speak, but Lily nudged her leg, causing her to pause. Centia took advantage of her silence.

"Ten points from Gryffindor for your insolence, and it will be twenty if you do not sit down instantly." He glared at her with a look that could have burned through steel and quenched the brightest of flames. Carolina looked indifferent, but sat down all the same. When the period was finally over the Gryffindors scrambled out of the room, trying to put as much distance between them and the teacher as possible. Lily poked her best friend.

"What were you doing? Trying to pick a fight with Centia?" she asked.

"I thought you were brave. He was creepy." Taryn had joined their conversation, trying to hide behind the other girls. She kept getting weird looks from the other students in the hall. Before Carolina could reply, Sirius walked up. Pointedly ignoring the change in Taryn's hair color he spoke to Carolina.

"I think you might have set a new record. Five minutes into the second day of term and you've already gotten ten points from Gryffindor." Carolina blushed a bit.

"Oh shut up. He was just a big bully. It's not my fault-"

"I'm not blaming you, it was a compliment. You have skills." He grinned at the girls and walked over to James. Carolina looked puzzled.

"Why is it such a great thing to loose House points? Weird one, that guy is. Centia is biased scum, don't ya think?" Lily was about to give a tart reply when she found herself sprawled on the floor for the second time in three days. As she tried to get up, someone kicked her back down to the ground.

"Where do you think you're going, you pathetic little mudblood? I believe you owe me an apology for running into me like that," said the blonde boy named Lucius. Lily tried to push herself up, but Lucius's foot was still planted on her chest. Her cheeks were turning a bright red with fury and embarrassment.

"Get off me you great-" she was about to call him something she never would have dared to say in front of her mother, but was stopped when the boy put so much weight on her that she couldn't breathe.

"I would think twice before you ever dare to insult a Malfoy again," the boy whispered maliciously before storming off down the corridor. Lily soon saw why he had left in such a hurry.

"What is going on here?" Professor McGonagall's voice rang out, stopping all conversation instantly. "Ms. Evans, why are you on the floor? What have you been doing?" Lily rose to her feet, wincing as she tried to breathe.

"It was her fault, Professor. She tripped over her robes," said Severus. He had apparently been watching from behind a tapestry on the wall. Lily glared at him, but held the back of Carolina's robes as she tried to get to Snape. "We all saw it, didn't we?" Snape looked to the other Slytherins in the hallway. They nodded in assent while stepping on the feet of the Hufflepuffs, keeping from speaking up on Lily's behalf.

"Well if that is all, then everyone should be getting to their classes," Carolina was mouthing obscene words in Severus's general direction, and the Hufflepuffs looked scandalized. When McGonagall noticed that no one had obeyed her orders she got flustered. "Immediately!" she barked at the loitering students. They all scurried off, intimidated by the flustered witch. Lily and Carolina started jogging down the corridor, red-faced.

"What's our next class?" Lily asked.

"Flying Lessons!" said Carolina. "I can't wait. C'mon, to the Quidditch Pitch then."

(A/N) Hey y'all! Thanks for the reviews! I love that word—review! Isn't it a wonderful word? Review, review, review! Okeedokee, moooooving on! Fishkisser- thanks, and I'll see what I can do about the spacing. Musicizdbest-Don't worry, the ability to rock ones sox is most definitely a good thing. While not altogether essential in life, it can come in handy. Dani- thanks, I'll update as fast as my computer will let me! Iza-if you have any ideas, I'd be glad to hear 'em. Humiliation is funfunfun! WormmonABC-Glad you liked it!

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