Living A Legend
Book 1- A Clash of Wills
Chapter 3- Crime and Punishment
James, Sirius and Remus served their detentions the following week in the Library, cataloguing stray books. Lily had laughed when she heard what they had been assigned. It would take all night to return the thousands of books left here and there throughout the library to their alphabetical places.
The next morning the three-some greeted the girls cheerfully.
"This year we're going to break the record for the most detentions served!" Sirius bragged.
Lily rolled her eyes and Brittany scowled.
Just then, a pudgy short little boy named Peter approached, out of breath and gaping at James and Sirius in adoration.
"Hey you guys! I heard about your detention. That Ludwick is so mean! they should fire him they should!" Peter blathered.
"Er, right," James agreed, obviously trying to overlook the boy's obvious tone of admiration.
Lily turned away and faced Brittany and Dora. Brittany was still gazing up at Sirius, who was smiling back at her in a somewhat dazed fashion.
"Brittany, earth to Brit," Lily called, waving a hand in front of her friend's face.
Brittany jumped. "Oh sorry Lil, I guess I just spaced off for a minute."
Lily shrugged. "So anyway, back to the plan," she whispered conspiratorially, being careful not to attract James' attention.
If James noticed anything strange happening with the girls he failed to acknowledge it. Lily did not seem like a serious threat. To James she was only an annoyance. Sirius tried to persuade him to leave her alone, but James insisted that his hatred of all things Lily was to powerful for him to try to make peace. Instead, he began to plan for his next prank.
One morning, Lily got up early to prepare the potion she had found a recipe for. Potions was Lily's least favorite class, but this particular potion would make the perfect prank. Lily knew that this would make things more even between herself and James.
Once she was finished, she was careful to dispose of the remnants of the potion, after sealing a small amount inside a delicate glass bottle. This stuff was potent all right. A single drop was enough to make a person itch all over for weeks on end. Yes, Lily smiled, the bottle would do.
If James was looking shifty that morning at breakfast, Lily failed to notice, her own butterflies nearly getting the best of her. It took guts to slip the potion into James' porridge at a moment when he was not looking. Everything went smoothly though. James didn't see a thing, though Sirius had noticed and shot her a funny look.
Lily held her breath, but Sirius held his tongue. He seemed to be fighting back a laugh however.
"Hey Lily, look at that Slytherin over there, I'm thinking of asking her to the ball," James drawled, his untidy hair sticking up on end.
Lily glanced over her shoulder quickly, spotting a tall girl with long blond hair.
"She'll never go for you Potter," she glared. "Besides, first years aren't allowed!"
Brittany seemed to be trying to get Lily's attention, but Sirius motioned for her to be quiet.
"What is it?" Lily asked her friends, confused by their odd behavior.
Glancing at James, she saw him about to take the first bite of his porridge. Lily grinned evilly, lifting her own spoon to her mouth.
Just as she swallowed, Sirius broke into uncontrollable laughter. Lily glanced at James, who was scratching his arm. It was beginning to work. Suddenly it seemed very funny and she started laughing too. James was itching harder and harder, his skin turning red where he scratched.
Lily's shrieks of mirth became hysterical although and she found she could no longer control them. She fell off her seat and began to roll around on the floor, laughing until she couldn't breathe.
"It's a shame they fight so much, they have a lot in common," Brittany commented.
Then, in a moment of clarity, Lily realized that James had slipped something into her porridge at the same time as she had his. these hysterics could not be at all natural, they must be the result of some magic.
All of Lily's muscles clenched up as she rolled on the floor laughing, until her breath refused to come, she began choking as she laughed, unable to draw air into her lungs.
Brittany saw first that it was no longer funny and reached out to help her friend along with Remus. Sirius however was attempting to keep James' fingernails from clawing off anymore skin.
The two students were forcibly escorted to the nurse, Madam Klase, who quickly knocked the duo unconscious until she could brew antidotes.
Lily and James were both in the hospital wing for two nights. By the second night, Lily was fully conscious, and ignoring James with a vengeance. He tried three times to talk to her, but Lily would just turn her head in disgust.
Lily had cracked three ribs laughing, and James was covered in severe scratches from his desperate itching. He had gruesomely pulled off a great deal of skin.
Worst off all, Lily's treatment involved a serum which made her cough. Each cough was like shooting stabs of agony through her injured ribs.
Lily tried as hard as she could to hide her tears at each cough from her arch-enemy, and James didn't comment once. Her anger only grew as she lay in her bed, silently stewing. Her own discomfort seemed like quite enough grief without the guilt of thinking about what hers had done to James. Both of the potions had gone way out of control, and Madame Klase had hinted that the two of them were in for it.
"Dumbledore will be wanting to see the both of you once you are fit for travel," the plump nurse had warned ominously.
Lily wished she knew more spells. More than anything she wanted to make James' ears fall off or his hair turn green. When finally they were released from the hospital wing, Madame Klase sent them both to Dumbledore.
Professor Lacy escorted the two to a statue of a gargoyle. "Lemondrops," she whispered and the statue swung away to reveal a looming staircase.
Lily followed Potter up the stairs glumly, thinking the only thing worse than being punished, was being punished with James.
The two students found themselves in a massive study, filled with the most wondrous of artifacts. In contrast to the rest of the beautiful room, there sat a weak sickly little bird on a shiny brass perch.
The bird cooed lightly as they entered the room, and them promptly burst into flames.
Lily and James glared at each other. "What did you do?" James accused.
"It wasn't me! You're the one who is closer!"
At that moment a formidable looking man with a long blond beard and thick glasses entered the room, looking at the two students sternly.
"He did it!" Lily burst out at the same time James pointed a finger.
"It was her!" he called in a fearful tone.
Dumbledore only chuckled. "I would be much surprised if either of you harmed my bird, as it is a Phoenix. Phoenixes are known to burst into flame at regular intervals, and are promptly born again from the ashes."
James and Lily stared in amazement as a naked baby bird poked his head from the ashes of the dead phoenixes body. A smaller but much healthier looking bird began to chirp quietly, sifting through the ashes.
"Now then," Dumbledore continued, drawing seats out of nowhere for the two students. "It has come to my attention that the two of you have developed a sort of hostility towards each other."
James shrugged. "She started it you know."
"I did not! You're the one who made me run into the barrier!" Lily's face was red with outrage.
The old wizard paced around to draw a large chair for himself, sitting across from the two students.
"Well, this only proves my point. You two can not stop fighting for an instant. these pranks of yours are getting very out of hand. You are lucky that both of you are alive."
James rolled his eyes. "Come on professor, they are only jokes. I wouldn't actually hurt her."
"Ah, jokes they may be. But either of you could have easily died from those potions. In such concentrations, they can be quite dangerous. I must admit I do not quite understand the animosity between the two of you. It seems you have much in common, poisoning each other at the same time like that. Great minds think alike you know."
Silence filled the room as Dumbledore paused dramatically.
"Perhaps it would be best if you could find a way to absolve your differences. But then again, it is only my job to discourage you from rule breaking. Both of you will receive detentions, which will be spent with Professor Ludwick tomorrow evening after class. I think it may be . . . therapeutic."
To Lily's surprise, Dumbledore stood and offered them a snickerdoodle, off a tray near his desk. Both student accepted, feeling much more comfortable with the headmaster now that they had met him. Indeed, detentions did not seem a very harsh price to be paid after being caught poisoning another student, even if they were with Professor Ludwick.
Lily commiserated with Brittany and Dora that evening. Brittany could not understand why Lily was so angry with James.
"It is not as if you didn't do the exact same thing. To tell you the truth Lil, you are being a bit of a hypocrite."
Lily glared. "I am not! I don't know why you're taking his side. Maybe someone has a bit of a crush."
Blushing furiously, Brittany glared at Lily. "I do not like James!"
With an infuriating smile, Lily turned. "Whatever you say then."
As if James and Ludwick were not enough of a punishment, Lily found that her detention would be served along with Terrance and Malfoy, cleaning out the dungeons by hand.
It quickly proved disgusting work. Skeletons of small rodents, lay nestled in the thick dust, grime and cobwebs, along with the occasional spider. Lily feared and hated spiders more than anything in the world, an Terrance and Malfoy quickly picked up on this.
Ludwick favored them terribly, and had set the two boys to the task of "keeping an eye on Lily and James". the two boys had nothing to do, besides wander behind the two Gryffindors and make their lives as miserable as possible.
Once Terrance dropped a spider in Lily's hair, and she screamed shrilly, and began to cry and jump up and down hysterically.
"Get it out! Get it out!"
The two boys only laughed, and James pretended to ignore her. But after a few minutes of Lily's cries, James hastily pulled the large bug from her hair and squished it between two fingers.
"Shut up will you?" he hissed. "Ludwick's sure to have a fit!"
And as if James had brought it on, the potions master appeared from around a corner, smoothly cuffing Lily upside the head. "Stupid girl! Learn to control yourself. Ten points from Gryffindor."
It was tedious work, and Lily had a hard time with the more laborious aspects of it. James had a hard time restraining himself from taking advantage of a scouring spell. He knew that the two Slytherins would be off about it at the first sign of any magic. Yet he still managed to vanish a few rat skeletons while the two were occupied with Lily.
Terrance and Lucius insulted them freely, but the word which had thrown James into a frenzy in Potions was not uttered. James and Lily came up with some hateful words themselves, and for once they were not directed at each other.
One time a live rat scuttled across the stone floor, and Lily jumped about a foot. James grimaced as well but continued to work. Ludwick popped in from time to time and eventually released the Slytherins, but held James and Lily to finish the room.
"I'll be back for you by morning and this place better be spotless!" he had growled menacingly.
When he left, Lily had moaned. "Until morning! This is the worst night of my life!"
James had braced himself, adjusting well to the hideous work load, but Lily had a tendency to burst into tears sporadically, sometimes at the sight of a spider, sometimes for no apparent reason aside from exhaustion and frustration.
But now Ludwick had made a mistake. He had announced that he would not be back until morning.
"Hey Lily," James called softly when he was sure the potions master was gone.
This time she actually responded. "What?"
"Watch this," James recited the scouring spell under his breath and the scum fell from the walls like magic.
It took a few minutes for James to teach the spell to Lily, but it was quick work after that. James banished the rat skeletons with a spell that his mother had taught him to take out the garbage. It came in quite handy now.
Between the two of them, they were finished within the hour.
Lily, still stood warily, leaning against a wall with her eyes wide open for the spiders and rodents which still stalked the dungeons.
"Well now we've got until morning." James glanced at his watch as he spoke, "It's already well past midnight, but we've got a long stretch ahead of us."
He sunk to the floor, and rested his head upon the now clean wall, but Lily was still far too terrified to brave the dark floor. the light was dim in these passages and Lily was sure she would not see any creeping critter until it was too late.
The two Gryffindors were silent, but neither of them slept. Lily's legs cramped up after a while, and her longing for comfort gave in to her fear of spiders. She let out a little moan as she lowered herself to the floor.
"Don't worry, I think the scouring spell got rid of most of the dead ones," James assured her in what was almost a friendly manner.
"It's the live ones I'm worried about," her voice coming out in an odd squeak.
There was silence for a few more minutes before Lily's voice penetrated the darkness once again.
"James?"
"Yes?"
"I'll never poison you again."
"Thanks. I'll never get caught poisoning you again."
Lily started to be angry but a laugh burst through before she could help it. She fought it back and returned to silence.
"We'll have to remember to start cleaning again before Ludwick arrives, so it looks like we still didn't use magic." James spoke after a while.
Almost-friendly conversation drifted back and forth for a while, until despite herself Lily fell asleep.
Book 1- A Clash of Wills
Chapter 3- Crime and Punishment
James, Sirius and Remus served their detentions the following week in the Library, cataloguing stray books. Lily had laughed when she heard what they had been assigned. It would take all night to return the thousands of books left here and there throughout the library to their alphabetical places.
The next morning the three-some greeted the girls cheerfully.
"This year we're going to break the record for the most detentions served!" Sirius bragged.
Lily rolled her eyes and Brittany scowled.
Just then, a pudgy short little boy named Peter approached, out of breath and gaping at James and Sirius in adoration.
"Hey you guys! I heard about your detention. That Ludwick is so mean! they should fire him they should!" Peter blathered.
"Er, right," James agreed, obviously trying to overlook the boy's obvious tone of admiration.
Lily turned away and faced Brittany and Dora. Brittany was still gazing up at Sirius, who was smiling back at her in a somewhat dazed fashion.
"Brittany, earth to Brit," Lily called, waving a hand in front of her friend's face.
Brittany jumped. "Oh sorry Lil, I guess I just spaced off for a minute."
Lily shrugged. "So anyway, back to the plan," she whispered conspiratorially, being careful not to attract James' attention.
If James noticed anything strange happening with the girls he failed to acknowledge it. Lily did not seem like a serious threat. To James she was only an annoyance. Sirius tried to persuade him to leave her alone, but James insisted that his hatred of all things Lily was to powerful for him to try to make peace. Instead, he began to plan for his next prank.
One morning, Lily got up early to prepare the potion she had found a recipe for. Potions was Lily's least favorite class, but this particular potion would make the perfect prank. Lily knew that this would make things more even between herself and James.
Once she was finished, she was careful to dispose of the remnants of the potion, after sealing a small amount inside a delicate glass bottle. This stuff was potent all right. A single drop was enough to make a person itch all over for weeks on end. Yes, Lily smiled, the bottle would do.
If James was looking shifty that morning at breakfast, Lily failed to notice, her own butterflies nearly getting the best of her. It took guts to slip the potion into James' porridge at a moment when he was not looking. Everything went smoothly though. James didn't see a thing, though Sirius had noticed and shot her a funny look.
Lily held her breath, but Sirius held his tongue. He seemed to be fighting back a laugh however.
"Hey Lily, look at that Slytherin over there, I'm thinking of asking her to the ball," James drawled, his untidy hair sticking up on end.
Lily glanced over her shoulder quickly, spotting a tall girl with long blond hair.
"She'll never go for you Potter," she glared. "Besides, first years aren't allowed!"
Brittany seemed to be trying to get Lily's attention, but Sirius motioned for her to be quiet.
"What is it?" Lily asked her friends, confused by their odd behavior.
Glancing at James, she saw him about to take the first bite of his porridge. Lily grinned evilly, lifting her own spoon to her mouth.
Just as she swallowed, Sirius broke into uncontrollable laughter. Lily glanced at James, who was scratching his arm. It was beginning to work. Suddenly it seemed very funny and she started laughing too. James was itching harder and harder, his skin turning red where he scratched.
Lily's shrieks of mirth became hysterical although and she found she could no longer control them. She fell off her seat and began to roll around on the floor, laughing until she couldn't breathe.
"It's a shame they fight so much, they have a lot in common," Brittany commented.
Then, in a moment of clarity, Lily realized that James had slipped something into her porridge at the same time as she had his. these hysterics could not be at all natural, they must be the result of some magic.
All of Lily's muscles clenched up as she rolled on the floor laughing, until her breath refused to come, she began choking as she laughed, unable to draw air into her lungs.
Brittany saw first that it was no longer funny and reached out to help her friend along with Remus. Sirius however was attempting to keep James' fingernails from clawing off anymore skin.
The two students were forcibly escorted to the nurse, Madam Klase, who quickly knocked the duo unconscious until she could brew antidotes.
Lily and James were both in the hospital wing for two nights. By the second night, Lily was fully conscious, and ignoring James with a vengeance. He tried three times to talk to her, but Lily would just turn her head in disgust.
Lily had cracked three ribs laughing, and James was covered in severe scratches from his desperate itching. He had gruesomely pulled off a great deal of skin.
Worst off all, Lily's treatment involved a serum which made her cough. Each cough was like shooting stabs of agony through her injured ribs.
Lily tried as hard as she could to hide her tears at each cough from her arch-enemy, and James didn't comment once. Her anger only grew as she lay in her bed, silently stewing. Her own discomfort seemed like quite enough grief without the guilt of thinking about what hers had done to James. Both of the potions had gone way out of control, and Madame Klase had hinted that the two of them were in for it.
"Dumbledore will be wanting to see the both of you once you are fit for travel," the plump nurse had warned ominously.
Lily wished she knew more spells. More than anything she wanted to make James' ears fall off or his hair turn green. When finally they were released from the hospital wing, Madame Klase sent them both to Dumbledore.
Professor Lacy escorted the two to a statue of a gargoyle. "Lemondrops," she whispered and the statue swung away to reveal a looming staircase.
Lily followed Potter up the stairs glumly, thinking the only thing worse than being punished, was being punished with James.
The two students found themselves in a massive study, filled with the most wondrous of artifacts. In contrast to the rest of the beautiful room, there sat a weak sickly little bird on a shiny brass perch.
The bird cooed lightly as they entered the room, and them promptly burst into flames.
Lily and James glared at each other. "What did you do?" James accused.
"It wasn't me! You're the one who is closer!"
At that moment a formidable looking man with a long blond beard and thick glasses entered the room, looking at the two students sternly.
"He did it!" Lily burst out at the same time James pointed a finger.
"It was her!" he called in a fearful tone.
Dumbledore only chuckled. "I would be much surprised if either of you harmed my bird, as it is a Phoenix. Phoenixes are known to burst into flame at regular intervals, and are promptly born again from the ashes."
James and Lily stared in amazement as a naked baby bird poked his head from the ashes of the dead phoenixes body. A smaller but much healthier looking bird began to chirp quietly, sifting through the ashes.
"Now then," Dumbledore continued, drawing seats out of nowhere for the two students. "It has come to my attention that the two of you have developed a sort of hostility towards each other."
James shrugged. "She started it you know."
"I did not! You're the one who made me run into the barrier!" Lily's face was red with outrage.
The old wizard paced around to draw a large chair for himself, sitting across from the two students.
"Well, this only proves my point. You two can not stop fighting for an instant. these pranks of yours are getting very out of hand. You are lucky that both of you are alive."
James rolled his eyes. "Come on professor, they are only jokes. I wouldn't actually hurt her."
"Ah, jokes they may be. But either of you could have easily died from those potions. In such concentrations, they can be quite dangerous. I must admit I do not quite understand the animosity between the two of you. It seems you have much in common, poisoning each other at the same time like that. Great minds think alike you know."
Silence filled the room as Dumbledore paused dramatically.
"Perhaps it would be best if you could find a way to absolve your differences. But then again, it is only my job to discourage you from rule breaking. Both of you will receive detentions, which will be spent with Professor Ludwick tomorrow evening after class. I think it may be . . . therapeutic."
To Lily's surprise, Dumbledore stood and offered them a snickerdoodle, off a tray near his desk. Both student accepted, feeling much more comfortable with the headmaster now that they had met him. Indeed, detentions did not seem a very harsh price to be paid after being caught poisoning another student, even if they were with Professor Ludwick.
Lily commiserated with Brittany and Dora that evening. Brittany could not understand why Lily was so angry with James.
"It is not as if you didn't do the exact same thing. To tell you the truth Lil, you are being a bit of a hypocrite."
Lily glared. "I am not! I don't know why you're taking his side. Maybe someone has a bit of a crush."
Blushing furiously, Brittany glared at Lily. "I do not like James!"
With an infuriating smile, Lily turned. "Whatever you say then."
As if James and Ludwick were not enough of a punishment, Lily found that her detention would be served along with Terrance and Malfoy, cleaning out the dungeons by hand.
It quickly proved disgusting work. Skeletons of small rodents, lay nestled in the thick dust, grime and cobwebs, along with the occasional spider. Lily feared and hated spiders more than anything in the world, an Terrance and Malfoy quickly picked up on this.
Ludwick favored them terribly, and had set the two boys to the task of "keeping an eye on Lily and James". the two boys had nothing to do, besides wander behind the two Gryffindors and make their lives as miserable as possible.
Once Terrance dropped a spider in Lily's hair, and she screamed shrilly, and began to cry and jump up and down hysterically.
"Get it out! Get it out!"
The two boys only laughed, and James pretended to ignore her. But after a few minutes of Lily's cries, James hastily pulled the large bug from her hair and squished it between two fingers.
"Shut up will you?" he hissed. "Ludwick's sure to have a fit!"
And as if James had brought it on, the potions master appeared from around a corner, smoothly cuffing Lily upside the head. "Stupid girl! Learn to control yourself. Ten points from Gryffindor."
It was tedious work, and Lily had a hard time with the more laborious aspects of it. James had a hard time restraining himself from taking advantage of a scouring spell. He knew that the two Slytherins would be off about it at the first sign of any magic. Yet he still managed to vanish a few rat skeletons while the two were occupied with Lily.
Terrance and Lucius insulted them freely, but the word which had thrown James into a frenzy in Potions was not uttered. James and Lily came up with some hateful words themselves, and for once they were not directed at each other.
One time a live rat scuttled across the stone floor, and Lily jumped about a foot. James grimaced as well but continued to work. Ludwick popped in from time to time and eventually released the Slytherins, but held James and Lily to finish the room.
"I'll be back for you by morning and this place better be spotless!" he had growled menacingly.
When he left, Lily had moaned. "Until morning! This is the worst night of my life!"
James had braced himself, adjusting well to the hideous work load, but Lily had a tendency to burst into tears sporadically, sometimes at the sight of a spider, sometimes for no apparent reason aside from exhaustion and frustration.
But now Ludwick had made a mistake. He had announced that he would not be back until morning.
"Hey Lily," James called softly when he was sure the potions master was gone.
This time she actually responded. "What?"
"Watch this," James recited the scouring spell under his breath and the scum fell from the walls like magic.
It took a few minutes for James to teach the spell to Lily, but it was quick work after that. James banished the rat skeletons with a spell that his mother had taught him to take out the garbage. It came in quite handy now.
Between the two of them, they were finished within the hour.
Lily, still stood warily, leaning against a wall with her eyes wide open for the spiders and rodents which still stalked the dungeons.
"Well now we've got until morning." James glanced at his watch as he spoke, "It's already well past midnight, but we've got a long stretch ahead of us."
He sunk to the floor, and rested his head upon the now clean wall, but Lily was still far too terrified to brave the dark floor. the light was dim in these passages and Lily was sure she would not see any creeping critter until it was too late.
The two Gryffindors were silent, but neither of them slept. Lily's legs cramped up after a while, and her longing for comfort gave in to her fear of spiders. She let out a little moan as she lowered herself to the floor.
"Don't worry, I think the scouring spell got rid of most of the dead ones," James assured her in what was almost a friendly manner.
"It's the live ones I'm worried about," her voice coming out in an odd squeak.
There was silence for a few more minutes before Lily's voice penetrated the darkness once again.
"James?"
"Yes?"
"I'll never poison you again."
"Thanks. I'll never get caught poisoning you again."
Lily started to be angry but a laugh burst through before she could help it. She fought it back and returned to silence.
"We'll have to remember to start cleaning again before Ludwick arrives, so it looks like we still didn't use magic." James spoke after a while.
Almost-friendly conversation drifted back and forth for a while, until despite herself Lily fell asleep.