Something Like Deception
A/N: It's a weird feeling I get when I'm writing. I always have this vague idea winding around in my head, but I'm never sure how I'm going to apply it to paper. Then, when I actually start, it unwinds itself, somehow. It's like: the ink in my pen is a vessel for my soul, and my message is set free through the stories that I write. It all makes sense in a really weird way. Does anyone understand what I'm trying to say?
Amariel: Thank you! Hey, look everyone! I have USUAL reviewers! Yay! Heehee. Glad you liked the fluffiness.
firehottie: Thanks. Happy you liked it!
Sarah Warder: (sigh) I just can't please you people, can I? What do you MEAN it was a tad TOO sweet? (breaks down into tears) What did I do WRONG??? Haha, just kidding! Thank you! Oh, I hope this chapter sums up what happened with Sirius and James-the-werewolf.
Jessica: Thank you! I'm glad you love it. I love it, too!
lil'doxy: (looks scared) Just what exactly HAVE you been picturing?
bubblesara: What? No rhyme this time? (faints) Oh, well . . . Thanks anyway! I'll try!
CanadianBlueberries: Uh, sorry. Nope, it's definitely a Lily/Remus fic. My Lily/James fic is called "Unregistered Animagi." You might like that one . . . I've been told it's really rather good. Thanks anyway!
lxldiRRtyJesslxl: What an, uh, interesting, penname. Heehee. THANKS! I'M GLAD YOU LIKE IT!
Tara-Yo: Join the club. In my mind, Sirius is not dead. He lives a very long life and finally adopts Harry from his psycho aunt and uncle. What will happen to him, you ask? You'll see! You'll see!
jess131346: I've been meaning to ask you, what are all the numbers for after "jess"? And yes, Dobby and the teacloths! I agree with you there. The world must revolve around Dobby!
---
Disclaimer: Fanfiction owns me, but I don't own a damn thing. Not really a fair trade, is it?
Chapter Thirteen – Coping and Hoping
Sirius winced. When Remus said it would be bad, he hadn't known what "bad" meant. Now he did. And it was worse than bad.
There were scratches all over his body. The smell of blood, his blood, hung heavily in the air. He had passed out last night from all of the damage done to him, and he had barely woken up in time this morning to drag himself back up to Gryffindor Tower.
He wanted to go to the Hospital Wing with Peter, but if he went in there like this, Madam Pomfrey would be highly suspicious. Sirius sighed. He was just lucky that he hadn't been bitten. Very, very lucky.
He hoped that book Lily Evans' had found was telling the truth. He hoped his best friends switched back into their own bodies in two weeks like they were supposed to.
Because if they didn't, he wasn't sure he'd be able to hang around with James-the-werewolf on full moons for much longer.
---
Remus held onto Lily's hand tightly. With the other hand, he was covering up the yawns that dared to escape his mouth. Lily kept glancing at him, and Remus was sure that he looked horrid.
He hadn't gotten any sleep last night at all. After they came back from their "walk" around the lake, Lily had gone upstairs to bed, but Remus stayed down in the common room, worrying about Sirius and how well James was controlling his actions.
Lily had dragged him to breakfast this morning, and forced him to eat. His stomach felt queasy when he didn't see Sirius or Peter anywhere, and he was sure that they had gone to the Hospital Wing to treat their many injuries given to them by James-the-werewolf.
So after he gulped down something he didn't waste time trying to identify, he practically pulled Lily out of her seat, tugging her after him to the Hospital Wing. He had to see James. He had to see Sirius. He had to know if they were okay.
---
Lily blushed. She was well aware of the picture they made storming down the hallway hand-in-hand. From the determination on Remus's (Potter's) face, she could only assume what other students were thinking. James Potter and Lily Evans? An item!? She supposed people would be shocked, and that everyone would hear about it by dinner that afternoon.
Lily sighed. It was going to be quite complicated when Remus got his body back. And not just for the whole school. It was going to be complicated for her, too.
Because, as much as she tried to deny it, she was slowly becoming attracted to this body, and that was not good. That was not good at all.
---
James stared at the picture they made in the doorway. That was the way it should be, he thought. HIMSELF, and Lily Evans holding hands, and rushing to make sure MOONY was all right after his transformation. It was so bloody ironic! This was the way he wanted it! But that Lily Evans . . . that BLOODY Lily Evans had screwed it all up. And Remus, his so-called buddy, Remus, his COMRADE, had fallen in love with her!
And for once, James wasn't the winner.
Well, it was okay, he told himself. It was okay because, all was fair in love and war, right? So Remus had won the girl. That was okay, right? There were other fish in the sea, right?
'Right,' was what he told himself. 'Right,' was what he would continue to tell himself. But he would always know it wasn't true. In the future, he would probably date tons of other girls, but no one would come close to Lily Evans. She was unattainable. And therefore attractive to him. But James knew it was so much more than that.
For him, there would be no one else, but her.
---
Remus breathed a sigh of relief. James was fine. He was extremely bloodied up, and in his words, he "hurt like hell," but he would survive.
"Have you seen Sirius?" he asked, feeling somewhat hesitant.
James paused, then he sucked in his breath. "Moony, I don't . . . I don't remember anything. I don't even remember Sirius being there . . ."
"It's okay," Remus said, quickly. "Maybe he's in the common room, or the dormitory. Sometimes I . . ." He glanced at Lily. She was looking back at him, intently. He looked away, back towards James, and said in a low voice, "Sometimes, I don't remember anything, either."
"Where's Peter?" Lily asked, suddenly.
"He was here," James said. "He went to breakfast." Only Remus noticed how James's voice sounded strained, as if he were forcing himself to answer her. James was also looking everywhere, but at Lily. For a second, something like guilt ran through his body.
"Oh," Lily said, also carefully not looking at James.
Remus sighed, internally. "Lily, let's go find Sirius."
"Okay," she said, obviously happy to be out of James's company. 'Or maybe,' Remus thought, glumly, 'happy to be away from "my" company.'
---
Sirius was in the showers, shying away from the water. It hurt like a thousand knives every time it touched any part of his scratches, bruises, and cuts. And he winced.
"Get a grip of yourself," he said out loud. "It's just . . . arrggh . . . water! Ahhhh!" Sirius backpedaled from the showerhead and ran into a wall. "Ow!" he winced. "Ow! Ow! Ow!"
"Sirius?" James's voice came from the doorway. Remus . . .
Sirius looked up with a pained expression. "The water hurt me," he said, successfully managing to sound like a two-year-old.
"Black, are you an idiot? Those are all open wounds!" Evans's said, having pushed past Remus to see what was going on.
"Evans!" Sirius said, blushing. He grabbed for a towel, and glared at her. "You are NOT allowed in here!"
"You have nothing I haven't seen before," Lily said, effectively shocking both of the boys. "None of that matters, Sirius, you need to get to the Hospital Wing!"
"I'm fine, Evans," he said, pretending not to notice that she had called him by his first name. "Really, I am."
"Really, you're not," she said, glaring at him. "I'm not joking. You look horrible. You need to get down there. I'm surprised you haven't gone already."
"Evans, James is down there," he said, raising his eyebrows. "I can't go down there when he's down there."
"And why not?" Lily asked, putting her hands on her hips.
Sirius sighed, impatiently. "Look at it this way, Evans, these are, (no offense, Moony), obviously cuts and scratches from a wild animal. I think Madam Pomfrey is smart enough to put one and one together."
"Honestly, Sirius!" Lily said, tsking. "Just lie to her! I'm sure you've done it before."
"And tell her what?" Sirius said. "That I took a stroll around the school on my way to breakfast, and got into a crazy fight with a few bushes on the way?"
"Tell her you went into the forbidden forest because you saw something suspicious," Lily suggested.
"And get detention?" Sirius asked. "I think not, Evans. I have enough lined up for this week already. I barely have time to pull the usual amount of pranks."
"Sirius Black!" Lily exclaimed out of exasperation. "If you do not march your skinny behind down to the Hospital Wing RIGHT NOW, I will announce to the school that Snape got the best of you in a fight, and you're cowering up in your room because you're afraid to face the school with your many injuries."
Sirius gasped. "But Evans . . ."
"Now, Black!" Lily said, pointing towards the showers door. "March!"
Throwing a dark look to Remus, who was shaking with suppressed laughter, Sirius faced forwards and marched out of the showers. Only when the sound of his footsteps had completely receded, did Remus let go and burst out into laughter.
"What?" Lily said, her eyes wide. "What's so funny?"
---
The next two weeks passed painfully slowly for the Marauders and Lily. Sirius was serving multiple detentions because Madam Pomfrey believed that he had charmed the bush to pick a fight with him, himself, while Sirius had insisted that it was Snape's doing.
Lily and James were avoiding each other at all costs. Lily appeared to be embarrassed at the evident feelings that he harbored for her, and James declared privately to Sirius (Sirius told Remus later) that it just hurt him too much to see Evans right now. Sirius had rolled his eyes and called him a drama queen, obviously trying to prove to Remus that he did not have favorites out of his friends.
Remus just felt awful. He personally felt that he had made a mess of things. There was no way he'd ever break up with Lily now. He really, really liked her. But there was that little voice of doubt ever so present in his mind that kept saying, "If only you hadn't lied . . ."
No one knew where Peter was disappearing to these days, but he seemed to be a lot more distant these days. Unfortunately, everyone around him was too wrapped up in his/her own problems to notice that something was going on. They just passed it off as a sign that Pete was finally going through puberty.
It was apparent to everyone that James was having the worst time of it out of anyone. HE kept having nightmares about the transformation. One night while the boys were trying to make up loads of homework they had left until too late, James had broken one of his quills and it seemed he just snapped. He declared that he "couldn't do this anymore" and that he wanted to "switch back right now." It took a whole lot of chocolate and patience to calm him down.
Later, Sirius and Remus had agreed that they had better switch back when the time came. If they didn't, James would probably eventually go mad. Merlin knew, there was no way he could handle being a werewolf again.
And if it didn't work . . . and they didn't switch back, then they would have to go to Dumbledore, and risk expulsion. It was the only way to save James's sanity.
---
A/N: Ai eeee! James is going crazy! And don't worry. Lily IS being nicer, see? She's gracing him with her absence.
I'm going to hold a little contest thing: How many people think they will switch back and how many people think they won't? If the side with the most votes is the right side, then I'll start working on the SEQUEL as soon as this story is over. If the side with the most votes is the wrong side, then I'll push the sequel aside for now and start focusing more on other stories . . . MAKE SURE YOUR VOTE IS THE RIGHT ONE!!! This should be fun.
Ariana S.
A/N: It's a weird feeling I get when I'm writing. I always have this vague idea winding around in my head, but I'm never sure how I'm going to apply it to paper. Then, when I actually start, it unwinds itself, somehow. It's like: the ink in my pen is a vessel for my soul, and my message is set free through the stories that I write. It all makes sense in a really weird way. Does anyone understand what I'm trying to say?
Amariel: Thank you! Hey, look everyone! I have USUAL reviewers! Yay! Heehee. Glad you liked the fluffiness.
firehottie: Thanks. Happy you liked it!
Sarah Warder: (sigh) I just can't please you people, can I? What do you MEAN it was a tad TOO sweet? (breaks down into tears) What did I do WRONG??? Haha, just kidding! Thank you! Oh, I hope this chapter sums up what happened with Sirius and James-the-werewolf.
Jessica: Thank you! I'm glad you love it. I love it, too!
lil'doxy: (looks scared) Just what exactly HAVE you been picturing?
bubblesara: What? No rhyme this time? (faints) Oh, well . . . Thanks anyway! I'll try!
CanadianBlueberries: Uh, sorry. Nope, it's definitely a Lily/Remus fic. My Lily/James fic is called "Unregistered Animagi." You might like that one . . . I've been told it's really rather good. Thanks anyway!
lxldiRRtyJesslxl: What an, uh, interesting, penname. Heehee. THANKS! I'M GLAD YOU LIKE IT!
Tara-Yo: Join the club. In my mind, Sirius is not dead. He lives a very long life and finally adopts Harry from his psycho aunt and uncle. What will happen to him, you ask? You'll see! You'll see!
jess131346: I've been meaning to ask you, what are all the numbers for after "jess"? And yes, Dobby and the teacloths! I agree with you there. The world must revolve around Dobby!
---
Disclaimer: Fanfiction owns me, but I don't own a damn thing. Not really a fair trade, is it?
Chapter Thirteen – Coping and Hoping
Sirius winced. When Remus said it would be bad, he hadn't known what "bad" meant. Now he did. And it was worse than bad.
There were scratches all over his body. The smell of blood, his blood, hung heavily in the air. He had passed out last night from all of the damage done to him, and he had barely woken up in time this morning to drag himself back up to Gryffindor Tower.
He wanted to go to the Hospital Wing with Peter, but if he went in there like this, Madam Pomfrey would be highly suspicious. Sirius sighed. He was just lucky that he hadn't been bitten. Very, very lucky.
He hoped that book Lily Evans' had found was telling the truth. He hoped his best friends switched back into their own bodies in two weeks like they were supposed to.
Because if they didn't, he wasn't sure he'd be able to hang around with James-the-werewolf on full moons for much longer.
---
Remus held onto Lily's hand tightly. With the other hand, he was covering up the yawns that dared to escape his mouth. Lily kept glancing at him, and Remus was sure that he looked horrid.
He hadn't gotten any sleep last night at all. After they came back from their "walk" around the lake, Lily had gone upstairs to bed, but Remus stayed down in the common room, worrying about Sirius and how well James was controlling his actions.
Lily had dragged him to breakfast this morning, and forced him to eat. His stomach felt queasy when he didn't see Sirius or Peter anywhere, and he was sure that they had gone to the Hospital Wing to treat their many injuries given to them by James-the-werewolf.
So after he gulped down something he didn't waste time trying to identify, he practically pulled Lily out of her seat, tugging her after him to the Hospital Wing. He had to see James. He had to see Sirius. He had to know if they were okay.
---
Lily blushed. She was well aware of the picture they made storming down the hallway hand-in-hand. From the determination on Remus's (Potter's) face, she could only assume what other students were thinking. James Potter and Lily Evans? An item!? She supposed people would be shocked, and that everyone would hear about it by dinner that afternoon.
Lily sighed. It was going to be quite complicated when Remus got his body back. And not just for the whole school. It was going to be complicated for her, too.
Because, as much as she tried to deny it, she was slowly becoming attracted to this body, and that was not good. That was not good at all.
---
James stared at the picture they made in the doorway. That was the way it should be, he thought. HIMSELF, and Lily Evans holding hands, and rushing to make sure MOONY was all right after his transformation. It was so bloody ironic! This was the way he wanted it! But that Lily Evans . . . that BLOODY Lily Evans had screwed it all up. And Remus, his so-called buddy, Remus, his COMRADE, had fallen in love with her!
And for once, James wasn't the winner.
Well, it was okay, he told himself. It was okay because, all was fair in love and war, right? So Remus had won the girl. That was okay, right? There were other fish in the sea, right?
'Right,' was what he told himself. 'Right,' was what he would continue to tell himself. But he would always know it wasn't true. In the future, he would probably date tons of other girls, but no one would come close to Lily Evans. She was unattainable. And therefore attractive to him. But James knew it was so much more than that.
For him, there would be no one else, but her.
---
Remus breathed a sigh of relief. James was fine. He was extremely bloodied up, and in his words, he "hurt like hell," but he would survive.
"Have you seen Sirius?" he asked, feeling somewhat hesitant.
James paused, then he sucked in his breath. "Moony, I don't . . . I don't remember anything. I don't even remember Sirius being there . . ."
"It's okay," Remus said, quickly. "Maybe he's in the common room, or the dormitory. Sometimes I . . ." He glanced at Lily. She was looking back at him, intently. He looked away, back towards James, and said in a low voice, "Sometimes, I don't remember anything, either."
"Where's Peter?" Lily asked, suddenly.
"He was here," James said. "He went to breakfast." Only Remus noticed how James's voice sounded strained, as if he were forcing himself to answer her. James was also looking everywhere, but at Lily. For a second, something like guilt ran through his body.
"Oh," Lily said, also carefully not looking at James.
Remus sighed, internally. "Lily, let's go find Sirius."
"Okay," she said, obviously happy to be out of James's company. 'Or maybe,' Remus thought, glumly, 'happy to be away from "my" company.'
---
Sirius was in the showers, shying away from the water. It hurt like a thousand knives every time it touched any part of his scratches, bruises, and cuts. And he winced.
"Get a grip of yourself," he said out loud. "It's just . . . arrggh . . . water! Ahhhh!" Sirius backpedaled from the showerhead and ran into a wall. "Ow!" he winced. "Ow! Ow! Ow!"
"Sirius?" James's voice came from the doorway. Remus . . .
Sirius looked up with a pained expression. "The water hurt me," he said, successfully managing to sound like a two-year-old.
"Black, are you an idiot? Those are all open wounds!" Evans's said, having pushed past Remus to see what was going on.
"Evans!" Sirius said, blushing. He grabbed for a towel, and glared at her. "You are NOT allowed in here!"
"You have nothing I haven't seen before," Lily said, effectively shocking both of the boys. "None of that matters, Sirius, you need to get to the Hospital Wing!"
"I'm fine, Evans," he said, pretending not to notice that she had called him by his first name. "Really, I am."
"Really, you're not," she said, glaring at him. "I'm not joking. You look horrible. You need to get down there. I'm surprised you haven't gone already."
"Evans, James is down there," he said, raising his eyebrows. "I can't go down there when he's down there."
"And why not?" Lily asked, putting her hands on her hips.
Sirius sighed, impatiently. "Look at it this way, Evans, these are, (no offense, Moony), obviously cuts and scratches from a wild animal. I think Madam Pomfrey is smart enough to put one and one together."
"Honestly, Sirius!" Lily said, tsking. "Just lie to her! I'm sure you've done it before."
"And tell her what?" Sirius said. "That I took a stroll around the school on my way to breakfast, and got into a crazy fight with a few bushes on the way?"
"Tell her you went into the forbidden forest because you saw something suspicious," Lily suggested.
"And get detention?" Sirius asked. "I think not, Evans. I have enough lined up for this week already. I barely have time to pull the usual amount of pranks."
"Sirius Black!" Lily exclaimed out of exasperation. "If you do not march your skinny behind down to the Hospital Wing RIGHT NOW, I will announce to the school that Snape got the best of you in a fight, and you're cowering up in your room because you're afraid to face the school with your many injuries."
Sirius gasped. "But Evans . . ."
"Now, Black!" Lily said, pointing towards the showers door. "March!"
Throwing a dark look to Remus, who was shaking with suppressed laughter, Sirius faced forwards and marched out of the showers. Only when the sound of his footsteps had completely receded, did Remus let go and burst out into laughter.
"What?" Lily said, her eyes wide. "What's so funny?"
---
The next two weeks passed painfully slowly for the Marauders and Lily. Sirius was serving multiple detentions because Madam Pomfrey believed that he had charmed the bush to pick a fight with him, himself, while Sirius had insisted that it was Snape's doing.
Lily and James were avoiding each other at all costs. Lily appeared to be embarrassed at the evident feelings that he harbored for her, and James declared privately to Sirius (Sirius told Remus later) that it just hurt him too much to see Evans right now. Sirius had rolled his eyes and called him a drama queen, obviously trying to prove to Remus that he did not have favorites out of his friends.
Remus just felt awful. He personally felt that he had made a mess of things. There was no way he'd ever break up with Lily now. He really, really liked her. But there was that little voice of doubt ever so present in his mind that kept saying, "If only you hadn't lied . . ."
No one knew where Peter was disappearing to these days, but he seemed to be a lot more distant these days. Unfortunately, everyone around him was too wrapped up in his/her own problems to notice that something was going on. They just passed it off as a sign that Pete was finally going through puberty.
It was apparent to everyone that James was having the worst time of it out of anyone. HE kept having nightmares about the transformation. One night while the boys were trying to make up loads of homework they had left until too late, James had broken one of his quills and it seemed he just snapped. He declared that he "couldn't do this anymore" and that he wanted to "switch back right now." It took a whole lot of chocolate and patience to calm him down.
Later, Sirius and Remus had agreed that they had better switch back when the time came. If they didn't, James would probably eventually go mad. Merlin knew, there was no way he could handle being a werewolf again.
And if it didn't work . . . and they didn't switch back, then they would have to go to Dumbledore, and risk expulsion. It was the only way to save James's sanity.
---
A/N: Ai eeee! James is going crazy! And don't worry. Lily IS being nicer, see? She's gracing him with her absence.
I'm going to hold a little contest thing: How many people think they will switch back and how many people think they won't? If the side with the most votes is the right side, then I'll start working on the SEQUEL as soon as this story is over. If the side with the most votes is the wrong side, then I'll push the sequel aside for now and start focusing more on other stories . . . MAKE SURE YOUR VOTE IS THE RIGHT ONE!!! This should be fun.
Ariana S.