Catch Me If You Can
Chapter Nineteen ll Catch Me If You Can
======
"I want foo--ood," Lily said hurriedly as she rushed into the Great Hall and ran to the Gryffindor table.
"Good morning Lily," Peter greeted her, as she was the first one to reach him.
"Oh -- hi Peter," Lily said warmly and hastily, grabbing the first thing she could reach (a crossiant) and picking up the jam jar. The others caught up with her, huffing and panting as she had insisted on speed-walking to the Great Hall.
"We have Transfiguration in two minutes," Remus warned.
"Damn -- but you haven't had breakfast yet," Lily said through a mouthful. Actually, what most people heard was, "Uhm, beu oo aff'nt 'ad brookfest yet."
"Yeah, we have," Sirius said lazily, "We had a bite before James made us --ow!-- go up to find you three."
James had trod onto his foot heavily, and now stood there trying to look innocent.
Glancing at the boy suspiciously, Lily swallowed her crossiant, took a gulp of orange juice, stuffed a slice of toast in her mouth, grabbed a muffin and yelled muffledly, "Let's go!"
She rushed out of the Great Hall.
"That girl just comes and goes," Sirius said breezily, staring after her.
"I reckon."
They all made it to class in record time, and even got there before Professor McGonagall.
Panting a little, they dropped into their seats. The rest of the class were chatting, annoying each other, throwing things across the room and doing whatever they pleased.
Lily was eating her muffin while talking to Scarlett, who was sitting behind her. Unfortunately, she was a rather messy eater and had brandished a lot of crumbs onto her desk, and onto Leonie Renalds, who was sitting beside her.
Leonie belonged to the "popular" group. She was tall, slim and very pretty. She belonged to the type of people who everyone claimes they hate, but always act nice to and are secretly pleased if one of them compliments them. You know, one of those kind of people. Leonie was generally a nice girl who gives the sort of vibe that she thinks she's better than you. But still a nice person. An overly nice person who will be extremely menacing if you piss her off.
"Lily, could you please not eat that thing?" Leonie asked sweetly, while brushing the crumbs away with a look of disgust, "Or at least try to eat more properly."
Two of her friends began to giggle at the supposedly funny remark.
Lily smiled grimly as if she found the remark funny as well. She gave a short, fake giggle while saying, "I'm so sorry, Leonie." While she giggled, she expelled a glob of saliva combined with a few more crumbs that landed on Leonie's skirt.
"LILY!" Leonie screamed, jumping up.
The nastily amused expressions on her friends' faces were immediately replaced with looks of horror and vengenance.
"Lily, get her a tissue!" Stacey Williams ordered, while trying to comfort Leonie.
Lily turned to Paige, who never thought very much of Leonie and was smiling at the whole scene.
"Should I?" the redhead asked her mockingly.
Paige laughed, "Of course. See, here's a tissue right here."
She tossed a pastel tissue that was pink across the table.
Leonie shot a particularly nasty look at her while she gingerly picked the tissue up, "Thanks..." She murmured something incoherent afterwards that set Stacey and Whitney Taylor (her other friend) into hysterical giggles.
"I'm sorry, didn't quite catch that," Paige said utmost sweetly. Most students had stopped talking to witness the scene. They could sense a catfight coming up.
Meeeeeeeow!
"Thanks, whore," Leonie said loudly.
"Oi," Lily said at once, "I wouldn't know what you're talking about--"
"Do hold your tongue, Mud--" Whitney said heatedly.
"Shut up," Sirius and James said at the same time, standing up. They were so angry they didn't even look at each other at their perfect timing.
Whitney looked at them with wide eyes, then turned to look at Leonie, obviously waiting for instructions.
Leonie simply shook her head; she knew better than to pick a fight with the Marauders. They didn't hit girls but there was no rule for the Marauders against giving girls a light prankfest.
"Everyone, sit down and settle down!" Professor McGonagall commanded as she walked into the classroom. Everyone sat down in their spots.
Leonie, Lily, Whitney and Paige were glaring daggers at each other. Stacey had her nose up in the air and she kept looking down at Lily. Anna was doodling fairly bad cartoons that looked suspiciously like Leonie and her friends, in her notebook.
The lesson progressed on. Professor McGonagall was teaching them how to change animals into drinking goblets. James managed to do it on his third try, but Lily was having a lot of trouble.
"Damn this stupid wand-thing and all animals!" she cursed on what felt like her billionth try. James grinned at her.
"You're doing it all wrong -- it's supposed to be this -- flick," he said, demonstrating.
Lily looked at him, then tried to imitate him. She failed miserably. James just chuckled and righted his glasses. He showed her again.
By the end of the day, a thoroughly tired but contented group of students trooped back to the common-room and collapsed onto the welcoming armchairs. It had been a long day.
"I'm s--so tired," Lily yawned, stretching on a sofa and then relaxing.
"Me too," Anna said, stifling a yawn, "Still... homework to do, peoples. Might as well get it out of the way."
She pulled out her books. Lily watched as she took out some parchment and a quill, and began to write. Anna did look a bit different from the previous year. Her long fair hair was now up to her shoulders and curled a little at the ends. She had also done something to the colour so that it was more blonde. Lily was sure it hadn't been that blonde last year. Anna was also a little taller and, since she wore glasses when she read or wrote, she just looked different.
Lily sat in tender silence for thirty seconds. Then she stood up.
"I'm going for a walk," she announced, "A bit of fresh air will make me feel... fresh. See ya later."
Anna and Paige both looked up and mumbled something before resuming back to their original positions.
Lily walked around the tower, passing students and ghosts and saying hello to them. She occasionally stopped to have the odd chat with a friendly portrait. When she decided to head back to the common-room, she met James along the way, who had just finished detention.
They both stopped short and looked at each other. It was odd how they were going in opposite directions, yet they were trying to reach the same destination.
"Why, hello," James said smoothly.
"Hi -- can you move out of the way?" Lily asked shortly, as James was blocking the corridor.
"No, I think I'll stay here," James said, looking around in mild interest, "Do you have a problem with that?"
"Yeah, I do," Lily said frostily. Why did Potter have to be so damn annoying?
"Move, or I'll scream."
"You wouldn't."
"Oh, wouldn't I?"
"Nope," he said loftily.
"No, hey?"
"Yup."
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH--!"
James immediately covered Lily's mouth with his hand, looking around as if checking for eavesdroppers.
"Quiet, you baloney!" he said in a loud whisper, uncovering her mouth.
"Uh huh," Lily said with raised eyebrows, "I knew your reputation would be ruined if anyone found out you made a girl scream bloody murder--"
"Oh, shut up."
"Believe me, Potter, if I had a loud speaker I would follow you around all day and talk right in your bloody ear."
It took a moment for Lily to realise he would see no threat in her message as he wouldn't have the faintest idea what a loud speaker was, anyway.
"Um... okay?" James tried, looking confused, "You know... you looked nice today."
Well, that was random. Lily almost fell forward in her shock.
"Huh? Are you feeling alright?"
"Yeah," James said with a small frown.
"I think you're sick," Lily decided at once, reaching up and putting her hand on his forehead.
"I'm fine!" James protested, stumbling back.
"Your glasses are blurry then," Lily said in a business-like voice, taking his glasses. James watched her cautiously as she inspected them, then tapped them with her hand. She stopped suddenly and seemed to be thinking about something.
"Later, Potter!" she yelled unexpectantly, grinning as she ran off.
James stood there, blinking for a few seconds. Then he took hold of what was happening.
"HEY! I need those!" he yelled after, trying to see where the redhead had gone.
"Not anymore!" Lily called back, tearing up the stairs.
"OI!" James blindly began to run after her. He chased her through tapestries, up more stairs, through disappearings doors, down some stairs, around tricky corridors, past a dungeon, past the girls' bathroom, up the stairs again, around the Gryffindor tower, ("What are you two doing?!" exclaimed Nearly Headless Nick) up and down the Great Hall, and finally, back to where they had started.
"Aww, come on Lily, please?" James pleaded, stopping and resting. He bent down and held his knees while he caught his breath. Lily was halfway up the stairs in front of him. She too was gasping for air, but she had a triumphant grin on her face.
"Catch me if you can," she said teasingly.
"If I can? Of course I can!" James exclaimed indignantly, outraged at the very thought.
Lily, still grinning, tossed the glasses down to him. He yelped and dived onto the ground to catch it. He glared up at her while he put them on.
"Happy?" she called down to him.
"NO!" and with t hat, he began thundering after her.
---
"Where's Lily and James?" Sirius asked Paige as he and Remus walked into the common-room, "Jamsie should be back from detention by now."
Paige gave a half-shrug, "I have no idea. Well, Lily said she was going to go for a walk."
"A walk..." Remus yawned, "How boring."
They all turned around as someone climbed into the common-room. Some random first-years.
"Hey, where's Di?" Sirius wanted to know, turning back.
Paige shrugged again, "She said something 'bout a family emergency heaps early in the morning... Like at six o'clock... She seemed quite nervous. I hope she's alright."
"Another emergency...?" Remus and Sirius exchanged worried glances.
"Yup."
The portrait swung open again. They all looked up and, to their surprise, saw Di herself walking in, carrying a bulging backpack with her. She looked very tired.
"Hi," she said unhappily, walking towards them.
"Are you okay?" Sirius asked worriedly.
"What? Of course I am," Di said persistently. But she immediately sank into the sofa beside Anna and closed her eyes. A minute later, she was breathing deeply and it was obvious she was asleep.
"Poor girl," Anna whispered.
"Something's wrong with her," Paige frowned, "But she's obviously bent on keeping it a secret."
"I reckon," Remus said quietly.
After they had shifted Di around so she was comfortable, Remus said, "You know, she should be more careful. There's a new dark wizard that's gathering followers, other than Voldemort."
The others shuddered as he said the name. It was silly, almost, but the sound of it just struck chills down their bodies. They also had the distinct feeling that in a few years time, no witch or wizard would probably dare speak of it.
"Really? Who else?" Anna whispered, looking scared.
"A wizard called Wyntone," Remus said slowly, "He's apparently very powerful and skilled in the Dark Arts."
"Well, the only way for us to be more careful is to learn more about him. Who votes we take a spin at the library some day and look up stuff about him?" Sirius suggested, looking around.
"I doubt there'd be any books on him," Anna said uncertainly, "But it'd be fun, so count me in."
They all turned to Paige.
She sighed, "Well, alright, I suppose... Merlin, but I'd rather spend my free time doing something else other than look up ugly pictures of ugly dark wizards."
They chuckled.
======
----> A/N: Hehehe... Ain't Wyntone such a dainty name? LOL. He'll play a role in the story. Guess what I had for lunch?! Chicken and curry rice, plain steamed rice with chicken from the kebabs, fried rice, and a bowl of Heinz pumpkin soup to wash it all down! LOL. --MSQ.