Chapter 4: We've hit a Snag
Disclaimer: Don't own a thing.
Be Prepared for a LOOOOONG chapter!
"She's doing it again," Remus whispered to Sirius as he dropped bat wings into a cauldron. Sirius looked up from his parchment, sugar quill in his mouth as he sucked, looking thoughtful. He was constantly being prodded by Remus whenever Lily did something out of the ordinary. He rubbed his eyes a bit and yawned. After spending the entire week hunting for exotic ingredients and ancient translations for the counter curse it was safe to say that he was a tad tired. If only Peter hadn't pushed and nagged about it all the time...sheez.
Within this timeframe, they had learned that Lily's favourite dessert was strawberry pudding, she didn't like the smell of orange peels, and that her kind mother's name was Mina. The past few days were eventful as they tried to get her to take a bath because honestly, she needed one. Lily had also taken her rights in making best friends with the kitchen's chief chef, Marie.
Both looked over at Lily who was sitting by the window watching James trying various spells and muttering incantations. He was sitting in his favourite cushion chair in the Head's common room. They could tell that he, too, was tired and couldn't help but get frustrated when a charm didn't come out quite the way he had expected it. Behind, Lily's lips were mouthing the words right along with him. When she noticed she was being watched, she glanced shyly at Sirius and Remus before turning back to look out the window.
People were playing in the snow outside and having snowball fights. Lily was watching a particular couple laughing and chasing each other around. She looked on as they ran out of her line of vision and used her little hand to push open the window.
"Come away from there, will you? You might catch a cold and then what'll we do?" Lily turned to smile and latched onto Remus's arm. She took another lingering look out the window which he noticed. He pulled her away and led her back to the table.
Near lunch, Peter began to ask about the progress of the counter-curse. "When're you going to finish it?"
"Don't rightly know..." Sirius mumbled into his quill.
"Can we work on it now?"
"If you want," James muttered. He blasted a paper ball.
"So what have we done so far?"
"Stuff."
"What do you mean by-" Finally, it was Remus that couldn't take it anymore.
"Peter, why don't you review spells or something?" Peter opened his mouth to protest, but shut it immediately and did as he was told.
"Lumos," he said, rather bored. "Lumos lumos lumos luuuumos! NOX!" The spark on the wand grew brighter and brighter and suddenly it popped loudly and burnt out much to Lily's delight.
Lily snuck a look beside her at Sirius who was twirling his quill distractedly and mumbling to himself which way was best to finish off the last inch of his assignment. Carefully, she reached for his wand. Holding it in front of her as discreetly as possible, she whispered, "L-lumos." Nothing happened. Her eyebrows furrowed and she tried again. Remus had begun to notice her and was reaching to take the wand from her.
"LUMOS!" she cried with much force. Remus was startled and jerked his hand back. James, Sirius, and Peter snapped their head towards her at the sudden outburst. Their eyes widened at what they saw. Sirius's wand was alit.
"Did you see that? Did you see that?" Sirius asked excitedly. "With my wand, I might add."
"I taught her the incantation!" Peter quipped.
The light at the tip of the wand sizzled out and Lily looked around the table at each of their faces looking quite proud. James ruffled her hair and squeezed her shoulder. Remus took the wand from her and set it on the table far away from her.
"You could've been hurt," he scolded. Lily's smile faded. She looked away.
"I'm sorry."
"Hey now...no scolding," James cut in. "Our little marauderess was doing what we usually do anyway."
"I wasn't – I was just ..."
"Yea, you were worried. We know, Remus. You're not the only one that cares," Sirius said. "There isn't a need to be worried anyway. My wand's never hurt a soul."
Peter stood and rubbed his stomach. "Guys, if we're not going to work, can we go have some lunch please? I'm starving."
The house elves greeted them as usual. Tibbles appeared to be a new elf. He was scurrying back and forth at the older and more experienced elves' beck and call. He finally slowed down enough to notice that there were humans at their entrance. Halting quite abruptly, he straightened and faced them.
"Oh-oh, masters and lil'miss! P-please!" he fumbled, "Sit! Sit!" He bowed to Lily who was about his height. To his great surprise and astonishment, she bowed back and with a gesture of a curtsey, no less! Tibbles froze on the spot and stumbled over his words again. "Oh no! Lil'miss. No, no! Tibble does not deserve...please miss..."
Tibbles was still gibbering as the Marauders steered Lily away. James nudged Remus and smirked. "Taught her that," he gloated.
"And gave poor Tibbles a near heart-attack," Remus said, rolling his eyes. James punched him and stuck out his tongue.
Once seated, they politely called out what they each wanted and moments later, steaming food was placed before them by none other than Tibbles himself.
"T-tibbles hopes they likes it. T-tibbles is new, master. If master and lil'miss be needing anyt-"
"We'll be fine, Tibbles," Remus smiled. Tibbles seemed startled at being addressed so warmly. "I'm sure the food will be delicious." Tibbles's face was suddenly overtaken by a cutely wide grin. His round eyes had lit at the very comment. He bowed one more time before skipping off to do more work.
It was about the time when Lil had finished her soup that Tibbles walked by.
"Might lil'miss be needing more soup? Tibbles can pour more."
"Oh, yes please, Tibbles." Lily was in the middle of handing her bowl to him when sudden Marie's stern voice had called for Tibbles to come quick. Tibbles withdrew his outstretched arms and turn swiftly in the direction of Marie. He looked back and Lily and stammered, "Tibbles is truly s-sorry, lil'miss. Please, there is more soup up on the stove. Do be careful, lil'miss." He ran off faster than lightening after that.
Lily blinked. She looked from her empty bowl to the rest of her companions around the table. They were laughing loudly and were occupied with a very engaging topic. They didn't appear to notice her needs nor did they pay any attention when she got off the chair and walked to the stove to the cooking pot on top of it.
She reached for the ladle sticking out of the large pot. She grasped it, fist barely covering the handle while standing dangerously on the tip toes. In an attempt to get a better grip, she lost her balance and came slamming back on her heels. The powerful force of it knocked the ladle to the side of the pot and sent it leaning ground ward.
Lily panicked and quickly did the only thing she could think of. Her left hand smacked firmly to the side of the cylinder and shoved upwards. At the moment of contact, she let out a piercing scream.
Sirius was the first to react. Dropping his food, he ran over and picked her up. James came and pried the ladle out of her right hand.
"Oi...you little brat! Quick! Water! Put water over it!" Sirius yelled.
"NO! You idiot! Stop!" Remus seized Lily and lead her quickly to the window where a row of potted planted were. He took a part of the leaf from the plant. Squeezing, something came out and onto Lily's hand. She breathed heavily and then stopped clenching her teeth as Remus spread the jelly-like substance across her palm.
"The heck is that..." Sirius asked.
"Aloe."
"A who?"
"This stuff. You can eat it too if you want. Noo...not the leaf – the stuff inside. Haha, not very good, is it? But it's healthy. It's also good for burns like this."
"Oh..." Sirius let out as he poked the little plant. Then he flicked it and turned back to Lily.
"How's your hands?" James asked her, kissing the back of her hand.
"Hurts," she whispered back, rubbing her eyes. James wiped her cheeks and set her back on her chair. Remus handed him some bandages he got from Marie and he began to put it around Lily's little hand. Tibbles was standing at the corner apologizing profusely and almost bowing on the floor by the time Peter went up to him to stop him.
"Thanks so much for caring," Sirius said sardonically when he reached Peter at one of the counters.
"What? I was making some fudge so she'd feel better, dummy," Peter said defensively.
"Ooooh! Fudge!" Sirius dipped a finger in what was chocolate and licked. Peter shot him a look and pushed him away. "Finish up over there and I'll bring this over in a bit."
"Yes mother!" Sirius saluted and trotted off, leaving Peter to sigh and watch as he helped clear off the table in a mighty sweep.
"That was dangerous! Why didn't you ask one of us to help instead of doing something like that?" James asked in an exasperate tone. He tied a little knot at the ends of the bandage and patted her hand, giving a light kiss before looking at her again. Lily wrenched her hand away, frowning at him.
"Stop that."
"Stop what?" James reached for her and she pulled back.
"That. You're always hugging me and giving me big, fat, wet kisses...like I won't last. Yucky."
"I only do it because I'm worried."
"You don't have to worry all the time!"
"Well, I do have to worry when you do something so stupid!" James retorted.
"Don't be so mean!" Lily cried angrily. "You were talking. All of you. Mommy taught me never to interrupt!"
"We wouldn't have minded!!"
"Stop yelling at me!" Lily covered her ears and shut her eyes, pretending he wasn't there. James watched with his mouth agape. He seethed. He couldn't believe it. Everything was going fine. Then she had to go ruin it. Even when she was a kid, they still found something to argue about. He crossed his arms and bit his lip irritably.
Remus pulled Sirius aside from the argument. He made sure Sirius had his full attention before speaking his mind.
"I want to turn her back tonight. Or at least give her the potion," Remus said somberly. Sirius scratched his head.
"Is this about what Peter said? Because if it is, listen, he nags and nags but it really doesn't mean anything. We won't get caught and we most certainly won't get in trouble. I –"
"That's not it!" Remus hissed. His gaze flickered to Lily and James for a second before turning back. "I'm tired of taking care of her. It's been a week and a half since this started and honestly, I'm exhausted. We can't keep taking turns skipping classes just to look after her. I...I don't want to see her get hurt again because we weren't responsible enough to deal with it. Do you understand?"
"Gee, Moony... I don't think we can change her back tonight even if we wanted."
"Huh? Why not?"
"We're still missing Dragon's Tears. I'm not going to steal it from Professor Silva. We might as well wait until this weekend to go into Hogsmeade."
"Okay, okay, just please please do it before my next transformation or preferably before I get monthly drained."
"Alright," Sirius promised. He looked back to the table and found Lily sitting there, still with her face set in an angry pout. Her eyes were drooping and her head was nodding off to sleep. "Aw man...guess it's naptime for her, huh? No fudge for me..." Sirius went over and scooped her up. Her body immediately folded up neatly and cuddled up to him. He grinned down at her.
"Prongs, don't you want to put her to bed?" Remus asked.
"No," James replied flatly. "I'm going to eat all the fudge that she's going to miss out on." Sometimes, Remus didn't know who was more childlike – Lily or James. He shook him head and followed Sirius out.
Sirius carefully laid Lily down on the couch in the Head's tower as Remus took a blanket and covered her up. She yawned and blinked sleepily at them. Remus smiled and kissed her forehead in which her face scrunched up to. She laughed and swatted his hand when Sirius tapped her nose and whispered, "Sweet dreams."
Lily stared amiably at the two of them kneeling beside her. There was a happiness in her eyes they had never seen before. Though tired, they knew the feeling was genuine.
"What is it?" Sirius looked curiously at her.
"Is this...is this how daddies act?" Lily asked hesitantly.
"W-what?"
"You...Remus, Prongs, and Peter...all of you. Is this what daddies are like?"
"Why would you ask us that, Lily?" Remus said softly.
"Will you always be like that?" Her voice was so faint, they barely heard it. But what she said raised a few eye brows.
"Of course! But...why would you say that?" Again, the question was asked, but there was no answer. There was a long pause. Then she flipped around to face away from them. Remus and Sirius shared a mystified look before getting up, thinking that she was too worn-out to talk anymore. Then, out of the blue, came her muffled response.
"Because I've never had one."
Suddenly, they weren't so sure they wanted her to change back at all or at least, not soon. Sirius sighed and took her in his arms despite her protests. He saw that she had no tears and inside, he congratulated her for this. Remus didn't know quite what do say, but felt somewhat honoured that she had asked them to pose as fatherly figures in her life. A soft smile was across Lily's face as she was rocked to sleep with new joys and thoughts of trying out Peter's fudge.
Many thanks to:
Chicken Stars: Aww, thank you so much! You don't know how wonderful that makes me feel! I hope you found this chapter cute as well! Thanks again!
Christy Corr: Oi...I hadn't meant to make it sound like Lily was kissing invisible James, but oh well. Thanks for the review, I really appreciate it! Please update your fic soon too!
it's a riot: Thanks for the terrific comments! My little cousins often visit me and they do pretty cute things that inspire me to write the things in this fic. I hope I did an okay job here. =)
Jessie Flower: Ahh...looks like I went snail speed at updating again. Sorry for making you wait so long! We're starting to run into some problems here because now Lily and two of the Marauders doesn't seem to like the growing up idea so much anymore. Do you smell conflict? I smell conflict...=D Thanks for reviewing!
julyborn09: I'll tell you a little secret. This fic'll end pretty soon after Lily is reverted back to her old self. (Oh nevermind...no secret there...) Sirius may love the kid-Lily, but only so in a brotherly way. And even if he does see her in different light after this whole ordeal, there wouldn't be much room to write up a relationship. Thanks for the opinion, though! I would never hurt Sirius more than he could handle. I love him!
Know Thyself: Thanks a bunch for reviewing and wishing me a happy Christmas. I hope you had a happy Valentine's Day. =) I'm glad you like my fic and how it's all playing out. Of course there'll be more! Keep reading!
little-lost-one: Here's another chapter for you! Hope you enjoyed it! Thanks!
missprongs: It's cute, isn't it? Just the effect I wanted! Thanks for reviewing!
Riley: Actually, the way I came up with this idea was pretty original too. Haha, but I'll explain that maybe later. I love your review! Thanks!
roxorchix: Gotta love Sirius ^^ I hope you liked this chapter. I'm sure you'll write an awesome fic soon. And when that happens, I'll totally be there to review. =) Thanks!
Squirrel Maiden of Green: (Cool name) I hope you had a great Christmas and I hope you had an equally great Valentine's Day! Everyone seems to love my Sirius/Lily moments. I'm happy that this fics makes you happy!! Thanks a bundle for reviewing!
Stableperson: I'm glad I made the characters believable in my imaginary personalities. Thanks for the review!
Togarrop: Thank you! I'm glad you find it easy to read. I was beginning to think my chapters were too long and tedious for readers to get through. I hope you had a fantastic Valentine's Day!
Big thanks to those who read "Little Bit of Comfort." It's unlikely that anyone from there is reading here right now, but I wanted to thank you guys so I guess this has to be the place. So...thank you!
Well! That was another chapter! I feel like something's missing...this was really long and I'm sorry for all the seemingly pointless scenes. I'm also tremendously sorry for the long wait. You may yell at me in your review. So review, ok? Ha ha! I really want to know if my chapters are too long or too short or if something's lacking and you'd like me add it in. Your opinions and comments really do matter to me. Your reviews make me very happy!
I'm also curious...who's older -Bill Weasley or Charlie Weasley? (Oh...this question is so out of context...haha. Aaargh...I was very much hoping to get this out on Valentine's Day, but I look at the time now and it's 1:07 in the morning. I've missed it! Sigh, so I hope you've all had an awesome Valentine's Day! This chapter was for you!