Lili: nice to know you like it!
Marauder3Moony: I hope I get far, well I will if i get reviews!!! J
"Barbara Witthaus" : Mb, I know you think yourself enormously hilarious, but did you have to post the same review three times? *grins*
Chapter 3: A disappearing friend
James looked up at Lily for the first time since he'd started his tale, partly to catch his breath and partly to see her reaction. He himself had a rather elusive smile on his face, remembering his own puzzlement of the past. She was wearing a concerned expression and seemed to be wholly occupied with James' rendition of his tragic summer thus far.
"James?" she touched his arm gently. "Are you f-finished?" she asked timidly, as if she was afraid he'd explode at her again. Which, now that he thought about it, was a perfectly legitimate fear.
"No, I'm not quite done." He said serenely with a bashful smile in her direction.
She was a little taken aback, it seemed she'd been bracing herself for another outburst. "Oh."
"Do you have any, er- questions- comments?"
She gave him an appraising look. "Well… yes."
"I'm all ears."
"You were a bit- a bit, well cocky!" she cringed, afraid she'd pushed him too far.
Instead, he smiled serenely again. "I was a bighead, okay? Just say it. You don't have to be so polite. I'm well aware of it."
"Okay…" She was unsure of how to react to this statement.
"I just hope I'm not as much of a bighead now as I was then."
"No, just for saying that, you're most definitely not."
Another listless smile, and he stared out the window. After a few minutes of this, Lily spoke up.
"James? Sorry but, well, its almost time for breakfast."
"Breakfast, eh? Well, then we best go back to bed so everything seems in place. We'll finish this little er- chat tonight?." And he disappeared into the boys' dormitories.
"Okay…" she said meekly, not entirely sure he had heard her, before climbing the stairs to her own dormitories. She wrenched open the bed hangings and fell with a thud onto the bedspread, her head spinning. Potter, the guy she'd always thought, even known to be a bigheaded jerk- had a sensitive, emotional, caring side? What was this? And who else besides her knew of this hidden personality?
"Lily…….! Anybody home? It's time for the break of the fast!" One of Lily's good friends, Lotte Young, was leaning over her, a huge smile firmly in place. "Come on sleepy head! Rise and shine! Especially shine!" she continued on, undeterred by Lily's obvious lack of enthusiasm. "And don't give me this 'I'll rise but I won't shine' stuff! No, no, no!" she finished in a singsong voice, heaving Lily out of bed.
"I want to go back to bed…"
"I'm with Lil on this one, sorry Lott." Came Cee Martinez's voice from across the room, followed in quick succession by a yawn.
"Hmph! You two need to get over this! The term's barely begun! I suggest you get used to it!"
"Does that mean you'll be giving up on us?" asked Cee in a sleepy voice.
"Of course not!" answered Lotte cheerfully, never wavering from her bubbly manner.
Uh huh… Where's Jeanette?" yawned Lily.
"Where do you think she is?" said Cee who was by now donning her school robes, and her sarcasm by no means lost on Lily. Lotte and Lily burst into giggles and cast weary glances at the bathroom door. Lotte checked her watch.
"She should be coming out soon. It's been about an hour and a half." the girls burst into fresh peals of laughter.
"And I need to brush my teeth!" exclaimed Lily in between giggles. Cee strode up to the door and rapped smartly upon it.
"JEANETTE MARIE KING, BY THE ORDER OF PROFESSOR MCGONAGALL, PLEASE REMOVE YOURSELF FROM THE LAVATORY!" Cee said all this in a voice quite similar to their young but stern transfiguration professor. The door flew open, and a very flustered Jeanette emerged, looking wildly about.
"Oh, professor! I-" she stopped and looked from Lily, who had her hand over her mouth to stop from laughing, to Lotte, who was trying very hard to keep a straight face, to Cee's triumphant smirk. Her hands flew to her hips. She sniffed.
"Why must you all torment me so?"
"Oh, Jeanie, we're not tormenting you!" answered Cee, pronouncing it with a J sound as opposed to the French pronunciation.
"Cee! It's Jeanette, not Jeanie. How many times to I have to tell you?" Jeanette flounced off, still rather distressed and pulling herself into her bed, wrenched the bed hangings closed. So she never noticed the tiny smile tugging at Cee's lips. Lily, Lotte and Cee burst into giggle anew. A voice muffled by the bed hangings called out over the din,
"I know why you do it! You're jealous! Jealous of my natural highlights, and because I am a proper young lady!" It might have been even funnier, but Lotte, Lily and Cee played the same trick just about every morning. The funny thing was that 'Jeanette' always fell for it.
"Of course, Jeanie, that's exactly why we do it. You've hit the nail on the head."
Another sniffle, and then she strode down the dormitory staircase presumably to breakfast. "And it's JEANETTE!"
"Nice talking to you, JEANIE!" Cee called after her.
Fainter this time but still audible, came, "JEANETTE! IT'S JEANETTE! I WILL NOT ANSWER TO ANYTHING BUT JEANETTE!"
"Whatever, JEANIE!"
"IT IS JEANETTE! DO YOU NEED IT SPELLED?"
"Yes, that would be lovely." Jeanette missed the sarcasm dripping from Cee's every word.
There was a pause, as if she had to think about how to spell her own name. "J-E-A-N-E-T-T-E!"
"And you just answered twice to Jeanie."
"Hmph!" and Jeanette left the common room, out of shouting distance.
"It's a wonder she's not in Hufflepuff." Commented Lily, as the three girls descended the staircase to the great hall sometime later.
"Lily! That's mean!" said Lotte playfully.
"Well, really. She is the least brave person I've ever met! She's afraid of the dark, for merlin's sake!"
"Hey, no fair. I'm afraid of the dark!" said Cee in a timid voice accompianied by a huge grin.
"Hey, there's Nory! Nory!" They approached a brown haired girl sitting at the Gryffindor table looking rather windblown.
"Quidditch practice?" questioned Lotte sympathetically.
Nory nodded and grinned. "It's worth it though. We've got to beat Slytherin, haven't we?"
"Naturally." Added Cee.
At that moment they were joined by the most infamous troublemakers Hogwarts has ever seen: the marauders.
Unfortunately, they were accompanied by Jeanette, who was practically hanging off Sirius Black's arm.
"Hey Jeanie, smashing to see you." Cee said casually by way of greeting.
"Oh, Cee. Don't worry, I understand why you can't remember my name. It's ok. I realize that some people are slower than others, and I promise not to correct you anymore when it's obvious your brain just can't handle it."
There was a pause, everyone seemed to be trying to figure out if she was being sarcastic or if she actually felt sympathy for Cee, who happened to be the top witch in their year. A moment later the question was answered.
Oh, Cee!" and Jeanette leaned forward and hugged Cee. She broke it off after an awkward moment, in which the audience of this little show were all trying desperately to keep from laughing. Jeanette, as ignorant as she was, didn't notice.
"Really. I mean it. I'd be happy to help you on school work- class work, homework, anything." And Jeanette smiled.
There were a few sniggers from Lotte and Nory's direction, but Jeanette was either ignoring them or she hadn't heard it.
"Oh no! I've got to run! See ya!" Jeanette dashed out of the great hall in the direction of the potions department. As soon as she was out of earshot, everyone let loose their laughter, and Nory laughed so hard, tears were in her eyes.
"That was bloody brilliant! Just bloody brilliant! The girl should be a comedian!" was all Sirius had to say.
"Honestly Sirius, how do you put up with her?" asked Lily, shaking her head.
There was a pause, as Sirius looked from Lily to Cee to James and back to Cee. In that order. His eyes still on Cee, he said, "What do you mean, put up with her?"
"Um- you two are going out?"
"What? Me and Jeanette? No way! We are not together! Where did you get that idea?"
Lily rolled her eyes and she and Cee shared a secret look. "Sure, Black, sure."
*Later*
"You honestly believe Black is crushing on me?"
"Yes! It's a given. Black is just so obvious about it."
"Lily, I just can't believe that."
"Well, you better start believing it! I bet you anything he asks you to the Yule ball."
Cee flipped her long, straight dark brown hair over her shoulder and fixed her liquid black almond shaped eyes on Lily.
"What?"
Cee shook her head and marched off to their next class, transfiguration.
* * *
"Hey, have either of you seen Cee?" asked Lily, panting.
Nory and Lotte looked at each other. "No. Why?"
"Is something wrong Lily? What happened?"
"Nothing. Nothing happened. But where's Cee?"
"I honestly don't know."
Lily ran off down the corridor, in search of her friend. Her mind was racing. She hadn't seen Cee since she'd rounded that corner to transfiguration. But Cee hadn't been present in the class. Where could she have gone? How did she just disappear like that? It was now dinner time, it had been several hours. Was she hurt? Did she need help? The possibilities were endless, and Lily was wrought with worry.
BOOM
Lily collided head on with- "James? Oh, I am so sorry! I wasn't paying attention to where I was going!"
James offered her a listless smile. "I was daydreaming too. Don't feel bad. Though I must say, you do seem to be in a bit of a hurry. Why aren't you down at the great hall eating dinner with the rest of your friends?"
"Why aren't you?" she demanded, forgetting for a moment her worries.
Another dreamy smile. "It need not concern you."
"Then I'm not telling you where I was headed."
"Okay." And he made a move to step around her.
"No. Wait."
"Why?"
"I-I- I could, er use your help."
"In what?"
"Oh, James, I can't find Cee! She's been missing for hours! And I'm worried! What if something happened to her?" Lily broke down, a few tears rolling gently down her cheeks. She looked up into his misty hazel eyes. "Do you know where she is?"
He pulled her back to her feet. "Don't worry. I think I may know where she is." And he set off at a furious pace, Lily following close behind. They walked into the entrance hall, and out to the grounds. The light was fading fast, it was nearly night. He led her around the edge of the lake, to a large boulder and-
"CEE!"
Cee jumped about five feet in the air. "What- James? LILY?" her eyes widened when she spotted Lily.
"Oh, Cee! I was so worried! So this is where you've been."
Cee said nothing and sat back down with her back against the rock, closing her eyes.
"Oh. I'm sorry." Lily backed away, turned on her heel and ran back to the castle. Cee made no move to stop her, instead she sighed. James ran after Lily to the castle.
Author's note: Long post! Whew! Sorry it took so long for it to get up there… you know school starting… homework, studying…. No time for anything but eating, sleeping and….. sleeping!!! Well anyway…
That chapter was just to introduce Lily's friends (especially the enigma that is Cee)… so please review…
As you may remember the next chapter will be about what happened over the summer that changed James so much…
Oh yes and I'm aware this chapter wasn't very good, and I promise future chapters will be better!
Please r/r!