Chapter 5: Dancing
Disclaimer: Anything you don't recognize is mine, the rest as they say is Rowling's
Lily woke up to someone's alarm clock. She briefly wondered how a muggle clock would work at Hogwarts as she rolled over and put her pillow over her head. She heard someone mumble, and a soft thud. Only able to guess what had happened, Lily peeked out from under the pillow. Arabella was trying to sneak up on her bed, behind her was Mercy on the floor grumbling. Lily ducked back under her pillow and waited like a tiger on the hunt. Just when she thought Arabella was right next to her bed did she jump up.
"BOO!" Lily screamed, which caused Arabella to scream and jump a mile high in the air. Lily fell on her bed, laughing like a raging lunatic, as Arabella stalked angrily to the bathroom. Lily climbed out of bed and went to the bathroom door.
"Oh, come on Arabella! You were going to do the same to me!" Lily shouted, hoping her voice would carry over the closed door, and rushing water. Lily stepped back from the door, and started to turn away. The door flung open and suddenly Lily was covered in icy cold water. Lily yelled, loudly and slowly turned around. Arabella was leaning against the door, smiling at Lily.
"Good morning, sleeping beauty! Is it raining out here?" She asked Lily, with a smirk. Lily growled and Arabella took that as a hint and went racing from the room, with Lily hot on her heels. Lily, propelled herself off the stairs, and tackled her. Arabella went down with thud, and Lily fell down after her. Arabella tried to push Lily off of her.
"Lily!" She groaned. "Get off of me! Your crushing me!" Lily laughed and suddenly someone jumped and joined the pile.
"This is fun!" Someone said, and once again more weight was added to the pile. Arabella groaned underneath all the weight and struggled to get out. Lily screamed, nearly blasting the ear off the person on top of her.
"Geez! You don't have to yell." The person continued. Lily recognized it, Sirius.
"Yeah Lily, we just wanted to join in on the fun." Someone on top of Sirius said, and Lily saw James' face appear over Sirius' shoulder. She heard Remus laugh, at them and figured her was sitting on top of it all.
"Arabella, on the count of three push. One, two, three!" And together the two girls managed to push the boys off of them enough to slide out. Arabella stood up, and helped up Lily, who had Sirius clutching her leg.
Arabella then turned to Lily and said. "This is your fault! If you didn't scare me none of this would have happened." She smiled evilly and gave Lily a shove. Lily toppled on to the boys, who all struggled to hold on to her.
"Arabella!" Lily shrieked as her friend disappeared up the stairs. The more Lily struggled against the boys' grip the tighter the hold on her became. Finally she stopped struggling and seemed to give up. The boys loosened their grip as a reflex, and Lily shot out of their hold and up the stairs. she slammed the door shut and leaned against it, panting. She looked around the room, the others were laughing, excluding Francesca and Amanda, who both scowled at them. Lily noticed them and abruptly stopped laughing.
"Well, look at the Killjoys!" She said, sarcastically. Mercy laughed out loud, as Francesca and Amanda looked up sharply.
"A What?" Francesca snapped, glaring at Lily.
"You know a Killjoy? The word kind of speaks for itself." Lily said, giving them an odd look, as she crossed the room to her bed.
"And where, if I may ask, did you get such a word?" Francesca asked, slightly interested in the strange word, though no willing to admit.
"A poem, called The Killjoy by Nosmo King & Ernest Longstaffe in 1937. Though the poem itself doesn't fit, the name sure does." Lily explained as she pointed to a poster by her bed. She'd gotten it at Flourish and Blotts, when told it would show any poem ever written, wizard or muggle. Francesca and Amanda read the poster, their faces slowly changing from curiosity to disgust. They both turned to Lily after they'd finished.
"That was such a stupid poem." Francesca said, snottily. And together, her and Amanda left the room.
"Think what you will." Lily told the closed door, as she changed into her robes.
Mercy, Arabella, and Lily walked down to breakfast together and hurried off to classes with the boys'. The day went by quickly and all too soon it was after dinner and the group had started their homework. Much like the day before, no more then an hour after they had started, the group started to disintegrate. Sirius, James, and Lily went off, this time to go do their detention with Snape. They waked down the hall, chatting happily with each other as they rounded on the trophy room.
Snape was already there, and as unpleasant as usual. He grumbled under his breath as Filch walked into the room. He grinned evilly and set the bucket he was carrying on the floor.
"You four get to clean the trophies, without wands. Here you go." He said, grinning, as he kicked the bucket towards them. Sirius and James stared at Filch as he stumbled out of the room.
"This is insane!" Sirius complained as Lily handed him a brush. James said nothing but picked up a brush and dipped it into the bucket full of vile smelling liquid. Lily smiled to him and brought out a book from under her robes.
"Whoa, Lily, what else do you have hidden under there?" Sirius asked, an eyebrow raised. Lily shot him a look.
"Look, do you want to get this done quicker, or not?" Lily asked, in a hushed voice. That shut him up. James and Sirius moved to look over Lily's shoulder as she flipped through the pages. "Here, we can use this." Lily told them as she pointed to a page.
"Are you sure you can do this? You've only been in school for two days." James said, slightly scared.
"What? Is little Potter scared of magic?" Snape said from the corner he was working in.
"I'd watch out if I were you. If she gets this right, you'll be in here all alone." James told him angrily.
"No I highly doubt that." He said coolly.
"What-" James started but Lily cut him off.
"He's right. If we don't let him go when we go, he'll just go run for Filch." Lily said, not looking up from the book. James groaned, and Sirius patted him on the back, sympathetically.
"All right." Lily said, breaking the deafening silence. "I've got it." Lily took out her wand. "Put the brushes in a pile." The boys did as they were told and Lily added her own. She pointed her wand to the brushes and placed a charm on them. Suddenly they flew from the ground and started cleaning every trophy in the room. Snape ducked when a brush flew right at his head, and cleaned the trophy behind him in a matter of seconds.
"Wow, they're fast." Snape said, transfixed by the flying brushes.
"Yep." Lily said proudly as the brushes finished cleaning. Lily took off the charm and placed the brushes in the bucket.
"Well, we're done." Lily said, as she placed the bucket by the door. "Oh yeah, and don't go telling everyone what I did." Lily told them as she left the room. She quickly zipped back up to the dorm and grabbed her duffel bag and went back down stairs. She left the tower quickly and headed to the room she found yesterday.
She pushed open the door and stepped inside. She placed her bag on the couch and opened it up. She dumped out it's contents. Taking the magical tape player she set it up on the table next to the couch. Then quickly she changed into her other change of clothes from her bag.
Unknown to all her friends, Lily danced. She not only dance but did ballet. She slipped into her leotard and laced up her ballet shoes and turned on the music. Immediately, gentle music filled the room and Lily was transported to another place. She danced, forgetting everything but the moves she was doing now. She danced until the music stopped, at the end of the tape. She moved over to the tape player only to switch the tape over and start the music once again.
She move towards the middle of the floor in one fluid motion. She spun around, hair flying into her face, as she whirled in a few circles. The eerie sound of the haunting music filled the room, along with all of Lily's senses. Her voice mixed with the music, hauntingly, making up words to a song she never knew. All her mind was on her dancing, she didn't notice anything. Until the music abruptly, her song ended and Lily looked around the room as though just waking up from a sleep. She panted as she made her way over to the tape player, she switched the tapes but didn't push play. Instead she went to the refrigerator, and got out a bottle of water. She took a large gulp of it and placed it on next to the tape player. She hit the play button and was once again transported to another place, where nothing matter but the dance. The entire room faded from her view as she twisted and twirled around the room expertly. She was oblivious to the time, and she leapt into the air, with the grace of a deer. She weaved around the room, and flew across the floor with a beautiful grace.
The music came to an end, too soon for Lily's liking, and she once again walked over to the tape player. She happened to glance at her watch and she gave a yelp of surprise. It was all ready ten minutes till nine. Lily grabbed her bottle of water and turned off the tape player. She walked over to the French doors and threw them open. She stood in the cool breeze for a while, until her sweaty body had cooled enough for her to handle. She walked back in, leaving the doors open so she could feel the cool wind. She changed from her dancing clothes into her school clothes and finished her water. She tossed the bottle into the trash can next to the refrigerator, and once again opened the little door. This time she pulled out an apple, which she took a chunk of as she placed her clothes in her bag. She glanced around the room, checking for anything of hers and her eyes fell on the bureau.
She struggled with the mysterious words and quickly wrote them down in her note book. Lily shouldered her bag and left the room, leaving the tape player for tomorrow's practice.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Lily hurried through the halls, praying she would make it in time before anyone caught her out after curfew. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the portrait of the fat lady. She gave her the password and scrambled inside. She saw them talking in the corner, Lily slipped upstairs and into her empty dorm. Lily stashed her bag under her bed and walked into the bathroom, she took a shower. Making sure to make a lot of noise when she heard the dorm door open, and finished quickly. Lily wrapped a towel around her body and opened the door. She walked out of the steam cloud that emitted from the hot bathroom and came face to face with Mercy and Arabella.
"Uh, hey guys." Lily said, nervously tucking a wet strand of hair behind her ear.
"Lily, where have you been? The James and Sirius said you left detention by we didn't see you come up." Mercy said, following Lily as she walked over to her trunk.
"I'm sorry, Mother. I just went for a walk." Lily said sarcastically. Mercy sent her a look.
"No, you didn't." Mercy said, staring Lily in the eyes. Lily glared back at her. Both extremely stubborn girls stood like that, for a few minutes. Until the door burst open and the Marauders entered the room. The took one look at Lily in her towel and went slightly crazy. James and Sirius exchanged a high five and a low whistle in Lily's direction, while Remus went slightly red.
"Hey, Lily." James said, seductively.
"GET OUT!" Lily roared, and the boys scurried out of the room in fear. Lily turned to Mercy and Arabella. "Look if you want to see where I went today then I'll show you tomorrow." Lily said, sighing slightly. She had wanted to show at least one of her friends what she could do and get their opinion about it. Lily pulled out her bed clothes and ducked behind her curtain to change. She emerged a minute later in black shorts and a black shirt that read: Some days you are the pigeon. Some days you are the statue. Mercy took one look at shirt and burst out laughing, along with Arabella. Lily smiled at them and made her way down to the common room. She quickly found the boys in front of the fireplace with a half dozen girls crowded around them.
"Hey guys." Lily said to the boys. "I'm sorry I yelled at you." A few girls sent Lily a glare when she said that.
"Hey, its all right! Its not everyday we see a beautiful girl in a towel." Sirius said smiling. Lily gave him a half-hearted glare and looked around at the group of girls, some glaring angrily at her, Francesca and Amanda with them, and other staring at her with admiration.
"Looks like you guys have all ready required a fan club." Lily observed, James smiled back happily to her. Lily rolled her eyes, and faced the girls. "Don't tell them a lot of crap or else their heads might get too big to make it down the hall way." A few laughed, others just glared. "Hm, tough crowd. See you tomorrow boys." Lily said with a wave. Their echoed 'goodnights' followed her up the stairs and into the dorm. She snuggled under her blanket quickly, to avoid the questions she was sure Mercy would send her way. Lily slowly fell asleep.
~~~~~~~
Lily sat in charms class, nervously twisting her quill in her hand. Though she wanted to show her friends she was afraid that they might laugh at her. Lily flipped through her notebook, fidgety, and came across the strange language she copied from the bureau. She stared long and hard at it, trying to figure out what kind of language it was.
Mercy's face suddenly appeared over her shoulder. "Whatcha looking at?" She whispered. Lily showed her the writing as discretely as she could, while still watching Professor Flitwick. "Cool, Italian!" She said, as she settled back in her seat. Lily looked at her sharply.
"You know Italian?" Lily asked, almost jumping out of her seat.
Mercy blushed and said. "Only a little, my grandmother is Italian and she taught me some before she died." Lily jumped up and hugged her, smiling hugely. Mercy, slightly scared, just stared at her. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah." Lily said sitting back down in her seat. Mercy shook her head and went back to writing her notes. Lily smiled to herself, glad that she had gotten over that particular barrier, now all she had to do was figure out what it meant. Lily spent the rest of the class taking notes with the other students.
The day, slowly wound down and soon they were walking out of their last class. "Hey, guys. I'm going to the library. Anyone want to come." Lily said, as they walked down the hall. James and Sirius looked at Lily like she was crazy.
"Are you kidding? We just spent a whole day going over educational things and you want to go to the library during our free time? You must be crazy." Sirius said, with James nodding along.
"Ok, whatever." Lily told them as they hurried off down the hall.
"Ignore them, we'll go with you." Mercy said. Lily smiled at her and Arabella, and they headed to the library.
"What book did you want to get?" Arabella asked her, as she swung the door open.
Lily looked around the large library and said. "An Italian language book." She walked over to the librarian and asked her about it. Then she followed her directions and searched the aisle. Mercy followed, and started searching the rows of books.
"Here one is." Arabella said, pulling a book of the shelf. She handed it to Lily who took it and took a seat at the nearest table. She flipped through the book for a few minutes, and pulled out her notebook. She spent about five minutes searching through the book and writing down various words. Finally she shut the book, triumphantly.
"What'd you find?" Mercy asked, interrupting her conversation with Arabella.
"Through my doors you can go. I'll take you to rooms that you do know." Lily mumbled.
"You've got to speak up, girl." Arabella said leaning towards her.
"Oh, it just says. Through my doors you can go. I'll take you to rooms that you do know." Lily said, slightly puzzled.
Mercy chuckled. "It rhymes!" Suddenly her stomach growled, and Arabella's answered in return. Lily closed the book, laughing and put it back on the shelf.
"Come on guys, I'm hungry." Mercy said, and they headed to dinner.
~~~~~~
"Lily when are you going to show us?" Mercy asked in a whisper. They were sitting around the table in the common room doing their homework, well, at least Lily was. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were talking to their little fan club and Mercy was constantly bugging Lily. Finally Lily slammed her book shut.
"Fine!" Lily snapped.
Mercy struggled to hide her smile, as she leaned towards Arabella and whispered. "And the squeaky wheel gets the oil." Lily gave her a sarcastic smile before disappearing up the stairs. She returned a second later with her duffel bag and walked over to the table.
"Ready?" Lily asked, the two girls nodded and followed Lily out of the room. They talked about nothing of importance as they made their way up to the room. Mercy and Arabella suddenly grew quiet when Lily opened the door. They stood in awe, staring around the room. Lily walked in and placed her bag on the couch. She turned and started giggling at the two shocked girls' faces.
"Well, this is where I've been hiding out." Lily said as she ushered her two friends into the room. "All right you two can stay here while I get changed." Lily said as she sat them down on the couch.
"Why are you changing?" Mercy asked.
Lily smiled and replied. "You'll see. Oh and if you laugh at me I'll hex you into next week." She grabbed her bag and disappeared into the adjourning bathroom. She changed from her day clothes and into her dancing clothes in record time. She placed her hand on the door and took a deep breath before turning the handle. She ignored Mercy's and Arabella's surprised questions and turned on the tape player.
The music started immediately and Lily was once again transported to another realm, where nothing else mattered except the next move. She spun around the room, speeding up when the music did and slowing down when it did. She leapt, she twirled, she slid to the floor in a series of moves too complicated to explain. She seemed to be dancing as though she didn't realize where she was or who was watching.
As the music continued, Arabella and Mercy stared. Unsure of what to think but was amazed by all the grace Lily held as she danced. The were all startled when the music cut off, signaling the end of the tape. Lily turned to face her two friends, slightly worried about their reactions.
"Wow!" Arabella whispered in awe. Mercy moved her mouth but it seemed not to be working. Lily looked at them.
"You liked it?" She asked them as she walked over to the refrigerator to grab a water.
"Yeah! That was beautiful!" Mercy finally said and she leaned over to grab a soda, she passed one to Arabella before letting Lily close the door. Lily took a gulp of water, panting before taking another. Mercy got up and opened the doors leading out to the balcony.
"You looked like you were hot." Mercy explained, tuning back to her two friends briefly. She looked out across the grounds. "Wow! What a view." She whistled.
The other two came to join her, admiring the view. "Hey, who's that?" Arabella asked, pointing in to the fading darkness.
"I'm not sure, but it looks like an adult and a student." Lily said, squinting to see better. They watched in silence until. "Hey did they just disappear under that tree?" Lily asked.
"Looks like it. That was weird." Mercy murmured, deep in thought. They stood on the balcony for a few minutes before Arabella yawned.
"I'm tired, ready to go?" She asked Mercy and Lily.
Mercy nodded and Lily said. "Yeah, just let me change." And she walked into the bathroom.
"I've been to a ballet recital before but I have never seen such grace and beauty in such a young student." Mercy said, and explained to the very confused Arabella about what a ballet recital was. Lily emerged from the bathroom in time to hear Mercy finish up tell Arabella what a recital was.
"All right. Ready?" Lily asked then, zipping up her bag of clothes. The two girls followed Lily out and down to the Gryffindor tower.
"Umpa Lumpa." Lily told the portrait, and the three scrambled inside. James, Sirius, and Peter were sitting by the fire, with a crowd of second years and the two first years.
"Hey girls!" James called to them, waving them over. The girls at their feet turned to glare at them as they walked over. Mercy laughed and nudged Lily and Arabella, nodding her head in an inconspicuous manner towards the girls. Lily laughed with her and Arabella merely smiled.
"Hey where's the fourth one?" Arabella asked James, as Sirius was busy 'talking' to a second year. Lily looked at him in disgust before picking up a pillow and chucking it at the two snoggers.
"What?! Hey Lily!" He exclaimed, as he threw the pillow back at Lily, and went back to his 'friend'.
James laughed and looked up at the girls. Arabella was staring at him expectantly. "What?" He asked.
"Where's Remus. Normally you all are bound at the hips. Is he more polite and decided to take his girlfriend somewhere where they won't be seen. Unlike some people." Arabella said, pretending to rub her eye while pointing at Sirius.
"No, Professor Dumbledore said his mum was sick and that he was to go home for a few days." James asked, all laughter gone from his face.
"His mum's sick?" Lily asked, worry creeping into her normal cool, collected self.
"Yeah, but Remus said it wasn't bad and that he should be back in a say or two." James explained.
Francesca tugged on James' arm, and he looked down at her. "Did you know that three years ago my dad had a chance to be the Minister of Magic, but he turned it down to help my mom raise me." She said, in a desperate attempt to get James interested in him.
"Thank god he didn't take the job. Otherwise the entire government would be down the drain." Lily snapped at her.
"Why would you say that? My father would be a wonderful Minister." She said in a false confused voice.
"If he raised you and you turned out the way you are, then he shouldn't have been offered to be the Minister. He should be in an insane asylum!" Mercy snapped, getting annoyed with the girl drooling over James feet.
"Lets go." Arabella whispered, pulling the two girls' arms. Lily and Mercy turned and followed Arabella up to the dorm. Lily paused at the stairs and turned back to James.
"Hey James!" She shouted and waited for him to turn to her. "I hope those shoes are water proof!"
James gave her a confused look. "Why?" He asked.
"Because of all the drool dripping on to them!" Lily said, laughing. Mercy clapped her on the back and turned her away form the murderous glares coming form the fan club. Mercy and Lily walked up the stairs, even at the top they could hear James' laughter.
A/N; I thought this was a nice place to stop. As it seems that you guys are getting antsy. Thank you all to those who review. I love you all.: ) (Not in the dirty way!) Soory it took me so long, but as you all know it SUMMER!!! Weee! All right hope you liked the chapter! I'll try to update sooner, but we're starting school on the 25. Grrrrr!!!!
Disclaimer: Anything you don't recognize is mine, the rest as they say is Rowling's
Lily woke up to someone's alarm clock. She briefly wondered how a muggle clock would work at Hogwarts as she rolled over and put her pillow over her head. She heard someone mumble, and a soft thud. Only able to guess what had happened, Lily peeked out from under the pillow. Arabella was trying to sneak up on her bed, behind her was Mercy on the floor grumbling. Lily ducked back under her pillow and waited like a tiger on the hunt. Just when she thought Arabella was right next to her bed did she jump up.
"BOO!" Lily screamed, which caused Arabella to scream and jump a mile high in the air. Lily fell on her bed, laughing like a raging lunatic, as Arabella stalked angrily to the bathroom. Lily climbed out of bed and went to the bathroom door.
"Oh, come on Arabella! You were going to do the same to me!" Lily shouted, hoping her voice would carry over the closed door, and rushing water. Lily stepped back from the door, and started to turn away. The door flung open and suddenly Lily was covered in icy cold water. Lily yelled, loudly and slowly turned around. Arabella was leaning against the door, smiling at Lily.
"Good morning, sleeping beauty! Is it raining out here?" She asked Lily, with a smirk. Lily growled and Arabella took that as a hint and went racing from the room, with Lily hot on her heels. Lily, propelled herself off the stairs, and tackled her. Arabella went down with thud, and Lily fell down after her. Arabella tried to push Lily off of her.
"Lily!" She groaned. "Get off of me! Your crushing me!" Lily laughed and suddenly someone jumped and joined the pile.
"This is fun!" Someone said, and once again more weight was added to the pile. Arabella groaned underneath all the weight and struggled to get out. Lily screamed, nearly blasting the ear off the person on top of her.
"Geez! You don't have to yell." The person continued. Lily recognized it, Sirius.
"Yeah Lily, we just wanted to join in on the fun." Someone on top of Sirius said, and Lily saw James' face appear over Sirius' shoulder. She heard Remus laugh, at them and figured her was sitting on top of it all.
"Arabella, on the count of three push. One, two, three!" And together the two girls managed to push the boys off of them enough to slide out. Arabella stood up, and helped up Lily, who had Sirius clutching her leg.
Arabella then turned to Lily and said. "This is your fault! If you didn't scare me none of this would have happened." She smiled evilly and gave Lily a shove. Lily toppled on to the boys, who all struggled to hold on to her.
"Arabella!" Lily shrieked as her friend disappeared up the stairs. The more Lily struggled against the boys' grip the tighter the hold on her became. Finally she stopped struggling and seemed to give up. The boys loosened their grip as a reflex, and Lily shot out of their hold and up the stairs. she slammed the door shut and leaned against it, panting. She looked around the room, the others were laughing, excluding Francesca and Amanda, who both scowled at them. Lily noticed them and abruptly stopped laughing.
"Well, look at the Killjoys!" She said, sarcastically. Mercy laughed out loud, as Francesca and Amanda looked up sharply.
"A What?" Francesca snapped, glaring at Lily.
"You know a Killjoy? The word kind of speaks for itself." Lily said, giving them an odd look, as she crossed the room to her bed.
"And where, if I may ask, did you get such a word?" Francesca asked, slightly interested in the strange word, though no willing to admit.
"A poem, called The Killjoy by Nosmo King & Ernest Longstaffe in 1937. Though the poem itself doesn't fit, the name sure does." Lily explained as she pointed to a poster by her bed. She'd gotten it at Flourish and Blotts, when told it would show any poem ever written, wizard or muggle. Francesca and Amanda read the poster, their faces slowly changing from curiosity to disgust. They both turned to Lily after they'd finished.
"That was such a stupid poem." Francesca said, snottily. And together, her and Amanda left the room.
"Think what you will." Lily told the closed door, as she changed into her robes.
Mercy, Arabella, and Lily walked down to breakfast together and hurried off to classes with the boys'. The day went by quickly and all too soon it was after dinner and the group had started their homework. Much like the day before, no more then an hour after they had started, the group started to disintegrate. Sirius, James, and Lily went off, this time to go do their detention with Snape. They waked down the hall, chatting happily with each other as they rounded on the trophy room.
Snape was already there, and as unpleasant as usual. He grumbled under his breath as Filch walked into the room. He grinned evilly and set the bucket he was carrying on the floor.
"You four get to clean the trophies, without wands. Here you go." He said, grinning, as he kicked the bucket towards them. Sirius and James stared at Filch as he stumbled out of the room.
"This is insane!" Sirius complained as Lily handed him a brush. James said nothing but picked up a brush and dipped it into the bucket full of vile smelling liquid. Lily smiled to him and brought out a book from under her robes.
"Whoa, Lily, what else do you have hidden under there?" Sirius asked, an eyebrow raised. Lily shot him a look.
"Look, do you want to get this done quicker, or not?" Lily asked, in a hushed voice. That shut him up. James and Sirius moved to look over Lily's shoulder as she flipped through the pages. "Here, we can use this." Lily told them as she pointed to a page.
"Are you sure you can do this? You've only been in school for two days." James said, slightly scared.
"What? Is little Potter scared of magic?" Snape said from the corner he was working in.
"I'd watch out if I were you. If she gets this right, you'll be in here all alone." James told him angrily.
"No I highly doubt that." He said coolly.
"What-" James started but Lily cut him off.
"He's right. If we don't let him go when we go, he'll just go run for Filch." Lily said, not looking up from the book. James groaned, and Sirius patted him on the back, sympathetically.
"All right." Lily said, breaking the deafening silence. "I've got it." Lily took out her wand. "Put the brushes in a pile." The boys did as they were told and Lily added her own. She pointed her wand to the brushes and placed a charm on them. Suddenly they flew from the ground and started cleaning every trophy in the room. Snape ducked when a brush flew right at his head, and cleaned the trophy behind him in a matter of seconds.
"Wow, they're fast." Snape said, transfixed by the flying brushes.
"Yep." Lily said proudly as the brushes finished cleaning. Lily took off the charm and placed the brushes in the bucket.
"Well, we're done." Lily said, as she placed the bucket by the door. "Oh yeah, and don't go telling everyone what I did." Lily told them as she left the room. She quickly zipped back up to the dorm and grabbed her duffel bag and went back down stairs. She left the tower quickly and headed to the room she found yesterday.
She pushed open the door and stepped inside. She placed her bag on the couch and opened it up. She dumped out it's contents. Taking the magical tape player she set it up on the table next to the couch. Then quickly she changed into her other change of clothes from her bag.
Unknown to all her friends, Lily danced. She not only dance but did ballet. She slipped into her leotard and laced up her ballet shoes and turned on the music. Immediately, gentle music filled the room and Lily was transported to another place. She danced, forgetting everything but the moves she was doing now. She danced until the music stopped, at the end of the tape. She moved over to the tape player only to switch the tape over and start the music once again.
She move towards the middle of the floor in one fluid motion. She spun around, hair flying into her face, as she whirled in a few circles. The eerie sound of the haunting music filled the room, along with all of Lily's senses. Her voice mixed with the music, hauntingly, making up words to a song she never knew. All her mind was on her dancing, she didn't notice anything. Until the music abruptly, her song ended and Lily looked around the room as though just waking up from a sleep. She panted as she made her way over to the tape player, she switched the tapes but didn't push play. Instead she went to the refrigerator, and got out a bottle of water. She took a large gulp of it and placed it on next to the tape player. She hit the play button and was once again transported to another place, where nothing matter but the dance. The entire room faded from her view as she twisted and twirled around the room expertly. She was oblivious to the time, and she leapt into the air, with the grace of a deer. She weaved around the room, and flew across the floor with a beautiful grace.
The music came to an end, too soon for Lily's liking, and she once again walked over to the tape player. She happened to glance at her watch and she gave a yelp of surprise. It was all ready ten minutes till nine. Lily grabbed her bottle of water and turned off the tape player. She walked over to the French doors and threw them open. She stood in the cool breeze for a while, until her sweaty body had cooled enough for her to handle. She walked back in, leaving the doors open so she could feel the cool wind. She changed from her dancing clothes into her school clothes and finished her water. She tossed the bottle into the trash can next to the refrigerator, and once again opened the little door. This time she pulled out an apple, which she took a chunk of as she placed her clothes in her bag. She glanced around the room, checking for anything of hers and her eyes fell on the bureau.
She struggled with the mysterious words and quickly wrote them down in her note book. Lily shouldered her bag and left the room, leaving the tape player for tomorrow's practice.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Lily hurried through the halls, praying she would make it in time before anyone caught her out after curfew. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the portrait of the fat lady. She gave her the password and scrambled inside. She saw them talking in the corner, Lily slipped upstairs and into her empty dorm. Lily stashed her bag under her bed and walked into the bathroom, she took a shower. Making sure to make a lot of noise when she heard the dorm door open, and finished quickly. Lily wrapped a towel around her body and opened the door. She walked out of the steam cloud that emitted from the hot bathroom and came face to face with Mercy and Arabella.
"Uh, hey guys." Lily said, nervously tucking a wet strand of hair behind her ear.
"Lily, where have you been? The James and Sirius said you left detention by we didn't see you come up." Mercy said, following Lily as she walked over to her trunk.
"I'm sorry, Mother. I just went for a walk." Lily said sarcastically. Mercy sent her a look.
"No, you didn't." Mercy said, staring Lily in the eyes. Lily glared back at her. Both extremely stubborn girls stood like that, for a few minutes. Until the door burst open and the Marauders entered the room. The took one look at Lily in her towel and went slightly crazy. James and Sirius exchanged a high five and a low whistle in Lily's direction, while Remus went slightly red.
"Hey, Lily." James said, seductively.
"GET OUT!" Lily roared, and the boys scurried out of the room in fear. Lily turned to Mercy and Arabella. "Look if you want to see where I went today then I'll show you tomorrow." Lily said, sighing slightly. She had wanted to show at least one of her friends what she could do and get their opinion about it. Lily pulled out her bed clothes and ducked behind her curtain to change. She emerged a minute later in black shorts and a black shirt that read: Some days you are the pigeon. Some days you are the statue. Mercy took one look at shirt and burst out laughing, along with Arabella. Lily smiled at them and made her way down to the common room. She quickly found the boys in front of the fireplace with a half dozen girls crowded around them.
"Hey guys." Lily said to the boys. "I'm sorry I yelled at you." A few girls sent Lily a glare when she said that.
"Hey, its all right! Its not everyday we see a beautiful girl in a towel." Sirius said smiling. Lily gave him a half-hearted glare and looked around at the group of girls, some glaring angrily at her, Francesca and Amanda with them, and other staring at her with admiration.
"Looks like you guys have all ready required a fan club." Lily observed, James smiled back happily to her. Lily rolled her eyes, and faced the girls. "Don't tell them a lot of crap or else their heads might get too big to make it down the hall way." A few laughed, others just glared. "Hm, tough crowd. See you tomorrow boys." Lily said with a wave. Their echoed 'goodnights' followed her up the stairs and into the dorm. She snuggled under her blanket quickly, to avoid the questions she was sure Mercy would send her way. Lily slowly fell asleep.
~~~~~~~
Lily sat in charms class, nervously twisting her quill in her hand. Though she wanted to show her friends she was afraid that they might laugh at her. Lily flipped through her notebook, fidgety, and came across the strange language she copied from the bureau. She stared long and hard at it, trying to figure out what kind of language it was.
Mercy's face suddenly appeared over her shoulder. "Whatcha looking at?" She whispered. Lily showed her the writing as discretely as she could, while still watching Professor Flitwick. "Cool, Italian!" She said, as she settled back in her seat. Lily looked at her sharply.
"You know Italian?" Lily asked, almost jumping out of her seat.
Mercy blushed and said. "Only a little, my grandmother is Italian and she taught me some before she died." Lily jumped up and hugged her, smiling hugely. Mercy, slightly scared, just stared at her. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah." Lily said sitting back down in her seat. Mercy shook her head and went back to writing her notes. Lily smiled to herself, glad that she had gotten over that particular barrier, now all she had to do was figure out what it meant. Lily spent the rest of the class taking notes with the other students.
The day, slowly wound down and soon they were walking out of their last class. "Hey, guys. I'm going to the library. Anyone want to come." Lily said, as they walked down the hall. James and Sirius looked at Lily like she was crazy.
"Are you kidding? We just spent a whole day going over educational things and you want to go to the library during our free time? You must be crazy." Sirius said, with James nodding along.
"Ok, whatever." Lily told them as they hurried off down the hall.
"Ignore them, we'll go with you." Mercy said. Lily smiled at her and Arabella, and they headed to the library.
"What book did you want to get?" Arabella asked her, as she swung the door open.
Lily looked around the large library and said. "An Italian language book." She walked over to the librarian and asked her about it. Then she followed her directions and searched the aisle. Mercy followed, and started searching the rows of books.
"Here one is." Arabella said, pulling a book of the shelf. She handed it to Lily who took it and took a seat at the nearest table. She flipped through the book for a few minutes, and pulled out her notebook. She spent about five minutes searching through the book and writing down various words. Finally she shut the book, triumphantly.
"What'd you find?" Mercy asked, interrupting her conversation with Arabella.
"Through my doors you can go. I'll take you to rooms that you do know." Lily mumbled.
"You've got to speak up, girl." Arabella said leaning towards her.
"Oh, it just says. Through my doors you can go. I'll take you to rooms that you do know." Lily said, slightly puzzled.
Mercy chuckled. "It rhymes!" Suddenly her stomach growled, and Arabella's answered in return. Lily closed the book, laughing and put it back on the shelf.
"Come on guys, I'm hungry." Mercy said, and they headed to dinner.
~~~~~~
"Lily when are you going to show us?" Mercy asked in a whisper. They were sitting around the table in the common room doing their homework, well, at least Lily was. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were talking to their little fan club and Mercy was constantly bugging Lily. Finally Lily slammed her book shut.
"Fine!" Lily snapped.
Mercy struggled to hide her smile, as she leaned towards Arabella and whispered. "And the squeaky wheel gets the oil." Lily gave her a sarcastic smile before disappearing up the stairs. She returned a second later with her duffel bag and walked over to the table.
"Ready?" Lily asked, the two girls nodded and followed Lily out of the room. They talked about nothing of importance as they made their way up to the room. Mercy and Arabella suddenly grew quiet when Lily opened the door. They stood in awe, staring around the room. Lily walked in and placed her bag on the couch. She turned and started giggling at the two shocked girls' faces.
"Well, this is where I've been hiding out." Lily said as she ushered her two friends into the room. "All right you two can stay here while I get changed." Lily said as she sat them down on the couch.
"Why are you changing?" Mercy asked.
Lily smiled and replied. "You'll see. Oh and if you laugh at me I'll hex you into next week." She grabbed her bag and disappeared into the adjourning bathroom. She changed from her day clothes and into her dancing clothes in record time. She placed her hand on the door and took a deep breath before turning the handle. She ignored Mercy's and Arabella's surprised questions and turned on the tape player.
The music started immediately and Lily was once again transported to another realm, where nothing else mattered except the next move. She spun around the room, speeding up when the music did and slowing down when it did. She leapt, she twirled, she slid to the floor in a series of moves too complicated to explain. She seemed to be dancing as though she didn't realize where she was or who was watching.
As the music continued, Arabella and Mercy stared. Unsure of what to think but was amazed by all the grace Lily held as she danced. The were all startled when the music cut off, signaling the end of the tape. Lily turned to face her two friends, slightly worried about their reactions.
"Wow!" Arabella whispered in awe. Mercy moved her mouth but it seemed not to be working. Lily looked at them.
"You liked it?" She asked them as she walked over to the refrigerator to grab a water.
"Yeah! That was beautiful!" Mercy finally said and she leaned over to grab a soda, she passed one to Arabella before letting Lily close the door. Lily took a gulp of water, panting before taking another. Mercy got up and opened the doors leading out to the balcony.
"You looked like you were hot." Mercy explained, tuning back to her two friends briefly. She looked out across the grounds. "Wow! What a view." She whistled.
The other two came to join her, admiring the view. "Hey, who's that?" Arabella asked, pointing in to the fading darkness.
"I'm not sure, but it looks like an adult and a student." Lily said, squinting to see better. They watched in silence until. "Hey did they just disappear under that tree?" Lily asked.
"Looks like it. That was weird." Mercy murmured, deep in thought. They stood on the balcony for a few minutes before Arabella yawned.
"I'm tired, ready to go?" She asked Mercy and Lily.
Mercy nodded and Lily said. "Yeah, just let me change." And she walked into the bathroom.
"I've been to a ballet recital before but I have never seen such grace and beauty in such a young student." Mercy said, and explained to the very confused Arabella about what a ballet recital was. Lily emerged from the bathroom in time to hear Mercy finish up tell Arabella what a recital was.
"All right. Ready?" Lily asked then, zipping up her bag of clothes. The two girls followed Lily out and down to the Gryffindor tower.
"Umpa Lumpa." Lily told the portrait, and the three scrambled inside. James, Sirius, and Peter were sitting by the fire, with a crowd of second years and the two first years.
"Hey girls!" James called to them, waving them over. The girls at their feet turned to glare at them as they walked over. Mercy laughed and nudged Lily and Arabella, nodding her head in an inconspicuous manner towards the girls. Lily laughed with her and Arabella merely smiled.
"Hey where's the fourth one?" Arabella asked James, as Sirius was busy 'talking' to a second year. Lily looked at him in disgust before picking up a pillow and chucking it at the two snoggers.
"What?! Hey Lily!" He exclaimed, as he threw the pillow back at Lily, and went back to his 'friend'.
James laughed and looked up at the girls. Arabella was staring at him expectantly. "What?" He asked.
"Where's Remus. Normally you all are bound at the hips. Is he more polite and decided to take his girlfriend somewhere where they won't be seen. Unlike some people." Arabella said, pretending to rub her eye while pointing at Sirius.
"No, Professor Dumbledore said his mum was sick and that he was to go home for a few days." James asked, all laughter gone from his face.
"His mum's sick?" Lily asked, worry creeping into her normal cool, collected self.
"Yeah, but Remus said it wasn't bad and that he should be back in a say or two." James explained.
Francesca tugged on James' arm, and he looked down at her. "Did you know that three years ago my dad had a chance to be the Minister of Magic, but he turned it down to help my mom raise me." She said, in a desperate attempt to get James interested in him.
"Thank god he didn't take the job. Otherwise the entire government would be down the drain." Lily snapped at her.
"Why would you say that? My father would be a wonderful Minister." She said in a false confused voice.
"If he raised you and you turned out the way you are, then he shouldn't have been offered to be the Minister. He should be in an insane asylum!" Mercy snapped, getting annoyed with the girl drooling over James feet.
"Lets go." Arabella whispered, pulling the two girls' arms. Lily and Mercy turned and followed Arabella up to the dorm. Lily paused at the stairs and turned back to James.
"Hey James!" She shouted and waited for him to turn to her. "I hope those shoes are water proof!"
James gave her a confused look. "Why?" He asked.
"Because of all the drool dripping on to them!" Lily said, laughing. Mercy clapped her on the back and turned her away form the murderous glares coming form the fan club. Mercy and Lily walked up the stairs, even at the top they could hear James' laughter.
A/N; I thought this was a nice place to stop. As it seems that you guys are getting antsy. Thank you all to those who review. I love you all.: ) (Not in the dirty way!) Soory it took me so long, but as you all know it SUMMER!!! Weee! All right hope you liked the chapter! I'll try to update sooner, but we're starting school on the 25. Grrrrr!!!!