Chapter 5
The Trip to Hogsmeade
Soon, the weekend arrived and Lily couldn't be more excited. She had spent the rest of the week planning the most perfect prank to play on the muraders. She practiced the charm over and over, making sure it would be prefect.
Belle, Lily, and Madison piled into the horseless buggy that took the third years and up to Hogsmeade- the only all wizard village in London.
Rain was lightly splattering on the window and wind shook the trees. Lily stared out the window repeating the charm in her brain. The buggy bumped along the road, until it reached Hogsmeade's entrance.
Lily leaped out of the carriage, and dashed to the nearest overhang. She was still suffering from a cold from the rain cloud, and she wanted to stay as dry as possible. Belle joined Lily and they waited for Madison to flee from the rain, under the overhang.
"Ready?" Lily asked.
"Yup. Let's go." Belle said. Lily led the way through the small village. Hogsmeade was one of Lily's favorite places. There were many famous shops on every corner and friendly witches and wizards were always around. There was the pub- the Three Broomsticks- and Honeydukes candy shop; and Zonko's joke shop and the well-known Shrieking Shack.
The legend of the Shrieking Shack was told all over. Many Hogsmeade visitors and citizens started hearing strange howling noises the year that Lily arrived at Hogwarts. It could only be heard once a month, but the noise was nearly unbearable. Screams and moans were only a few of the sounds. It was said that the ghosts of the people who lived in the house were still there, causing all the noise. But Lily didn't believe that.
Lily jammed her hands in her pockets, trying to protect them from the bitter wind. Her red hair was flying around her face, making it hard to see. The three friends ran into the Three Broomsticks at top speed, before all the other students would get there.
Once inside, Lily ordered three butterbeers, and brought them to a table. Belle sat down and took the steaming drink from Lily's hands. Lily brought her glass to her numb lips and drank deeply. The warmth of the butterbeer slid down her throat and heated every part of her body.
"Mmmm…" Madison muttered, taking a deep whiff of her drink. "I love butterbeer."
"Me too." Lily said.
"Hey, Lil… look who's here." Belle said, nodding towards the doorway. A gust of chilly wind flew into the pub, making the girls shiver. The muraders wandered into the room. Sirius was indeed date-less, as Lily had guessed.
The boys noticed Belle, Lily, and Madison. They grinned to each other, and walked over.
"Hello, my darlings!" Sirius replied, taking a seat next to Lily. "Where's our drinks?"
"Are you kidding?" Lily said, rolling her eyes. With out warning, Sirius snatched her drink out of her hands and began to drink from it. "What the hell! Get off!" Lily squealed, pulling her cup out of his grasp. James and Peter sat themselves down at the other end of the table.
"Wait- where's Remus?" Madison asked. "I thought you lot were inseparable." James cast a quick glance to Sirius, who was again trying to drink for Lily's glass.
"He's visiting his… er… sick grandmother." James said.
"Again?" Belle asked. "How many times has she died now?" She raised her eyebrows at him. Sirius gave up on Lily's glass, and began eyeing Madison's.
"Oh! I meant to say Great Cousin." James corrected. "Yeah… Great Cousin Bertha. Such a sweet old dear, eh, Peter?"
"Um… right." Peter muttered.
"Oh no you don't!" Madison shouted, as Sirius placed a hand on her butterbeer. She slapped his hand forcefully. He pulled it back in alarm, and held it gently. It was obvious he was just asking for attention.
"Aw. Now you've gone and hurt his feelings!" James said sarcastically. "Smooth move… er… what's your name again?" He asked Madison.
"Oh God. You drink from my glass and you can't even remember my name! We've been in the same class for 6 years now!" She said, standing up and bringing her cup back to the bar.
"What?" James defended as the two girls glared at him. "I honestly don't remember!"
"Her name is Madison." Lily said hotly. She and Belle both stood up to leave.
But as she was walking away, she pointed her wand at the muraders and whispered "Bailamosos!"
Suddenly, James, Peter, and Sirius sprung to their feet. James began waltzing with an invisible partner while Sirius began a handsome tap dance. At first, it didn't seem as though the charm had hit Peter, but then he sprang into a full-fledged can-can.
Madison nearly choked on her laughter as the boys stared down at their uncontrollable feet and hands. Peter was pulling up his robes, kicking his legs higher than Lily ever thought possible. And Sirius! His feet were slapping at the ground a mile a minute. The whole room burst into laughter as he did a paddle-turn.
But James topped them all. The look of horror and humiliation only added humor to his graceful movements. He stepped cautiously in time with the waltzing rhythm, though he tried as best he could to stop. His face was slowly turning red, and he was glaring directly at Lily. She did nothing but smile and shrug.
"I never knew you all could be such great dancers!" Madison joked. "Do you know the Charleston?" Lily grinned and Belle and Madison followed her out of the pub.
"That was too perfect!" Belle replied. "I'm serious. It was great."
"Did you hear the way everyone was laughing?!" Lily said happily.
"Yes! My God! They were all in hysterics!" Madison said.
"Maybe now James will think twice before playing another prank." Lily laughed.
"Come off it. Nothing is going to stop them." Belle said. "And not to burst your bubble, but now you're really in for it."
"Oh please. You saw James' face. He isn't going to try anything soon." Madison assured.
On Wednesday, the storm seemed to have almost blown over. The sky was still clouded over and foggy, but not nearly as bad as it was before.
Remus was back in school, and although he looked pale, he seemed to be okay. For some weird reason, his family members always got sick once a month. Lily almost felt bad for him.
That night around midnight, the Gryffindor sixth years made their way up to the drafty Astronomy tower to study the stars.
When they arrived to the roof-less room, Professor Hatterson was looking through a large telescope. She was a tall witch with long blonde hair that was tied with a flourish at the base of her neck. Her long lilac robes seemed to float like clouds around her ankles.
"Evening, class!" She said sweetly. "Gather 'round!" She instructed. The Huffelpuffs and Gryffindors scooted closer to her. "I realize the sky isn't ideal for stargazing tonight, but it's the best we've got. So I want to use your star charts and plot and name as many stars, moons, and planets as you can." She paused a moment to grin at her students. "I'll pair you up, I think."
To Lily's disgust, she was paired up with none other than James. She was appalled, and almost walked out of the classroom. But, being the good student she was, she and James walked to their assigned window, and leaned against the frame. James didn't say anything, except for a few constellation names.
"There's Venus' second moon… and Capricorn." James muttered, drawing them on their chart.
"James, I…" Lily began, but then decided against it. "Nevermind. There's Mercury."
"Look, Lily." James said, turning away from the window. He seemed on the verge of laughter for some reason. "I'm sorry. Okay? I'm Zuzorri."
"What? I couldn't hear that last bit…" Lily replied. But, to Lily's total shock, the words did not come out of her mouth sounding that way. She was having a hard time getting the words to spill out of her mouth, and she could barely breath.
"…tib tsal taht raeh t'ndluoc I ?tahW" was how it really sounded.
"!lleh eht tahW" Lily shouted. Students looked at her strangely. Sirius' laughter could be heard ringing over the murmurs of confusion.
"What did you say, Lily?" Professor Hatterson asked. Lily looked at James and saw his wand in his hand.
"!!em desruc semaJ" Lily screamed. But no one knew what she had said. James was howling with laughter; clutching his sides and pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.
"Oh my. The Backwards Curse, James?" Hatterson said. "I'm afraid that is unacceptable in my classroom. Here Lily…" She said, whipping out her wand. "Irrozuz!" She said. Lily gasped and held her throat.
"James…" Lily muttered.
But James couldn't answer. He was clinging to the window for support as he laughed loudly.
"Mr. Potter." Hatterson said strictly. "I'm afraid this deserves a detention. I will not allow my students to be cursed when not instructed to do so!"
James just continued to chuckle.
Lily glared at him, and stared blankly out the window to the frosty gray sky. She hated James. He was a horrible person. Just the thought of being near him made her sick. Talking backwards? How immature. But… she could always fight fire with fire…
Chapter 6
Lily's Nerves
Over the next week, nothing overly exciting occurred. In fact, the only thing Lily was looking forward to was Halloween, which was now fast approaching. Sirius had gone through four more girlfriends, and was now going out with a Ravenclaw Lily had never heard of.
On the Friday just before Halloween, Lily was ready to pull her own little prank on the muraders. Although James was the only one who cast the Backwards Spell on her, she thought she'd make a clean job of it and curse the lot of them.
"Hey! Muraders!" Lily shouted after them that day heading to Care of Magical Creatures. "Soliloquy Nonfinite!" she shouted, pointing her wand at their chests.
"What the-" Sirius said. "You're an odd one, Lily…" he shrugged.
But suddenly, Remus began to hum softly. James nodded, and joined in. Then Sirius and Peter began to sing along. Soon, the four of them were singing the Everybody's Nerves song.
"We know a song that gets on everybody's nerves/ Everybody's nerves/ Everybody's nerves/ We know a song that gets on everybody's nerves and this is how it goes…
"We know a song that gets on everybody's nerves/ Everybody's nerves…."
At first, people in the halls thought nothing of this. Everyone just chuckled and thought the muraders were being their same old, goofy selves. But Lily, Belle and Maidson knew better.
But as Double Care of Magical Creatures began, the boys couldn't stop singing. Professor Higgle reprimanded them over and over, but they continued to sing. James and Peter were pointing at Lily, trying to show the Professor that they weren't acting upon their own free will. But Sirius seemed to be playing up this attention for all it was worth.
He would walk amongst the Slytherin students and Gryffindor students, belting out the song at the top of his lungs, hardly pausing for a breath. People would hit him across the face as he leaned on them and started to serenade them with the one song that really did get on everybody's nerves.
Professor Higgle was a short-tempered witch with short gray hair and long green robes. She was the type of person you did not want to aggravate.
"BOYS!" Professor Higgle shouted. "I swear, if you lot don't silence yourselves, you will be facing some serious detentions!"
Peter's face fell. He always avoided detentions as much as possible. But his song continued, and try as he might to close his mouth, he was fighting a losing battle.
"And Mr. Potter, you will lose your privilege as a Prefect if you can't control your songbird ability!" Higgle warned. James eyes widened, but then narrowed as he looked at Lily.
Lily just grinned innocently. If she continued to play her cards right, she could make James lose his Prefect badge.
But the look on his face was almost too painful. He was staring at Lily, his eyes begging her to reverse the spell, even though his mouth was singing loudly. It was actually quite comical. But suddenly, the argument Lily and James had had on the first night back swam into her brain…
"I've worked my ass off to get this far… and I plan on being Head Boy." Did Lily hate him so much to take that dream away from him? And his parents… what would they think if their son suddenly lost his badge he had worked so hard to achieve?
She whipped out her wand and softly muttered, "Soliloquy Finite." Suddenly, James and his friends stopped singing. Sirius looked at the large, pimply Slythierin girl he was singing to, and stepped away slowly.
"It was Lily, Professor! She did it!" James hollered. "She cast that hex on us!"
"Lily!" Higgle exclaimed, whipping around to star at her. "Is this true? And don't you dare lie to me…"
Lily thought for a moment, bit her lip, and said, "Yes, madam. But James started it… I swear. Last night he-"
"I already know what occurred last night, thank you. You and James will serve you detentions together in hopes that you will learn to get along." Professor Higgle said.
"D-detention?!" Lily gasped.
"It's really not that bad, Lily. I've been there hundreds of times!" Sirius said cheerfully.
"But Professor, I-" Lily began. "James-"
"This is not to be discussed, Lily." Higgle snapped. "Meet me in the entrance hall tonight at six- both of you."
Lily moped down to the entrance hall at quarter to six. She couldn't believe this was happening. In all her years at Hogwarts, she had never once faced a detention. But now, here she was, waiting to meet James Potter.
Professor Higgle arrived shortly after Lily. She began pacing around the hall, keeping an eye out for James.
"Where is that boy?!" Higgle wondered.
"I don't know." Lily replied. "But I still have homework, Professor. Will this take long?" Maybe she would get let off because of James' tardiness.
"It depends on how long it takes Mr. Potter to arrive." Higgle sneered. Lily sighed. But finally, James came walking down the marble staircase at 6:15.
"Why, Mr. Potter! Thank you for showing up!" Higgle snapped. "For your detentions, you will be helping the gamekeeper, Hagrid."
"What exactly will we be doing to help him?" Lily asked tentatively. She had seen Hagrid on grounds and he always looked a little frightening, although she had never actually met him. Lily had heard rumors that he was Slytherin's heir and had tried to purge the school of the muggle borns. She hoped now, more than ever, that those were just rumors.
"You will be helping him clean the Quidditch Stadium." Higgle said swiftly, leading the way down the stone steps. "As I'm sure you know, James, we have our first Quidditch game of the season next weekend, and we need the field in top-notch condition."
When they reached the huge stadium, Lily was surprised at how much bigger it seemed now that she knew she had to clean it. Although, the stadium was always big. It was a long, oval shaped, grassy field with hundreds of seats surrounding it. The six goal posts were positioned three at each end 50 feet in the air, and there was sand neatly spread beneath them. Lily noticed that Hagrid was carefully sifting the sand back into its area. Hagrid was an unnaturally tall man with wild brown hair, beetle-like eyes, and a long, mole skin coat.
"Rubeus! Rubeus!" Higgle called. "I've brought you some help!"
"Ah!" Rubeus Hagrid said enthusiastically. "Great! I could ruddy well use some."
"I'll just leave you three to it, then, shall I?" Higgle said. "I'll come back for you in a few hours." She said to Lily and James.
"Bye!" Hagrid said, waving. "Right." He said, turning to Lily. "I want both of yeh ta scrub the seats in the stadium. I've got some stuff yeh can use… and here're some cloths…"
He handed James bottles and bottles of cleaning supplies and then began loading Lily up on rags and scrub brushes. Then Hagrid handed them each a bucket of water, which they held onto unsteadily.
"Right then, straight to it." He said. "By the way, whatter yer names?"
"I'm Lily Evans…" She muttered, cautiously bending down to pick up a dropped wash cloth.
"James. James Potter." James said. "It's nice to meet you. Com'on, Lil." He said, motioning to Lily to follow him up a flight of stairs that led to the stadium seats.
James led them to the very top of the stadium so they could clean their way back down again. When they were as high as they could go James set down his bucket and bottles of soap and rolled up his sleeves, revealing his muscular arms.
"Where do you reckon we should start?" He asked. He said this as though it was no big deal, but Lily found this whole situation very ridiculous.
"How should I know? I've never had a detention before." She snapped, setting down her things as well.
"Oh, come off it." James said. Grabbing a purple bottle and emptying its contents into James' bucket. "It's both our faults we're here."
"Honestly!" Lily sighed. "You're the one who started this whole prank thing in the first place." She said bitterly, tossing the purple bottle to the floor. She snatched a violent blue bottle and pouring the soapy liquid into her bucket.
"My fault?" James asked. "Oh, God. You're not talking about that chair thing, are you? That was on the first night back. You didn't take that seriously, did you?"
Lily chose not to answer, but dipped her brush into the bubbly, cold, water. She began to scrub the first chair with great force.
"Jesus." James muttered. "You can be so… so…"
"So what exactly?" Lily snapped, looking up from the chair to stare harshly at James.
"So… I don't know… evil." James said lamely. Evil? Was that the best he could do? Lily shook her head, and returned to her scrubbing. They stopped talking for awhile, but they moved down the rows of seats slowly. Time passed by, but how long, Lily wasn't sure.
"That was a pretty clever charm, though." James said suddenly. Lily didn't look up.
"Which?"
"The annoying song one." James replied. "I dunno… Sirius found it very funny." He shrugged. "So did Remus."
"And Peter?"
"He thought we were all going to get expelled." James laughed. Lily shook her head and smiled.
"I wouldn't have let you get expelled."
"And why not?" James asked. She could tell he was looking at her, but she stared determinedly at her scrub brush.
"Because I just wouldn't." Lily said shortly. "To be honest, I don't know what I'd do without Hogwarts… I don't think I could force someone to leave."
"Hm." James replied. Then they returned to silence.
"And that rain cloud charm…" Lily began. She couldn't really think of a complement to go with that particular prank, so it melted into silence.
"Well, I will admit, that was a little harsh." James laughed. "Funny, mind you- but harsh." Lily took a quick sidelong glance at James.
He was bent over a chair, scrubbing it carefully with all his might. It was obvious that once he put his mind to something, he finished it with flying colors. His robe was hung carelessly over a chair behind him, and his glasses were sliding down his nose, his Hogwarts tie hanging around his neck, untied and his shirt wasn't tucked in.
Lily smiled, and pushed her red hair out of her face. For one glimmering moment, she almost thought he looked handsome. She almost could see just why girls flocked around him at lunch and why boys would kill to be in his place. And yet, here he was, scrubbing a chair with those fit arms- arms that were claimed to be perfect for Quidditch players.
"Oh God!" Lily said aloud, shaking her head rapidly. Had she just thought James was handsome?! Ugh! The thought was repulsive!
"What? What's wrong?" James asked.
"Nothing… nothing at all." Lily muttered. How could she have thought that? James Potter? Disgusting!
"Er… okay." James said.
"POTTER! EVANS!" Someone shouted. Lily stood up and James rushed to the edge of the platform. He looked down over the banister.
"It's Higgle." He said. "She's back."
"COME DOWN HERE!!" Professor Higgle yelled.
"OKAY! KEEP YOUR SHIRT ON!" James shouted back. "For all our sakes." He said to Lily. She laughed softly.
"Reckon we should bring these back down?" He asked.
"Most likely." Lily replied, picking up her now half empty bucket of water and rags. James slung his robe over his shoulder and picked up the assortment of soap bottles.
When they were back on the grass, Higgle and Hagrid were talking.
"Did they behave, Rubeus?" Higgle asked, eyeing James.
"You bet they did." Hagrid nodded. He glanced at Lily and winked. She smiled back as she placed her bucket and cloths on the ground. "And I thank em both." He added.
"Well, we best get up to the castle." Higgle replied. "See you, then." Hagrid turned back to his grass cutting, and the three of them headed back to the school.
"Er… you do realize that this doesn't change anything, right?" James said softly to Lily. "We're still going to get back at you for the song hex."
"Oh, I know." Lily said. "I didn't expect anything less." She replied honestly.
"Just making sure." James laughed. "What would the muraders say if I told them I'd gone soft on our favorite target?!" He joked.
"It would be a sad day for the muraders, indeed." Lily said, walking a little faster. She really didn't see what would be so bad if they stopped pestering her, but she wasn't about to tell James that.
"Yeah. A very sad day." James nodded. "Hey, slow down." He said, jogging to keep up with Lily's fast pace.
"Well, then." Professor Higgle replied, stopping in the entrance hall. "This is where I leave you two. Hurry up to your common rooms."
"Of course, Professor." James said. Higgle missed the sarcasm. She walked quickly up the marble steps and turned to the left. Lily began to walk up the steps with James at her heels.
"So." James replied, trying to make conversation. "What do you think about that Masquerade Ball? Should be fun, eh?"
"Why are you still talking to me?" Lily sighed, walking faster.
"Well, why not?" James said, smiling and running to her side.
"Because you wouldn't want to ruin your wonderful reputation, now would you?" She said hotly. "Just imagine what the muraders would say!"
"You take things far too seriously, you know that, don't you?" James replied, shaking his head. He had struck a nerve, and he knew it, too. Lily assumed that was the only reason he was still hanging around. Was it his goal in life to bother her?
"So what if I do?" Lily said, walking faster still. "What difference does it make? Roughneck." Lily said to the Fat Lady in the portrait. The picture swung aside, revealing the portrait hole. Lily climbed through, and James followed.
The muraders were all sleeping in random places around the room. Sirius was strewn on the couch, Peter curled on a pouf, but Remus was nowhere to be seen.
"Where's Remus?" Lily whispered.
"Why should you care?" James asked coolly.
"Don't be thick. I'm just wondering."
"It's his grandfather… don't mention it to anyone, Remus is very attached to him." James said, plopping down on the couch next to a snoring Sirius.
"That's very sad." Lily said mischievously. "Remus seems to have a very ill family. Perhaps we should make them all a banner or something, to show our support…"
"No!" James said quickly. "I mean, no, that's not necessary."
"I see." Lily said. "You know, James, I can't help but notice how Remus' family gets ill once a month. What's up with that? First his Great Cousin or whatever, now his grandfather…"
"It's really not that big a deal…"
"Oh, but, James! It is!" Lily said sarcastically. Maybe this time she had really got them right where she wanted them. If Remus was sneaking off grounds every month…
"Lily, don't get involved in things you don't understand." James said.
"I understand perfectly." Lily smirked. "I've got you this time."
"No, Lily. You don't." James said, shaking Sirius.
"Wh-what?! What'd I miss… are we leaving now?" He stuttered.
"Leaving? Where?" Lily asked innocently. "Not off grounds, are you?"
"Shut up, Lily." James said. "Petigrew!" Peter suddenly jolted awake.
"Hm? Oh! Back already, James?" Peter asked.
"I've been gone over an hour, Peter!" James said. "Go away, Lily." He added. Sirius yawned and stretched.
"Fine. This time." She said. She turned on her heel and strode up the stairs. Lily would find out what they were hiding. She wouldn't rest until she had.