SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1~*~ Dumped, Dropped, and Disengaged ~*~

~Can't believe you let me go

~Just to let me know

~You were king of the castle

~Can't believe it

~Just to let me know

~You still wore the crown

~Can't believe you let me go

~Just to let me know

~You were king of the castle

~But bet you can't believe

~That when you let me go

~Surprise, you got to know

~That I was still the queen

There is no way Lily is going to win that bet,' Hilary laughed, pulling on her robes. 'James has never been dumped in his life!'

'I'm not so sure,' Bella replied. 'She's been up to something.'

'Belle, James has been up to something all his life. Lily's my best friend, but I can't see her coming up with something to outdo my brother.'

'I guess we'll see soon, won't we?' Bella sighed.

I grinned as I slipped silently out the door, making sure I was completely covered by the cloak.

I moved down towards the Common Room, where James and Remus where seated on a lounge. James was pulling on his socks. I paused to listen to their conversation.

'Why are you in such a hurry, anyway?' Remus asked.

'There's a... challenge. That I'm going to win, but it all involves in me getting down to breakfast first.'

I rolled my eyes. If that was his plan, it was pretty poor. I had been ready for ages; I could have beat him to breakfast by nearly an hour.

'Let me guess? You're trying to dump Lily before she dumps you? Bella told me all about it.'

'Ooooooh, you and Bella, huh?' James teased, grinning at Remus.

'I don't really see why you even want to break it off with Lily. You're totally in love with her.'

'Even if I was, Remus my friend, she would break it off. Therefore I have to beat her to it.'

'Oh, so you do love her?'

'I didn't say that.'

Having heard enough, I moved to a position near the Portrait Hole and got myself comfortable for the wait ahead.

About ten years later and James and Remus actually made their way down to breakfast. Taking care to remain underneath the invisibility cloak, I shuffled out after them.

We had just made it inside the hall when James was approached by the last person I would ever want to see, let alone deal with first thing in the morning.

Malfoy.

'Oh, look. It's Saint Potter,' he drawled disdainfully.

'Oh, look. It's Dunderhead Malfoy,' James mocked in bored tone. 'Move out of my way.'

'She's not here yet,' Malfoy laughed.

'Who?'

'Your girlfriend. That is who you're so eager to see, isn't it? My, what a surprise I got when I heard that you had stooped so low as to date a mudblood.'

My cheeks were growing hot, and I had to back away to stop myself from exposing myself in anger.

'Shut up,' James warned icily.

'What's it to you who James dates, anyway?' Remus asked darkly. 'We could make comments on the girls that take your fancy, but we don't.'

'May I remind you who you are dealing with here, Mr Lupin,' Malfoy said coldly.

'Like we could forget what a numbskull you are, Lucius,' James laughed bitterly.

I chewed my lip.

James was usually good at controlling his temper, but Malfoy was just as good as making it snap.

'Watch your tongue around a Prefect, Potter,' was the sneered retort.

James gave another hollow laugh.

'You should know by now, detentions mean nothing to me. Now leave me alone and let me go eat my breakfast.'

'You know, not many would have done what you did. Drop one of the hottest girls in the school that just happens to be the Minister's daughter. Especially not for a little wench like Evans.'

James flew at Malfoy, his eyes flashing angrily. My hand flew to my mouth. Luckily for Malfoy, Remus stopped him. James struggled, but was held back.

'What makes Lily so different to you? Why, out of all the muggle borns out there, did you pick her?'

'Because, Potter. She's the only one stupid enough to believe she can win.'

'You must be really scared of her,' James said quietly. 'Or you wouldn't bother.'

Remus released him, and for I minute I thought he was going to attack again, but he didn't move. Instead he turned his back to Malfoy and walked away.

I stood for a moment, completely and utterly shocked. I glared angrily at Malfoy, who was gazing maliciously after James. And for a moment, I was so touched by how James defended me that I began to reconsider what I was doing. But I knew James could handle a joke.

Just then Bella and Hilary filtered in. James and Remus were seated with Peter, and I moved slowly down the aisle to stand behind where James was seated.

'She can't avoid me all day,' he told Remus, taking a sip of pumpkin juice.

Minutes later and I heard the rustle I had been waiting for. I had my fingers crossed behind my back as hundreds of owls swooped down into the Hall.

Garnet was amongst them, and grasped between her claws was a single, red, envelope.

She fluttered down in front of James, and I bit my lip, smiling in satisfaction. James didn't notice her at first, but eventually his attention turned towards the bird and the envelope. The red envelope, with smoke seeping out the sides.

Eventually, Remus's and Peter's gazes fell upon it too, along with some others seated nearby. Everybody was looking at James. Some with sympathy, others with amusement. Looking severely puzzled, James cautiously opened the flap.

'HOW DARE YOU, JAMES POTTER? I REALLY CANNOT BELIEVE YOU! I TRULY THOUGHT OUR FRIENDSHIP MEANT MORE TO YOU THAN THIS! HOW COULD YOU EVEN CONSIDER CHEATING ON SOMEONE? I NEVER THOUGHT YOU'D STOOP THIS LOW! YOU KNOW WHAT, I REALLY HOPE THINGS WORK OUT BETWEEN YOU. THAT YOU GET MARRIED, HAVE KIDS, GET FAT, GROW OLD TOGETHER THEN DIE! AND IN CASE IT'S TOO HARD FOR THAT MINUSCULE LITTLE THING YOU CALL A BRAIN TO COMPREHEND, LET ME ELABORATE A LITTLE FOR YOU: THIS MEANS WE'RE OVER!'

The letter burst into flames and fell as a pile of ashes onto the table. James was staring at it with a fairly calm look on his face. Most people were looking at James in either shock, amusement or scandal, while the group of footballers that knew the true story between our "going out" were laughing uncontrollably. Chatter began to fill the Hall, everyone muttering about James Potter's being ditched.

Grinning from ear to ear and unable to resist the temptation any longer, I leaned in towards him.

'Shot down,' I murmured loud enough for him to hear before backing away. His head shot around, and he narrowed his eyes.

'Alright, Lily Evans,' he laughed, running a hand through his hair. 'You win. Where are you?'

'Wouldn't you like to know,' I laughed back, moving right away and turning to leave the Hall.

James stood and followed, although I could tell he wasn't quite sure if I was going the same way as him.

Once we were out of the Hall and far enough down the corridor, I stooped and took of the cloak, smiling at him with deep satisfaction.

'You got me,' he admitted, raising his palms.

'Big time,' I added, nodding.

'Big time,' he sighed.

'And who was the first person to dump James Potter?'

'The one and only Lily Evans,' he grinned, snatching the cloak off me. 'When did you get this?'

'Last night. Bella and I invaded your room.'

'Ah. So she was in on this too, huh?'

'Only getting the cloak. She didn't know about the howler.'

'Evans strikes again,' James laughed. 'A lot of people doubt her because she doesn't strike often, but when she does...'

'She's deadly,' I finished, pursing my lips in a half smile.

I was deeply amused.

'I really can't believe you did it,' he sighed, running a hand through his hair again. 'It was...'

'Ingenious?'

'Pretty much, yeah. I wouldn't have thought of it.'

Suddenly I thought back to earlier and my mood changed.

'Thank you, for before. With Malfoy...' I said softly.

'You heard it?' James asked, frowning.

'Yeah. Thanks for sticking up for me.'

He shrugged.

'No prob. So, have you been following me around all morning?'

'Pretty much,' I laughed.

'Sneaky little fox. We'll make a marauder out of you yet!' he grinned.

'Marauder?' I echoed.

'Cool, huh? Me and Sirius and Remus and Peter...' he trailed off, and a scowl slipped into his face. 'Well, maybe not Sirius. Traitor.'

I rolled my eyes.

'He'll come around soon enough.'

'If anyone still wants to know him by then.'

I looked down at my watch.

'I should start heading to class. I have Potions...'

'Lucky you,' James laughed. 'I have to run this up to Gryffindor Tower now, you freak.'

'Don't call me a freak,' I pouted, crossing my arms and giving James an exaggerated moue.

'There goes Lily trying to be sexy again.'

'Trying? I don't have to try; I already am. Every little inch of me is dripping with sexiness,' I said, posing.

'Oh yes,' James agreed. 'See you later.'

'Bye,' I grinned, giving him a little wave.

With a sigh, I headed towards potions, praying to the heavens that by some miracle Focena had come down with a mysterious illness.

* * *

That night we had a feast in honour of Ariel, since she was leaving. There was a big banner hanging over Gryffindor table saying "Au Revoir, Ariel", that Bella had helped make. We all signed it so she could take it home and remember her time at Hogwarts.

All in all I wasn't that sad that she was leaving; as nice as she was she sometimes just annoyed me for some reason. I was also looking forward to going back home at the end of the month. So much had happened during the year that I really wanted it to end so we could all start afresh.

Despite the things that had happened during the year, though, it had passed surprisingly quickly. Exams were nearing, and we all spent quite a bit of time studying profusely and trying to ignore James and Sirius, who managed to go every year without studying and still coming out top of their classes. I was wondering what was going to happen this year, now that they had Divination.

'What iz wrong, Lily?' Ariel asked, nudging me.

'Huh? Oh, nothing. Just thinking.'

'About James?' she teased, following my gaze. In actual fact, I had been looking past James at Sirius, who was seated with who I supposed were the fourth years James and Bella ha mentioned.

'No,' I said, elbowing her. She laughed.

'I will certainly mizz it 'ere,' she sighed.

'But you probably miss home more. I wouldn't be able to stay in another country away from my friends and family for as long as you have. I'd go mad.'

'You're already mad,' Bella said. 'Stark raving mad.'

'Shut up,' I said sulkily.

'Stark raving mad, stark raving mad. Stark raving mad, stark raving -'

Toni, who was sitting next to her, clamped a hand over Bella's mouth. She withdrew it quite quickly, however.

'Ow!' she shrieked.

'Belle, eat your tea and not Toni,' I said.

'Yes, mum.'

'Yeveges, muvugum,' Hilary mimicked.

'And what funny little language of yours is that?' Toni laughed.

'It soundz a bit like mermish,' Ariel said curiously.

'It's Avegivoguv,' I said.

'It's what?' Bella asked.

'Avegivoguv,' Hilary repeated. He turned to me. 'How do you know it?'

'Joey and I used to use it. In fact, most of the girls did. We used to drive the boys mad.'

'Speak zum more,' Ariel requested.

'Hevegellovogo Avagarivigievegel,' I said. 'Hello Ariel.'

'Hivigi, Livigilivigy,' Hilary said. 'Hovogow avagare yovogu?'

'Govogood,' I grinned. 'Hovogow avagabovogout yovogou?'

'Grevegate, thavaganks.'

'How the hell do you speak it?' Bella demanded. 'You have to teach it to me.'

'Well, you replace the vowel sound in each syllable with "uvuguv", except instead of using u's in it you use whatever vowel it was. So for "hi", you replace the "i" with "ivigiv". Your name is Bevegellavaga. But it's hard to teach it to someone. You usually start off by listening to it, then you begin to understand it. And slowly you learn to speak it.'

'Hang on, let me have a go,' Bella said. 'OK. So would "cat" be... "cavagat"?'

'Yep,' Hilary nodded.

'And how do you say long words? Aren't they hard? What's "hysterical"?'

'Hivigistevegerivigicavagal.'

'Wow. OK then. I don't know how you do that,' she laughed.

'You'll pick up on it,' I shrugged.

'Having a nice last dinner?' James asked, coming over and squeezing in between me and Bella.

'James,' I whined. 'You're making it squishy.'

'And there's no one I'd rather be squished up with,' he replied, fluttering his eyelashes.

'Yes, Jamsie, and I'm sure Bella loves it too,' I laughed, moving over a little.

'I was talking about you, you freak,' he said, poking me.

'Don't poke me.'

'Why not?' he asked, poking me again.

'Because I said so.'

'OK. But I'm going to stay here because I like being squished in between two hot chicks.'

'Freak,' I laughed. 'James and Bella sitting in a tree. K - I - S - S - I - N - G...'

'Hey, he meant you too,' Bella pointed out.

'So. I've explained it numerous times. It's never gonna happen.'

'But I love you,' James said in a whiney tone.

I stared at him in amazement.

'Did Jamsie just say the big "L" word?' I asked with exaggerated amazement.

'No,' he grinned. 'I said, but I like you.'

'I'm sure.'

'I did!' he insisted.

'Survurgure, survurgure,' I said in a tone that implied I did not believe him one bit.

'What's with the mumbo jumbo?'

'It's avegivoguv,' Bella said proudly, looking happy that she had remembered the name.

'OK. Right then. Backing away...' James said slowly, leaning far away from Bella.

I head butted his shoulder.

'Get off me, freak.'

'Freak,' he repeated. 'Freak.'

'Yes, freak. Look everybody, James just learnt a new word.'

'Hey, freak is my word. I was using it long before you. Freak,' he added with a grin.

'Go look in the mirror before you start throwing big words like that around,' I said, placing my cutlery on the table and standing.

'Listen, guys - I'm gonna go study. Anyone want to come?'

'James will go,' Bella said with a flick of her hand. 'We'll stay for dessert.'

I looked to James, and he stood also, his head bopping. I glanced at him oddly and he moved his face close to mine, bobbing it.

'Freak,' I whispered. Then I turned to Ariel.

'You're not coming back, are you? To the Common Room, I mean. I guess this is goodbye.'

Ariel nodded and stood, opening her arms. I moved over and hugged her.

'Au revoir, Fleur-de-lys,' she whispered in my ear.

'Au revoir,' I grinned in reply as I drew back. 'It was great meeting you.'

'And it iz ze same here. I 'hope you will be coming to vizit one day.'

'Count on it,' I smiled, beginning to walk away. 'See you later, guys. Bye, Ariel.'

'See you, Ariel,' James added, following me.

'Soooooooooooooo,' he said once we were out in the corridor. 'How was your day?'

'Good,' I said, stopping. 'Is this that galleon you told me about? I forgot to look for it the other day.'

'Yep,' he said proudly, crouching down beside the gold coin. I kneeled down next to him. I gave it a little push. It was indeed stuck.

'How many people fell for it?' I asked.

'Quite a few. Not many anymore, though. Everyone knows about it.'

I nodded and stood. We started back up the corridor.

 

'But no, Lily. I can simply not allow you to dance with the potato who's skin is purple because of the orange inside and therefore let the monkeys win over the loss on the roof. It would appear monstrous of me to even consider the mushrooms as a source of light for the photograph's podiatrist,' he said out of the blue. I laughed, leaning my head on his shoulder.

'You don't understand. The fish have to swim to the left because those in the sky like falling up with the rain, though falling out of my chair to the ceiling did hurt my feet when I landed on the front of my back. It was too sunny to dance while the moon masked the sun.'

We both laughed quietly and looked up at each other at the same time.

'Freak,' we both said, grinning from ear to ear.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bit short and pointless, but meh. *bounces up and down*

OMG guys I am so hyper. We had our faction carnival today and my house came third (out of six) *cheers loudly for Rogers* but also my second favourite house, Watkins (because its colour is yellow and I was in Pinjar which is yellow at primary school) came second! My BFF's house came first (Noogongoo. Isn't that the funniest name? *laughs insanely*) and they haven't won in 13 years *points and laughs at Noogongoo* OK you probably don't care but anyway. It was rude because I got kicked out of shot putt so I was mad. And yeah I took a camera and my friend Erin who hates having her photo taken, I kept calling out her name then taking her photo and I got her everytime so she got mad and stole my camera. But its safe now.

Alrighty, results to survey:

It was divided. Impossible to choose so I'm going to go with my leaning towards skipping to fifth year. I will finish this year and I promise it will be a really smooth transition, not just "skip to fifth year", I will make it from Lily's view and change it gradually. She will still talk occasionally about what happened in those years, and also from fifth year onwards I already have A LOT written and I can tell you it's all action packed stuff. *grins and waves around Rogers flag*

Here's a little teaser of the future:

* there's a founder's-four-prophecy-thingy related adventure (very Harry-Potter-ish)

* Dumbledore is suspended as Headmaster

* Lily goes to New York to see Joey, and a lot of bad stuff happens while she's there, AND...

* a Lily/Voldie confrontation! Yay! *does another little dance, still waving the Rogers flag*

Dude, I am so sunburnt. *rubs forehead and grimaces* Damn sunny weather on sports day. When it was supposed to rain. *shakes fist*

OK, I'll go and run around and get rid of my hyper-ness, now.

SezZie

P.S: THANK YOU FOR ALL THE REVIEWS!!!

P.P.S: Amelia Bedelia, have you updated yet? *glances suspiciously @ Amelia Bedelia*