© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2001
A/N: Hey, guess what?
We've been writing this fic for a year now! Happy REAL birthday to Lily!
Lily
Chapter 55
"Watch OUUUUUT!"
Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-SPLAT
At least fifty large, ripe watermelons exploded out of the crate and rolled
heavily across the street, most meeting with messy fates before their journey
was over. The Muggle grocer thundered out of the store. "What in bloody hell is going on out
here??"
Lily tried to disentangle herself from the few remaining melons and the broken
boards of wood while stammering an apology. "Sorry, sir, I just....kind of
didn't see your store there...."
"What d'you mean, you didn't see it? You broke
right through the bloody canopy!"
"Er..." She pushed the brightly painted
sign ('Watermelons - £5') off of her face and found herself staring into the
very angry face of a rather large man. "I'm really sorry."
He pointed an accusing finger in her face. "Now look here, young lady. I don't know what you were doing on my roof -
probably some stupid dare - but I demand that you pay for those watermelons. Now!"
Lily was lost for words. The old broomstick she had been using was still buried
in the rubble with all her luggage tied to it; James, Sirius, and Mr. Potter
had most likely landed safely on the roof; and she only had a few Sickles in
her pocket, not to mention the fact that the crash had attracted the attention
of the whole street. "I - I don't really have any money..."
"Well, I should have known!" The storekeeper bellowed. "Those watermelons
cost me four and a half pounds apiece, and there were twenty-three of them
left! Wait here!" He stomped back into the store. When he emerged, he was carrying a pad of
paper with figures on it, which he thrust into Lily's face. "That's over
£100 that you owe me - even more than that if you consider that I was selling
them for £5, and the mess! Who d'you think is going to pay for cleaning up this mess, hmm? I'll
tell you what, Little Miss 'I'm-sorry,' you're going to compensate for this
somehow!"
She looked around for an escape, then got an idea.
"How about I work here, without pay? Just as long as it
would take to pay for the melons?"
"Is this a trick?" His words were
positively soggy with suspicion.
Lily's mouth went dry. "No trick...I just saw the 'help wanted' sign in your
window. Since I don't have any money, and I'm guessing that you wouldn't trust
me to leave and come back with some -" the grocer snorted. "- this is probably the best thing to
do, don't you agree?"
Still eyeing her warily, he grabbed a pencil from behind his ear and started
figuring on the pad of paper again. "That's about six weeks of five days
that you'd have to work, every day a good chunk of your afternoon gone. Sure
you wouldn't rather be out gallivanting with friends?"
"Are you trying to fire me before I even start?"
"I don't know if I really want someone as clumsy as you on my staff, miss...what's
your name, anyhow?"
"Isabel. Isabel...Jones," she faltered. It was a pathetic attempt at
a fake name, but it was better than 'Suzie.'
"I'm Mr. Lyons. You don't need to know my first name, because you won't be
calling me by my first name. Every day except Saturdays and Sundays, I expect
to see you here at 2:30 sharp, and you won't
be leaving until 6:00. Agreed?" Mr.
Lyons extended his huge paw to her.
"Agreed," Lily said. Her fingers were crossed halfheartedly behind
her back.
It was even more of a challenge to convince Mr. Lyons that the two large suitcases
and the cat-carrier (which, of course, contained her new cat) were hers. She
had promised to explain it on her first day of work, which, of course, would
never come.
James, Sirius, and Mr. Potter, apparently, had watched the whole thing from the
rooftop, and James was amazed. "Lily, that was
the most Marauder-like thing I've ever seen you do. I see now that the long hours
we've spent corrupting you have not been in vain. May I shake your hand?"
Lily couldn't help but laugh as she turned and watched Mr. Potter heft the
bigger of her suitcases up onto the train. "It was nothing," she said
sarcastically. "I'm so sorry that I had to leave the broomstick, but I
don't think Mr. Lyons would have been so understanding
if I had to explain that one away."
They had started to walk towards the nearest compartment. Sirius chimed in.
"It's got to say something about him if he even looks scary from the top
of a building. So how intimidating was that guy in person?"
"I don't think I've ever met anyone with such a bad temper!" She put
on a scowl and started jabbing her index finger around scoldingly,
in a fair imitation of Mr. Lyons. "I paid good money for those
watermelons, young lady, and someone's got to clean up this--" Suddenly,
her ankle struck the running-board and she fell forward into the open
compartment door. She winced, bracing
herself for impact with the floor, but one of James's hands latched around her
wrist and the other one grabbed her waist, stopping her fall.
He awkwardly pulled Lily to her feet and let go of her waist, breaking into a
self-conscious half-smile. "I guess the next 'corruption' lesson is to look where you're going."
She mirrored the smile, uneasily yet pleasantly aware of the fact that James
had not yet released her wrist from his grasp. The silence paced along like a
jaguar, camouflaged by the surrounding chatter, thick as jungle foliage. Sirius
bit his lip and scribbled violently on that ever- present piece of parchment.
"Lily! Lily!"
Half relieved that the silence had gone to its rest; she turned around at the
sound of Mr. Potter's voice. He was walking towards her, the huge orange cat
looking distinctly discontent against his chest. "Lily, you almost forgot
your cat! I just got the cat-carrier up onto the train, and it started yowling
like there was no tomorrow. Here." He dumped the cat ungracefully into
Lily's arms. "Have a good term! 'Bye!"
Lily and James continued onto the Hogwarts Express with Sirius between them,
looking for the other two Marauders and Juno. After going through
three compartments, Lily caught Narcissa Taylor
staring at her with a mixture of confusion and infuriation. Narcissa
immediately turned away, though, and led Lucius Malfoy away by the arm, obviously intent to have a serious
conversation with him.
This strange spectacle was forgotten, however, when the compartment door burst
open and Juno swept Lily into a hearty embrace (which was most
likely very uncomfortable for the poor cat). "Lily! We have been looking all over this train for you three!
Where've you been? And where did you get that adorable kittycat?"
Without waiting for an explanation, she pulled the carroty monster away from
Lily and set about getting to know it better. "Oh, such a cute widdle kitty, yes you are! Yes you are! Lookit
your widdle bitty face, all squished up! Awww!"
Juno dropped out of the shrill voice she had been using and looked around the cat
to Lily. "Did you name it yet?"
"Er...not exactly..." Then she explained
how she had come to own the cat while she, Juno, and the four Marauders found
an empty compartment.
Juno was wearing a grin a mile wide. "Lily! Don't you see what this means?
Normal cats don't follow people around like that! This cat," she said,
stroking the ginger blur solemnly, "Is not an ordinary feline. This cat has powerful ties to you."
"What exactly do you propose I do about that?" Lily couldn't keep the
sarcasm out of her voice.
"Just wait. Juuust wait,
and I'm sure everything'll become clear." She turned
back to the cat. "Isn't that wight, my sweet widdle babyboo? I know just the
thing to call you...Lily Junior!"
Lily shot her a dirty look, but Juno was too busy playing with the cat.
Narcissa's nails dug into Lucius's
arm. "Did you see that?" she hissed.
"See what?"
"You idiot!" she tightened her grip. "That
Evans girl! The cat!"
"Cat? Do you mean..."
"Yes, THAT cat!"
"But we threw her into the Forbidden Forest!"
"I guess you didn't think about the fact that cats have legs!"
"Calm down, Narcissa, you'll break a nail."
Lucius's voice was like oil flowing over ice.
"Let's not lose our heads here."
"Not lose our heads? You must be insane! She's back, and you're not worried
in the least? I hate cats!"
"How can you be sure it's even her?"
"You told me that you turned her into a big ugly orange cat with bowed legs.
How many cats like that are there in this world, Lucius?"
"She can't be back..."
"She can because she is! I tell you, she's back!"
A/N: I need to accredit the simile "his voice was like oil flowing over ice" to the brilliant Brian Jacques in his book, The Pearls of Luthra.