Disclaimer~ I do not own anything that the author JK Rowling has created. Anything here that's unrecognizable under her, or any other's, name belongs to me.
~Hello all! Right now I'm on vaca in the states….but I got a chance to write in my free time! Thanks to the reviewers of the last chapter (all three of you!). lol. Well…I hope you guys'll like this new chapter…some may, and some may not. Well, I hope you enjoy, and now
On with the fic…
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Lily sat on her bed in a huff, wondering what ever made her make such a pitiable selection of friends. She'd pushed herself away from not only Arabella, but also Melanie and Robyn because they had immediately jumped to the side of Figg and not her.
"Why does everyone have to be so stupid these days?" thought Lily.
"Why does Lily have to be so stupid these days?" asked an outraged Arabella. "I mean, we befriended James. Big WHOOP!"
"Yeah, I know what you mean," agreed Melanie, "It's not like we're all swooning over him or one of his best friends."
Arabella suddenly burst into a loud coughing fit and clutched her throat, saying, "Oh, my! I dunno where that came from. Please, excuse my loud interruption."
"Alright…" started Robyn, turning back to her potions essay on the effect of shriveled newts on sleeping drafts. She stared at the blank parchment in front of her before shrieking, "Oh, bloody hell! I can't take doing another potions essay without Lily doing half of it first! Why don't we just march upstairs, beg Lily for forgiveness, ditch the boys, and be happy?"
"Or why don't you just go ask Remus? He's the next-best to Lily in potions," smartly commented Arabella.
"BECAUSE—," Robyn roared, "Because…er…beca—oh fine! I'll go over to Remus! Okay?"
"That's fine, Robyn," calmly stated Melanie.
"FINE!" Robyn yelled, picking up her books from the table where she had been seated and marching over to the fireside where Remus was stretched on the ground, watching the dancing flames.
Melanie stared at Robyn's retreating form before turning to Arabella and cautiously saying, "Y'know Bella…she's got a point. Why don't we just go and apologize and get back to being friends with Lils again?" She watched as Arabella's face reddened, then blanched and reddened again, "WITH compromise," she finished.
"And what would be the compromise?" prodded Arabella.
"We get to keep the boys."
"Yippee!" cried Arabella, "But that'll never work."
"You're right…"
"Unless we make it impossible for her not to forgive us."
"And how would we do that?"
"Three words: Get. Lucius. Malfoy."
"Aaaaah! Me Like!" grunted Melanie in a scarily troll-like tone.
"Mel?"
"What?"
"Never do that voice again,"
"Yoo meen dis vun?" she asked, again using the voice.
"Yeah."
"Aaaargh. But me like voice," said 'Troll Mel.'
"But I don't," growled Arabella through clenched teeth.
"Aaargh!" cried Melanie before pouncing on Arabella, fingers outstretched like claws. Arabella let out an earsplitting shriek before struggling to escape the evil monster, known as Mel.
"Somebody save me!" she cried, "Melanie's brain's been swapped with a trolls'!"
"Aarrgh!" grunted Melanie, 'clawing' at Arabella's back.
"Saaaaaaaaaaave Meeeeeeeee!"
"Did I hear the cry of a damsel in distress?" boomed the voice of Sirius Black. "Why yes, I believe I did. Come, faithful stallion!" Sirius then jumped on the back of Peter Pettigrew, kicking his heels into Peter's pudgy side and yelling, "Yah!"
Peter obediently galloped across the room to the scene of the 'attack' where Sirius jumped off his back and pulled the screaming Arabella out of reach of the evil Melanie.
"I have saved her!" yelled Sirius in victory before collapsing in the chair behind him. Arabella turned to Sirius, beaming.
"Oh thank you dear knight! You are most wondrous!" she cried before throwing her arms around an unsuspecting Sirius. She pulled back a bit and pecked him on the lips so quickly, neither was sure if she'd really done anything at all.
Before anyone had a chance to say a word, Arabella bounded up the stairs and out of the common room, face red and tears brimming, leaving a wide-eyed Sirius to gently put his hand to his lips where Arabella's had been for the slightest instant, oblivious to the hoots and hollers of his fellow Gryffindor. (a/n-Awwww a widdle bit of puppy wuv!)
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Lily screwed up her face as she heard the door handle to her dorm twist and the door bang open. She looked up into the face of the last person she wanted to see, Arabella Figg. However, she noticed something was terribly wrong with the girl she had once called her friend. Arabella's normally vibrant blue eyes were wide, red, and watery; her usually bouncy blonde curls seemed unusually limp; and her typically flushed cheeks were a ghostly white.
"What's wrong with you?" asked Lily in what she'd hoped would be an unconcerned tone, but came off sounding like the tone of a worried friend.
Arabella tried to look completely composed, but when she burst into tears there was little she could do to hide her feelings.
Though she wasn't supposed to care about Arabella, Lily couldn't help feeling a bit guilty for not doing anything for the weeping girl. She tried listening to her head which was telling her to ignore the silly girl but found her feet taking her towards Arabella's shaking form.
"Oh, Bella. What's the matter?" asked Lily in a soothing tone.
"Everything!" Arabella croaked between sobs.
"Oh, come on. It can't be that bad."
"I kissed Sirius, on the lips."
"Oh, Merlin. It can be that bad."
Arabella laughed miserably at her friend's response. "I told you so."
"And I should've believed you."
"I can't bear to look at him ever again!"
"Oh, sure you can."
"You didn't see his face, did you?"
"Well…"
"You didn't see how wide his eyes were…or…or…the look on his face!"
"And for all you know he could be jumping for joy right now," Lily tried at a more positive angle.
"I doubt that. Seriously. Oh, gosh. Sirius Lee," groaned Arabella. "What am I gonna do?"
"I'll tell you what you're gonna do. You're gonna come with Mel, Robs, and I to the kitchen where we'll have a huge veg fest and vent 'till we can't vent no more!"
Arabella smiled a watery smile before squeaking, "Thanks Lils. You're a star."
"No, I've been a lousy friend."
"And so have I."
"Sorry," they said in unison.
"Friends?" asked Lily.
"Oh, of course!" replied Arabella, giving Lily a friendly hug before bursting into tears once more.
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Meanwhile, Sirius was dazedly mounting the stairs, wondering what he had done to scare Arabella away. Was he that bad a kisser? He was positive that was what it was.
As he entered the room, a sullen look on his face, his best friend, James, looked up and asked, "Alright, mate. Who stole your string cheese?"
"What? Oh."
"You can tell me these things." James prodded (a/n-I know…a little sensitive…)
"Bella just kissed me—"
"That's great!"
"—and then she ran away crying. I must be a terrible kisser."
"Now, you don't know that for sure!"
"Yeah? And why not?" asked Sirius.
"Well, first off, how long did the kiss last?" asked James in the voice of an expert though he'd never been kissed before.
"Err…a second."
"Then there wasn't enough time for it to be horrible!"
"Really?" Sirius asked, his brown eyes lighting up joyously.
" 'Course."
"Ah, thanks." Sirius' smile soon faded, "Then tell me, James, why did she run away?"
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The following week Arabella and Sirius were like two similar charges on a magnet. Whenever they came close to each other, they sprung apart as if an invisible force was pulling them away. The four neutral friends (Remus, Robyn, Melanie, and Peter) were struggling to keep in contact as two members of both their quartets were fervently avoiding each other. Basically, life was complicated for the group.
However, while Sirius and Arabella were occupied with their homework one evening, the other six friends (James and Lily included, though they ignored the other's presence) were 'expertly' exiting the common room, planning to meet outside, where they would follow the remaining Marauders to a secret room they'd found.
"Ugh! This potions homework kills!" cried Arabella.
"I know. And so does my stomach," moaned Melanie. "Ohhhhh, my stomach. AHHH! The horror of my poor STOMACH. Maybe I should go to the HOSPITAL WING!" continued Melanie in an obviously fake tone as Lily drew her pointer finger across her throat in a slicing motion, telling Melanie to stop.
"Yes. I'll come WITH you!" yelled Robyn.
Lily dropped her head in her hands and heaved a great sigh as Robyn and Melanie scurried out of the room, barely suppressing giggles.
"OH. NO. ARE. YOU. AL-RIGHT. LI-LY?" yelled Remus from across the common room. Lily began to sob (and she wasn't acting).
"No!" she cried in a believable tone. "I feel awful. Will you help me get to the hospital wing?"
"OF. COURSE. LI-LY!" screamed Remus, giving Lily the thumbs up and a wink.
The two walked out of the room at the precise moment James jinxed Peter, who then needed to be 'assisted' to the hospital wing also.
Once all six had escaped the common room and met outside the fat lady's portrait, the still sobbing Lily asked the three Marauders where they were taking them.
"Follow me," said Remus, waving his arm in a gesturing motion. The other five trudged behind Remus until they came to the east towers, near the Ravenclaw common room (a/n-I think it was the east tower..but correct me if I'm wrong). Remus walked past three identical portraits of a mermaid before knocking on the frame of the center portrait. Where the center portrait had been, a door appeared which Remus quickly opened to reveal what seemed to be an empty, unused classroom. There were old desks with uneven legs and broken quills scattered about the dust-caked floor.
"Wow, Rem. Where did you find this place?" inquired Melanie.
"No matter," was his vague reply. "We're here to discuss the matters of Sirius Lee Black and Arabella Figg."
"Why?" asked Peter. "I thought we were here so we could just talk for once."
"In that case, would Lily and James be here?" Remus cleverly responded.
"Good point."
"Hey!" cried Lily.
"What's that s'posed to mean?" demanded James.
Remus uncomfortably cleared his throat before saying, "Anyhow, let's get the facts on Figg and Black before we decide to rip out each other's throats, okay?"
A chorus of "fine's" and "alright's" sounded dully off the dusty walls.
"Lily."
"Yes, Remus?"
"What does Arabella think of Mr. Black?"
"I was sworn to secrecy." Lily replied, airily.
"Secrecy-pecrecy! Who cares?" asked James
"I do," said Lily matter-of-factly.
"Oh, fine then." Sighed Remus, "James?"
"Yeah."
"What's Sirius' opinion of Ms. Figg?"
"Er, secrecy," muttered James, sheepishly.
"Oh, bloody hell!" cried Remus, "This'll get us NOWHERE!"
"Alright…but I don't wanna do this…" surrendered James, "Sirius thinks that Bella thinks that he's some sort of disgusting freak with frog lips. And he's pretty embarrassed that she ran away after kissing him. He keeps asking me why, and to tell the truth, I don't know!"
"Well, try this," cut in Lily, "she's embarrassed out of her mind for kissing Sirius and thinks that he thinks of her as a fool!" Lily slapped her hand over her mouth before muttering a muffled, "Oops."
Remus cleared his throat loudly and looked at James and Lily while saying, "A sincere thank you to Mr. Potter and Ms. Evans. From their contributions, we have concluded Black and Figg both like one another. But, what do we do from here?"
"Hook 'em up, gosh darn it!" cried Peter.
"Hell yeah!" screamed Melanie. She received shocked stares from her friends at the sudden jump out of her usually quiet character. "What?" she asked, oblivious.
Several grunts, coughs, and cleared throats erupted in the room.
"Okay!" called Remus, while clapping his hands together. "How do we set up Sirius and Bella?"
"Good question," said Melanie.
"I say we shove 'em in a closet and lock the door," tried Peter.
"And get pummeled to pulp when they get out? I don't think so," said Lily in a 'no way' tone. (a/n- I can never think of correct words, so I improvise)
"Well, Miss-Know-It-All, why don't you come up with something better!" challenged James.
"Er…Um…" Lily paused for a considerable while, "Closet it is!"
"Thought so," said James, smoothly.
As the minutes passed by, the devious six came up with a fool-proof plan to get Arabella and Sirius trapped in a closet, involving the stealing of wands and the Alohomora charm.
"And we'll put this plan into action on Sunday," said Remus in a finishing tone.
"But that's tomorrow!" moaned Robyn and Peter, the lazier two of the group.
"Precisely!" chirped Remus.
But when the four returned to the common room, they were in for a surprise!
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Well, that was the twelfth chapter! Hope you liked it. I personally thought is sucked, but tell me what you think by reviewing, pease! I'm gonna be so happy this time because (unless nobody reviews, which I won't be too surprised) I can get up to sixty. Hooray! Finally! Well…in case you didn't catch it last chapter…I made a sorta survey on what you guys want the plotline to be. Do you want me to continue with JK's plotline or go on with my own…you know, maybe shorten the period of hate or something. Let me know! I really want to! Well…that's all for now. Please review!!!!
~DanniBannani~