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Turn Left Turn Right.
Chapter 11: One Alex, Fresh From The Lake.
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Disclaimer: Am not J.K. Rowling. Don't sue.
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Summary: Two people who are destined to be together, (Lily and James) never meet but are always only a few feet away from each other. They live in bliss, ignorant of others, until one day they chance upon an encounter with each other and realise that their lives have missing pieces in it. They part, but then, are unable to contact each other again, leaving two love- torn teenagers desperately trying to find their other half.
9 January 2004
***
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Squiggles1: Yes, we are obsessed with acronyms. Oh, I'm Chinese, and I'm a lousy language person. I can only speak English and Chinese, and that not even fluently. I have mustered Singlish though! Hehehe... Lol, seems like no one's complaining about the entire chapter on the Marauders and not a single word on Lily and James! That was a genius spark of the moment. Hmmm, hope I can get a few more sparks, they come by awfully seldom... Anyway, I hope you have time to read this, since school has started, I myself am buried in school stuff since I just started junior college.
Indiangurl: Whoo!! You just gave me an idea! I love you man! Err, woman!
ShorTi: Sorry for the late update!!! Happy Hols too!
Banana! / MightyMouth: I'm sorry!! But I really am waist deep in school stuff! Hmm, the note at the end of the chapter might cheer you up a little though. I was trying to get this up after seeing your many reviews, and I tried to rush it out, hopefully you don't mind it being a little late.
Jac: Aragorn!!! HAHAHA!! Okok, thanks for your double show of support. You read my mind! Lol, you're and observant reader! Darn! I wasn't supposed to let that out so soon!
Lady Cecilia: Yes, this story has become something I really like, so I'm going to finish it even if I have to plow through a snowstorm to get to a computer... =)
blueseveryday: I'm from Singapore! And it is adapted loosely from the movie, as I've said before, just with additional bits inside, I'm glad you like it...
Jegan: I'm so sorry! Hmm, hopefully I can get the next chapter up soon, the note at the bottom might give you a little Valentine's Day cheer!
Eihwaz and Lourdaise: Thanks lots! =)
Secret: Which parts?!?! Oh no... Ok, hmmm, I better do that soon, anyway, my sisters will prolly think I'm a lunatic for mumbling to myself.
Kat44: Thanks, and well, that's not exactly what's going to happen, but it's not quite far away.
Fulldark: Ok, I'm updating, and I've read your stories, and I'm getting around to reviewing, I promise I will. Sorry, it's been real hectic for me.
julyborn09: Updating! And, hmmm, you're quite right. But, as usual, that comes later!
Dippy: Honestly, I have no idea how many chapters its going to be. I just have a story plot, but I write as I go along. But, tentatively, maybe about ten or less than? Hmmm, not very sure.. Winter in Singapore is hot! How sad is that?!? Lol.
Lady_iris27: Hmmm, what you were hoping for isn't coming yet though, they will kind of be quite at the end, right before James and Lily gets together...
Princess Emily: They will meet! They will meet! Not yet though... =)
Agloechen: I understood that perfectly well... Heehee, LOTR ROCKS! But what I found extremely funny was the part where Legolas said "a diversion!"
Athena Lune de Etoile: Thanks a lot! Lol, Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to you.
aurora_borealis: You found it funny??? HONESTLY YOU FOUND IT FUNNY?? I LOVE YOU! I'm not a very good humor writer! What you said just made my day!
ChickoftheDarkMoon: Thanks lots!
Togarrop: It's ok, I kind of know how you feel, but hmmm, I suppose it adds a little more to the story...
HoNeY-sWeEt: DIE ALEX DIE! Well, you'll get to know what Malfoy is planning in due course! But it's bad! He gets a little pranking here.
Sasinak: Merry Xmas (a little too late) and Happy New Year (too late too!) Yes, I'm having a though time with school now.
Dee Ann: Thanks! Oh, hmmm, this comes too late, so well, Merry Xmas and Happy New Year.
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Squelch... Squelch... He grimly closed his eyes and grimaced as he marched through the hallway. Around him, people turned to stare as he passed, each holding hearty sniggers behind hands, others not even bothering to be polite, but instead, burst out laughing as they glimpsed him.
'What did I ever do to deserve this?' He wondered to himself.
Squelch... Squelch."Woah!" Someone behind him yelped and a thudding sound could be heard.
Squelch... 'Oh god... That squelching sound is getting on my nerves.'
He glared at everyone he passed.
Squelch... His boots, full of water made a squelching sound as it hit the floor. Mossy-green algae hung from the sole of his boots.
Alex angrily marched up the staircase outside the Great Hall. His brown-blonde hair stuck up at odd angles, various objects stuck inside the nest of hair. The lake water on his hair had evaporated, causing the residual crystals of salt to crystallize onto his hair, and harden it, producing a gel like effect, that incidentally made on side of his hair stick right up, and the other flay all over the place. He clutched his pair of wet socks in his fist. The neon green pajamas with purple Lilies on it, and the matching bottom, dripped water onto the stone floor, and patches of dirty-green stained his face. Half his body was stained an unbecoming black.
Behind him, the person that had unsuspectingly stepped onto a puddle of water and slipped cursed angrily at his back, and Alex marched on, cross-eyed, into the castle.
*
James yawned loudly and woke up, stretching his tall 6"3 frame in the soft bed. He glanced around the room sleepily. The wizard clock read 'just on time to get ready for school'. Outside, the sun was shining, the birds were chirping, the sky was blue. And in his room, his three other friends were sitting on the edge of his bed, looking at him funnily.
He yawned again. Everything was just fine.
Then, his brain froze. 'Padfoot, Moony and Wormtail in my room?!'
The last traces of sleep disappeared from his brain as he sprung up to stare at his friends.
"Good morning Prongs!" Sirius said brightly.
"That's right, how are you doing on this fine morning?" Moony questioned, as he flipped nonchalantly through James' latest copy of Quidditch Through the Ages.
"I see you're finally awake!" Peter exclaimed.
"What are you guys doing here?" James asked dumbly.
The three stopped what they were doing, and turned their heads to him, with a duh-duh look on their faces.
"Aww, come on guys! It's not like I'm locked up in my room anymore, right?"
"Yea, but it could happen again," Sirius replied.
James shrugged. "So, tell me where it is."
"Where what is?" Three voices replied, each with too innocent looks plastered on them.
James snorted. "The innocent look doesn't go well on your faces. Padfoot, you look like something got shoved up your ass. Come, on, tell me where it is! I know you don't have my room's password. It's 'Padfoot, you ass' by the way. - HEY! replied an indignant Sirius - So, you couldn't have gone in through the door. Now, where is that secret passage?"
The three Marauders suddenly busied themselves with doing other things.
"Prongs, if you don't get ready now, we're gonna be late," Remus said from his left, while inspecting his bookshelf.
Two other heads nodded agreement.
"Oh, and Prongs?" Peter asked sheepishly.
"Yea?"
"Could you spare the three of us some school robes?" Peter indicated to the three of them who were in Muggle clothing.
James threw three sets of robes over to them.
*
Lily happily got dressed for school, humming softly to herself. From what she knew, Alex was a chronic late sleeper, and by the time he got up, she would have had enough time to get out of her room, and go to classes, where she knew that he, not being a Hogwarts student, was barred entry from the classrooms during lesson time.
"Hmm... The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the sky is blue... and Alex is gone... what a perfect day,' Lily mused to herself, and smiled.
*
The four Marauders made their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast.
"I still can't believe you're keeping that secret passage from me!" James griped. "It makes me feel so constipated!"
Remus looked at him weirdly through the corners of his eyes.
"I need to know where that secret passage is! I don't care!" James exclaimed.
"I understand," Sirius replied, nodding very seriously. "Usually constipated people don't give a shit."
"Sirius!!" Three voices chorused.
"What's that sound?" Remus queried suddenly.
The other three paused, straining their ears to pick up the sound that their Remus' werewolf-enhanced hearing could hear, but they could not.
Soon, the object, or sound in this case, of Remus' curiosity came into hearing range.
Squelch... Squelch...
"Hmm..." James responded. "It's sounds like a duck with a sore throat to me. Eww... What the hell is that smell?"
Squelch... But, along with the strange sound, a horrible smell of rotten eggs came drifting towards them.
The answers became apparent soon enough.
A boy rounded a corner and came into view. James, Sirius and Peter snorted at the sight, and even Remus couldn't help but let out an audible chuckle.
"What in heavens happened to him?" James asked, and held his nose as he came nearer to them.
Sirius shrugged, and laughed openly.
He reeked of rotten eggs, and dripped water from head to toe. Stains covered the front of his shirt, and his hair stuck wildly out, with a twig caught amongst the mess.
"What are you looking at!" He yelled as he saw the Marauders staring at him.
"He's polite too," Remus murmured as he stared at the guy, disgust showing on his face. "Haven't I seen him around before?"
"Yea, he's the guy that worked in the Hospital Wing while I was there. Bloody ass." James said. He rolled his eyes openly, and made an 'L' sign with his fingers on his forehead. "What a loser," he muttered under his breath. "This calls for some pranking. Now..."
*Boom*
A hazy grey smoke engulfed the guy, and when it cleared, a grayish-green and lumpy substance covered his forehead, and a big red 'L' was pasted onto his back.
"Not the best of pranks, but -" Sirius said.
" - still works like a charm anyway." Remus finished. "What was that thing on his head anyway?"
James shrugged, then grimaced. "That? Oh, that was Bear's Bile. He stuffed me with it while I was in the Wing. I just gave him a taste of his own medicine."
*
Lily stretched as she finished off the last of the baked potatoes on her plate, and it returned to a sparkling gleam. She stood up, and grabbed her bag, and was just about to head towards the portrait hole, when a crashing sound was heard, and the portrait swung open.
"What the -" She started.
Alex stood there, looking around wildly, and with his eyes crossed. A strange lumpy substance that Lily, thought, with a sneaking suspicion that it was the Bear's Bile he had given her, was splattered on his forehead. Twigs were stuck in his hair, and his purple pajamas were ruined.
"Oh, it's you. Not exactly looking peachy today, are we?" She said, and smiled slightly. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have lessons to attend."
"Lily darling, why did you do that?" Alex whined. "Don't you love me? Did you know how awful it was for me to wake up floating in the middle of some disgusting lake?"
Lily paused. 'Hmm... I was wondering what happened...'
*** Flashback ***
Alex yawned loudly, and stretched. He opened an eye slightly, and the clear blue of the sky filled his vision.
He closed his eyes and smiled to himself. "I'm sleeping soundly under Lily's open skylight, the wind is blowing in my hair and..." he murmured to himself, and flipped over on his side, hugging something. "... Lily's sleeping beside me. What a wonderful day this is..."
The thing he was hugging contracted, and slid slimily from his hold, and a splashing sound could be heard.
"Eww, Lily! Didn't you take a bath yesterday night?" Alex mumbled. "You feel awfully slimy. And what's that splashing sound anyway?"
Expecting an answer but receiving none, Alex cracked open both eyes and looked about.
"HOLY SHIT!"
He stared in a horrified trance as a great black circle rose above his head, and closed, and opened again.
In a second, he was covered in black liquid.
The thing - squid - blinked lazily back at him, and rolled over the floating bed sheet, in the process, wiping goo all over him, and then rolling back down into the murky depths of the water.
"Woah-" A shrill-high pitched shriek tore through the cool early morning air, followed by a gigantic splash.
*
In the cool light of dawn, four first year students came tumbling out of the stairway onto the dewy grass.
They quickly made their way over to the Great Lake, peering out across its wide expanse.
"It's here!" One yelped excitedly, pointing off into the middle of the lake.
As they watched, they grey shape slowly moved across the surface of the water, until it loomed right beside them, like a wobbly unshapely mass of grey goo.
"Awesome," one breathed, staring awestruck at the sight. "Oh, wait, its' holding something, see, there? The black thing there..." He pointed upwards.
Their gazes travelled towards where the finger was pointed and, sure enough, there was something held there.
The Giant Squid let out an almighty heave, and steam spouted slowly from his mouth, then he uncoiled his tentacles, and dropped the thing he was carrying onto the ground. It opened its mouth wide, and after letting out a heaving sound that sounded suspiciously like laughter, he splashed back into the water.
"Ooh, cool!" One of them breathed. "I told you that our hard work would pay off! I knew that if we bribed the Giant Squid continuously with food, he would bring us treasure from the bed of the lake. Did you know, it's rumored that the only model of the StarFire29 broom is lying at the bottom of the lake..." He trailed off as he walked towards the pile, his friends walking excitedly beside him.
He bent down and flipped the thing over, and for a while, all was silent.
"Eww! Gross! What the hell is this?!" Someone exclaimed into the morning.
And there, lying at their feet was a rather muddled up, and looking worse for the wear, was Alex Whipple.
*** End Flashback ***
Lily struggled to hold back her laughter as she gazed in a slight daze as he finished his story. It wasn't that it had been torturous for him, in fact, Lily was hoping for something more interesting, but the way that he recounted it, with his long, pole-thin arms waving around like windmills, and his crazy cross-eyed look that made her want to burst out laughing.
Finally, she could no longer hold it back.
"Would you please excuse me..." She muttered haltingly, mirth shining in her eyes. She turned to one side, grabbed her bag, pressed it to her face, and let out a loud shriek of laughter that the bag failed to muffle.
"Yea?" She replied when she had finished, looking up at him again.
"Lily," he whined. "That wasn't funny at all! For all you know, I could have been hurt... or maybe even dead!"
"Miracles don't happen everyday," Lily replied dryly. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have lessons to attend..." And she left, laughter bubbling out of her mouth at every step of the way.
*
James leant back in his chair and tilted it so that it rested only on its two back legs. He hummed tunelessly, letting an expression of satisfaction appear on his face.
"Easy peasy," Sirius muttered from his place beside James.
They were supposed to be transfiguring mushrooms into a ring of magical fairy mushrooms, and while many were still struggling with the basic colour transformation, the pair were done, and even had additional touches.
A minute rose fairy sat primly in the centre of James' transfiguration, on the biggest mushroom of stunning silver, something that was not part of the requirements, while Sirius' mushroom ring were splashed with a wealth of colour, each of the seven with the pictures of the Slytherin Quidditch Players on a dart board pictured on it.
Sirius flashed a wide smile at McGonagall as she walked past, her lips thinning in disapproval at his work. But, miraculously, she walked past without a word escaping her lips. He turned his smirk onto James.
"My charm works like a charm." A confused look past his face, as he tried to figure out what he just said. "Ahh. or something like that."
Behind them, Remus leant forward as he completed his transfiguration, (with small toads sitting under the mushrooms) and conjured up small darts, and started shooting them at Sirius' mushrooms.
McGonagall walked past and frowned at them. "Lupin, try to refrain from mutilating Black's mushrooms before a grade is given." And she bustled away to the other side of the classroom, where the Slytherins were seated, to check their progress.
All was quiet save for the occasional muttering and tapping of wands.
"Nott," McGonagall's wry voice rose from one of the Slytherin tables. "Remember that we are trying to transfigure mushrooms, not Malfoy. No matter how much you think he looks like a mushroom."
Sirius muffled the laughter that was bubbling out of his mouth as sounds of Nott's furious, but somewhat useless, protests drifted over to the Marauders table. He smirked in a satisfied way, and tilted his chair back, twirling his wand and calmly examining to damage he had wrought.
The spiral designs on Nott's mushrooms has been transplanted onto Malfoy, so that has hair and his face was coloured in mind-boggling swirls of black and white, green and silver. Malfoy glared disgusted as he inspected his new look in a compact mirror, and his black rimmed eyes blinked menacingly.
McGonagall cut into Nott's protests with a collected, "We shall discuss your detention after lessons has ended-" but before her sentence had ended, a loud clonking sounded through the classroom, and everyone turned their heads towards the source of the noise, irritated that their concentration was disrupted.
The front legs of James' chair dropped back onto the ground, but he appeared nonplussed at the glares he was receiving, and after a moment, heads turned back downwards as people resumed their work.
"I'm missing something," he said, as he peered closely at his work.
Peter snorted and looked up as he completed. "Oh, who cares, you're probably gonna get another full score, not counting credit."
"Ah, got it..." James exclaimed, not taking heed of what Peter had said, he frowned and prodded with his wand, and a moment later, beautiful white Lilies sprung up around the mushrooms.
Sirius snorted. "Lily, oh Lily." He said in a sing-song voice, earning startled glances at his sudden outburst from the people around them.
McGonagall came around, nostrils flaring.
"Black!" She barked. "I don't mind you fooling around after you've completed your assignment, but please do not disrupt the concentration of other around here!" She turned her glare onto the other three Marauders who were snickering at Sirius. "And you three, what is your fascination with our Head Girl?"
"Us, Professor?" Remus replied innocently.
"Yes, Lupin," she replied tightly. "What is this about Miss Evans?"
Her question was met with silence. She let out a small disbelieving snort. "Do not tell me you do not know who the Head Girl is, especially you James!"
She got four questioning gazes in return.
"Surely not?!" Her mouth thinned further, something no one had though possible. "Miss Lily Evans is an outstanding student, and I expect you to get to know her well. It is a rare chance that both Head Students come from the same house, and you must set an example!"
"Yes Prof-" It took a few moments for the fact to register in James' brain, but finally it did. He cut off in mid-sentence, staring off into space for a while, before returning so abruptly that you had to wonder if his concentration had left McGonagall for even a second.
"-Lily.? Lily Evans, you said?"
"I believe that was exactly what I said Potter. Try to remember that next time."
"LILY?!?!"
"Yes, Potter!" McGonagall replied in irritation at his sudden outburst.
"YES!" He jumped up from his seat, sending it crashing to the ground in a resounding thud, and punched a fist into the air, that narrowly missing McGonagall's nose, eyes shining in happiness.
McGonagall spoke furiously, but the words all but went unheard in James' brain.
*
The four of them walked easily along the corridors after lessons that day, with an easy-going smile on their faces. They were friends with many, but good friends with none, save themselves, and only smiled in greeting to those they knew who passed them, and not stopping to chat.
"I can't believe I forgot the Head Girl's name was Lily!" James exclaimed loudly.
"Now, see," Peter cut in. "I told you we should have stayed and watched!"
"Well," Remus said dispassionately. "It came at a price though," he pointed out.
Sirius waved his hand in a dismissive manner at his friend. "Aww. what is two detentions to someone who already has five hundred under his belt?"
Remus shrugged. "True."
*
The four were assembled in James' room after dinner.
"Shouldn't we at least use the Map to check if she's there first?" Peter asked. "She might not be there you know?"
"She will be," James replied confidently. "Anyway, the Map is in the Gryffindor Tower and I'm not going to wait."
After that somewhat amazing revelation, the Marauders were discussing paying the mysterious Head Girl a visit, of course, not by the way a normal person would have done, but via secret passage.
"Well then, what are waiting for?" Peter shrugged and stood up, and the rest followed him to the panel of wall behind which lay the newly-discovered secret passage.
They panel opened and then clicked shut, and the fire cast a flickering glow over the place where the had once stood.
*
Remus lead the way, his wand casting a small pool of light in front of them so that they could make out their way. The dust caught in the beam of light twinkled as they drifted around in the swirls of air created by the four, and dust that had been untouched for what could possibly be centuries whirled around their feet and ankles. Other than that, everything outside the small globe of light was pitch black.
*
"Oh, hurry up!" James said for about the hundredth time since they had started the walk, the excitement in his voice was plain, and it was starting to infect every single one of them and their pace quickened considerably until the were walking along in ground eating strides.
Not ten minutes later, the four stood outside the opposite end of the passage, and they pushed wrenched the lever down.
The moments between them pulling the panel and it opening seemed interminable, especially to James, who waited with bated breathe, as though he was on the verge of an amazing discovery, yet, it only seconds passed before they could peer into the room.
A slight pause later...
"Well," Sirius turned back from the vantage point he had, hovering halfway out of the door, and looked at his friends. "The room's empty."
James shoved his way to the front, almost causing Sirius to topple out into the room, before Remus and Peter could grab him back into the passageway.
"Let's go in and see then," James said after a while. "She might be downstairs."
Before he could step out into the room, the sound of the knob turning caught them.
"Oh, good she's back!" James exclaimed.
But, as the door creaked open inch by inch, it was evident that the shadow cast by the flickering flames, no matter how distorted, did not belong to a girl of any sort, and the sounds that followed certainly were not made by a female.
A deep croaky voice singing the wrong words to wizarding tune they knew well floated into the room.
"What the-" Sirius exclaimed as he heard it.
The shock of it cost them to topple back into the passageway with a thump, and four following 'ouch's' to be heard.
*
Alex paused at the door as he heard voices coming from the room. A chorus of what sounded like 'ouch's', albeit very muffled could be heard, followed by a click, and then all was silent.
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Hey! People! I love you guys to death! (Well, I'm not going to kill you!) Everyone, Happy New Year, and as we past 2004, let's reflect on the past year, what we want to do and don't want to do in the upcoming year, and know how lucky you are that you have managed to live past 2004.
Ok, back to the crazy old me! Well, seriously, work has started for me and it's been real crazy, since I entered a new stage, erm, junior college that is. So I really am quite unused to all the long days and additional stuff. Well, I'm sorry, but even as I say I'll try my best to update ASAP, and regularly, I'm afraid that it's not possible. I'm not going to stop writing coz writing is a passion for me, so well, hope you guys can patiently wait for every new chapter.
Oh, yes, this chapter seemed a little weird for me, I hope you find it enjoyable enough though. It came to me after quite some time, so it might be a little off.
And, yes, I'll try to get the next chapter out within the week. (cross my fingers that I can pull it off) Since I have a special Valentine's Day edition to put in...
~cube