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A/N: Didn't expect a response that fast… ^^* Well, I'm quite happy with how this chapter turned out… I tried to be a bit more original and creative with the major events to be happening in the school year. Tell me what you think!
Disclaimer: JK Rowling is God. ^_^ All unrecognizable characters belong to me.
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Chapter Two: In Which James has a New Nickname
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Lily sat at the back of the room, half-listening to the Head Boy, Amos Diggory, give a soliloquy on the lack of quills and parchment available in the castle. What I wouldn't give for a piece of parchment right now… I need something to throw at Diggory's swelled head, after all! she thought venomously. She gave a nearly-audible sigh of relief when the Head Girl, a Gryffindor named Felicienne Watson, interrupted him and changed the topic to a much more interesting one, regarding the dress code policy and its lack of followers.
There seems to be a lot of things lacking in this castle recently, Lily mused, fiddling with her magical ball-point pen, as that is all we seem to be talking about in these stupid prefect meetings. Meanwhile, I have to spend an hour in the same room as That Prat. She shot "That Prat" a glare out of the corner of her eye. How That Prat ever got to be a prefect, Lily would never know. In fact, at that very moment, he was folding a piece of parchment into a very elaborate origami broomstick, and was most likely contemplating on how he would make it fly. Mind you, it's not as if you're paying much more attention, she thought, and then quickly berated herself for even daring to mentally lower herself to That Prat's level.
"So it's settled, then," Felicienne was saying, a beaming smile fixed on her face. Lily forced herself to pay attention. "We'll draw names from a hat, and whoever's names are chosen will be in charge of the New Year's event!" Lily's mind drew a blank. What were they talking about? What New Year's event?
With a wave of her wand, Felicienne conjured up a hat, which held multiple slips of white parchment— twenty-four slips, one for each prefect from each house for each year after fifth. The prefects were silent as Felicienne drew out a slip of parchment and unfolded it.
"First on the committee," Felicienne said, pausing for effect, "is James Potter of Gryffindor!" There was a round of cheering, mostly from the girls. Lily noticed that they all looked especially keen to be chosen now that That Prat was on the committee. Lily rolled her eyes.
"Next," Felicienne read out, blinking in surprise, "is me!" She shook her head, amazed by the sheer dumb-luck, and drew another name. "Cosima Starr, Ravenclaw!" There were squeals of envy as Cosima dimpled sweetly. "Justin Cruz, Gryffindor!" Justin, a prefect only a year older then Lily, exchanged a high-five with That Prat. Kelly had a crush on him, Lily knew, but then again, Kelly had a crush on everyone. Felicienne drew the last name and smiled, looking around the room.
"Last on the committee, Lily Evans, Gryffindor." As when Cosima's name was read, there were squeals, but these were squeals of outrage and astonishment.
"Her!"
"Evans?"
"Didn't she get Tagged yesterday?"
"Yeah, she's the Marauders' current Target!"
"Now, now, simmer!" Felicienne said, bringing the gossip at bay. "Uh, this meeting is adjourned, the next one TBA! Bye, now!" Lily, however, did not feel like being adjourned. Lily was furious, and showed this by stomping to the front of the room while everyone else was busy packing up to get out and tell their friends the juiciest piece of new gossip.
"Feli!" she hissed, slamming her palms down on the desk where Felicienne was putting away her books. Felicienne gave Lily what was supposed to be a winning smile, but turned out to be more of a grimace.
"Hi, Lily!" she chirped.
"Don't you 'hi Lily' me, Felicienne Crescentia Watson!" Lily said. "I have the sneaking suspicion that you set that up!"
"Lily, how— and why— would I ever do something like that?" Felicienne said. Lily had met Feli Watson in her first year at Hogwarts, Feli's third. They had become fast friends, Feli being somewhat like a sister to Lily. Since Lily knew Feli quite well, she did not fall for the older girl's innocent act.
"Don't ask me why, you're the criminal mastermind around here!" Lily raged in a whisper, trying not to capture the attention of the gossip-hungry Hufflepuffs as they passed by. "And as to how you did it… hello? You're the Head Girl! You're the best witch Hogwarts currently has to offer!"
"Why thank you for the compliment, Lily! But I really must be going now, I have a whole bunch of homework in— um, Charms!" Feli excused herself before fleeing the room. Lily stomped after her.
"Professor Flitwick didn't give anyone homework today!" she called after Feli, who seemed not to have heard.
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Kelly and Kevin exchanged looks as Lily ranted. Neither was really paying her much attention, as trying to decipher her insane ramblings would give them a headache the size of Antarctica. They were instead intent on reading each other's mind, which was not that difficult as their twin-ny state of being already gave them an advantage.
"—And then she had the nerve to say that she had Charms homework when I know perfectly well that Professor Flit— you're not listening to me!"
"Duh," the twins chorused, not looking away from each other. It was decidedly freaky, in Lily's opinion.
"You guys are really scary sometimes, you know that?"
"Sure, Lily."
"Again with the simultaneous responses!"
"Shut up, Lily."
"Hello? Does the gravity of this situation not reach you? As of tonight at seven, I will be forced to remain in the same room as That Prat for an indefinite amount of time!"
"Only until you can agree on something," Kelly said, finally speaking by herself.
"But then we have to plan it all out and all come out satisfied. Not very likely to happen, or haven't you noticed, we can't agree on anything?"
"You agree that you hate each other," said Charlotte, making Lily jump.
"Don't do that!" Lily squeaked. Charlotte raised an eyebrow.
"Do… what?"
"Sneak up behind me!"
"Ah. Sorry. Well?"
"Well what?"
"Well, don't you agree with me that you and James agree that you hate each other?" Charlotte asked, plopping down onto the couch opposite Lily. Lily paused, staring at Charlotte like the other girl had grown an extra head. Then, she narrowed her eyes and leaned back into the couch, folding her arms and pouting like a three-year-old deprived of her favorite toy.
"Shut up."
Charlotte gave a triumphant smile and exchanged high fives with Kelly and Kevin.
~*~
Seven o'clock came all-too-quickly. Lily met Cosima in the halls on the way to the meeting.
"Hi Cosima!" Lily chirped. Cosima had always been a friendly acquaintance to Lily. They had been partners for a Charms project once and gotten full credit.
Cosima didn't speak to Lily, but sent her an apologetic glance.
Lily slowed and stared for a second, hurt. Then she snapped herself out of it. Of course, Cosima would ignore Lily— Cosima Starr was one of the most popular people in Hogwarts, a pureblood heiress. She had a reputation to keep up, a reputation that would suffer if she acknowledged Lily's existence.
Lily was starting to get really annoyed by this whole Tagging business. Just as she was pondering this, a hand grabbed her shoulder and pushed her aside.
"Oops, sorry Evans, didn't see you there!" That Prat gave her an evil smirk and jogged up beside Cosima, placing his arm around her waist as he talked with her.
Lecherous asshole, Lily thought venomously.
The five students on the committee met in the Prefects' Office, a cozy room off the Transfiguration corridor. They seated themselves around the room: That Prat immediately collapsed into the choice spot (a pile of extremely comfortable pillows) Cosima daintily perched on an armchair nearby, Justin slumped over a chair that he had turned around backwards, Feli stood confidently within speaking distance of all of them, and Lily leaned against a wall as far away from That Prat as she possibly could while still being able to hear the goings-on.
"Well," Feli said, as soon as all were settled, "I assume you all know why we're here, but I'm still going to repeat it. We're hear to discuss the school-wide event that will be held on New Year's Eve, until at least midnight."
"Nothing for Christmas?" asked Cosima, slightly surprised.
"Nah, the Christmas event was getting old. We've done it every year, at least since I started my first year. We need something new, something fresh… any ideas?"
"Ooh! A talent show!" Cosima cried at once. It was a well-known fact that Cosima had one of the best singing voices in school. "We could award the winner at midnight!"
"No way!" Justin said, rolling his eyes. "A feast with a party! Old-school and somewhat Muggle-ish, but very happening."
"Uh-uh! Talent show!" Cosima argued, standing up and pouting angrily.
"Party!"
"Talent show!"
"Party!"
"Talen—"
"Carnival," said That Prat, interrupting the argument. "A carnival with caramel apples, and those games like they have at those Muggle amuso-thingies ("Amusement parks," Feli offered), and that big circle-thing that spins around slowly so that you can see everything from the top— a Fairy Wheel?"
"That's a Ferris Wheel, James," Feli supplied again. "I think we should have a masquerade ball, and have everyone unmask at midnight…" At this point the four erupted into a chaotic argument, each trying to get their points across and to make the others choose their idea. Lily stood off to the side, annoyed at her fellow committee members' unwavering stubbornness.
Suddenly, an idea sparked in her mind. An idea that could possibly appease everyone and let her have a good time even if she was still Tagged by New Year's. A smile broke out on her face, as suddenly as the idea sparked in her mind.
The smile did not go unnoticed.
"What's on your mind, Lily?" Feli asked. The argument stopped short, the room silent. Lily swallowed and began to speak.
"How about we combine them all together?" The others gave her looks that ranged from surprised to dubious. "No, listen! Everyone is in costume the entire day, no one knows who is who. We have breakfast and the talent show in the morning, and the winner of the talent show is chosen by number, to be announced after midnight. After the talent show, we have the carnival, which will go until dinner, when we have the feast and party, which can be combined with the ball. At midnight, everyone unmasks, and you know who you've been talking with and enjoying yourself with for the entire day. In effect, you meet and get to know new people!"
There was silence, which seemed to be occurring a lot where Lily was concerned.
"I hate to admit it, Evans," That Prat said, after a few seconds, "but that is a great idea."
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Reviewers' Corner:
Fieryangel: That's sort of the point… it's based on HYD and it's live-action counterpart, Meteor Garden.
firered: That's a bad thing? ^_~
f4luvers: No, I haven't actually seen HYD or MG… that's why this story is only based on it, as opposed to following it exactly… I wish I could see it, though, and if I win this one contest I'm entering and get the money, I'm going to buy the whole HYD series. ^_^
leapinglizards83: Thank you! Though it's not really original, especially if you've seen HYD. And thanks for putting my on your favorites. ^^ I'm flattered!
JamesStinks: Sorry, James probably won't stay that way for the entire series… but keep reading won't you? ;_; Don't worry, sooner or later most of the evil bitches will come to their senses. Except for Deschênes, of course, because Lily needs an adversary.
Demoness Mark: Yay! Another one who put me on their favorites! ^o^ Don't worry, the Marauders will be punished. ::evil grin::
KawaiinessPnay: ^___^ Anata wa genki desu! Doomo!
BipolarGirl: Thanks, love your name, by the way, it reminds me of my friend Chelsea. ^_^
Maj: ^_^ Glad you think so. Girl's gotta stand up for herself, you know!
no a member: Well, sign up to be a member, then! ;-P Thanks much for the review! :-D
Jazlyn: Yes ma'am! I'll do my best!
aneri: They're just unobservent, aren't they? ^o^