Catch Me If You Can
Chapter Six ll Flying Sky High
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Last Time...
Wondering vaguely where Sirius and James were, she suddenly heard that peculiar word said behind her.
"Hey Mudblood."
Feeling a little nervous but angry, she turned around and saw--
Severus Snape.
"What are you here?" someone behind Lily said in disgust.
She turned around and saw James glaring daggers at Snape. Sirius was behind him, and he too beheld the same look of utmost loathing.
"Potter, Black," Snape spat out the names as if they tasted bad, "Didn't your mothers ever teach you any manners?"
"My mother can go jump off a cliff, for I care," Sirius said coldly. Lily was shocked. Part of her thought that it was her duty to break up the fight, but the other part just wanted to watch.
"You still haven't answered my question," James responded through clenched teeth, "What are you doing here? Dirty Slytherin gits like you don't belong at the Gryffindor table."
"Obviously," Snape said cooly, looking disgustedly at Lily, then at Anna, "I just came to give the Mudblood something she dropped."
He handed Lily a quill, which she recognised as her own. The redhead was at lost whether to thank him or to punch him square in the eyes.
"You call her a Mudblood again and I will--" James started furiously, gruffly grabbing Snape's shoulder and threatening him.
"And you'll what?" Snape said with a smirk, though there was fear building up in his eyes, "Complain to your dear dad?"
Sirius' hand had rested on his wand, and Snape did not fail to notice this. Realising he was outnumbered quite a bit, he shook James' hand off violently, gave one last smirk to the group and stalked off.
"Far out Lily, if he ever calls you a Mudblood again--" James still didn't quite know what he was going to do.
Lily sighed, "It's alright, you know. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me."
James gave her a wary look.
---
"It'll be fine. I've flown on a broomstick heaps of times, and so have you," James reassured himself as well as Sirius at breakfast the next morning.
Sirius simply nodded.
The same thing could not be said about the girls. They were rather nervous, as their first flying lesson was to be held that day. Most of the first years were either excited, nervous, couldn't care less or had fainted from mental breakdowns.
"I just hope I don't fall off the broom," Lily said with a shudder. She hated heights.
"Try not to think about it. Anyway, if you grip tight enough you definitely won't slide off," Paige said logically. She was one of the not many girls that weren't too nervous about flying.
"Okay..." Lily said uncertainly.
There was a few bangs and a loud rustling noise. Anna looked up.
"Oh dear God, what's happening?!"
Lily looked up as well and saw a flock of owls flying into the Great Hall. swooping above the House tables. They dropped packages and letters to the students below, who caught it on the full.
"Whoa, what is happening?" Lily said in awe.
"This is how we got our mail," James explained.
"How come the owls didn't come yesterday, then?" Anna asked Paige.
Paige just shrugged as she moved her breakfast away when an owl dropped a letter for her.
"Yay, I feel special," she said happily, ripping open the envelope. Anna chucked.
Lily went back to her cereal, not expecting mail of any sort from anyone. To her surprise, however, an owl swooped above and dropped not only a letter, but a small parcel as well.
Dear Lily,
Good Lord, it's so boring at home without you here. I hope you're having fun at that magic place. You'll be careful, right? At dinner last night, it was just mum, dad and me. We were eating so quietly... I mean, it just seemed so different without you!
I really have no clue if this letter is ever going to reach you, but mum told me she'd help me deliver it using -- owls. It must be odd having birds flying all over you at times. I would never adjust.
Have you started studying 'magic' stuff yet?
Oh, I almost forgot. I'm going to boarding school. I think I might die. Mum and dad don't want me to go, I don't think they can handle both their daughters away for most of the year. I don't think I can handle living without them there, and even worse, without you there. It's going to be really tough for us all.
But it'll be okay in the end, because it's never the end until everything's okay.
Mum's sending over food, just in case the stuff they serve over there isn't that nice. We all miss you heaps, Lil. Please reply soon.
Love, Petunia. (And mum and dad)
Lily felt a little teary-eyed, but quickly blinked any tears away. She couldn't be sad on their first flying lesson!
So smiling at Petunia's heart-trending letter, Lily put it down and opened up the parcel.
Inside were three blueberry muffins, and a small package of jelly babies.
"What are these?" Paige asked curiously, gesturing to the jelly babies.
Lily chuckled and smiled, "They're muggle candy. Jelly babies."
"Ohhh..." Paige looked confused, "Cool. What do they do?"
Now Lily looked confused.
"What do you mean, 'what do they do'?"
Anna looked up from her toast, "Ooh, jelly babies! Can I have one?"
"Yeah sure." Lily tossed the package over to the fairhaired girl.
"I mean... do they make you sound like a baby? Or make you cry or act like one?" Paige asked matter-of-factly.
"Come again?" Lily said, looking extremely confused.
"I mean, you know," Paige tried to explain, wondering why Lily didn't understand "Ice Mice make your teeth chatter and squeak... And Pepper Imps make you breathe fire. What do these baby thingies do?"
"Ohhh," Lily frowned, "You see Paige, those things you just listed are wizard candy. This is Muggle candy."
"Um, okay. So... no special effects?" Paige asked, looking at Anna chew on a jelly baby.
"Nup."
"Okay."
"Speaking of special effects..." James turned to Sirius and Remus, "...have you got the Dungbombs?"
Sirius nodded, Remus grinned.
"Okay...blue dye?" James demanded.
"Check," Sirius replied.
"Orange dye?"
"Check."
"Acid Pops?"
"Acid Pops?! What do you want to do to them, burn a hole through their tongues?" Remus exclaimed.
James looked thoughtful.
"Alright, first prank of our Hogwarts years may as well be -- harmless. Do we have reinforcements?"
"...Uhh, yeah. Blood lollipops," Sirius suggested.
"Okay. Blood Lollipops?"
"Check."
"Good," James said. Their first prank was in action.
"Check."
"Shut up, Sirius."
"Check."
"He's like a broken record," Remus opinionated.
"Check."
"You know, we better write our wills. The girls are going to be murderous once the prank has been pulled," Remus said sensibly.
"Check."
James grinned, "Oh well. Sirius and I survived Lily's wrath yesterday."
"Check."
"I suppose so..."
"Check."
"Neh, we're too young to die. And they can't kill us. They just love us to bits."
Remus snorted.
...
"The broken record has stopped," James announced with a grin, "Okay, so let's go through the plan one more time. We dye Lily's hair blue--"
"--Paige's orange--"
"--give blood lollipops to Anna, disguised--"
"--and plant Dungbombs in their dormitory."
"I like the sound of that," James said with a satisfied grin, "What do you think of it?"
"Foolproof," Remus answered with a hazy smile.
"Sirius?" prompted James.
...
"Sirius?" James said again.
...
"Check."
--Flying Lesson--
"Now, walk up to your broom and say 'Up!'. With feeling!" Professor Laincoff barked at the Gryffindors and the Hufflepuffs.
"Up!" called James, and his broom shot right up into his hand. He beamed.
"Up!" Lily said clearly. Her broom hovered slightly, but dropped back down onto the grass and rolled on it's side, as if playing dead.
"Up!" Lily almost yelled. Her broom snapped right up into her hand, and she also beamed.
"I said with feeling!" Laincoff snapped at dreamy Hufflepuff girl, who looked taken aback. When Laincoff went to criticise another student, the girl murmured something rude to her neighbour.
When everyone had finally gotten their brooms in their hands (it was amazing that you could simply just bend down and pick it up), Professor Laincoff taught them how to mount their brooms correctly. Then it was time to actually fly.
"Now, hurry up and mount your brooms. Grip it tight, you don't want to go sliding off the end," Laincoff glowered at all the students, who uncertainly mounted their brooms.
"Gryffindors; when I blow my whistle, I want you to kick off, hover, then touch back down, got it?" she ordered.
Some of the Gryffindors nodded, while others looked blank.
"Good. Three -- two -- one--" she blew her whistle and a shrilly sound pierced the air.
Most of the Gryffindors managed to hover in the air for a few seconds, and then land back onto the grass lightly. Some, however, were sent flying around the whole pitch, screaming and yelling. A few, gripping onto their brooms so tightly that their knuckles turned right, could not hover into the air at all.
"I can see you're hopeless," Laincoff snapped at the latter. Then she turned to look at the people whizzing wildly around the hoops, "We'll just leave them there. Won't hurt them to realise that they should obey me and not go showing off. Hufflepuffs, you're next."
"Kick off, hover, then touch back..."
Professor Lainfcoff raised her eyebrows when Lily walked out of the group timidly.
"Excuse me Professor, I really think you should help them," the redhead paused and turned to look at the out-of-control Gryffindors, "I'm sure they aren't showing off."
"No one asked for your opinion, Miss Evans," snapped Laincoff at once. She was Head of Slytherin and, ironically, hated all Gryffindors.
"Now get back to your group and if you criticise my way of discipline, I will be deducting points from your House and handing out detentions. That goes for you all," Professor Laincoff glowered at all the students.
Lily, with a thousand insults and comebacks flashing in her mind, held her temper in and stepped back to her friends.
Once Laincoff had her back turned to the Hufflepuffs, most of the Gryffindors sent piercing glares and other rude signs to her back. The Hufflepuffs had a hard time trying to keep a straight face.
After the Hufflepuffs had hovered, and none of them went out-of-control as they knew the consequences, the teacher whipped out her wand and summoned back the Gryffindors.
They four of them landed down, white-faced and breathless. One of them fainted as soon as her feet touched the grass.
"Weak things," Laincoff muttered.
She recieved some more glares.
Lily climbed the steps to the Gryffindor tower, with Paige and Anna following her.
"Honestly, she should be sacked!" Paige was saying furiously.
"Yeah," said Anna, only half-listening.
"What do we have next?" Lily asked, determined to forget the flying incident.
Paige pulled out her timetable, and scanned it, "Potions," she answered finally.
"At least Professor Flash is nice," Anna commented.
"Potions is fun," commented Lily, smiling a bit when she remembered how she had successfully made a Swelling Potion the day before, and thus earned ten points for Gryffindor.
"Uh huh..." Anna said slowly, taking her bag off from her shoulder and rummaging around.
"Hey, who gave me these?" Anna pulled out a package of red lollipops.
Lily shrugged, "They just look like strawberry lollipops to me."
Paige screwed up her face at the mention of strawberry lollipops, "Muggles have honestly got the weirdest candy."
Anna laughed and placed the lollipops back in her bag again.
"Hey, why are we going to the common-room anyway?" she asked, as they gave the password to the Fat Lady.
"To get my wand," Lily answered promptly, as they went up the spiral staircase to the girls' dormitories, "I left it in my dormitory."
"Oh."
After Lily retrieved her wand, the three set back down to the dungeons for Potions.
---
Weeks flew by, and Lily found out that Hogwarts had become one of her homes.
She got used to the castle; the invisible doors, the doors that weren't really doors, the ghosts popping in and out, the moving staircases, her (strange) friends, her classes.
Lily was topping all her classes quickly. All but Transfiguration, in which she met her waterloo.
She didn't understand it very well. And she had to work extra hard to maintain average grades. To make matters worse, James did best in Transfiguration, and she always felt intimidated by him.
As much as she sucked at Transfiguration, did she excel in Charms.
It was quite amusing now to think back to what Sirius and James had said about Charms on their first day.
Soon it was Halloween. The gang rushed to the Great Hall after classes, and saw it was absolutely beautiful. Decorated with floating pumpkins and candles.
"That looks awesome," breathed Remus.
Everyone laughed and went back to the Gryffindor common-room.
The girls sat at a table and did their homework.
"I hate Transfiguration!" cried Lily, exasperated. She threw down her quill and sulked like MissSugarQuill always does.
"You know Lily, you could get a tutor of some sort," Paige suggested meekly, "You know, maybe afterschool classes with Professor McGonagall or say... James."
Lily looked absolutely horrified.
"Potter?!" Lily gasped, "No way, he's such an idiot!"
"Get over it," Paige said with a grin, "He is cute."
"And you know what, I think he really likes you," Anna chimed in.
"A) Potter is not cute. Please do not say those cursed words again. B) He does not like me, we are merely strange acquaintances for some really odd reason."
"Uh huh," Anna said, rolling her eyes yet smiling.
"He is cute as well. You can't argue with that," Paige added.
"Sod off, Paige," Lily murmured, "I thought you liked Sirius, anyway."
Paige gasped, "Is is that obvious?!"
"Oh Merlin," Anna said, rolling her eyes again.
"Hmm... actually, it wasn't," Lily said sarcastically, "I suppose all that flirting and sweet talk was for fun, was it?"
Paige grinned, "Could've been."
Anna began to giggle, "You were so obvious Paige. Ever since at Florean Fortescue's..."
"Holy hell, ever since then?!" Paige exclaimed, looking aghast.
"Yup," Lily began to giggle, "It was quite obvious, you know. Anna and I were significant, knowing creatures. We knew, we always knew."
Paige stared at her best friends, still a little shocked. She then shrugged it off.
"Oh well, might as well get over it."
Anna laughed and unzipped her bag in search for her ink bottle. After rummaging around a little bit, she found the packet of red lollipops.
"Wow, look at these again. It's almost been two months," she said in awe.
"Ew, don't you clean out your bag often?" Paige asked.
Anna just laughed and shook her head.
"You know, they still look alright to eat," Lily commented.
The three immediately heard muffled noises and saw James and Sirius laughing, and trying not to at the same time. Remus looked harassed. Peter looked -- lost.
The girls stared at them for a few seconds longer, before ignoring them. Anna pulled out a lollipop and popped it into her mouth while continuing her search for her ink bottle.
Two seconds later, she spat it back out.
"What's wrong?" Paige asked.
"God, that lollipop tasted like -- tasted like -- BLOOD!" Anna cried disgustedly.
Paige looked horrified and sick, but Lily worked everything out in about three seconds.
The redhead turned around and saw that the boys were no longer sitting where they had been a few seconds ago.
"Typical," Lily said with a sigh.
"What?" Anna spluttered, bewildered.
"Those guys -- I have this distinct feeling that putting those lollipops in your bag was a prank. They must've put it in--"
"--the day of our first flying lesson," Paige finished, before starting to crack up.
"Two whole months!" Lily cried, also beginning to laugh, "They've waited two months for their prank to work!"
Anna made a face, "Pretty weird prank if you ask me."
"Yes, well now..." Lily glanced at her watch, "...let's get to the Halloween feast."
The three put their books away, linked arms, and skipped out of the common-room down to the Great Hall.
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----> A/N: Oooh, spooky Halloween. --MSQ.