CHAPTER 16: PRANKS, HEXES, AND CHARMS, OH MY!
Disclaimer: If you haven't realized by now that I don't own this you have some serious issues to work out.
*~~~*
It was Friday! Finally! The week was almost over, and as of tomorrow the lot of them would be on the train to go home. The Girlies and the Marauder's were all going home for the holidays, each to their own in order to see there families.
Caitie, especially, felt the need to go back home for Christmas, because it was only her and her mom at home, and she knew that during the year her mom got awful lonely, and around the holidays she tended to get a little depressed. Sirius wasn't looking forward to going home, but since the rest of his friends were leaving, he decided he might as well. Cailie was kind of feeling rather numb about the whole situation. This holiday would not be fun for her. Here, at Hogwarts, she had her friends, she had classes. She had people and things to distract her. She didn't have to think about things, about her sister being gone. She could push it to the back of her mind and pretend it didn't exist. But it did exist, and going back home meant having to face it head on. If there was one thing Cailie could not deal with it was facing her worst fears and confirming her worst suspicions. The rest were looking forward to it, seeing as how they hadn't seen their families since September.
"I can't wait to go home, I mean, Hogwarts is great, but my mom's cooking is the best!" Jessi said in a sort-of dream-like state as she applied mascara in the Common Room; the girls were readying to go down to breakfast.
"Mmm" was all Ashley had to say. Last summer she had spent a couple of weeks with Jessi while her mom and stepfather went on a Honeymoon. Caitie suddenly appeared at the top of the stairway and said,
"Yes, but I bet no one else goes out to Denny's on Christmas with there mothers'!" She squealed excitedly as she slid down the banister and landed gracefully on her feet. "You guys ready to go, or what?"
"I'm ready," chorused Jessi and Ashley, both hopping to their feet.
"Where's Cailie?" Ashley asked, whipping her head around as if she would miraculously appear in the Common Room.
"No idea," Jessi replied sighing, and began knocking on the bathroom door, "Anybody in there?" Ashley quickly pushed her out of the way.
"That's not going to work, no one's going to hear you with that little voice!" She then proceeded to pound on the door and scream out,
"CAILIE! If you're in there, you need to get the hell OUT! We promised we'd meet you're other half and his friends down at the entryway at 7:30!" As it turned out, the only person in there was a timid first-year girl who upon opening the door, turned a deep shade of crimson and quickly scuttled away, mumbling her apologies.
"Were we ever that shy?" asked Ashley, who was scorning at the girl as if it were her fault that Cailie couldn't be found.
"No, Ashley, I don't think YOU were ever that quiet," said Jessi laughing.
"Dudes, I know we can't find Cailie, but we really do need to be getting down to breakfast. We have reputations-and need I mention some very hot friends to be getting to?" Caitie whined, tapping her foot impatiently.
"Fine, fine, we're coming," Ashley, sighed, throwing up her hands dramatically and pushing Jessi out the door.
*~~~*
Cailie was sitting at the top of the astronomy tower, and had been since early this morning. Sleeping hadn't ever been a hard thing for her; but since her sister's death getting to sleep-and staying asleep-was one of her hardest, most painful experiences. 'Besides', she mused, 'life is to short to be sleeping it away, just as laughter's to sweet to be taken for granted.' She sighed and wiped her eyes, which had, completely unbeknownst to her, started falling over the edge of her eyelids. Before this whole mess, she never cried, never showed emotion to anyone, not even when she was alone. Now, she cried twice before breakfast, even if it was in private. 'This may or may not be considered progress.' She thought and smiled shakily. Sighing, she realized she would have to leave her sacred haven and go down and face the world. She pulled out her mirror, brushed on some make-up, and pulled a brush forcefully through her hair, and put her 'face' on before lightly padding down the steps.
*~~~~*
Sirius came bounding down the steps, feet pounding the ground like elephant's, a dog-like grin on his face. James and Remus came sliding down the banister almost simultaneously on opposite sides and Peter came down the steps not even a second after, taking them two and three at a time. They were all in a very good mood, and anyone who was anyone could tell from the uproarious laughter and the fact that they were thoughtfully dropping Filibuster's Fireworks at random points in the hallway.
"Mr. Padfoot, must you pick the most obvious places to drop those? We can only worm are way out of so many things in a day," Remus said, although he was grinning and also dropping them, in slightly less –obvious- places.
"Come on, Mr. Moony, get into the spirits! We're almost done! Besides they can't rightly persecute us until we get back, we have two and half weeks to contemplate ways to get out of punishment. It'll be a piece of cake, especially with you on our team," said James smiling good-naturedly, as he transfigured a few small sprigs of holly into huge Christmas trees, realistic-looking snowflakes, and abnormally large sprigs of mistletoe.
"Mr. Prongs, you know very well that operation slimy gits was all your idea!" Remus said, pleasantly surprised at his friend's modesty,
"So it was, Mr. Moony, so it was, and I take all the credit for the idea" he replied nodding solemnly. Remus rolled his eyes and smiled as James continued, "But I give credit where credit is due, as you must know by now, and the researching of the spell and charms all goes to Mr. Remus Lupin, resident brain of the Marauders!" Remus bowed as the three others applauded,
"We mustn't forget the two who did the majority of the rule-breaking, of course, Mr. Padfoot, who performed most of the wonderful and Godly pranking, and Mr.Wormtail, for keeping lookout while the three of us were in there!" Exclaimed Remus and they all whooped and cheered there way toward the entrance to the Great Hall, where they met Cailie, who, although her eyes were puffy and bloodshot, had on a bright smile and gave Sirius a tender kiss. He moaned in the back of his throat and she gave a smile to James, Peter and Remus.
"Where are Smiley and Ashley and Jessi?" Remus inquired.
"Right here and now that we are here, the world can begin revolving again!" Ashley said jokingly, although it definitely had a serious underlying.
Sirius put his arms around Cailie and dipped her Hollywood style giving her a long, passionate kiss after entering the Great Hall. Cailie came up looking red and flustered, but both looked extremely happy just the same. The rest of the hall looked on enviously.
'How come he gets true love?' Remus asked himself as he forced out a smile for Sirius, 'He's a man whore and completely immature, while Cailie is incredibly fickle and has the biggest mood-swings ever known to mankind. They have about fifty make-ups and break-ups a week, but that didn't bother either of them, whatsoever! They'd just be back together the next day, and they really cared about each other. Why can't I have that?' Remus definitely was not the only one in thinking this; all he had to do was look around to see the same look of fake-happiness on a lot of the group's faces. He sighed and shoved his hands in his pant pockets, scuffing his feet against the round out of habit.
Caitie observed the scene around her, attempting to block out the Cailie- Sirius snog-fest, and watched with curiosity as she saw James aim his wand in Lily's direction from behind his back and muttering some words out of the corner of his mouth. Caitie grinned and shook her head, 'When is he ever going to learn that he's not going to get that bitch in his bed by hexing her from here to kingdom come?' She then sidled over to Remus and said,
"You guys are planning something more then the usual dung bomb dropping and end of term fireworks, aren't you?" Remus nodded smirking,
"Spill," she said, eyes glowing with excitement.
"Wait and see, Smiley, dear, wait and see," he said smiling, taking pleasure in her whining and begging. He just grinned at her mischievously, until she began to stamp away towards the Ravenclaw table. However, she hadn't made it even halfway through her dramatic tirade when an older Slytherein with long, blonde hair suddenly knocked her to the floor. She shook her hair out of her eyes, and was getting ready to glare at whoever her culprit was, but instead she only blinked a few times, and her mouth dropped open from amused shock.
There, in a crumpled heap, was Luscious Malfoy, with Severus standing over him, both clad in only fuzzy, pink thongs and across there chest in glittering red and gold paint was,
"Compliments of the Marauders".
The duo quickly got up and went running over to Dumbledore, clearly enraged. Caitie, however, sat on the ground laughing long after Dumbledore managed to change the thongs back into their normal uniforms, as did the rest of the school. Finally, Ashley came over to her and helped her up, almost collapsing into a fit of giggles herself.
"Well, now Snivellus' bony ass is permanently etched into all of our minds. Isn't that great?" The Girlies fell into their chairs at the Ravenclaw table laughing hysterically.
The Marauder's sat down at the Gryffindor table to cheers and whoops and congratulatory slaps on the back. Even the over-exuberant and stickler-for- rules Head Boy, Arthur Weasly was smiling and looking like he was holding back laughter.
"That was pretty damn good, if I do say so myself," James stated happily shaking hands with a dodgy-looking seventh year who was friends with Sirius, named Mundungus.
"You always do!" Cheered Sirius as he was surrounded by three sixth year girls and was flirting with them shamelessly. Remus was entertaining a couple of third year girls with the tale of how they accomplished the whole thing, (getting more and more exaggerated by the second) and Peter was talking to a blushing first-year girl. Basking in all of the attention, they glowed with pride, that is, until Sirius coughed fairly obviously into Remus' face, and muttered,
"You better be coming up with that excuse pretty quickly, Moony, I'm talkin' in a...few seconds." Remus looked up from his conversation and immediately his smile slid right off his face.
"Oh shit."
"Yeah, I'd say." McGonogall was walking towards them, her mouth pressed together in a thin, white line, and looking very indignant.
*~~~*
James was very happy, very happy indeed. It was the end of the day, the end of the term, and he strode proudly out of Dumbeldore's office, having just talked his way out of a month's worth of detention. Instead, he would be doing 'Hogwarts Service' with Hagrid, which would be incredibly easy, he would probably make him weed out the garden or something, and turn the other cheek when he used magic. He also was very proud of himself for convincing the Headmaster that Remus had nothing to do with it, so he wouldn't lose his Prefect badge. James could be accused rightly of many things, and he knew it, although he knew it somewhere deep, deep down, but one thing even Lily Evans couldn't accuse him of being was unfaithful (well, girls were usually an exception.) He was dead loyal to a select group of whom he deemed worthy of his loyalty, and he sure as hell had to be sure he could trust them with his life. Those seven people were Sirius (him above all else, that guy was like his brother), Remus, Peter, Smiley, Cailie, Ashley, and Jessi.
'Speak of the Devil' James said as his friends happily made his way over to him, clamoring for details.
"Mr. Prongs, you have once again saved the day!" Whooped Sirius as he and Remus clapped him over the back. Smiley gave him a dazzling, thousand- galleon smile, and Jessi gave him a kiss on the cheek. Sirius seized this as yet another chance to show some PDA to his girlfriend, and they kissed passionately, right in the middle of the hallway, swarms of people around them making there way down to the Great Hall for dinner.
"Oh my God, they are so disgusting," said Lily, as Becca rolled her eyes, continuing on their quest to speak to James. Neither Lily nor Becca was willinginly talking to James, and they weren't especially looking forward to doing so with his man-whore friends present, as well as a few bitches better known as The Girlies. But, throughout there day, a considerably large bushel of mistletoe had sprouted over Lily's head and had made it's home there for the day. Lily was not at all pleased, especially since the only person who could be responsible just happened to be one of the biggest jerks of all time.
"Potter!" She said storming up to him and startling the group. James just glanced at her and a scornful grin crept onto his face. Everyone else looked at Lily bemusedly, realization dawning only on Caitie's face.
"What the bloody hell is the meaning of this?"
"Well, Evan's," He began spitefully, "I'm sure you've heard of the muggle tradition of mistletoe, seeing as how you are a muggle-born."
"I'm perfectly aware of it thanks," She snapped back. James shrugged his shoulders and grinned nonchalantly,
"Well, then, grab you're camera, this is definitely a moment to be cherished so you and you're little friend can maybe make a shrine out of it or something." Lily looked at him, annoyed and confused. He inched closer to her, and she suddenly realized what was happening, and she quickly jumped backwards, disgusted, and the bush followed her.
"Oh, no. Nonono. I flat out refuse to kiss you, James Potter. I'd drop dead first." James just grinned even wider,
"Well, then, I suppose you'll have to be buried with a bush of mistletoe over your head. 'Tis a shame, though, you are quite the sexy little thing," he said looking at her almost obscenely. Lily narrowed her eyes in complete loathing, feeling very violated.
"Do you mean to tell me, Potter, that this thing" She spat, gesturing to the bush, "will stay here until my dying day unless I kiss...YOU?" She looked horrified at the thought.
"Yep," He replied grinning wickedly.
"I hate you James Potter, and I always will." With that she grabbed him and gave him a hard, quick short kiss on the lips, but it felt electric. Lily quickly dismissed the thought, and blamed it on the spell, which, as James promised, had disappeared, to her relief.
James, on the to her hand, touched his lips, in a sort of daze. He felt it, she was sure she felt it, so why was she seething at him? He was sure he had never felt this when he kissed any other girl. He sighed, and at that moment, Lily smacked him across his face, causing his buzzing lips to crack and bleed a little.
"Hey, what the hell was that for?" James and Sirius cried at the same time.
"For being a tasteless, obscene jerk." She stated simply and began to walk away, but Cailie yelled to her retreating back,
"Why do you always have to act like you've got a two-foot stick shoved up your ass?" Lily spun on her heel, her eyes flashing dangerously.
"Well firstly, he's been acting like a complete idiot to me ever since first year. Especially in first year, damnit. Secondly, even after he claims to be in love with me, which I know otherwise, seeing as how he says that to every one of his conquests, he treats me like scum and is a complete pig to me!" Sirius began to retort, but Becca glared at him, so Cailie said it instead,
"Well, I think he really likes you, and you won't even give him a chance. He's not all bad you know! "
"Well maybe if he showed me that once in awhile I would give him a chance."
"I don't think you would, Evans, you are such a bitch, with your nose stuck up in the air, just because you think your perfect, with top grades and all the likes, and Potters not good enough for you. In fact, I've noticed that your too good for everyone apparently, seeing as how you haven't had a date in God knows how long, or maybe it's just 'cause your so goddamn ugly!" James was beginning to look uncomfortable, as was Remus, and Becca had her wand pointed in Sirius face, which Caitie and Ashley stood, looking haughty and indignant, (making sure they looked beautifully so, all the same) as the shouting match continued,
"I have MY nose stuck in the air? Jesus Christ, All of your noses are stuck so high in the air that I'm surprised you're able to see anything other then the ceiling and the sky! And at least I'm not easy and slut."
"I AM NOT SOME GODDAMN CHEAP WHROE!"
"Don't come much cheaper then free, Dep," Lily retorted coldly. Cailie looked murderous.
"Lily, I am through with you're shit. I don't know why James is so in love with you, and I never will. You are a stuck-up bitch with no sense of humor and a complete do-gooder, with no life. You can screw up James' life further, that is none of my business, but you have screwed up mine for way too long." Cailie shouted out a bunch of incantations in French and immediately Lily keeled over, lifeless.
"Oh my God, what have you done to her?" Squealed Becca, running over to her friend. James looked equally terrified and shocked, but torn between his best friends and his obsession.
"Stunned her. Like four times, you might want to take her to the Hospital Wing," Cailie said, shrugging her shoulders indifferently. "Oh my God, I'm going to kill you!" Becca squealed again, "You could've seriously injured he! Or worse, killed her!" Cailie shrugged yet again, and Becca began screaming a mix or swearwords and hexes.
"Oh, shut up already," Caitie said, extremely pissed off at this whole mess, and pointed her wand at her nose, "Silencio!" Becca's eyes widened in surprise and anger, and her mouth was opening and closing frantically, but no sound coming out. Satisfied with her work, Caitie turned on her heel and walked briskly away, seven others scrambling to follow her, all ignoring Arthur Weasly's frantic calls of,
"Stop immediately! AS Head Boy I order you to stop and explain yourselves!"
They walked down the hall silently, lost in their own angry thoughts. Suddenly, James remembered an owl he had gotten form his Mum earlier that morning,
"You guys, my mum and dad are going away for New Years and I said I could have some friends over from New Years Eve until school starts again, and I want you to know that your invited."
They all smiled distractedly at him, attempting the reassure everyone else and themselves that it was normal. They did this every day to people, and no one knew why it was bothering each and everyone one of them so much. Since when had any of them sprouted a conscious?
Disclaimer: If you haven't realized by now that I don't own this you have some serious issues to work out.
*~~~*
It was Friday! Finally! The week was almost over, and as of tomorrow the lot of them would be on the train to go home. The Girlies and the Marauder's were all going home for the holidays, each to their own in order to see there families.
Caitie, especially, felt the need to go back home for Christmas, because it was only her and her mom at home, and she knew that during the year her mom got awful lonely, and around the holidays she tended to get a little depressed. Sirius wasn't looking forward to going home, but since the rest of his friends were leaving, he decided he might as well. Cailie was kind of feeling rather numb about the whole situation. This holiday would not be fun for her. Here, at Hogwarts, she had her friends, she had classes. She had people and things to distract her. She didn't have to think about things, about her sister being gone. She could push it to the back of her mind and pretend it didn't exist. But it did exist, and going back home meant having to face it head on. If there was one thing Cailie could not deal with it was facing her worst fears and confirming her worst suspicions. The rest were looking forward to it, seeing as how they hadn't seen their families since September.
"I can't wait to go home, I mean, Hogwarts is great, but my mom's cooking is the best!" Jessi said in a sort-of dream-like state as she applied mascara in the Common Room; the girls were readying to go down to breakfast.
"Mmm" was all Ashley had to say. Last summer she had spent a couple of weeks with Jessi while her mom and stepfather went on a Honeymoon. Caitie suddenly appeared at the top of the stairway and said,
"Yes, but I bet no one else goes out to Denny's on Christmas with there mothers'!" She squealed excitedly as she slid down the banister and landed gracefully on her feet. "You guys ready to go, or what?"
"I'm ready," chorused Jessi and Ashley, both hopping to their feet.
"Where's Cailie?" Ashley asked, whipping her head around as if she would miraculously appear in the Common Room.
"No idea," Jessi replied sighing, and began knocking on the bathroom door, "Anybody in there?" Ashley quickly pushed her out of the way.
"That's not going to work, no one's going to hear you with that little voice!" She then proceeded to pound on the door and scream out,
"CAILIE! If you're in there, you need to get the hell OUT! We promised we'd meet you're other half and his friends down at the entryway at 7:30!" As it turned out, the only person in there was a timid first-year girl who upon opening the door, turned a deep shade of crimson and quickly scuttled away, mumbling her apologies.
"Were we ever that shy?" asked Ashley, who was scorning at the girl as if it were her fault that Cailie couldn't be found.
"No, Ashley, I don't think YOU were ever that quiet," said Jessi laughing.
"Dudes, I know we can't find Cailie, but we really do need to be getting down to breakfast. We have reputations-and need I mention some very hot friends to be getting to?" Caitie whined, tapping her foot impatiently.
"Fine, fine, we're coming," Ashley, sighed, throwing up her hands dramatically and pushing Jessi out the door.
*~~~*
Cailie was sitting at the top of the astronomy tower, and had been since early this morning. Sleeping hadn't ever been a hard thing for her; but since her sister's death getting to sleep-and staying asleep-was one of her hardest, most painful experiences. 'Besides', she mused, 'life is to short to be sleeping it away, just as laughter's to sweet to be taken for granted.' She sighed and wiped her eyes, which had, completely unbeknownst to her, started falling over the edge of her eyelids. Before this whole mess, she never cried, never showed emotion to anyone, not even when she was alone. Now, she cried twice before breakfast, even if it was in private. 'This may or may not be considered progress.' She thought and smiled shakily. Sighing, she realized she would have to leave her sacred haven and go down and face the world. She pulled out her mirror, brushed on some make-up, and pulled a brush forcefully through her hair, and put her 'face' on before lightly padding down the steps.
*~~~~*
Sirius came bounding down the steps, feet pounding the ground like elephant's, a dog-like grin on his face. James and Remus came sliding down the banister almost simultaneously on opposite sides and Peter came down the steps not even a second after, taking them two and three at a time. They were all in a very good mood, and anyone who was anyone could tell from the uproarious laughter and the fact that they were thoughtfully dropping Filibuster's Fireworks at random points in the hallway.
"Mr. Padfoot, must you pick the most obvious places to drop those? We can only worm are way out of so many things in a day," Remus said, although he was grinning and also dropping them, in slightly less –obvious- places.
"Come on, Mr. Moony, get into the spirits! We're almost done! Besides they can't rightly persecute us until we get back, we have two and half weeks to contemplate ways to get out of punishment. It'll be a piece of cake, especially with you on our team," said James smiling good-naturedly, as he transfigured a few small sprigs of holly into huge Christmas trees, realistic-looking snowflakes, and abnormally large sprigs of mistletoe.
"Mr. Prongs, you know very well that operation slimy gits was all your idea!" Remus said, pleasantly surprised at his friend's modesty,
"So it was, Mr. Moony, so it was, and I take all the credit for the idea" he replied nodding solemnly. Remus rolled his eyes and smiled as James continued, "But I give credit where credit is due, as you must know by now, and the researching of the spell and charms all goes to Mr. Remus Lupin, resident brain of the Marauders!" Remus bowed as the three others applauded,
"We mustn't forget the two who did the majority of the rule-breaking, of course, Mr. Padfoot, who performed most of the wonderful and Godly pranking, and Mr.Wormtail, for keeping lookout while the three of us were in there!" Exclaimed Remus and they all whooped and cheered there way toward the entrance to the Great Hall, where they met Cailie, who, although her eyes were puffy and bloodshot, had on a bright smile and gave Sirius a tender kiss. He moaned in the back of his throat and she gave a smile to James, Peter and Remus.
"Where are Smiley and Ashley and Jessi?" Remus inquired.
"Right here and now that we are here, the world can begin revolving again!" Ashley said jokingly, although it definitely had a serious underlying.
Sirius put his arms around Cailie and dipped her Hollywood style giving her a long, passionate kiss after entering the Great Hall. Cailie came up looking red and flustered, but both looked extremely happy just the same. The rest of the hall looked on enviously.
'How come he gets true love?' Remus asked himself as he forced out a smile for Sirius, 'He's a man whore and completely immature, while Cailie is incredibly fickle and has the biggest mood-swings ever known to mankind. They have about fifty make-ups and break-ups a week, but that didn't bother either of them, whatsoever! They'd just be back together the next day, and they really cared about each other. Why can't I have that?' Remus definitely was not the only one in thinking this; all he had to do was look around to see the same look of fake-happiness on a lot of the group's faces. He sighed and shoved his hands in his pant pockets, scuffing his feet against the round out of habit.
Caitie observed the scene around her, attempting to block out the Cailie- Sirius snog-fest, and watched with curiosity as she saw James aim his wand in Lily's direction from behind his back and muttering some words out of the corner of his mouth. Caitie grinned and shook her head, 'When is he ever going to learn that he's not going to get that bitch in his bed by hexing her from here to kingdom come?' She then sidled over to Remus and said,
"You guys are planning something more then the usual dung bomb dropping and end of term fireworks, aren't you?" Remus nodded smirking,
"Spill," she said, eyes glowing with excitement.
"Wait and see, Smiley, dear, wait and see," he said smiling, taking pleasure in her whining and begging. He just grinned at her mischievously, until she began to stamp away towards the Ravenclaw table. However, she hadn't made it even halfway through her dramatic tirade when an older Slytherein with long, blonde hair suddenly knocked her to the floor. She shook her hair out of her eyes, and was getting ready to glare at whoever her culprit was, but instead she only blinked a few times, and her mouth dropped open from amused shock.
There, in a crumpled heap, was Luscious Malfoy, with Severus standing over him, both clad in only fuzzy, pink thongs and across there chest in glittering red and gold paint was,
"Compliments of the Marauders".
The duo quickly got up and went running over to Dumbledore, clearly enraged. Caitie, however, sat on the ground laughing long after Dumbledore managed to change the thongs back into their normal uniforms, as did the rest of the school. Finally, Ashley came over to her and helped her up, almost collapsing into a fit of giggles herself.
"Well, now Snivellus' bony ass is permanently etched into all of our minds. Isn't that great?" The Girlies fell into their chairs at the Ravenclaw table laughing hysterically.
The Marauder's sat down at the Gryffindor table to cheers and whoops and congratulatory slaps on the back. Even the over-exuberant and stickler-for- rules Head Boy, Arthur Weasly was smiling and looking like he was holding back laughter.
"That was pretty damn good, if I do say so myself," James stated happily shaking hands with a dodgy-looking seventh year who was friends with Sirius, named Mundungus.
"You always do!" Cheered Sirius as he was surrounded by three sixth year girls and was flirting with them shamelessly. Remus was entertaining a couple of third year girls with the tale of how they accomplished the whole thing, (getting more and more exaggerated by the second) and Peter was talking to a blushing first-year girl. Basking in all of the attention, they glowed with pride, that is, until Sirius coughed fairly obviously into Remus' face, and muttered,
"You better be coming up with that excuse pretty quickly, Moony, I'm talkin' in a...few seconds." Remus looked up from his conversation and immediately his smile slid right off his face.
"Oh shit."
"Yeah, I'd say." McGonogall was walking towards them, her mouth pressed together in a thin, white line, and looking very indignant.
*~~~*
James was very happy, very happy indeed. It was the end of the day, the end of the term, and he strode proudly out of Dumbeldore's office, having just talked his way out of a month's worth of detention. Instead, he would be doing 'Hogwarts Service' with Hagrid, which would be incredibly easy, he would probably make him weed out the garden or something, and turn the other cheek when he used magic. He also was very proud of himself for convincing the Headmaster that Remus had nothing to do with it, so he wouldn't lose his Prefect badge. James could be accused rightly of many things, and he knew it, although he knew it somewhere deep, deep down, but one thing even Lily Evans couldn't accuse him of being was unfaithful (well, girls were usually an exception.) He was dead loyal to a select group of whom he deemed worthy of his loyalty, and he sure as hell had to be sure he could trust them with his life. Those seven people were Sirius (him above all else, that guy was like his brother), Remus, Peter, Smiley, Cailie, Ashley, and Jessi.
'Speak of the Devil' James said as his friends happily made his way over to him, clamoring for details.
"Mr. Prongs, you have once again saved the day!" Whooped Sirius as he and Remus clapped him over the back. Smiley gave him a dazzling, thousand- galleon smile, and Jessi gave him a kiss on the cheek. Sirius seized this as yet another chance to show some PDA to his girlfriend, and they kissed passionately, right in the middle of the hallway, swarms of people around them making there way down to the Great Hall for dinner.
"Oh my God, they are so disgusting," said Lily, as Becca rolled her eyes, continuing on their quest to speak to James. Neither Lily nor Becca was willinginly talking to James, and they weren't especially looking forward to doing so with his man-whore friends present, as well as a few bitches better known as The Girlies. But, throughout there day, a considerably large bushel of mistletoe had sprouted over Lily's head and had made it's home there for the day. Lily was not at all pleased, especially since the only person who could be responsible just happened to be one of the biggest jerks of all time.
"Potter!" She said storming up to him and startling the group. James just glanced at her and a scornful grin crept onto his face. Everyone else looked at Lily bemusedly, realization dawning only on Caitie's face.
"What the bloody hell is the meaning of this?"
"Well, Evan's," He began spitefully, "I'm sure you've heard of the muggle tradition of mistletoe, seeing as how you are a muggle-born."
"I'm perfectly aware of it thanks," She snapped back. James shrugged his shoulders and grinned nonchalantly,
"Well, then, grab you're camera, this is definitely a moment to be cherished so you and you're little friend can maybe make a shrine out of it or something." Lily looked at him, annoyed and confused. He inched closer to her, and she suddenly realized what was happening, and she quickly jumped backwards, disgusted, and the bush followed her.
"Oh, no. Nonono. I flat out refuse to kiss you, James Potter. I'd drop dead first." James just grinned even wider,
"Well, then, I suppose you'll have to be buried with a bush of mistletoe over your head. 'Tis a shame, though, you are quite the sexy little thing," he said looking at her almost obscenely. Lily narrowed her eyes in complete loathing, feeling very violated.
"Do you mean to tell me, Potter, that this thing" She spat, gesturing to the bush, "will stay here until my dying day unless I kiss...YOU?" She looked horrified at the thought.
"Yep," He replied grinning wickedly.
"I hate you James Potter, and I always will." With that she grabbed him and gave him a hard, quick short kiss on the lips, but it felt electric. Lily quickly dismissed the thought, and blamed it on the spell, which, as James promised, had disappeared, to her relief.
James, on the to her hand, touched his lips, in a sort of daze. He felt it, she was sure she felt it, so why was she seething at him? He was sure he had never felt this when he kissed any other girl. He sighed, and at that moment, Lily smacked him across his face, causing his buzzing lips to crack and bleed a little.
"Hey, what the hell was that for?" James and Sirius cried at the same time.
"For being a tasteless, obscene jerk." She stated simply and began to walk away, but Cailie yelled to her retreating back,
"Why do you always have to act like you've got a two-foot stick shoved up your ass?" Lily spun on her heel, her eyes flashing dangerously.
"Well firstly, he's been acting like a complete idiot to me ever since first year. Especially in first year, damnit. Secondly, even after he claims to be in love with me, which I know otherwise, seeing as how he says that to every one of his conquests, he treats me like scum and is a complete pig to me!" Sirius began to retort, but Becca glared at him, so Cailie said it instead,
"Well, I think he really likes you, and you won't even give him a chance. He's not all bad you know! "
"Well maybe if he showed me that once in awhile I would give him a chance."
"I don't think you would, Evans, you are such a bitch, with your nose stuck up in the air, just because you think your perfect, with top grades and all the likes, and Potters not good enough for you. In fact, I've noticed that your too good for everyone apparently, seeing as how you haven't had a date in God knows how long, or maybe it's just 'cause your so goddamn ugly!" James was beginning to look uncomfortable, as was Remus, and Becca had her wand pointed in Sirius face, which Caitie and Ashley stood, looking haughty and indignant, (making sure they looked beautifully so, all the same) as the shouting match continued,
"I have MY nose stuck in the air? Jesus Christ, All of your noses are stuck so high in the air that I'm surprised you're able to see anything other then the ceiling and the sky! And at least I'm not easy and slut."
"I AM NOT SOME GODDAMN CHEAP WHROE!"
"Don't come much cheaper then free, Dep," Lily retorted coldly. Cailie looked murderous.
"Lily, I am through with you're shit. I don't know why James is so in love with you, and I never will. You are a stuck-up bitch with no sense of humor and a complete do-gooder, with no life. You can screw up James' life further, that is none of my business, but you have screwed up mine for way too long." Cailie shouted out a bunch of incantations in French and immediately Lily keeled over, lifeless.
"Oh my God, what have you done to her?" Squealed Becca, running over to her friend. James looked equally terrified and shocked, but torn between his best friends and his obsession.
"Stunned her. Like four times, you might want to take her to the Hospital Wing," Cailie said, shrugging her shoulders indifferently. "Oh my God, I'm going to kill you!" Becca squealed again, "You could've seriously injured he! Or worse, killed her!" Cailie shrugged yet again, and Becca began screaming a mix or swearwords and hexes.
"Oh, shut up already," Caitie said, extremely pissed off at this whole mess, and pointed her wand at her nose, "Silencio!" Becca's eyes widened in surprise and anger, and her mouth was opening and closing frantically, but no sound coming out. Satisfied with her work, Caitie turned on her heel and walked briskly away, seven others scrambling to follow her, all ignoring Arthur Weasly's frantic calls of,
"Stop immediately! AS Head Boy I order you to stop and explain yourselves!"
They walked down the hall silently, lost in their own angry thoughts. Suddenly, James remembered an owl he had gotten form his Mum earlier that morning,
"You guys, my mum and dad are going away for New Years and I said I could have some friends over from New Years Eve until school starts again, and I want you to know that your invited."
They all smiled distractedly at him, attempting the reassure everyone else and themselves that it was normal. They did this every day to people, and no one knew why it was bothering each and everyone one of them so much. Since when had any of them sprouted a conscious?