Disclaimer: Please see last chapter if ya really care that much!!!!!!
~*Honorable Mentions*~
ritmornow~ here's more now!! Lol
Evil Bagel~ thanx! Glad ya like that!!
ahem~ thanx! Glad you liked that little joke!! Don't worry, now that we're out of school, I'll be writing a lot more!!
TI2guhER~ glad to hear you like it so much!!!
LilyPrincess~ thanx for reviewing. I'm sorry to say that nothing really HAPPENED to Lily, other than the Marauders that is!
Hey R&Rers. I just wanted to thank all of you guys cause without you, there wouldn't be much point in writing this story, would there?? Well, here ya guys go!
~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~
"I can't believe this!" cried James, as the Marauders made their way down to the Great Hall later that evening. "I mean, I've scrubbed the Potions floor with a toothbrush, polished every award in the trophy cabinets, even cleaned the cages in the Owlry! But I've never had anything like this before!"
"I've gotta hand it to McGonagall. This is one of the most creative punishments since they chained students to the walls by their thumbs." Commented Remus. "I mean, you've had to apologize to your victims before, but you've never been forced to be their personal slave for a week!"
James glowered at Sirius.
"So when do you start?" asked Peter.
"I dunno. Whenever Lily finally wakes up." James looked depressed.
"Oh, come on! Cheer up Prongsie! This could actually be a little fun for you! I mean, you have to do everything she says!" Sirius annunciated his last sentence by nudging James in the side and raising his eyebrows.
The three cracked up at this, while James stood there, completely appalled. "Ughhh, Padfoot! I can't believe you said that! And for your information, McGonagall specified that I could only be told to do things that follow school rules. So that's completely out of the question."
"Well, if it wasn't, you have to admit that it wouldn't be half-bad. Lils is quite, shall we say, easy-on-the-eyes."
James just continued walking, appearing to be indulged in deep thought. It just so happens that what Sirius had just said to tease him, described perfectly what he had been thinking since the incident in Transfiguration. He wasn't sure what it was about her, but now he couldn't stop thinking about her. Like her eyes. He had never seen eyes such a beautiful green color before. They were like sparkling emeralds.
The rest of his friends took is unusual silence to mean they had offended him, and they decided to change the subject to something he'd be more likely to enjoy. So Sirius started off on the Chudley Cannons game the night before (James is a big fan).
~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~
Lily walked through the portrait hole, and into the Gryffindor Common Room. Her head was killing her as a result of Madame Pomfrey going a little heavy on the sleeping draught she had given Lily once she had regained consciousness.
Lily looked around the room, and soon discovered her two friends sitting around a table that they had moved closer to the great roaring fire (although it was only late October, Fall had apparently decided it had been around for long enough, and had moved out of the way to make way for an early Winter).
"Good afternoon, Lily!" I hope you enjoyed you two-day nap!" greeted Jo brightly, as Lily walked over and took a seat, always that much happier once classes were finished for the day.
"I've been asleep for two days!?!" Lily cried, thinking of the piles of make-up work that had undoubtedly accumulated while she was taking her little snooze.
"I'm afraid so." Said Beth pityingly, understanding by the look on her friend's face exactly what was going through her mind.
"Brighten up Lily! Just think of those things you could make that little bugger James do for the next week!" Jo said cheerfully, attempting to cheer her up. Judging by the confused look on Lily's face, however, it didn't seem as if she had any idea as to what she was talking about.
"You haven't heard yet, have you?" asked Beth, surprised.
"Oh, then this will surely put a smile on your face!" began Jo enthusiastically. "For an entire week, starting as soon as McGonagall says, as long as your commands stay within school rules, James Potter must do everything you say!"
Lily sat there, stunned.
"He's practically your slave!" added Beth gleefully.
"Why?" managed Lily after a moment.
"That's what McGonagall gave him as a punishment for his last prank on you!"
Lily's pounding head finally began to comprehend what they were saying. "He has to do everything I say??"
"Yup, as long as your command stays within school rules." Parroted Beth.
A smile slowly spread across Lily's face. This could be fun.
~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~
Good morning Miss Evans, Mr. Potter." Said Professor McGonagall early the next day, before classes had begun. "As you both know, I called you to my office to explain the course of James's punishment for his actions of Monday."
James looked very glum, and slumped in his chair. Lily, on the other hand, looked extremely perky, despite the fact that her and her friends had stayed up half of the night coming up with a list of chores for James to perform.
"James, for the next week, until," she paused to glance at the clock, "eight-o-clock Thursday morning, you must complete every task that she commands you to do, permitting that the task falls within school rules of course. If at any time you are ordered to complete a task that you feel would not be permitted by me, come and I will review the situation. Any questions?"
Lily shook her head energetically, eager to start. James, on the other hand, muttered a miserable "no".
"Alright then, head on to your classes."
The two exited her office. Once outside, Lily turned to James, and handed him her bag.
"What are you doing?!" asked James, irritated.
"Giving you my books to carry for me." Said Lily, matter-of-factly.
"But I'm already carrying my own! You can't expect me to carry around both of our bags all day!"
"Wanna bet?" was her reply.
James glared at her, but slung the bags strap over his shoulder.
"Good boy!" she said, and rewarded him with a pat on the head. "Now, come on! Or we'll be late for Potions."
The two marched into the class with Lily happily leading, and James trailing glumly behind. He began to make his way to the empty seat his friends had saved for him, but with a wag of her finger, Lily made him come and join her at the girls' table. James received few questioning glances at this, however, as most already knew of his enslavement to Miss Evans.
The class began, and Professor Botolph announced that they would be making an advanced sleeping draught that day. The class was greatly upset at this, for most had realized by now that the more 'advanced' the potions became, the more disgusting the ingredients were.
Botolph told the class the incredibly boring, yet brief, history of the potion, before passing out the ingredients. They consisted of three newt eyes, wolf's bane, munkwood, flesh-eating slugs, armadillo bile, and wormwood.
The girls wrinkled their noses as each of their own repulsive ingredients was deposited at their table. Even James couldn't help to raise an eyebrow at the disgusting display.
"You are to slice the slugs, grind the munkwood and wormwood, juice the newt eyes, and combine it all together in a mixture of the wolf's bane and armadillo bile."
With that, the Professor left the appalled students to their repulsive work.
"And I thought the last potion was bad!" commented Jo, eyeing the components that lay before her.
"Did that just move!?" asked Beth, pointing towards one of the slugs, shocked.
"No worries guys, this time it's not our problem." Said Lily evilly, turning towards James.
"What?? No! No way! It's bad enough that I have to deal with these once! I'm not touching them three more!" he waved his hand dramatically, knocking an eye onto the floor.
"Ohhhh, yes you are!!" she returned.
"Fine! I'll take care of yours, but not theirs!" he motioned towards Beth and Jo.
"I don't think so! You're taking care of all of ours! That is unless you want to go have a nice little chat with McGonagall over it. I'm sure she'd love to double your sentence for you!" she answered slyly.
James scowled, but began slicing Lily's slugs. The sooner this week was over, the better, and it would probably go by a lot faster if he gave up trying to fight it.
Lily smiled, satisfied by the sweet feeling that came along with revenge.
The class continued on rather uneventfully, that is until Frank's cauldron boiled over as a result of too much munkwood, and swelled his hands. He yelped in pain, and Professor Botolph was forced to escort him up to the Hospital Wing, for none of the students wanted to go anywhere near him, for fear of accidentally touching the boils that had appeared, and therefore cause them to spread onto their own body.
Of course, the Slytherins, who shared this class with the Gryffindors, found all of this to be incredibly humorous. Once Botolph had left the room, Lucius, who had been struggling to contain his laughter up to this point, burst into a huge fit on the floor, and was quickly joined by the rest of the 5th year Slytherin population.
"Did you see his face?!" cried Malfoy between laughs. "I've never seen someone make such a git of himself! A monkey could learn every bit of magic that he has these last 5 years in a week! It's no surprise though, him being the mudblood that he is!"
"That's enough, Malfoy!" declared James, standing up for his fellow Gryffindor.
"And just what are you going to do about it, Potter?" asked Snape, muttering James's name as if it was a curse.
"What has Frank ever done to you?" asked Remus, joining his friend.
"Come to this school, that's what! Him and the rest of those dirty mudbloods should stay home with their slimy muggle parents!"
"You're one to talk about being slimy, Malfoy!" returned Sirius, taking his place at his friends' side.
"Besides, Sandra Lawrence is head girl this year, and John Reid is the Captain of the Ravenclaw quidditch team!" added Remus.
"Yeah, there are plenty of muggle-born students here who are already twice the wizard you could ever be!" said James.
"Of course you would say that, being so fond of them!" Lucias made a point of looking at Lily while saying this.
Though he was not sure why, this comment about Lily's parentage made James extremely angry. "Shut your trap Malfoy! Or I'll shut it for you!!"
"Ooo, I'm soooo scared! The great James Potter is threatening me!!" mocked Lucias, receiving another round of laughs from his supporters.
James couldn't think of a verbal reply to this, so he decided to simply lunge at Malfoy instead.
They fell to the floor, and James, undoubtedly being the stronger of the two, quickly gained the upper-hand.
He was giving Lucias a good beating, when Lily intervened.
"James! Stop it! Stop it right now!" she cried, tugging at his arm.
"You heard what he said about you and the rest of the muggle-borns!" grunted James, before returning to his prey.
"James!! I order you to stop!" she commanded, continuing to tug on his arm.
James dropped Malfoy and turned around to face Lily. "Why? Why should I stop?! I've listened to him and the rest of his sick friends talk trash for the last five years, and I can't take it any more!!"
"He's not worth it!" James may not have listened to a simple reply like this, if it had not been for here eyes. They looked searchingly in to his own, pleading him to listen to her.
"You're right." He said quietly, wiping away a bit of blood that was running from a cut on his lip.
Crabbe and Goyle helped Malfoy to his feet. Despite his rather injured condition, Lucias still managed a witty remark at James's relent.
"Yes, James, you wouldn't want to upset your little mud-blood girlfriend!"
James would have lunged at Malfoy once more, had it not been for Professor Botolph's return at that moment.
Botolph quickly dismissed the class, as it had already run late, and the students headed off to their common rooms to socialize for a few minutes before lunch.
Lily forgot about her authority over James, and grabbed her own bags and rushed off with her friends, wanting to get as far away from the scene as possible.
She was surprised at James's reaction to Malfoy's words. Lily had always been under the impression that she was merely a test subject for newly invented pranks. So why did he stand up for her like that?
Lily was brought back to the realm of reality as a strong hand was placed on her shoulder.
She started, and turned around to see who it was and was surprised to find James standing there.
"Are you okay Lily?" he asked, his concern showing in his deep brown eyes.
"Yeah……..I'm fine. Why do you ask?"
"I don't know, you just looked a little shaken up back in Potions. You even forgot to give me your books!" he said with a smile.
Lily laughed, but then grew solemn. "I don't know. I try not to let what they say bother me, I tell myself they're just a bunch of spoiled, ignorant jerks, but it still hurts."
"Then why didn't you let me fight him?" James asked, bewildered.
"Because you would have easily given him a beating."
This only managed to confuse James more.
"Look, James, if I had let you fight him, I would have allowed you to drop down to his level. All him and his friends do is pick on those who are younger, smaller, and weaker than them. And that's why I've given up too. I mean, if I wanted to, I could easily defeat him when it came to a battle of wit and tongues. Heck, half of my vocabulary undoubtedly consists of words that he's never even heard before, let alone ones that he actually knows the meaning of. But he's just not worth it."
Lily looked James in the face as she finished her small speech. He was looking down at her with a look she had never seen before. It was a mixture of admiration and final comprehension.
"I think I'm finally beginning to understand you, Lily." He said quietly.
This struck her as a rather odd remark, but she wasn't given a chance to question him about it because at that moment Beth and Jo came looking for her, ready to go on down to lunch.
Lily smiled at James before heading down to the Great Hall, leaving him to find and join the rest of the Marauders.
~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~
"Soooo…..you and James seemed to be getting awfully close lately. " commented Jo, raising her eyebrows suggestively as the trio walked back from lunch.
"What are you talking about??" cried Lily.
"It is true." Persisted Beth.
"Ohhhh, please!!! You guys are completely blowing this out of proportion! We've only been hanging out together because he's my fricken slave for a week!" Of course we're going to be around each other more!!" insisted Lily defensively.
"Sure, you have to be each other more, but you don't have to enjoy each other's company!" continued Jo. "You smile more around him in a minute than you normally do in a week!"
"Why don't you guys listen to me?!? I DON'T LIKE JAMES POTTER!!!!!!" Lily yelled the last part out of frustration, and in the process startled several first years.
Beth and Jo looked at each other and said in unison "She likes him!"
Lily made an exasperated sigh. She had to admit that she had been spending a lot of time with James lately, and she had enjoyed most of it too. What was she thinking?? This was James Potter after all. He's the self-centered ego-maniac who has done nothing but drive her crazy with his childish pranks for the past five years. Lily decided at that moment, despite how charming James had been earlier that morning, she was going to treat him like the jerk he was, and milk as much out of his punishment as possible.
~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~
"So James, you seem to be taking this punishment rather well." Commented Sirius as they also made their way back from lunch a little bit later.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well…. you spent every minute after you found out about your punishment moanin' and groanin', but now that you're actually serving it, you seem to be enjoying it!" concluded Remus.
"Now where the heck did you get that idea?" James asked crossly, putting up his defenses.
"Please James! I've known you for twelve years! Ever since Transfiguration on Monday, you perk up when ever you hear Lily's name, and beam like it's your birthday every time you're around her!" said Sirius.
"I don't know what you guys are talking about!" insisted James.
"Well then I guess I know you better than you know yourself!"
'That's a scary thought,' said James to himself. "What are you saying?" he said aloud.
"Are you really that ignorant?!" asked Remus, disbelievingly. "Even Peter has noticed it!!"
Peter nodded vigorously, looking very much like one of those bobble-head baseball players.
"Noticed what?!?"
The three boys answered together, practically yelling at James. "YOU LIKE HER!!!!!!!!!!"
This startled the same first years once more, and many began to fear the day when their own hormones began to kick in.
~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~*o0O0o*~
Hey guys, I just wanted to tell ya that I'm still open to title ideas, but I might end up not needing them because of the twist I might make in the story line. Anyway, I hope u enjoyed, and don't forget to R&R!!!
