Lily Chapter 57: Detention, a harry potter fanfic

A/N: We're VERY VERY sorry about how late this is! We know it isn't really that long, but we hope it's to your liking. Those of you with a taste for those funny "transition" chapters will probably enjoy this.

Disclaimer: We own what we own and that's all that we own. :o)

The Lily Series

Chapter 57

The next morning, Lily was still icy towards the Marauders. She all but ignored them at breakfast, speaking to them only when she needed the butter or the syrup or the orange juice.

"Remus, please pass the fruit salad."

Remus picked it up to pass it to her, then held it back. "I don't know about those three, but I'm sorry about getting you in trouble and, er, what
was your word? Besmirching your reputation. And I'm not going to pass you the fruit salad until you forgive us."

"Yeah, I was tossing and turning until three in the morning just feeling so bad about stealing your pawn. Honestly, Lily, relax. Detention can be fun!"

"If you even THINK of throwing that sponge at me, you're getting this bucket of suds down your back!" Lily held the bucket at ready, aimed right at Sirius.

He held up his hands in surrender. "Hey! I was just pointing at a...erm...freshly besmirched spot."

"Ew!" Lily cringed away and almost stepped on one of the smaller owls that was chirping around her ankles. It squawked and flew upwards into the rafters full of its fellow owls. They were in the school Owlery, serving their detention with a sponge and bucket of soap and water each. No cleaning charms. "You said detention could be fun!"

James swatted at a huge brown monstrosity that had almost carried off his sponge. "It can. This is just one of those not-fun detentions. Consider it hazing, Lily, for your initiation into a grand and glorious legacy of - "

"Owl poop," Remus said bluntly.

"Eurgh! This is sooo gross! I'm liable to get hit any second!" She scrubbed at a vacant perch, then looked up from her work when the door burst open.

The huge groundskeeper shuffled in, a scroll held gingerly in one of his large hands. "Oh, no...Owlery duty, eh? I know 'ow that goes. Thanks, though - if y'weren't doin' it, it'd be me."

"You're so welcome I could cry," Lily grumbled.

Hagrid put three Knuts in the slot below one of the largest owls there and set about tying his letter to its leg. "Ah, chin up. Detention ain't the end o' the world. Well, yew four know that, anyway," he said with a wink at the Marauders.

Peter would have winked back if he wasn't being heckled by a female owl that seemed very interested in him. "Leave me alone! Ow!" It kept pecking at him as if he were a tasty morsel. "Get AWAY!"

James chuckled and took out his wand to get the owl away from Peter, then turned and looked at Hagrid. "You don't mind if I..."

"Ah, go 'head. Nobody oughta keep nobody from doin' magic, I say."

"Right. Thanks." He pointed his wand at the owl. "Tarfilus chocotus...er, Wendelin." Immediately, the owl turned into a card, exactly like the kind one would find inside a Chocolate Frog box. Except that behind the picture of Wendelin the Weird, an owl flitted about. James grinned and pocketed the card. "I've been missing this one."

Sirius leaned against the wall and threw his sponge into the bucket. "I agree, Hagrid. Nobody oughta keep nobody from doin' magic." He took out his wand. "Limpius Totalus!" The entire room sparkled with the special sheen that a Cleaning Charm gives.

"Sirius!" Lily shrieked. "That's cheating!"

"Hey, if you'd rather do it the other way, I know the countercharm."

"You see, Lily, this is the fun part of detention," Peter said. "Sneaking out."

Desperate to obey the rules, Lily turned to Hagrid. "What about him?"

Hagrid sent the owl out the nearest window. "Me? I didn' see a thing." Then he strolled out, whistling.

Juno sat in the common room, dangling a blue string in front of Lily Junior's face. "Come on, kitty! Come on, bat the string around!" It wasn't responding at all. "Are you blind or something? Swat at the string! Claw it like a normal cat!"

If possible, the cat meowed sarcastically.

Juno sighed and set the string down, then picked the cat up and started scratching its head. "You're one strange little kitten, you know that, Lily Junior?"

All of a sudden, Lily Junior pounced onto the cushion with an angry hiss and started a fierce battle with the string. Even odder than the cat's behavior, however, was the fact that the string seemed to be fighting back! It tied itself around the cat's front paw, then transformed into a ball-and-chain. Juno leaped up and shrieked.

The ball changed into a cantaloupe with a face. "Ah, quit your yellin'. And you!" It turned to face the cat it was chained to. "I've had about enough of you! If you don't stop pawing at me, I'll roll right out that window and turn into a bird halfway down!"

Juno had her wand out. "What are you? BESIDES rude?"

"A shape-shifter. I take it you know someone named Lily?"

"What do you want with Lily?" Juno's voice had gone gravelly and dangerous.

It turned into a shield. "Hey, hey, peace! Let's just say I was a summer acquaintance of hers. A summer romance, one could call it..."

"Don't be stupid!"

"I won't if you won't."

"You still haven't told me what you want with Lily!"

"I just wanted to say 'hi.'"

Juno eyed it suspiciously as it shifted into an innocent-looking lamb. "I think she's in the Owlery. Don't try anything funny!"

"Funny?" It turned into a miniature stand-up comedian. "I wrote the book on funny, babe! Hey, could you tell me where I could find a mirror?"