Disclaimer~I don't own anything here that you recognize, but all the other stuff is mine!
DanniBannani~Thanks to all who've reviewed my story! I really really really appreciate all that you've done and how you've helped me all the way to the TENTH CHAPTER!
***To all Americans: HAPPY FOURTH!!!! HAVE FUN EATING FOOD, HAVING BARBECUES, AND WATCHING FIREWORKS!!!!!!***
Now that that's through…
On with the story…
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James woke up, grumpily fuming at the redhead who was the cause of his exhaustion. However his anger was dampened when he noticed the presence of an extra figure in the room.
"Remus!" James cried happily, then turned to a more serious note, "How's your mom doing?"
"Wha-oh! Er..she's doing—" Remus started to reply as Sirius woke up and noticed his friend.
"Remus! How are you buddy? Man! You look like you've been through a lot." Sirius noted looking at the dark bags under Remus' eyes and his pale and sickly appearance. Sirius' gleeful cries, like James', turned to a more somber note, "Is it because of your mom?"
"Yeah," Remus lied. "Speaking of moms, how's yours Sirius?" asked Remus, attempting to change the subject.
"Well…she's still in Mungo's…bitter, as usual. But, I think the hospital made her worse. My dad wrote me telling how ashamed she was to have a Gryffindor in the family." Sirius tried to state this nonchalantly but his voice hinted hurt, " I'm sure I would've gotten a howler if she'd been able to talk. Healers say her voice should be back any moment now."
"Oh…" Remus muttered, mentally scolding himself for bringing up such a sensitive topic. "So, what've I missed?"
"Nothing too exciting. James and Lily hate each other's guts. Lily got James a detention, made him wet the bed, and announced it publicly. Nothing too out of the ordinary."
"How did she make him wet the bed?"
"No clue…not even sure if it wasn't just him wetting the bed on his own."
"WHAT?" James cried, "I DID NOT DO THAT ON MY OWN! IT'S NOT POSSIBLE!"
"Ok, whatever." Sirius stated, infuriating James even more.
"ARGH!" yelled James throwing his pillows and squawking.
"OH! And I forgot to mention James had a fit. He pretty much adopted all of the characteristics of a mad chicken…Look now! He's doing it again!"
~~~***~~~
Everything went smoothly the following days besides the occasional prank of Lily and James, accompanied by their faithful friends. In fact, the whole of school was beginning to believe the two had finally settled down. James and Lily behaved pleasantly in their classes, impressing the teachers with their intelligence and another war began to start-one of academic excellence. James knew Lily's goal was to be top in everything. The only way he could truly anger her was by outdoing her in class. The sole subject he was really succeeding in was Transfiguration, but not by far.
James was beginning to get aggravated at the prospect of only being better than Lily in one course until a notice appeared in the common room announcing that the next week would be dedicated to flying lessons (first years) and quidditch tryouts (second years and above). All afternoon classes would be cancelled and replaced by the new subject for that week only…
"ATTENTION! PAY ATTENTION! ATTENTION IS VERY IMPORTANT IN THE SPORT OF FLYING!" cried Madam Hooch, a woman with graying hair and hawk-like yellow eyes. "Now, go on. Grab a broom everyone. They don't bite."
The Hogwarts first years all rushed to grab their broomsticks and anxiously waited for the next set of directions.
"Place your right hand directly over your broom and when I tell you say 'UP', like so" Madam Hooch demonstrated and her broom shot into her hand, "Now."
There was a chorus of 'UP's. The brooms of James, Sirius, and Remus immediately shot to their hands, along with those of Lucius Malfoy and Evan Rosier, a burly young boy with a squashed in face. The other first years did not receive such obedience from their brooms. Eventually all the students had their brooms in their hands, and to James' delight, Lily was the last to achieve this.
Madam Hooch next informed the first years how to mount their brooms without slipping off and directed, "When I say so, kick off the ground hard, hover a few feet above the ground for a few moments, and then touch back lightly by slightly leaning forward. Everyone understand?"
"Yes Madam Hooch," murmured the class.
"Ok, Kick off! Not so hard Mr. Pettigrew! Okay, good. Keep control class…good. Now lean forward class. And touch back lightly, OOOH! Not so hard Miss Evans. No!" But it was too late, Lily's broom shot forward, heading straight for the ground. With a loud crunch, her broom splintered, along with a few bones in her leg.
"Lily!" cried Arabella, rushing towards her friend. However she was tripped by a laughing James. Arabella slowly turned around to look James in the face. She stood up and inched closer to him, nose inches from his and glared angrily into his mocking eyes. (a/n-nothing romantic, okay guys, NOTHING).
"Looks like Evans is an expert flyer, eh Figg?" James asked, then burst out laughing. Arabella in no way found this act funny and smacked James with all the strength she had. Unfortunately Madam Hooch saw the whole act and barked, "Miss Figg. I never would expect to see such strength from a girl like you; you'd make a fine beater. Nevertheless, violence is not permitted in any Hogwarts class and I am obliged to give you a detention." With that Madam Hooch turned to Remus, "Lupin. Watch over the class while I take Miss Evans to the hospital wing. She's definitely going to need some mending for those bones of hers."
"Yes ma'am."
As soon as Madam Hooch was out of earshot Arabella once again turned to James and venomously spat, "This is not over, Potter."
She marched off as James said, "Ooooh, I'm soooo scared!" in mock fear.
'He should be,' she thought as she gave James the finger.
~~~***~~~
Lily returned to the common room around 11 o'clock that evening. She'd once again suffered from the hospital food and just felt like having a nice rest in her bed. She marched up the stairs and fell on the bed, still fully dressed. A few minutes after, Arabella returned from her detention and did the same.
Both girls awoke the next day exhausted, but they were soon brought down to earth at the breakfast table when a beautiful snowy owl flew into the Great Hall and dropped a 'lovely red envelope' as Lily called it, into Arabella's oatmeal.
"Oh, no." Arabella moaned.
"What is it Bella?" asked Robyn.
"Yeah, what's that?" Lily asked.
"A howler." Arabella and Melanie answered simultaneously.
"Better open it now," advised Peter, who was the only Marauder on speaking terms with the girls, "James sent me one of those as a prank…I ignored it, and it exploded in my face and screamed ten times louder than the second one he sent me, which I opened in time."
"O-ok." With trembling fingers, Arabella opened up the red envelope.
A woman's voice yelled, "CYNTHIA ARABELLA FIGG! HOW DARE YOU CAUSE SUCH VIOLENCE IN YOUR SECOND WEEK OF SCHOOL! IT IS A DISGRACE FOR THE FAMILY TO HAVE TO DEAL WITH SUCH A SHAMEFUL EVENT UNDER THEIR NAME! WHAT WOULD MAKE YOU THINK YOU COULD GO AROUND SMACKING ANY PERSON YOU PLEASE? I THOUGHT I'D TAUGHT YOU BETTER! MAY SHAME BE UPON YOU!" With that the letter ripped itself up into pieces and puffed up into flames, sizzling as it landed in Arabella's cereal.
"Well…it could've been worse…" Melanie said, on a somewhat happier note.
"Sure," Arabella doubtfully stated.
"Hey Bella. I didn't know your name was Cynthia!" Lily cried, successfully getting Arabella's mind off the howler.
"Oh? I never told you? Oh, must have slipped my mind."
"If your name's Cynthia, then why do we call you Arabella?" Robyn asked.
"Because if you call me Cynthia I'll kill you. It's such a boring name. I prefer my mom's name, Arabella. It sounds much more exciting. Don't you agree?" (a/n-that was my meager attempt to make old Miss Figg in the HP series the correct age by making her a mother instead of a schoolmate of James and Lily …understand…sorta??)
"Oh yes! Completely!" agreed Melanie, somewhat shocked at her friend's threat.
"Now that that's cleared up, what am I gonna do with that James Potter? He's the cause of all this."
Lily smiled and turned to her friend, "So I see we're thinking along the same lines?"
"As usual!" Arabella returned the smile.
"But this one has got to be good," said Lily
"It'll have to be great!" chimed in Arabella.
"It'll have to be brutal!" added Melanie.
"It's gonna be very…very…excellent!" finished Robyn.
The four girls then did an elaborate handshake that ended in, "Revenge is our friend!"
~~~***~~~
That revenge did not come until the night of the Halloween feast! The girls had been making preparations for weeks on end and were eagerly waiting for the 'meal of peril' as they called it, MIP for short.
"So girls, think he'll survive the MIP?" asked Lily the night of the feast.
"Hellllllll no!" (a/n-teeny, remember those 10yr olds on ski week-helllll no, hellllll yeah!) yelled Arabella.
"So, what time's the plan going to go into action?" Melanie asked.
Robyn answered "Seven o'clock on the dot!"…
As the girls headed to the feast at half past six their noses welcomed the scrumdiddlyumpcious (a/n-BFG!!!) scent of baking pumpkins. They entered the Great Hall and were glad to find that James Potter was impatiently sitting at the Gryffindor table, chatting with his cronies, and unaware of his fate. The girls marched to the seats by the Marauders to guarantee a good view of the show that was to come. At quarter to seven Dumbledore stood up and made an opening speech that consisted of two words, "tuck in." He then clapped his hands and several tasty dishes appeared on the table. The girls loaded their plates with food, but did not dare eat it. They were too busy anxiously grinning at each other and squirming with apprehension.
When seven o'clock finally came Lily stepped into action. "Wingardium Leviosa," she whispered, unnoticed by everyone except her three friends, who were watching her levitate a pitcher of pumpkin juice over James. With a simple flick of her wand, the pitcher turned over and emptied itself onto James' lap.
He let out a shocked cry, but before he had a chance to figure out what was going on the four girls whispered in unison, "Wingardium Leviosa," and pointed their wands at James. Using their combined forces the girls managed to lift him high up above the eating students in the great hall.
Arabella broke her concentration from James as she yelled, "Look up there! Look at Potter!" She then resumed concentration on the levitation of James. Due to the fact that the entire school was concentrating on the floating James, none of the teachers could tell whom was the cause of his 'flying.'
However, they were sure they heard Lily Evans yell, "What's this Potter? Have you wet your pants—again?" The hall filled with laughter and James' face turned beet red.
"Put me down…who-whoever you are! It's not funny!"
"It isn't?" cried Arabella, "Then why are we all laughing at you?"
"Oh, and like Sirius said, 'I thought you stopped wetting your pants yeeeears ago!'" added Lily. James started to go down slightly, now that only two people were holding him up.
"I-I did! Somebody poured—"
"Pumpkin Juice on you?" Lily finished. "Like anyone would believe that." She then turned to the school and asked, "Do you believe it?"
"Nooooooo." They said, still laughing.
"P-put me down! Pleeease! I'll do anything!" pleaded James
"Anything?" asked Arabella.
"Anything."
"Admit you wet yourself. We know it's true."
"But I didn't!"
"Wrong answer…" Arabella shook her head in mock disappointment. She and Lily resumed their incantations and James rose up higher.
"Fine! I wet myself."
"Are you sure?"
"YES! I BLOODY WET MYSELF!" he yelled causing a shocked silence. However, Lucius Malfoy quickly broke that silence with a roaring laugh and was followed by the rest of the student population.
However they were soon shut up again by the kind, wise voice of Albus Dumbledore, "Misses Evans, Figg, Baker, and Gillette, I do believe that Mr. Potter has had quite enough for one night. If you would so kindly put him down? And then I would like you to meet me after the end of the feast where you will be informed of your punishment."
The girls carefully brought the humiliated James to the ground, who stormed out of the Great Hall once his toes had brushed the floor. Soon after, the hall erupted into a round of applause for the girls' marvelous prank. Unlike the boys, the girls took their praise modestly and merely nodded their heads appreciatively before resuming their meals. After the final plates had been cleared away, the girls stayed behind in the Great Hall where they received their well worth punishment, smiling all the way.
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~DanniBannani~ Due to the fact that it is the TENTH CHAPTER on the FOURTH OF JULY!!!! I would like to thank all of the beautiful people who have reviewed so far!!! I love you guys! You're the best! Reviewers are what keep this train a'chuggin! You guys are the gas of my car…the cone of my ice cream…the milk in my shake…the ketchup of my fries…the TOY OF MY HAPPY MEAL!!! Oh…I think I'm gonna cry…::gets a tissue and blows nose::! Ok…now that that moment is over…I have to go…sit…and do nothing (that's right, no fireworks for me!)…because people in Switzerland don't celebrate American Independence (why the hell not? Lol!) Okay…I have to go!! But THANKS A BUNCHES TO ALL OF YOU!!! **MWA** **MWA** **MWA**!!! I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!! AND PLLLEEEEASE BRING ME TO 50 REVIEWS!!!!