Living A Legend
Book 2- The Price of Glory
Chapter 7-A Hairy Problem and a Willing Tutor
The next morning, James rose late, and joined his friends just as they were finishing breakfast. Sirius and Remus took off when they had finished, and Peter followed hastily, leaving James alone. James turned to Nymphadora, and scooted over to find a seat next to her.
"Hey James," Nymphadora greeted in an uncharacteristically serious tone. "I just wanted to talk to you about what you said to Lily last night."
James groaned and turned away.
"I don't think you did anything wrong James," Nymphadora breached carefully. "She deserved it. I just wanted to tell you that what you said was really low. It's below the belt to insult her appearance like that. I mean I feel really bad about hitting her as it is, but what you did was much worse. With a girl, you should never insult how she looks."
James rolled his eye and pretended to focus on an interesting spot on the ceiling. In fact, the ceiling generally was a spot of interest, as it was bewitched to look like the sky outside.
Unperturbed by James' feigned indifference, Nymphadora turned to her friend, simultaneously knocking a glass of orange juice all over James's robes. Nymphadora's face flushed and she whipped out her wand quickly to repair the damage.
"Sorry James, I'll fix it," Nymphadora blustered.
Before James had time to stop her Nymphadora had muttered a spell which somehow lit James' robes afire.
Nymphadora and James both screamed and leapt up, James spouting alarming ribbons of orange and red. Nymphadora tripped over her own feet. Quickly and calmly, a pretty blond girl stood up and shouted a counter curse, and James' flames went out.
Looking more than a bit flustered, Nymphadora made and excuse to leave and quickly retreated from the Great Hall, leaving James and her blond friend behind.
The blond girl smiled shyly and James grinned back, adjusting his robes. He recognized her from the sorting ceremony. She was the pretty blond girl whom he had applauded vigorously for.
"Hello, I don't think we have met. My name is James." He introduced himself without letting the grin fall from his face.
"Yeah, I know… I mean I've heard Nymphadora talk about you before. My name is Marci Alouise."
James shook her hand vigorously and perhaps for a little too long.
The small blond girl giggled and blushed, finally withdrawing her hand after the seconds stretched into minutes.
"Thank you Marci, for saving my life," James crooned lightly. "If not for your brave display, perhaps I would be nothing but a pile of ash."
Once again Marci giggled and batted her eyelashes. "Well it was only a small flame retardant charm."
James rolled his eyes. "And you are a first year! Wow, that makes me feel really stupid, I have never even heard of that spell. Oh, and there have been so many times when I could have used that."
"I could give you private lessons if you like," Marci said with a bat of her eyelashes.
James raised and eyebrow and ruffled his messy hair. "Sure, I'd like that."
Yet another giggle was omitted from the tiny blonde and James felt hope rising in him. What if the girl liked him? He figured that he could win her over.
As James headed towards his first class of the year, his mind was filled with fantasies of him and Marci. He could imagine the two of them walking hand in hand by the lake, he could see her leaning against him and confessing her love. James' ego began to pump up as he pictured himself as he thought she must see him, the strong and brilliant older man. James assumed a manly pose and flexed as he stopped at the doorway of his first class, Herbology with the Slytherins.
James knew that being late on his first day would not make a good impression, but impressions really mattered very little to him. He was confident enough without the approval of teachers.
As it was, Professor Sprout was otherwise occupied. It seemed that James had missed out by not arriving on time.
When he walked in, Sirius was on top of a desk, wildly brandishing his wand, to the amazement of James, as well as the rest of the class. Professor Sprout was frantically trying to block Sirius's efforts. Behind Professor Sprout, James could just make out a dark figure ducking behind a familiar redhead.
"Out of my way!" Sirius yelled, dashing around the professor.
James ran forward trying to figure out what was going on. Then he saw the figure crouching behind Lily. It was Sirius's least favorite cousin, Bellatrix. Still, James was confused.
"Sirius, don't!" James yelled, trying to keep up with his friend.
Sirius Black was jumping over desks and scrambling around panicking students. Bellatrix continued to cling to Lily, shrieking in terror.
Sirius stopped just short of Lily.
"Move Evans," he shouted impatiently. "Don't make me hex you!"
"Leave her alone Sirius! She did nothing to you! I'm warning you…" Lily responded bravely. Her green eyes gleamed wildly under her white scarf. James though she resembled an Amazon, brilliantly brave, her harsh strain of beauty lined with danger and strength.
James watched as Sirius violently attempted to tear Lily away from the cowering Bellatrix, shuffling quickly to make his way to the front, where Professor Sprout was pulling ineffectually on Sirius's robes.
Lily was being, of course, characteristically Lily, and refused to be pushed aside. "Leave her alone!" she yelled, placing herself directly in the line of danger, a martyr waiting to be born.
Even though Sirius was raging, he was still unwilling to do more than push Lily aside, stopping short of doing her any real damage. James wasn't sure what sneaky thing Bellatrix had done to warrant Sirius's rage, but he had no doubt that she had earned it.
It was James, with Remus's help, who finally pulled Sirius away from Lily and Bellatrix.
"Mr. Black, if you can calm yourself you may remain, however, if I ever see another outburst like that I will have you permanently removed from this class!" Professor Sprout reproached angrily. "You will see me after class about your punishment, and I insist that you stay away from those girls who cause you such anger. Attacking other students! What is the world coming to?" she muttered dangerously under her breath.
Sirius finally was persuaded to take a seat, though he was still fuming. James wondered who looked more angry, Sirius or Lily. Tubby Professor Sprout quickly resumed the lecture, still looking a bit flustered, but completely intent on carrying on with the lesson. It was several minutes before James dared to speak to his friend.
"What happened mate?" James finally asked in a whisper, when Professor Sprout seemed to have successfully redirected the attention of the class.
"What do you think?" Sirius hissed back. "Bellatrix is a dirty little backstabber, that's what. I do not trust her an inch!"
"Never mind why she is even in a second year class, why did you attack her?" James asked under his breath when Professor Sprout was busy dealing with Severus, whose notes had been destroyed by several of Malfoy's friends as entertainment.
Sirius looked around suspiciously, as if fearing that Bellatrix was eavesdropping. "Something she said to me, which no one else heard."
James shrugged. "What did she say?"
"I don't remember the exact words, but it was vile."
"Tell me what you do remember," James hissed impatiently.
"She let me know that she is up to something. I think it has to do with a certain redhead."
"Lily?" James asked, horrified.
Sirius shrugged. "I guess. I don't really know why she made me so angry, its just that everything I seem to do only helps her! Nothing I can do to stop it. Something horrible is going to come of this, mark my words. Bellatrix is just like her mother, she will stop at nothing to accomplish her foul aims."
James glanced once more at Lily, who was smiling faintly beneath her scarf at Bellatrix. Bellatrix returned Lily's look with a psuedo bashful glance, conveying her supposed gratitude.
He understood somehow what Sirius meant. There was something about Bellatrix which made his blood boil. She was nothing like Lucius and his friends, something told James that she was a much more dangerous opponent. However much James fought with Lily, he could never condone a person such as Bellatrix to hurt her.
Still feeling guilty about his outburst, James resolved to make it up to Lily somehow. James decided that once he persuaded her to tolerate him once more, he would warn her about Bellatrix. He wanted to talk to her immediately, but knew that it would not be the best time after last night's turmoil.
"Why is she in this class?" he asked.
Sirius shrugged, more than likely the question had never even occurred to him.
Remus was the one to answer. "She probably requested to be. First years can take additional classes if they want. The ambitious ones often do. All she would have to do is get it cleared with Dumbledore and her head of house."
After class, Sirius bid James goodbye gloomily, for once looking regretful about being punished. James understood the sentiment. Something about the whole scenario was very unsettling.
The rest of the day passed uneventfully, and James found himself with time to spare when Sirius announced that he would be serving his detention that same evening. Remus was studying, and James found the prospect of alone time with Peter more than just a bit dull.
For nearly an hour James paced the halls, thinking about all of the drama which had unfolded. As much as he tried to forget about it, a feeling of guilt kept distracting him from lighter thoughts. Lily's face kept popping into his mind, not the tearful and bruised face of the previous night, but the freckled and pleasant features that he had known and despised for so long.
The sources of his guilt were numerous. Lily had suffered not one but three injustices as of late, and James didn't know what to do to atone for a single one of them. Apologizing seemed like the simplest choice, yet he knew he could never do it. Seeking forgiveness was just not in his nature. James thought about it all night until suddenly he had an epiphany.
Lily was a girl, and James knew that girls cared a lot about what they looked like. Nymphadora had affirmed that. James also reckoned that he was more or less responsible for her hideous new hair style. What Lily needed, he decided, was a solution to her hair problem. James decided to make her a wig.
After much consideration, James decided that the first step to making a wig was to obtain hair. James began his quest in the common room.
James narrowed down the possibilities to several first year girls with long hair. The first one he approached was a jumpy looking girl with big round glasses named Penelope Abbot.
"Hello there," James greeted her cheerfully. "How are you doing today?"
The girl drew back, looking terrified. "Aren't you friends with that crazy boy?"
James paused, taken aback. His surprise did not last long.
"Why, yes. As a matter of fact, I am approaching you because Sirius, aka that crazy boy, has picked you to be his next victim," James lied smoothly.
"What will he do?" Penelope's eyes widened fearfully.
"Well," James drawled, "I really can not say at this point. It will be something awful though, he really does love doing awful things, but he never does the same thing twice."
"Can you stop him," She wailed tearfully, "please! I'll do anything!"
James sighed at her pathetically predictable display and pretended to consider.
"I really should not be doing this for you, Sirius would kill me if he knew, but there is one easy way out of it," James explained.
"What?" Penelope cried.
"Sirius never goes after girls with short hair. I don't know why but it is just some odd stereotype of his. If you let me cut your hair he would definitely leave you alone," James said slyly.
Behind her thick glasses Penelope narrowed her eyes, her fingers reaching up to stroke her long brown hair nervously. "Are you sure? I really like my hair long. Maybe I will just try to avoid him," Penelope sounded a bit unsure.
James moved in for the kill. "Suit yourself then. Just don't blame me if he comes after you with his hatchet."
Penelope leapt up quickly. "I'll do it! Cut my hair! Please?"
James shrugged. "I guess."
An hour later with a cauldron full of wavy brown hair, James began to search through his textbooks for a color changing spell.
Long after the rest of his roommates fell sound asleep, James finally succeeded in turning the brown hairs red. The color was exceedingly more dramatic than Lily's color, more of a shockingly fake shade reminiscent of a clown. Nevertheless, James was very happy with it, feeling that it was even better than the tint of her actual hair.
James shook Sirius awake to inquire about how he might obtain some all purpose glue, and managed to locate some in Peter's satchel. Sirius fell back asleep instantly, but James stayed up for the rest of the night working on the present for Lily.
By the time that the first light of day was beginning to seep through the curtained windows, James was just putting the finishing touches on the wig. He felt that it was a masterpiece. James had put a lot of effort into the making of the wig, and he thought that surely Lily would have no choice but to forgive him once he gave it to her.
When Sirius yawned and rolled out of bed, James quickly tried the wig on his own head and assumed a girly pose.
Sirius let out a scream which woke the rest of the dozing boys. He rolled back the covers and emerged quickly from his bed, sporting superman pajamas. James tossed him the wig and waited for Sirius to spout praises.
"Is that some sort of creature? Where is the slime coming from?" Sirius asked, examining the wig closely.
James shook his head confidently. "It's not a creature, it's a wig. I made it for Lily. And that's not slime, it's glue."
Sirius looked skeptical. "You are going to glue this atrocity to Lily's head? Sorry to break it to you mate, but that is not really the best way to make an apology."
"I'm not going to glue it to her head!" James looked astonished that his friend would think such a thing. "I made it for her as a present. You know, to make up for what I said to her. Also it was kind of my fault Petunia chopped off her hair in the first place."
Sirius took a deep breath. "Look James, I really don't know about this. It really is kind of strange looking."
"Are you joking? This is practically professional quality. It took me all night and it was made from real hair and everything," James said defensively.
"Alright," Sirius shrugged. "Your choice, man. I can't want to see her face when you give it to her."
James shrugged off Sirius's strange comment. He was immensely proud of his artistic creation, and nothing that anyone could say would diminish his satisfaction. James was assured that Lily would throw herself at his feet in gratefulness upon receiving his masterpiece.
A struggle between two desires was going on in James' mind. Part of him wanted to wait for every boy in the dorm room to wake up so he could show off his snazzy wig, but another part of him was too impatient for Lily to behold the result of his labor to wait for them. Finally he contented himself by shaking Remus and Peter awake and hurriedly shoving the wig in their faces without any explanation before wrapping it in an old copy of the daily prophet and hurrying out the door.
James literally flew down the stairs, tripping only a few times and out into the hall. He pushed his way through a group of intimidating seventh years, one of whom appeared to be trying to tell him something, and darted in between Oliver Crabbe and another equally stupid crony in his efforts to find Lily quickly.
As he approached the great hall, the thought occurred to him that perhaps Lily was not already inside. To James, the thought was almost to grave to handle, he couldn't imagine waiting any longer to reveal his surprise. With a strange hesitance, James threw open the double doors dramatically and stepped into the hall, a small and striking figure below the vivid sunny skies.
At first he thought that she wasn't there, and he was about to leave in disgust, but then he spotted her, discreet under a dark brown scarf. Paying no attention to Lily's companions, James marched toward her in determination.
He came up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. It seemed to him as if it took her an eternity to turn her around, turning not only just her head but her whole body. As soon as she saw him her expression turned from surprise to mistrust and loathing. One of her companions turned around as well and grinned a little too widely.
James recognized the girl to Lily's left as Bellatrix, but he ignored her, sure that his gift would be enough to silence any objection of Bellatrix's.
"What do you want, Potter?" Lily asked him impatiently.
James smiled and wordlessly thrust his sloppy wad of newspaper towards her.
Lily turned the strange package over in her hands and shot James an inquisitive look. "Is this a joke?"
"No way, can't you see what this is? No need to thank me, I understand. I'm sure you appreciate how much I do for you," James proclaimed grandiosely.
Her fingers moving cautiously, under Bellatrix's smirk, Lily slowly removed the crumpled paper. The skeptical expression on her face turned into one of horror when the strange ball of hair and glue emerged.
Lily let out a high pitched shriek and threw the package to the floor. "What is that thing? It looks like some kind of dead animal!"
James looked at her in confusion. "No Lily, I made it for you, it's a wig, so you don't have to have that funny scarf on your head anymore," he said earnestly.
It was not like James to be so honest, and Lily did not believe it for a second.
"You are making fun of me?" she asked, her voice dropping to a whisper. Lily's hand unconsciously patted her scarf. "I hate you!" she screamed, drawing her hand back and slapping him across the face.
Bellatrix laughed out loud, and pulled Lily down in her seat.
For once it was James who stood flabbergasted, his shock all too evident on his face.
Book 2- The Price of Glory
Chapter 7-A Hairy Problem and a Willing Tutor
The next morning, James rose late, and joined his friends just as they were finishing breakfast. Sirius and Remus took off when they had finished, and Peter followed hastily, leaving James alone. James turned to Nymphadora, and scooted over to find a seat next to her.
"Hey James," Nymphadora greeted in an uncharacteristically serious tone. "I just wanted to talk to you about what you said to Lily last night."
James groaned and turned away.
"I don't think you did anything wrong James," Nymphadora breached carefully. "She deserved it. I just wanted to tell you that what you said was really low. It's below the belt to insult her appearance like that. I mean I feel really bad about hitting her as it is, but what you did was much worse. With a girl, you should never insult how she looks."
James rolled his eye and pretended to focus on an interesting spot on the ceiling. In fact, the ceiling generally was a spot of interest, as it was bewitched to look like the sky outside.
Unperturbed by James' feigned indifference, Nymphadora turned to her friend, simultaneously knocking a glass of orange juice all over James's robes. Nymphadora's face flushed and she whipped out her wand quickly to repair the damage.
"Sorry James, I'll fix it," Nymphadora blustered.
Before James had time to stop her Nymphadora had muttered a spell which somehow lit James' robes afire.
Nymphadora and James both screamed and leapt up, James spouting alarming ribbons of orange and red. Nymphadora tripped over her own feet. Quickly and calmly, a pretty blond girl stood up and shouted a counter curse, and James' flames went out.
Looking more than a bit flustered, Nymphadora made and excuse to leave and quickly retreated from the Great Hall, leaving James and her blond friend behind.
The blond girl smiled shyly and James grinned back, adjusting his robes. He recognized her from the sorting ceremony. She was the pretty blond girl whom he had applauded vigorously for.
"Hello, I don't think we have met. My name is James." He introduced himself without letting the grin fall from his face.
"Yeah, I know… I mean I've heard Nymphadora talk about you before. My name is Marci Alouise."
James shook her hand vigorously and perhaps for a little too long.
The small blond girl giggled and blushed, finally withdrawing her hand after the seconds stretched into minutes.
"Thank you Marci, for saving my life," James crooned lightly. "If not for your brave display, perhaps I would be nothing but a pile of ash."
Once again Marci giggled and batted her eyelashes. "Well it was only a small flame retardant charm."
James rolled his eyes. "And you are a first year! Wow, that makes me feel really stupid, I have never even heard of that spell. Oh, and there have been so many times when I could have used that."
"I could give you private lessons if you like," Marci said with a bat of her eyelashes.
James raised and eyebrow and ruffled his messy hair. "Sure, I'd like that."
Yet another giggle was omitted from the tiny blonde and James felt hope rising in him. What if the girl liked him? He figured that he could win her over.
As James headed towards his first class of the year, his mind was filled with fantasies of him and Marci. He could imagine the two of them walking hand in hand by the lake, he could see her leaning against him and confessing her love. James' ego began to pump up as he pictured himself as he thought she must see him, the strong and brilliant older man. James assumed a manly pose and flexed as he stopped at the doorway of his first class, Herbology with the Slytherins.
James knew that being late on his first day would not make a good impression, but impressions really mattered very little to him. He was confident enough without the approval of teachers.
As it was, Professor Sprout was otherwise occupied. It seemed that James had missed out by not arriving on time.
When he walked in, Sirius was on top of a desk, wildly brandishing his wand, to the amazement of James, as well as the rest of the class. Professor Sprout was frantically trying to block Sirius's efforts. Behind Professor Sprout, James could just make out a dark figure ducking behind a familiar redhead.
"Out of my way!" Sirius yelled, dashing around the professor.
James ran forward trying to figure out what was going on. Then he saw the figure crouching behind Lily. It was Sirius's least favorite cousin, Bellatrix. Still, James was confused.
"Sirius, don't!" James yelled, trying to keep up with his friend.
Sirius Black was jumping over desks and scrambling around panicking students. Bellatrix continued to cling to Lily, shrieking in terror.
Sirius stopped just short of Lily.
"Move Evans," he shouted impatiently. "Don't make me hex you!"
"Leave her alone Sirius! She did nothing to you! I'm warning you…" Lily responded bravely. Her green eyes gleamed wildly under her white scarf. James though she resembled an Amazon, brilliantly brave, her harsh strain of beauty lined with danger and strength.
James watched as Sirius violently attempted to tear Lily away from the cowering Bellatrix, shuffling quickly to make his way to the front, where Professor Sprout was pulling ineffectually on Sirius's robes.
Lily was being, of course, characteristically Lily, and refused to be pushed aside. "Leave her alone!" she yelled, placing herself directly in the line of danger, a martyr waiting to be born.
Even though Sirius was raging, he was still unwilling to do more than push Lily aside, stopping short of doing her any real damage. James wasn't sure what sneaky thing Bellatrix had done to warrant Sirius's rage, but he had no doubt that she had earned it.
It was James, with Remus's help, who finally pulled Sirius away from Lily and Bellatrix.
"Mr. Black, if you can calm yourself you may remain, however, if I ever see another outburst like that I will have you permanently removed from this class!" Professor Sprout reproached angrily. "You will see me after class about your punishment, and I insist that you stay away from those girls who cause you such anger. Attacking other students! What is the world coming to?" she muttered dangerously under her breath.
Sirius finally was persuaded to take a seat, though he was still fuming. James wondered who looked more angry, Sirius or Lily. Tubby Professor Sprout quickly resumed the lecture, still looking a bit flustered, but completely intent on carrying on with the lesson. It was several minutes before James dared to speak to his friend.
"What happened mate?" James finally asked in a whisper, when Professor Sprout seemed to have successfully redirected the attention of the class.
"What do you think?" Sirius hissed back. "Bellatrix is a dirty little backstabber, that's what. I do not trust her an inch!"
"Never mind why she is even in a second year class, why did you attack her?" James asked under his breath when Professor Sprout was busy dealing with Severus, whose notes had been destroyed by several of Malfoy's friends as entertainment.
Sirius looked around suspiciously, as if fearing that Bellatrix was eavesdropping. "Something she said to me, which no one else heard."
James shrugged. "What did she say?"
"I don't remember the exact words, but it was vile."
"Tell me what you do remember," James hissed impatiently.
"She let me know that she is up to something. I think it has to do with a certain redhead."
"Lily?" James asked, horrified.
Sirius shrugged. "I guess. I don't really know why she made me so angry, its just that everything I seem to do only helps her! Nothing I can do to stop it. Something horrible is going to come of this, mark my words. Bellatrix is just like her mother, she will stop at nothing to accomplish her foul aims."
James glanced once more at Lily, who was smiling faintly beneath her scarf at Bellatrix. Bellatrix returned Lily's look with a psuedo bashful glance, conveying her supposed gratitude.
He understood somehow what Sirius meant. There was something about Bellatrix which made his blood boil. She was nothing like Lucius and his friends, something told James that she was a much more dangerous opponent. However much James fought with Lily, he could never condone a person such as Bellatrix to hurt her.
Still feeling guilty about his outburst, James resolved to make it up to Lily somehow. James decided that once he persuaded her to tolerate him once more, he would warn her about Bellatrix. He wanted to talk to her immediately, but knew that it would not be the best time after last night's turmoil.
"Why is she in this class?" he asked.
Sirius shrugged, more than likely the question had never even occurred to him.
Remus was the one to answer. "She probably requested to be. First years can take additional classes if they want. The ambitious ones often do. All she would have to do is get it cleared with Dumbledore and her head of house."
After class, Sirius bid James goodbye gloomily, for once looking regretful about being punished. James understood the sentiment. Something about the whole scenario was very unsettling.
The rest of the day passed uneventfully, and James found himself with time to spare when Sirius announced that he would be serving his detention that same evening. Remus was studying, and James found the prospect of alone time with Peter more than just a bit dull.
For nearly an hour James paced the halls, thinking about all of the drama which had unfolded. As much as he tried to forget about it, a feeling of guilt kept distracting him from lighter thoughts. Lily's face kept popping into his mind, not the tearful and bruised face of the previous night, but the freckled and pleasant features that he had known and despised for so long.
The sources of his guilt were numerous. Lily had suffered not one but three injustices as of late, and James didn't know what to do to atone for a single one of them. Apologizing seemed like the simplest choice, yet he knew he could never do it. Seeking forgiveness was just not in his nature. James thought about it all night until suddenly he had an epiphany.
Lily was a girl, and James knew that girls cared a lot about what they looked like. Nymphadora had affirmed that. James also reckoned that he was more or less responsible for her hideous new hair style. What Lily needed, he decided, was a solution to her hair problem. James decided to make her a wig.
After much consideration, James decided that the first step to making a wig was to obtain hair. James began his quest in the common room.
James narrowed down the possibilities to several first year girls with long hair. The first one he approached was a jumpy looking girl with big round glasses named Penelope Abbot.
"Hello there," James greeted her cheerfully. "How are you doing today?"
The girl drew back, looking terrified. "Aren't you friends with that crazy boy?"
James paused, taken aback. His surprise did not last long.
"Why, yes. As a matter of fact, I am approaching you because Sirius, aka that crazy boy, has picked you to be his next victim," James lied smoothly.
"What will he do?" Penelope's eyes widened fearfully.
"Well," James drawled, "I really can not say at this point. It will be something awful though, he really does love doing awful things, but he never does the same thing twice."
"Can you stop him," She wailed tearfully, "please! I'll do anything!"
James sighed at her pathetically predictable display and pretended to consider.
"I really should not be doing this for you, Sirius would kill me if he knew, but there is one easy way out of it," James explained.
"What?" Penelope cried.
"Sirius never goes after girls with short hair. I don't know why but it is just some odd stereotype of his. If you let me cut your hair he would definitely leave you alone," James said slyly.
Behind her thick glasses Penelope narrowed her eyes, her fingers reaching up to stroke her long brown hair nervously. "Are you sure? I really like my hair long. Maybe I will just try to avoid him," Penelope sounded a bit unsure.
James moved in for the kill. "Suit yourself then. Just don't blame me if he comes after you with his hatchet."
Penelope leapt up quickly. "I'll do it! Cut my hair! Please?"
James shrugged. "I guess."
An hour later with a cauldron full of wavy brown hair, James began to search through his textbooks for a color changing spell.
Long after the rest of his roommates fell sound asleep, James finally succeeded in turning the brown hairs red. The color was exceedingly more dramatic than Lily's color, more of a shockingly fake shade reminiscent of a clown. Nevertheless, James was very happy with it, feeling that it was even better than the tint of her actual hair.
James shook Sirius awake to inquire about how he might obtain some all purpose glue, and managed to locate some in Peter's satchel. Sirius fell back asleep instantly, but James stayed up for the rest of the night working on the present for Lily.
By the time that the first light of day was beginning to seep through the curtained windows, James was just putting the finishing touches on the wig. He felt that it was a masterpiece. James had put a lot of effort into the making of the wig, and he thought that surely Lily would have no choice but to forgive him once he gave it to her.
When Sirius yawned and rolled out of bed, James quickly tried the wig on his own head and assumed a girly pose.
Sirius let out a scream which woke the rest of the dozing boys. He rolled back the covers and emerged quickly from his bed, sporting superman pajamas. James tossed him the wig and waited for Sirius to spout praises.
"Is that some sort of creature? Where is the slime coming from?" Sirius asked, examining the wig closely.
James shook his head confidently. "It's not a creature, it's a wig. I made it for Lily. And that's not slime, it's glue."
Sirius looked skeptical. "You are going to glue this atrocity to Lily's head? Sorry to break it to you mate, but that is not really the best way to make an apology."
"I'm not going to glue it to her head!" James looked astonished that his friend would think such a thing. "I made it for her as a present. You know, to make up for what I said to her. Also it was kind of my fault Petunia chopped off her hair in the first place."
Sirius took a deep breath. "Look James, I really don't know about this. It really is kind of strange looking."
"Are you joking? This is practically professional quality. It took me all night and it was made from real hair and everything," James said defensively.
"Alright," Sirius shrugged. "Your choice, man. I can't want to see her face when you give it to her."
James shrugged off Sirius's strange comment. He was immensely proud of his artistic creation, and nothing that anyone could say would diminish his satisfaction. James was assured that Lily would throw herself at his feet in gratefulness upon receiving his masterpiece.
A struggle between two desires was going on in James' mind. Part of him wanted to wait for every boy in the dorm room to wake up so he could show off his snazzy wig, but another part of him was too impatient for Lily to behold the result of his labor to wait for them. Finally he contented himself by shaking Remus and Peter awake and hurriedly shoving the wig in their faces without any explanation before wrapping it in an old copy of the daily prophet and hurrying out the door.
James literally flew down the stairs, tripping only a few times and out into the hall. He pushed his way through a group of intimidating seventh years, one of whom appeared to be trying to tell him something, and darted in between Oliver Crabbe and another equally stupid crony in his efforts to find Lily quickly.
As he approached the great hall, the thought occurred to him that perhaps Lily was not already inside. To James, the thought was almost to grave to handle, he couldn't imagine waiting any longer to reveal his surprise. With a strange hesitance, James threw open the double doors dramatically and stepped into the hall, a small and striking figure below the vivid sunny skies.
At first he thought that she wasn't there, and he was about to leave in disgust, but then he spotted her, discreet under a dark brown scarf. Paying no attention to Lily's companions, James marched toward her in determination.
He came up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. It seemed to him as if it took her an eternity to turn her around, turning not only just her head but her whole body. As soon as she saw him her expression turned from surprise to mistrust and loathing. One of her companions turned around as well and grinned a little too widely.
James recognized the girl to Lily's left as Bellatrix, but he ignored her, sure that his gift would be enough to silence any objection of Bellatrix's.
"What do you want, Potter?" Lily asked him impatiently.
James smiled and wordlessly thrust his sloppy wad of newspaper towards her.
Lily turned the strange package over in her hands and shot James an inquisitive look. "Is this a joke?"
"No way, can't you see what this is? No need to thank me, I understand. I'm sure you appreciate how much I do for you," James proclaimed grandiosely.
Her fingers moving cautiously, under Bellatrix's smirk, Lily slowly removed the crumpled paper. The skeptical expression on her face turned into one of horror when the strange ball of hair and glue emerged.
Lily let out a high pitched shriek and threw the package to the floor. "What is that thing? It looks like some kind of dead animal!"
James looked at her in confusion. "No Lily, I made it for you, it's a wig, so you don't have to have that funny scarf on your head anymore," he said earnestly.
It was not like James to be so honest, and Lily did not believe it for a second.
"You are making fun of me?" she asked, her voice dropping to a whisper. Lily's hand unconsciously patted her scarf. "I hate you!" she screamed, drawing her hand back and slapping him across the face.
Bellatrix laughed out loud, and pulled Lily down in her seat.
For once it was James who stood flabbergasted, his shock all too evident on his face.