~*~Authors Note~*~ Sorry you guys, this should have been out ages ago, but I've just been too lazy! That and I've been immersed in "The Beatles Anthology." I am currently on George Harrison's autobiography. Anyway, I want to thank everyone who has so far reviewed and would like to remind you all of what I like to call the Reviewers Challenge. Actually it's not really a challenge this chapter, just a kind of luck of the draw. Whichever you faithful reviewers is luck reviewer number fifty will make a special guest appearance in chapter seven (hooray!)! So have fun reading and don't forget to review!
P.S. Thoughts are still in single quotation marks.
Disclaimer: Do I really need to tell you I don't own any of this?
CHAPTER 6: REVELATIONS
"Though I know that the hypnotized never lie… Do ya?"
Lily whipped her head back and forth, letting her curls fall through the air and singing into her hairbrush simultaneously. It was a week after Sirius had asked her to be his girlfriend and she was still elated. After her rendezvous with him under the willow tree she had come up to her room and played her "Who's Next" record.
The Who was Lily's favourite band. She couldn't stand spending nine months at Hogwarts without hearing the rough yet melodic voices of Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, Keith Moon, and Pete Townshend. She had bewitched her turntable to play devoid of electricity with a charm she had found in "Enchanting your Hairdryer and Other Muggle Products." Right now "Won't get Fooled Again" was blaring through the dormitory. Her housemates had either gotten used to the deafening music, or had put silencing barriers around their room so they could have some peace and quiet.
Just as Lily was about to toss her head again, Arabella came in with her hands over her ears.
"For the love of Merlin, Lily! This has been going on all week! No one in the common room can study; they're all dancing! Turn it off before I take twenty points from Gryffindor!" she shouted.
Lily did as she was told and stuck her middle finger up at Arabella's retreating figure. She then started to change out of her school robes, which she was still wearing, and into a light lace-up flared-sleeved shirt, and a long cotton skirt that was patched. She hated her school robes and wasn't sure how she would ever get used to them.
She quickly put her hair up and pulled two tendrils down to frame her face. Ever since she and Sirius had started dating she paid closer attention to her appearance. He was different with Derek. Derek didn't seem to care how she looked as long as she could help him with his homework. Even if he was a fifth year, and she was only in her fourth, his homework wasn't so advanced. But it wasn't the same with Sirius. There was just his aura of confidence around him that Lily didn't have; and she wanted it. She decided that one to gain confidence was to look better. If she felt more confident about herself, then she could focus on exuding it everywhere she went. Plus she felt that if she as handsome a boyfriend as Sirius it wouldn't be prudent not to try and look nice as well.
Venus walked in the room and looked at Lily. She raised her eyebrows as her friend started to put on some makeup. When she was done, Lily gave Venus a sparkling smile and zipped out of the room. Venus let go of a huge sigh, walked over to her bed and flopped down on it.
The past week Lily had been practically ignoring her. She was wither out with Sirius, getting ready to go out with Sirius, or just thinking about Sirius. When they actually did have conversations they would revolve around Sirius.
It wasn't only Venus that Lily ignored either. Her school bag was resting at the foot of her bed, untouched form the last time she had set it down there after class. Her grades were dropping, but she didn't seem to care. All she cared about was sneaking off with Sirius for private snogging sessions under their tree or in one of the dungeons.
Venus was not the only one who noticed the changes in Lily. Most of the school saw it too and there was always a buzz of chatter in the room. Everyone wondered what Sirius had done to ensue this drastic change. Lily wasn't even sure herself. She was convinced it was in his kiss. There was something about the way his tongue danced around hers, almost as if it were sawing, "Show me what you got." And then there was the way he held her. When she was in his arms she felt as is there could have been and air raid above, but she would be perfectly safe because he was with her. It was the total oxymoron of Sirius Black that drew her in and the only thing she feared when with him was that it would stop just as abruptly as it had started.
James watched as Lily flitted across the room and sat in Sirius' lap where their daily public make-out session would soon commence.
"I swear," said Remus as he too looked over at them, "they're attached at the tongue!"
James nodded and rolled his eyes as the two lovers connected. He stood up and walked over to them. They ignored him for several minutes until he cleared his throat rather loudly.
"Ahem!" he coughed. Lily looked up while Sirius continued to kiss her neck and make James livid at the same time. "Yes James?" she asked angelically.
"Do you think we could work on our goblin rebellion project since we haven't done anything with it all week?" he said, getting annoyed.
"James I'm sort of – Sirius! – busy rights now. Couldn't we do it later?" she asked as he nibble don her earlobe.
"So, your flavour of the week IS more important your schoolwork, eh?"
He had hit a nerve. She sighed exasperatedly and reluctantly got off of Sirius' lap. "Let's make this quick."
She ran up to her room, got her books, and came back down to meet James by the portrait hole.
"Come on, I haven't got all day," she said and led him to the library.
After about an hour of work, Lily was reading and James was off getting a book. He wandered up and down the aisle looking for "Goblin Rebellions of the Eighteenth Century," but he couldn't find it. Reaching the end of a row he spotted Luna and waved, starting to walk over. She just gave him a quick smile, tucked her raven hair behind her ear and continued with her work. He frowned and resumed his search. Finally he found the book he was looking for very near the place where he and Lily were working. It was on the very top shelf and even on his tiptoes he couldn't reach it.
"Hey Lily," he whispered, "Come over here and help me get this book!"
She shut her book, muttering something like, "Sure, it's not like I'm doing anything important over here, just the entire project," and walked over to him.
"Stand on my shoulders and get that green and black book up there, OK?"
She climbed onto his shoulders, got the book, and started to climb down. Just as she was about to set her foot into his cupped hands, she slipped and fell, pulling him down with her.
They made such a raucous that several people came over to see what had happened… including Luna. They were in such a lewd position that everyone gasped.
"I knew it!" she screamed when she saw them. "You've been with her the whole time, haven't you? I am not one to be two timed, you cheating bastard!"
"Miss Faucette, you are disturbing the peace! Get out of my library!" said Madam Pince shrilly. "And as for you two, detention!"
Luna pivoted on her toe and stormed out of the library. James got of Lily, face red, eyes flashing in rage.
"Damn it, Evans! First you cost me ten galleons by falling for that git I used to consider a mate, then you go and lose me my girlfriend and get me a detention at the same time!"
"Come off it James! It's your own bloody fault that your ditzy girlfriend dumped you. And don't call me Evans. I'm not one of your bloody Quidditch players!" She didn't even address the bit about Sirius. Her mind just sort of skipped over it. She needed to find Sirius like a nicotine addict would have needed a cigarette. She needed to be in his arms, needed to calm down. She walked briskly form the library, not even bothering to get her bag.
She was practically running to get back to the common room. When she reached the Fat Lady, she spat out the password and flew over to the chair where she had left Sirius. But he wasn't there.
Instead Venus sat there with her arms crossed and a look Lily couldn't read n her face. "We need to talk," she said bluntly.
"Now? I'm looking for Sirius," she panted distractedly.
"You're always looking for Sirius. Or with Sirius or talking about Sirius, Jesus, Lil! ENOUGH OF SIRIUS!!"
The contents of the common room turned their heads towards their conversation. Tamara Johnson, a third year on the Quidditch team shouted, "You go girl!" Venus blushed, grabbed Lily by the arm and led her up the stairs to their dormitory. She sat down on the bed and fixed her brown-eyed gaze on her.
"Look, I'm not saying you should stop seeing Sirius, I'm not saying that." Lily rolled her eyes. "At the beginning it was cute, but now he's all you care about. You don't care about your friends or your family," she gestured to a stack of letters on her desk, "or even your schoolwork. Sirius has changed you, Lil, and I'm not sure if it's for the best."
Lily blinked, temporarily speechless. "You're just jealous!" 'Yeah… yeah, that's it. She's jealous.' "You're angry that I haven't been spending time with you because I have a boyfriend! You know what a boyfriend is, don't you, Venus? Oh, I guess not seeing as you've never had one. So if you ever get a boyfriend – IF – just think about how much time you spend with, talking to, or thinking about him and then get back to me, K?" And with that she slammed the door and once again passed through the common room and out the portrait hole.
She didn't mean what she had said. Frankly she thought it was ridiculous, but she hated being wrong. She knew Venus was right, knew that she was obsessing over Sirius, but it was only to hide the fact that she was still so hurt and confused about Derek. 'Stupid Derek. I hope a Nundu breathes on him!'
Without even realising it, Lily's feet had taken her to the Gamekeeper, Hagrid's, hut. 'My goodness, he's just the person I need to talk to!' She knocked on the door and high-pitched barking could be heard from inside. Hagrid appeared at the door a second later, but only opened it a fraction.
"Oh, 'lo, Lily. How are yeh? Come on in."
"I'm fine, thanks Hagrid," she said slipping through the door, "how are you?"
"Jus' great," he said trying to prevent a small dog from running out the door.
"What's that, Hagrid?" Lily asked, pointing towards the dog.
"This 'ere's Ferfie. 'E's a Crup."
Lily raised an eyebrow. Ferfie looked almost exactly like her Jack Russell terrier at home, Jackie, except its tail was forked. Lily had learned about Crups in Care of Magical Creatures and knew that a permit was required with them and their tails were supposed to be cut off.
"Um… Hagrid? Do you have a license for, er, Ferfie?" she asked, although she feared she already knew the answer.
"Er… No, not exac'ly. Got 'im down at the 'Ogs'ead."
Lily sighed as Hagrid put Ferfie down. Ferfie growled at her, but to her relief, did not attack her.
"So was there summat you wanted to talk abou'?" Hagrid asked as he started some tea and offered her a rock cake.
She started at the cake and thought about everything that had happened – Derek dumping her, people's constant whispers, her struggle with James Potter, her fight with Venus – and she burst into tears. She rehashed her entire week to him and he sat there, sipping his tea and patting her tiny hand with his trash can-sized one.
Once she was done got up, thanked Hagrid for the tea, and left for the castle and for dinner. She knew what she had to do. She would apologize to James and Venus for being such a prat and take it from there. 'Man this is going to be a long night.'
*A/N* Reviewing is so much fun (and inexpensive as well!)! So have a ball a review tons! Thanks a pantload!
