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Just Another Sappy Love Story.

Chapter 5 – The Extremely Cold Joke.


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Disclaimer: Am not J.K. Rowling. Don't sue.

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Summary: Lily and James have a run-in on the Hogwarts Express and become enemies. When Lily does something wrong and her world crumbles, the most surprising person is their to help her rebuild her life. [L/J love-hate]

9 December 2003

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This is the 2nd posting of the chapter, coz the 1st wasn't entirely appropriate. Sorry!

Val: Hmmm, I'll take that as a compliment, so thanks!

Julia: Yes, I realize that I'm rather late on the fanfiction scene, so there will definitely be many other love-hate stories before mine. So, every story will overlap with others by at least a little. But, I really appreciate it, because it wasn't an outright flame, well, you're a considerate reviewer. Thanks!

Lady J.: Thank you! Hopefully another great chapter for you!

Bombshell: Thanks as well! Hmm, you do like Sirius, don't you? I'll try to put something in for you in the future chapters...

Wendelin the unweird: (aka matrix style) Miss Unweird! Welcome back! We've... missed you!

LJstagflower4e: Thank you! You read both my stories! Well, I have a double update here!

Laura: Sorry! But the fluff doesn't come now! But ahh well, there're three Marauders to write about eh?

Hi: Yay! Ok! Their friendship will probably advance quite soon.

Pandas10: Yes, what is the Quidditch Cup if Gryffindor doesn't win?!?!

Indiangurl: Yay! Another person who reads both my stories! Well, here's a double update! And their something more is coming soon!

Crystaldreams611: ^^ Thanks! Ok, a show of my craziness... –JUMPS AROUND SHRIEKING- I'VE GOT YOU HOOKED!!!

ShorTi: Heehee!! Fate lured you here! No, wait, actually, I did. Well, there's a double update of TLTR and this story! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next week, their was a sense of anticipation and nervousness in the air as the fifth years lined up to collect their OWL certificates.

"Oh no! Oh no!" Lily moaned. "I know I'm already not gonna do well!"

Bella shot her a look. "And why's that?"

"Well," she paused for added effect, causing sniggers from her friends. "I think I'm gonna do well, and when you think you're gonna do well, you're bound to do badly, since everything that can go wrong will go wrong. Trust me."

Bella snorted. "Great theory Lils, but you know you're gonna top the whole level again."

"Now, who's gonna top the level again?" A familiar voice asked from behind them.

The four girls turned around to face the four Marauders, with none other than one Sirius Black speaking, an eyebrow raised at them.

"Sirius!" Bella exclaimed, before launching herself at her boyfriend. Sirius caught her and twirled her around for a moment before setting her down on the floor. "Lily is!" Bella said.

"Oh?" Came another voice from Sirius' right. They turned and saw his best friend, James Potter, grinning at them. "Is that so?" He asked very innocently. "I was under the impression that yours truly would be the top student," he said and bowed low before them.

Nikki laughed. "Honestly James, your ego's big enough to fill a year of Trelawnly's predictions!"

"I'm hurt!" James exclaimed, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye.

"Gab!" A new voice yelled out, and the speaker appeared from behind James. Remus Lupin emerged from behind, and he looked around and spotted his girlfriend. "Hey, Gab!" He gave her a small peck on her cheek and intwined his hand with hers.

"Well," Nikki observed. "At least they're more decent. Not like..." she jerked her head towards her brother.

As the certificates were given out house by house, the group got in line behind a bunch of other Gryffindor fifth years, and the queue edged slowly forward.

"Potter," a sneering voice said. "Black. Lupin."

They turned around and saw to the right of them, the Slytherin queue, and right beside them was none other than Lucius Malfoy and his crony, Severus Snape.

"Malfoy," James replied just as coldly. "Snivelly."

Snape coloured slightly, and put on a scowl. "You won't be laughing when your results come out," he said angrily.

"Yea?" James raised an eyebrow in challenge. "We'll just have to see then, will we?"

James, Sirius, Remus and Peter shot identical evil grins in each others' directions.

Nikki shook her head, but her eyes were alight with amusement. "Why do I have the distinct feeling that they're up to something? And that the something they're up to isn't gonna end too well for us..."

Pow...pow...pow…pow...

Four jets of light shot out from somewhere beneath the Marauders robes, their wands obviously hidden within the folds of cloth. The lime green, blue, red and orange jets hit Snape and Malfoy in a rather... sensitive spot, and they doubled up with tears in their eyes. After a while, Snape straightened up, but he appeared to have a distant look in his eyes. And he started muttering under his breath.

"No... you see, 1+1=2, not 4... ok, and umm... ahhh... okay..." A bright gleam suddenly appeared in his eyes as he turned to Malfoy.

"Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
But my dear Lucius,
Will always love YOU! Okay... He'll love me!" Snape chanted monotonously.

Malfoy cast Snape a bewildered look. "What in the bloody blazes are you talking about man? Get yourself together!"

But, he spoke too soon. He jerked upright.

"What is this?" He asked.

"What?" Snape asked, having come to his senses.

"This!"

"WHAT?!"

"Oh fuck," Malfoy said suddenly after remaining quiet for a few minutes. And without further ado, ran from the Great Hall with a look of terror plastered on his face.

While nobody knew what the joke was, the Hall resounded with laughter at the sight of Malfoy running comically out of the Great Hall.

The sound of laughter quickly died out and panicked whispers swept from the front of the Great Hall. A white face, and thin-lipped McGonagall came marching stiffly down the row, and stopped at the place where the disturbance had started out, which was, of course, where the Marauders and Malfoy and Snape were standing.

"Would anyone care to tell me what is going on?" She asked shrilly. She caught sight of the Marauders and turned to them, reeking of disapproval, and it appeared as though she had not yet seen what damage had been done. "Ah, yes, Potter, Black, Lupin and Pettigrew. I should have known. You are already at the end of your fifth year here. Clearly none of you have matured."

At this, Sirius flashed a grin at her. "Aww, Professor! What's the fun of growing up?" He pretended to think about the prospect and shuddered.

McGonagall's nostrils flared and Nikki whispered in an undertone to Lily. "5 Galleons smoke comes out of it."

Unfortunately, McGonagall heard the disturbance, and wheeled around and fixed her beady eye on the four girls. "Ahh, where the Marauders go, you'll always find Evans, Black, Figg and Xu. So, were you in on this nonsense?"

"Oh, no Professor!" Lily said, smiling slightly. "We would never dream of causing trouble."

Beside her, Nikki and Bella stifled giggles.

"That's good," McGonagall said to them. "Let's hope it stays that way. It would be simply disastrous if the four of you were influenced by this bunch over here."

She turned back to the Marauders. "So tell me, what trouble have you four caused now?"

Laughing silently, Sirius said, "Professor, we sure as hell didn't do anything!" He pointed innocently behind her, and when she turned, he muttered under his breath, "well, at least we didn't do anything that left behind some evidence."

"Where is Malfoy?" She asked suddenly.

"He ran," Sirius deadpanned.

McGonagall's nostrils flared. "Are you sure you did not have anything to do with this?"

"Would we, Professor?" James asked innocently.

McGonagall gave him a look, but she turned back to Snape. "Tell Mister Malfoy that he will be serving detention when he comes back. This is an act of blatant disregard for the school. Fancy him running off before receiving his OWL certificate!"

Ignoring Snapes' furious protests that they 'were provoked', McGonagall turned around and walked back to the front of the line. 

"You realize your jokes are getting quite lame?" Lily asked the four boys as soon as McGonagall was out of range.

Sirius nodded. "But that's only because you didn't know what was chasing after Malfoy."

"Well, what was?" Lily asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Actually," Sirius replied, after pausing to think for a while. "I don't have a very clear idea. Ask Prongsie. He was the one in charge of the illusion."

"Well?"

"Oh, it was Snape in old Longbottom's top hat, dress and the swinging handbag," James replied.

"Ok, you guys have to improve on your jokes I tell you," Nikki said after a short silence descended on the group.

Another short silence...

"I really think so too."

*

As expected, they received top honors in the OWLs, each of them getting the required nine OWL distinctions for Auror trainee-ship the following year, with Lily, James, Bella, Sirius and Nikki topping the level with a maximum eleven distinctions and a full-score in basic defense against the Dark Arts.

After that, the last Quidditch match of the season, Slytherin vs Ravenclaw was to determine who the winner of the House Cup and Quidditch Cup was. It was a very close call, for, if Slytherin won, they would take the Cup, but if Ravenclaw won by less than a margin of a hundred, it would go to Gryffindor, and if they won by more than a hundred points, Ravenclaw themselves would claim victory.

And, it was that, which made the atmosphere of the game highly charged, tension levels reaching around those of pre Gryffindor-Slytherin matches.

*

"Please let them win, please let them win!" Remus chanted as he stared wide-eyed over the quidditch pitch as players in blue and bronze, and in sliver and green zoomed the length of the playing field.

The support for Ravenclaw was immense, three-quarters of the school had turned up in blue and bronze, and waved banners and flags about, cheering so loudly that it even drowned out the Slytherins' unsporting hisses. Even Dumbledore, who was not supposed to take sides, sat up in the Top Box and peered downward in unmistakable interest, discreetly wearing robes of dark blue with bronze fastenings, and, as an ultimate sign of support for his ex-house, he had pinned an inconspicuous badge of the Gryffindor lion on the right collar of his robes. He caught Lily's eye and smiled slightly.

"Relax Remmy!" Gab said, but she herself was half hanging over the railings, gripping the rails so tightly that were knuckles were white. "Ravenclaw will win. Ahhh! Come on score!" She shrieked.

"And you ask me to relax?" Remus shouted over the noise. "When you yourself is behaving like a madman?" He grinned at her as she smacked his head. "Ouch!"

"I am a dignified madman," she said, sniffing indignantly at him, yet her eyes were twinkling in amusement.

"Come on!" James and Sirius roared simultaneously. "Kerr! Get your ass to the hoops and score a bloody goal!" They yelled at the Ravenclaw chaser that zoomed past. He turned for a second and flashed the two a thumbs-up sign. Then, he zoomed off, and snatched the quaffle from an opposing chaser, before proceeding to score. "YEAH!" James and Sirius yelled again and pumped their fists into the air. The slapped the Rvaneclaw chaser high-fives as he came zooming past on his victory lap.

And high up in the commentor's box, Peter was going about his job with the usual zeal.

"And! Young has the quaffle! Passes right to Kerr who dodges Nott, the Slytherin chaser and shoots it... SCORE! 50-20 to Ravenclaw. Come on... Keep it up guys! Give those damned Slytherins a mighty wallop. –PETTIGREW!- Sorry Proff! Play resumes, and Slytherin has the quaffle. Avery shoots and he scores."  A collective groan issued from three-quarters of the spectator's stand.

Half an hour later, the score was at 60 - 100 to Slytherin.

"Oh, it's getting hot here. Can Jake Summers (was his name Summers? I kinda forgot!) catch the snitch now? If he can, Ravenclaw still wins this!" Peter yelled excitedly into the microphone.

The sound seemed to freeze up as Jake and Malfoy pulled up, looks of intense concentration on their faces.

"Have they spotted it?" Peter asked. "YES! IT LOOKS LIKE THEY HAVE! THERE, BESIDE THE GRYFFINDOR SUPPORTERS STANDS! GO JAKE! GET YOUR RUDDY ASS DOWN THERE!"

The two Seekers went down into a dive simultaneously, both brooms streaking along so fast that they were a blur of colours. Yet, up above, business went on as usual, the Ravenclaw chasers desperately trying to score more goals, while the Slytherins were resorting to their usual dirty tricks.

Lily looked at them as they came closer and closer and closer to them. "COME ON JAKE!" She yelled out, clutching her face as she watched the two zoom nearer.

And, as suddenly as it, came, it was over. Malfoy seemed the closer one to the snitch, it the triumphant grin on his face was visible. But, something happened, and the snitch danced over to its left. Jake saw the movement, and did not give the chance up. He shot out an arm, and grabbed the snitch, before somersaulting and swerving to avoid crashing into the stands. Malfoy, on the other hand, furious at the outcome, did not watch where he was going. And with a sickening crash, which the whole stadium heard, he rammed into the wall, and tumbled ungracefully down to the floor.

An uproar was starting up in the crowd.

"Oh well, it's over," James said kind of disappointedly, his face echoed by that of Remus' and Sirius'. "Well, at least Ravenclaw won, and not Slytherin."

Up in the box, Peter yelled out the result. "RAVENCLAW WIN THE MATCH 210-100! THEY WIN THE QUIDDITCH CUP!" The school cheered loudly.

But, from amidst the sound, a clear whistled sounded. Madam Hooch zoomed up to the Top Box, and conferred with Dumbledore. He looked quizzically at her, then his face broke out into a bemused smile. Then, he spoke quietly to Peter for a minute, the frown on Peter's face suddenly changed into an  ear-splitting grin.

"What's wrong with him? He's happy Gryffindor lost the quidditch cup?!" James asked Sirius exasperatedly.

But, before Sirius had time to answer, Dumbledore waved his wand and as large magical screen appeared in the middle of the stadium.

"LADIES AND GERMS!" Peter yelled out happily. "DUE TO CERTAIN UNFORSEEN CIRCUMSTANCES, WE WOULD INVITE ALL THOSE PRESENT TO PLEASE LOOK!" And as he finished speaking, the screen came alive with colours.

The quality of the video was superb, and those present were again able to watch the match as though it was happening right at that moment. It showed Malfoy and Jake go into the dive, but in the background, another drama was played out. Avery had seized the quaffle, and was zooming towards the goals, Nott and Hitch on his tail as they performed the HawksHead Attacking Formation. Snape and Terry, as beaters, brought up the flanks and sent players scattering with deadly shots. In front of them, the Ravenclaw Chasers and their beaters were in formation in an inverted V-shape, a move called the HawksHead Defending Formation, and were flying backwards, their eyes on the Slytherins, and waiting for the exact moment to defend.

"NOW!" Kerr roared and the Ravenclaw team shot forward on their brooms. Yet, Nott just as quickly dropped backwards carrying the quaffle with him, and the Slytherin players closed up their ranks to protect him. Avery and Nott zoomed upward, and Hitch dropped down, leaving their beaters to deal with the Ravenclaws. And as they zoomed near the goal, the Ravenclaw keeper came to the topmost hoop and stared determinedly at Nott. But, he smirked at him, and dropped the quaffle to feet down to Hitch, who caught it smoothly, and sailed it past an empty post.

 The screen turned black, and a silent hush settled onto the stadium.

"Well," peter started, breaking the silence. "In light of recent evidence, the score is 210-110 TO RAVENCLAW. BUT, SINCE RAVENCLAW DID NOT MANAGE TO WIN BY A MARGIN OF OVER A HUNDRED POINTS, THE CUP WILL THEREFORE BE AWARDED TO GRYFFINDOR!"

A buzzing gradually erupted into roars and cheers as the Gryffindors yelled out as one.

"THANK YOU SLYTHERIN!" Peter yelled from the box. "THANK YOU! WE ALWAYS KNEW YOU LOVED US!"

*

Later that night, the leaving feast was held.

"Jake! You caught the snitch!" Lily said laughingly as she spotted him.

"Yea I did," he grinned. "But that didn't help us win the Cup eh?"

James and Sirius grinned at him.

He shrugged. "But, oh well, you're happy aren't you?" And he pecked her on the cheek. "I'm gonna join my mates. I assume you're staying here?"

Lily nodded and he gave her a hug before walking away to join the Ravenclaw table.

"So, err, Lily, how's it going?" Nikki asked her.

Lily grinned. "Why ever do you wanna know?"

"Curious," and Nikki flushed a faint red.

Lily stared at her friend, curiosity bubbling through her head. "Nikki? What's wrong? Do you... like Jake?"

"No," Nikki said immediately, but Lily had a distinct feeling that her friend was not meeting her eye on purpose.

(Ahh! The plot thickens.)

Lily shrugged. "Well, if you say so," she said dubiously, and turned to James. "Hey James! Where you going over the summer?"

"Oh, no where much. Just the same. We're going over to Sirius' house for a few weeks, to hang out. And I assume Bella's coming over to..." He coughed indiscreetly and grinned at them. "And, of course, they'll be a barbeque the last day we're staying there, so you and Gab are coming right?"

Nikki looked up at them suddenly, her eyes shining. "Oh! Lily! Since they always come over, this time, we're organizing a girls' outing at my house too! We can all come!" And she sniggered at James.

James pretended to be horrified. "Oh no! What will we do? Our summer... overrun with the likes of you! I shudder at the thought!"

And, he got four smacks for that.

Peter laughed. "Poor Prongs."

*

And the next day, their trunks were packed, and they were assembled in assortment at the Hogsmeade station.

As usual, the eight squeezed into a compartment of their own.

*

Halfway through the train ride, Remus and James was playing a game of EVWC, extremely violent wizards chess, in which they too received the same maltreatment as their chess pieces, Nikki and Sirius were engaged in an exploding snap game, their hair and clothes already slightly singed, Peter and Gab were playing the normal wizards chess, and Lily and Bella were just quietly talking.

A sound of the door clicking open caught all of them.

"Oh goody!" Sirius exclaimed. "The food witch is here!" He waved his wand over himself and Nikki and returned their clothes and hair to its original state.

But, the door opening did not reveal the food trolley.

"Cindy? What you doing here?" Sirius asked in puzzlement. "And is that you? Wendy? Melanie? Kristina? What are all of you doing here?"

The girl in the front, a true blue blond with hair and brains to match fluttered her long eyelashes up at Sirius. "Why, to join you, James, Remus and Peter, what else?" And she giggled as only she could, something which everyone except herself found extremely irritating.

"Oh... errr," Sirius started.

"Why thank you!" And she pushed past him, followed by her entire entourage. "Jame-" The words died on her mouth as she caught sight of who else was in the compartment with them. "Oh, Err, Lily, Nikki, Bella, Gab. How... errr... nice to see you. I didn't realise you would be here!" She answered, and expression of delight on her face, yet her words were as false as my grandmother's teeth, and they were more frosty than even a polar bear would care to enjoy.

Nikki rolled her eyes. "Cut the crap Cindy, and get out."

Cindy glared daggers at her. "I don't take orders from you Black!" She snarled. "I don't hear Siri hear say anything." She turned to Sirius, rasing her eyebrow expectantly and flashing him a bright smile.

When he didn't say anything, she turned to the other three Marauders. "Jamesie? Remmy? Petey?" She called and looked at each one in turn. Remus grimaced as he heard his nickname from Gab roll of her fake lips.

"I've brought Wendy for Jamesie, Mel for Remmy and Khris for Petey. Surely you don't want us to go?"

Bella turned to look at her just as coolly. "So you're here for Sirius eh?"

Cindy smiled and nodded confidently.

Behind her, Sirius snorted. "Cindy get out! You too! All four of you, just get out! If you don't already know, me and Bella are together, and we will be together for a long time yet. I suggest, that if you want me that much, go chat up my brother, he's the one in Slytherin, the one that looks so much like me. Regulus Black? I'm sure you know him," he said lightly.

The shock of hearing that Sirius was taken was soon replaced with coolness. "Ahh... I see that. But surely you won't mind us staying here, since the rest of us..." she trailed of as she watched her friends attempting to chat the respective Marauders up.

Sirius shrugged. "For your information, Remus is also taken. Tell Melanie to get off him, now."

Remus scowled heavily and pulled Gab down beside him, and placing a hand firmly around her slim waist. "Melanie, could you please?" He waited for her to get up, before replying. "Thank you."

"Well, so that leaves James and Peter. Guys?" Sirius asked.

But James was too busy sneezing away. "Tell –achoo- her to –achoo- get out!! I think I'm alergic to her –achoo- damned perfume!" This ended with an extremely loud sneeze, which had Lily and Nikki laughing in fits and James eyes streaming with tears. "-Achoo- Leave me –achoo- alone! Argghh! LILY! –ACHOO- HELP!"

Lily laughed at him, but she waved her wand and James nose stopped running.

"Dank oo!" James replied happily. "Bud I dink by dose's abid sore..." He said, sniffling a bit.

"Pete?" Sirius asked expectantly.

Peter shook his head firmly and stared up at the advancing girl with terrified eyes. "Sirius? Get her away! SIRIUS! I SWEAR SHE'S GOT AN EVIL LOOK IN HER EYES! SIRIUS!!! JAMES!!! REMUS!!!?"

Sirius then turned back to Cindy. "Heard that? No one wants you here."

He looked at them, and moved aside to let them pass. A heavy silence hung in the air, and all eight faces were turned to the four girls, whose faces were gradually becoming the shade of ripe plumes. He raised an eyebrow, an unspoken threat in the air. The four girls could do nothing, but turn around and march out, glaring daggers at the four girls in the compartment.

Sirius peeked outside at the corridor, the many eager faces that had popped out to see the outcome of the meeting quickly withdrew back into their compartments.

"Nosey gits!" Sirius muttered and shut the door, before settling himself back down onto the floor. And a period of silence descended onto the compartment.

"Aah," James said brightly after some time, breaking into the silence. "So, where were we?"

Nikki snapped her fingers. "The barbeque. Lils, Gab, you've absolutely got to come! I swear... It's always good."

Lily nodded. "I'm free. Hell, I would love to get away from Petunia." She looked at Gab, who was nodding.

"Count me in too! Remus, you'll be going, won't you?"

Remus nodded.

"Hey!" Came an indignant yelp. "What about me? Nikki, I'm hurt! Why didn't you invite me?" They turned their head towards Bella, who was the speaker.

Nikki raised her eyebrow. "Do we even need to invite you? I'm sure Sirius already did." And she laughed.

*

The eight reached London just as night started to fall.

"So, I suppose I'll be seeing you guys tomorrow?" Lily asked as they stood at the entrance of the station.

Her friends nodded. "Too bad you couldn't just go straight to James' house eh?"

Lily nodded. And as she started to reply, a voice called out from behind her. "Leeeliii!!!"

She turned around, and was engulfed in a hug by Jake.

"Hey Jake," Lily's voice was muffled as it was covered by his shirt. "Can't... Breathe..."

"Sorry!" He let her go, eyes twinkling. "And, Lily, we'll be meeting up during summer right?"

Lily nodded in affirmation, and said, "owl me the details ok?"

"Ok." He turned to leave. "And, Lily? I'll miss you!" And bounded away to his parents.

Lily turned back to her friends, and as she did, caught sight of Nikki's face. There was a weird expression on those flawless features.

'Hmm... I wonder...' Lily mused as she studied her friend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There! Finally off my shoulders! Well, here is the fifth chapter of Just Another Sappy Love Story! Sorry it took so long! I was busy with my exams, and my other fanfic: Turn Left Turn Right. Hmm, maybe you people could drop by to have a look at it.

Well, this chapter, nothing much did happen, but it's kind of like a build up to subsequent chapters where the plot will start to thicken. Lily and James should get together quite soon, but I don't know when. I roughly have the plot worked out, but it's not very fixed, so I can add things as I go along.

I had a rather difficult time writing this chapter, after coming off a rather long break from writing JASLS. So, this chapter might be rather disjointed at the moment. Hopefully I'll have the sixth chapter out in a jiffy, but I will have to work some stuff out first. But, if any of you want an extremely fluffy read, please ready my other story, as I said before: TLTR.

~cube