Disclaimer- Nothing you recognize is ours.
Authors Note- Okay, back to BlondieChild's writing! Okay, so many of you in your reviews alerted us that Lily indeed was in Gryffindor, but you know what? That's too bad. We're changing it. We think it's original. So enjoy, if you will.
Chapter Three
Lily stared at the cloak in her hands for a moment, her brain not really registering what it was. But then a sly grin crept onto her face and she whirled around to see Christina. She was standing there, whimpering, fingering what was left of her hair delicately.
"You go on to the hospital wing, you don't need my help to find it," Lily said flatly, wadding the cloak up and stuffing it under her robes, making a rather unnatural bulge in her side.
"What? But Professor Zimmermann said you had to escort me.."
"Yeah, well I don't care. Don't you dare tell the Professor that I didn't escort you, you hear?" Lily asked roughly, glaring at the girl with her sharp, commanding green eyes. Christina quivered and nodded, turning and racing down the hallway in the other direction.
Lily turned and stared in the direction that James had just gone. He had just dropped an invisibility cloak. An invisibility cloak! What was he doing with one of those? And him, especially? He was just a pathetic Gryffindor. He shouldn't have need for it. Ah, well, she shouldn't have to fret herself over that. Though she thoroughly enjoyed nosing into other people's business, she decided to let the subject drop and just enjoy what she had just taken captive.
Yes, she had an invisibility cloak hidden under her shirt! Reaching up, she pulled it out and let the liquid-like material run through her fingers, and she smiled again.
Lily draped the cloak over her head and immediately a pang of excitement rushed through her veins. She was free! There she was, standing in the hallway near her classroom, and no one could see her. She could go anywhere; sneak into any class, eavesdrop on any conversation, and no one would know that she was there. It was such an incredible feeling, and she began walking slowly, tiptoeing across the floors.
Just then, there was a loud bang and Lily sprang back towards the wall, eyes wide, looking through the material. The door to her classroom swung open and Professor Zimmermann marched out, her gray hair in disarray.
"Where is that girl?" she hissed. Lily knew she was talking about her. "It doesn't take that long to go to the Hospital Wing!" Lily sighed silently, sliding against the wall as the Professor entered again into her classroom. Her freedom seeped out of her as though a leech was sucking it slowly out. She would have to wait until another time to use the invisibility cloak. And who knows what she might use it for? Pulling it off, she wadded it again underneath her, sliding it around her stomach so that it looked relatively normal. She opened the door and marched into the room, walking straight to her seat, not looking at the Professor.
"Evans? Why did it take you so long?" Professor Zimmermann asked her, peering through her spectacles. Lily seated herself down and looked up at the old woman.
"I stayed in the Hospital Wing for a few moments, Professor, just to make sure that Christina was all right," she lied, plastering a polite smile onto her face. The old woman sighed and nodded, waving her hand.
"Yes, yes, all right. Evans- copy the notes from Avery there, she has them all," she said, turning her back onto the class and beginning to drone on. Lily turned to Claire and Kate.
"Where'd you go, if you didn't go to the Hospital Wing?" Claire asked in a low voice, handing Lily her piece of parchment. Lily tried not to laugh; Kate and Claire always knew when she was lying. They could see right through her, and perhaps that's why she liked having them as friends so much.
"Tell you later," she whispered back, smiling despite herself. Ah, what a victory. She now had control of the entire Hogwarts if she wanted to. She was surprised that James had something of such power and importance. Where on earth had he gotten it?
~*~*~*~*~
"I wonder, do you think I would look good as a blonde?" Kate asked that night, as she stood in front of her full-length mirror, her hair piled on top of her head. Lily laughed and Claire shook her head.
"Certainly not, Sinistra," Claire said. It was strange- she often called people by their last names, just to annoy them. But luckily, she only did it very rarely. Perhaps, the other times, she just forgot. If she did do it all the time though, Lily would have to disown her as a friend or something. "You look just fine the way you are." Kate turned around and grinned her huge grin, and Lily laughed. It was nine o'clock, and dinner had ended a while ago. The girls had just finished doing their homework in the common room and had retreated to their dorm.
"Did I show you guys what I picked up on the floor today when I bumped into James?" Claire shook her head and Kate let her hair fall back to her shoulders, running over.
"No, what?" she asked excitedly. Lily reached into her chest, where she had thrown it after their class, and pulled it out.
"An invisibility cloak," she said slowly. The two girls gasped, Claire squealing with excitement.
"Omigosh! Did James have it or something?"
"Yeah," Lily said, draping it over her legs. Her lap completely disappeared, and Claire shrieked with surprise.
"Shut up, Avery!" Kate snapped, and Claire scowled. "What are you going to do with it?" At this, Lily smirked, pulling the cloak off, slowly fingering it.
"I'm going to use it as blackmail, of course," she said smoothly, grinning wickedly. Claire's eyes widened.
"Ooh, how, Lily?" Lily rolled her eyes before answering.
"Easy. I'm going to somehow send Potter a note, to meet me up at the Astronomy tower or something at midnight tomorrow night. I'll say that I have something that he'll want. This cloak is special to him, he freaked out when he saw that he had lost it this afternoon." She paused, trying not to laugh. "So, I guess I'll just..emerge from the shadows and try to get some info out of him," was all she said. Kate raised her eyebrows.
"What good will that do?"
"It won't do any good, Kate, it'll just be fun!" she snapped, and Kate drew back, shrugging. "Can we come?" Claire asked timidly.
"No. Just me, I'm going to do this. I'll tell you guys all about it later, but it's just me who's going," she said flatly. Claire frowned and began to twiddle with a strand of hair with her finger, Kate sighed and rolled off the bed.
"Well, Lily, have fun. I expect you'll be sending him an owl to his table tomorrow morning?" Kate asked, turning around to face them. Lily raised her eyebrows, looking very pensive, and then nodded, grinning.
"Yes, that's perfect, Kate. In fact, I'll go up to the owlery right now," she stated, getting up and going towards the door.
"In the cloak though, right?" Claire asked, rather stupidly. Kate made a sound of annoyance; she had been hoping to snatch it while Lily was gone and roam around for a while, but Claire had to ruin the possibility. Lily turned back around and grabbed it.
"Yes, in the cloak. Thanks, Avery." And with that, she darted out the door and down the stairs into the common room.
~*~*~*~*~
"It's gone," James hissed at Sirius that night at dinner. Sirius Black, James' best friend in the entire world, raised his head, taking another big gulp of pumpkin juice.
"What's gone?" he asked, dishing out some more potatoes onto his plate. James, looking terribly distraught, ran a hand absentmindedly through his messy black hair.
"The cloak, Sirius! The cloak is gone!" Sirius dropped his fork with a clatter, then looked around hurriedly to see if anyone had noticed. Everyone was still deeply occupied with their food.
"It's gone?" he gasped, brown eyes widening. James nodded. "But...how? Did you lose it?"
"I don't know," James said lowly. Just then, their other best friend Remus Lupin entered the Great Hall, saw them, and made his way over. He was pale, shaky and looked ill, as he usually did, after or before the full moon.
"Hey, guys," he said, forcing a smile, seating himself next to James. Then, seeing their faces, he raised his eyebrows. "Who died?" he asked jokingly. Neither James nor Sirius smiled.
"My cloak is gone," James said in an undertone. At first, Remus didn't really understand, but then his eyes widened and he stared at James.
"Did you lose it?"
"That's just what Sirius said," James said. "No, I don't think I lose it. I think that today...you see, I guess I bumped into someone. I didn't really see who it was, though, which was really annoying, and I don't really remember if I just left it there or if the person I bumped into took it..I certainly hope not, that would be awful." His face fell and he stared blankly at his food. Both Sirius and Remus just sat there, silent, until finally Remus spoke.
"But that means that...tomorrow night, you can't sneak out-"
"I know, Remus!" James snapped. He was speaking, of course, about Remus' monthly transformations into a werewolf, and sometimes, Sirius and James escorted him out to the Whomping Willow under the protection of the invisibility cloak, but now, Remus would have to go alone.
"Well, I guess we'll just have to wait until it shows up...maybe Dumbledore will find it or something. You know how things like that happen, Dumbledore'll just show up with it, smiling and his eyes twinkling all mysteriously," Sirius said softly. James sighed and nodded.
"Yeah, whatever, we'll just wait. Maybe something'll happen. God, I sure as hell hope so," he murmured, turning his face back to his food and beginning to eat some more pork.
~*~*~*~*~
The next morning at breakfast, James was feeling a little better, though rather guilty, seeing as he and Sirius couldn't go out with Remus the night before. Now, everyone just assumed that Remus was ill again. It was easy to believe; Remus had always been thin and pale, with bags under his eyes and looking as though he never got enough sleep. So, James doubted anyone suspected anything. Or so he hoped.
The owl post came in as usual, with the many types of owls swooping in through the huge windows, flying low when they saw their owner to drop a letter or parcel. James didn't really expect anything, neither did Sirius, so they didn't even look up. However, very suddenly, a simple brown barn owl landed directly in front of James. Yelling, James jerked his head up in surprise, staring at it. It flapped its wings impatiently, holding out its leg. James recognized it as a school owl, and pulled off the letter.
"Who's it from?" Sirius asked, stuffing some bacon into his mouth. James shrugged and unraveled the parchment, and read it aloud.
James Potter, I believe I have something that you are currently sorely missing, and I believe you want it back. To re-obtain your property, meet me at midnight tonight in the East Astronomy Tower. Come alone, as will I. You may bring your wand, but you will be in no danger.
"It's not signed," James said, staring at it, rereading it. Sirius put his elbows on the table, raising his eyebrows.
"Who would send a letter like that? Dumbledore, do 'ya think?" James shook his head and pocketed the parchment.
"No, if it was Dumbledore, he would just send it to my room or something. He wouldn't ask me to meet me somewhere, that's just weird." Sirius nodded and looked around. To his left sat Richard Longbottom, a rather 4th year who was rather clumsy, though Herbology and Charms were his good points. He was talking to some pretty girl who had long blonde hair and was fluttering her eyelashes flirtatiously. James rolled his eyes and grabbed his bag.
"Well, I think we should be off to Charms. Remember to take extra good notes so we can give them to Remus when he-erm, in the hospital wing when we go meet him there. You know he hates it when we don't do our schoolwork." Sirius nodded and they stood to go. Immediately, two sisters named Cheryl and Julie Jacobs rushed behind them, giggling. James hated them more than anything, but Sirius thought they were rather funny. Cheryl had an awfully obvious crush on James and Julie had one on Sirius.
"Yeah," Sirius said, trying not to laugh at the girls trailing behind them. "Off to Charms." And off they walked through the halls, James with mounting curiosity about this mysterious person who had his cloak and why on earth they would want to meet in secret.
~*~*~*~*~
Authors Note- Sorry for the long chapter, folks, but at least that's not a cliffie. Unless you consider it one. I don't think it's one. But, ah, well, leave a review, and we'll be forever in your debt. Thanks!! ~BlondieChild, who wrote this chapter.
Authors Note- Okay, back to BlondieChild's writing! Okay, so many of you in your reviews alerted us that Lily indeed was in Gryffindor, but you know what? That's too bad. We're changing it. We think it's original. So enjoy, if you will.
Chapter Three
Lily stared at the cloak in her hands for a moment, her brain not really registering what it was. But then a sly grin crept onto her face and she whirled around to see Christina. She was standing there, whimpering, fingering what was left of her hair delicately.
"You go on to the hospital wing, you don't need my help to find it," Lily said flatly, wadding the cloak up and stuffing it under her robes, making a rather unnatural bulge in her side.
"What? But Professor Zimmermann said you had to escort me.."
"Yeah, well I don't care. Don't you dare tell the Professor that I didn't escort you, you hear?" Lily asked roughly, glaring at the girl with her sharp, commanding green eyes. Christina quivered and nodded, turning and racing down the hallway in the other direction.
Lily turned and stared in the direction that James had just gone. He had just dropped an invisibility cloak. An invisibility cloak! What was he doing with one of those? And him, especially? He was just a pathetic Gryffindor. He shouldn't have need for it. Ah, well, she shouldn't have to fret herself over that. Though she thoroughly enjoyed nosing into other people's business, she decided to let the subject drop and just enjoy what she had just taken captive.
Yes, she had an invisibility cloak hidden under her shirt! Reaching up, she pulled it out and let the liquid-like material run through her fingers, and she smiled again.
Lily draped the cloak over her head and immediately a pang of excitement rushed through her veins. She was free! There she was, standing in the hallway near her classroom, and no one could see her. She could go anywhere; sneak into any class, eavesdrop on any conversation, and no one would know that she was there. It was such an incredible feeling, and she began walking slowly, tiptoeing across the floors.
Just then, there was a loud bang and Lily sprang back towards the wall, eyes wide, looking through the material. The door to her classroom swung open and Professor Zimmermann marched out, her gray hair in disarray.
"Where is that girl?" she hissed. Lily knew she was talking about her. "It doesn't take that long to go to the Hospital Wing!" Lily sighed silently, sliding against the wall as the Professor entered again into her classroom. Her freedom seeped out of her as though a leech was sucking it slowly out. She would have to wait until another time to use the invisibility cloak. And who knows what she might use it for? Pulling it off, she wadded it again underneath her, sliding it around her stomach so that it looked relatively normal. She opened the door and marched into the room, walking straight to her seat, not looking at the Professor.
"Evans? Why did it take you so long?" Professor Zimmermann asked her, peering through her spectacles. Lily seated herself down and looked up at the old woman.
"I stayed in the Hospital Wing for a few moments, Professor, just to make sure that Christina was all right," she lied, plastering a polite smile onto her face. The old woman sighed and nodded, waving her hand.
"Yes, yes, all right. Evans- copy the notes from Avery there, she has them all," she said, turning her back onto the class and beginning to drone on. Lily turned to Claire and Kate.
"Where'd you go, if you didn't go to the Hospital Wing?" Claire asked in a low voice, handing Lily her piece of parchment. Lily tried not to laugh; Kate and Claire always knew when she was lying. They could see right through her, and perhaps that's why she liked having them as friends so much.
"Tell you later," she whispered back, smiling despite herself. Ah, what a victory. She now had control of the entire Hogwarts if she wanted to. She was surprised that James had something of such power and importance. Where on earth had he gotten it?
~*~*~*~*~
"I wonder, do you think I would look good as a blonde?" Kate asked that night, as she stood in front of her full-length mirror, her hair piled on top of her head. Lily laughed and Claire shook her head.
"Certainly not, Sinistra," Claire said. It was strange- she often called people by their last names, just to annoy them. But luckily, she only did it very rarely. Perhaps, the other times, she just forgot. If she did do it all the time though, Lily would have to disown her as a friend or something. "You look just fine the way you are." Kate turned around and grinned her huge grin, and Lily laughed. It was nine o'clock, and dinner had ended a while ago. The girls had just finished doing their homework in the common room and had retreated to their dorm.
"Did I show you guys what I picked up on the floor today when I bumped into James?" Claire shook her head and Kate let her hair fall back to her shoulders, running over.
"No, what?" she asked excitedly. Lily reached into her chest, where she had thrown it after their class, and pulled it out.
"An invisibility cloak," she said slowly. The two girls gasped, Claire squealing with excitement.
"Omigosh! Did James have it or something?"
"Yeah," Lily said, draping it over her legs. Her lap completely disappeared, and Claire shrieked with surprise.
"Shut up, Avery!" Kate snapped, and Claire scowled. "What are you going to do with it?" At this, Lily smirked, pulling the cloak off, slowly fingering it.
"I'm going to use it as blackmail, of course," she said smoothly, grinning wickedly. Claire's eyes widened.
"Ooh, how, Lily?" Lily rolled her eyes before answering.
"Easy. I'm going to somehow send Potter a note, to meet me up at the Astronomy tower or something at midnight tomorrow night. I'll say that I have something that he'll want. This cloak is special to him, he freaked out when he saw that he had lost it this afternoon." She paused, trying not to laugh. "So, I guess I'll just..emerge from the shadows and try to get some info out of him," was all she said. Kate raised her eyebrows.
"What good will that do?"
"It won't do any good, Kate, it'll just be fun!" she snapped, and Kate drew back, shrugging. "Can we come?" Claire asked timidly.
"No. Just me, I'm going to do this. I'll tell you guys all about it later, but it's just me who's going," she said flatly. Claire frowned and began to twiddle with a strand of hair with her finger, Kate sighed and rolled off the bed.
"Well, Lily, have fun. I expect you'll be sending him an owl to his table tomorrow morning?" Kate asked, turning around to face them. Lily raised her eyebrows, looking very pensive, and then nodded, grinning.
"Yes, that's perfect, Kate. In fact, I'll go up to the owlery right now," she stated, getting up and going towards the door.
"In the cloak though, right?" Claire asked, rather stupidly. Kate made a sound of annoyance; she had been hoping to snatch it while Lily was gone and roam around for a while, but Claire had to ruin the possibility. Lily turned back around and grabbed it.
"Yes, in the cloak. Thanks, Avery." And with that, she darted out the door and down the stairs into the common room.
~*~*~*~*~
"It's gone," James hissed at Sirius that night at dinner. Sirius Black, James' best friend in the entire world, raised his head, taking another big gulp of pumpkin juice.
"What's gone?" he asked, dishing out some more potatoes onto his plate. James, looking terribly distraught, ran a hand absentmindedly through his messy black hair.
"The cloak, Sirius! The cloak is gone!" Sirius dropped his fork with a clatter, then looked around hurriedly to see if anyone had noticed. Everyone was still deeply occupied with their food.
"It's gone?" he gasped, brown eyes widening. James nodded. "But...how? Did you lose it?"
"I don't know," James said lowly. Just then, their other best friend Remus Lupin entered the Great Hall, saw them, and made his way over. He was pale, shaky and looked ill, as he usually did, after or before the full moon.
"Hey, guys," he said, forcing a smile, seating himself next to James. Then, seeing their faces, he raised his eyebrows. "Who died?" he asked jokingly. Neither James nor Sirius smiled.
"My cloak is gone," James said in an undertone. At first, Remus didn't really understand, but then his eyes widened and he stared at James.
"Did you lose it?"
"That's just what Sirius said," James said. "No, I don't think I lose it. I think that today...you see, I guess I bumped into someone. I didn't really see who it was, though, which was really annoying, and I don't really remember if I just left it there or if the person I bumped into took it..I certainly hope not, that would be awful." His face fell and he stared blankly at his food. Both Sirius and Remus just sat there, silent, until finally Remus spoke.
"But that means that...tomorrow night, you can't sneak out-"
"I know, Remus!" James snapped. He was speaking, of course, about Remus' monthly transformations into a werewolf, and sometimes, Sirius and James escorted him out to the Whomping Willow under the protection of the invisibility cloak, but now, Remus would have to go alone.
"Well, I guess we'll just have to wait until it shows up...maybe Dumbledore will find it or something. You know how things like that happen, Dumbledore'll just show up with it, smiling and his eyes twinkling all mysteriously," Sirius said softly. James sighed and nodded.
"Yeah, whatever, we'll just wait. Maybe something'll happen. God, I sure as hell hope so," he murmured, turning his face back to his food and beginning to eat some more pork.
~*~*~*~*~
The next morning at breakfast, James was feeling a little better, though rather guilty, seeing as he and Sirius couldn't go out with Remus the night before. Now, everyone just assumed that Remus was ill again. It was easy to believe; Remus had always been thin and pale, with bags under his eyes and looking as though he never got enough sleep. So, James doubted anyone suspected anything. Or so he hoped.
The owl post came in as usual, with the many types of owls swooping in through the huge windows, flying low when they saw their owner to drop a letter or parcel. James didn't really expect anything, neither did Sirius, so they didn't even look up. However, very suddenly, a simple brown barn owl landed directly in front of James. Yelling, James jerked his head up in surprise, staring at it. It flapped its wings impatiently, holding out its leg. James recognized it as a school owl, and pulled off the letter.
"Who's it from?" Sirius asked, stuffing some bacon into his mouth. James shrugged and unraveled the parchment, and read it aloud.
James Potter, I believe I have something that you are currently sorely missing, and I believe you want it back. To re-obtain your property, meet me at midnight tonight in the East Astronomy Tower. Come alone, as will I. You may bring your wand, but you will be in no danger.
"It's not signed," James said, staring at it, rereading it. Sirius put his elbows on the table, raising his eyebrows.
"Who would send a letter like that? Dumbledore, do 'ya think?" James shook his head and pocketed the parchment.
"No, if it was Dumbledore, he would just send it to my room or something. He wouldn't ask me to meet me somewhere, that's just weird." Sirius nodded and looked around. To his left sat Richard Longbottom, a rather 4th year who was rather clumsy, though Herbology and Charms were his good points. He was talking to some pretty girl who had long blonde hair and was fluttering her eyelashes flirtatiously. James rolled his eyes and grabbed his bag.
"Well, I think we should be off to Charms. Remember to take extra good notes so we can give them to Remus when he-erm, in the hospital wing when we go meet him there. You know he hates it when we don't do our schoolwork." Sirius nodded and they stood to go. Immediately, two sisters named Cheryl and Julie Jacobs rushed behind them, giggling. James hated them more than anything, but Sirius thought they were rather funny. Cheryl had an awfully obvious crush on James and Julie had one on Sirius.
"Yeah," Sirius said, trying not to laugh at the girls trailing behind them. "Off to Charms." And off they walked through the halls, James with mounting curiosity about this mysterious person who had his cloak and why on earth they would want to meet in secret.
~*~*~*~*~
Authors Note- Sorry for the long chapter, folks, but at least that's not a cliffie. Unless you consider it one. I don't think it's one. But, ah, well, leave a review, and we'll be forever in your debt. Thanks!! ~BlondieChild, who wrote this chapter.