Left With YOU
Chapter Thirteen
By Mrs. Padfoot
Author's Note: Well, it's been awhile. Not that that's my fault! One of the nice things about co-authoring... you don't always have to take the blame =) Honestly? I'm not sure if I like this chapter or not. It's very... action-packed, I'll give it that. And long. I blame Mrs. Prongs for any... issues this chapter may have. I lost my touch while she was in fanfiction procrastination land.
In any case, you know how she is about Steph/James... and that was definitely a key influence in her writing of Chapter 12... but I've tried to make up with it for at least a fair amount of Lily/James before they find our dear Ravenclaw friend...
Which isn't happening until the next chapter. I'm going to shut up now.
Wait, no I'm not. I have to say thanks to everyone for waiting so long for us... we almost hit the three month mark, guys. =\
I actually had this written awhile ago, but my internet died. So, um, blame Qwest. Or whatever we have.
%%
Lily Evans could not exactly claim to be the most easygoing person in the world. In fact, sometimes she was considerably less than easygoing. Despite that, she could only name two people she had ever really hated: James Potter (and she didn't even hate him anymore) and her sister Petunia (who she only hated half the time).
Stephanie Glenn was quickly becoming the third.
Steph (as James called her) was currently laughing at James' completely unfunny joke, while being carried loftily by James himself. And the bastard was smiling at her. They were shamelessly flirting, and it was all rather disgusting.
In fact, it was absolutely disgusting.
Of course, she was afraid that her disgust might look more like jealousy to the outside viewer, but, of course it wasn't. In fact, she was glad she had never returned James' affection. He was clearly just a player who couldn't stay with just one girl for longer than he had to. The bastard.
And he was smelling Stephanie's hair again.
"Dammit. What's wrong with apple shampoo?" she muttered to herself.
"What?" asked Alexandra vaguely, looking up from the list.
"Nothing," muttered Lily. "What're we on, anyway?"
"Yeah, Alex," said Stephanie. "What are we on?"
Just the sound of her voice made Lily want to trip James and make the two of them fall on top of each other. Wait, no. Because that would be a bad situation for James and Stephanie to be in.
It made Lily want to choke her.
That was better.
"Well, we've got most everything now," said Alexandra, "except underwear."
Stephanie blinked.
"Wait, but – "
Lily blinked, and in the milliseconds it took her to open her eyes again, everything had changed. Alex had somehow managed to dash all the way to where Stephanie and James had been, and in the process of clamping her hand over her friend's mouth, had managed instead, to knock James and Stephanie to the floor.
Or, rather, James had been knocked to the floor. Stephanie had been knocked on top of James.
And it was disgusting.
"Sorry," said Stephanie softly.
Lily gagged.
"It's... no big deal," said James, sitting up.
Stephanie sat up with a soft smile on her face before she noticed that Alexandra and Lily were staring at her.
"Umm..." said Steph, trying to change the subject back to what it had been before. "Well, god, Alex. I wasn't going to mention – James'... marbles. You just created a huge scene for absolutely no reason at all. I was going to say, when did we get most everything?"
"Oh," said Alex, blinking a few moments so she could start thinking again. "Well, um. You guys were all rather distracted – "
"I wasn't!" said Lily.
"Oh, come on, Lily," said James. "You were standing in the corner, fuming. Obviously very – "
"Disgusted," said Lily. "You and Stephanie – "
"Right anyway," said Alex quickly, trying to avoid a fight. "Everyone was distracted, I was bored, and you all were following me anyway, so I just got everything. It's not my fault you didn't notice."
"Oh," said Steph.
"Yeah," said Alex.
"So we're about to win anyway? Well, can't we just use James' marbles?"
It took five seconds for Stephanie to realize what she had just said.
"Wait," said James. "I thought all that was left was underwear."
"Weeee-elllll," said Alex, "yeah. And?"
"Well, what do my marbles have to do with underwear? Are my marbles underwear? Or something?" asked James, confused.
"Um," said Alexandra. "Marbles... are... uh..."
"Underwear?" asked Lily, still puzzling out what Stephanie had just accidentally revealed.
"No!" said Alex and Steph quickly.
"See, marbles... especially James'... are ... easily... transfigured..." said Stephanie.
"Marbles aren't easily transfigured," said Lily.
Great. Just their luck that Alexandra wasn't the only one who paid attention in class.
"Well, um," said Alex. "See, Stephanie's really good at it. Transfiguring marbles... is one of her best talents."
"We're not that stupid, you two," said Lily, rolling her eyes. "I want to know what's going – "
"No, really," said Alex, ignoring the look of death and destruction Stephanie was giving her, "She's an amazing... marble transfigurer. She just needs to do it... in private."
"I... what?" asked Stephanie as Alex grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out of earshot.
"Steph," said Alex. "We've dug ourselves into a hole. And I know what we have to do."
"Transfigure marbles in private?" said Steph, wondering what the hell was going on inside Alex's head.
"No," said Alex, rolling her eyes. "That was an excuse."
"I know," said Stephanie, "but... please. Marble transfiguring? Only Sirius would believe that."
"I'll make Lily and James believe it," said Alex, not even bothering to defend Sirius. "While you take James' Christmas underpants to Remus."
"I don't want to give them to Remus!" said Steph loudly.
"Shh!" said Alex.
"Why do I have to give them to Remus?" asked Stephanie, quieter.
"Don't you see? We need underpants, but we can't use those because James would recognize them. Remus, Sirius, and Jenny need James' underpants, but there are none left! So you have to give Remus James' underpants in exchange for some of his."
"I don't want Remus' underwear," muttered Stephanie. "I want James'."
"Do you want to win, or not?" said Alex.
"Why don't you go get Remus' underwear, Miss Competitive? If I go, James will be alone with her. She's been waiting to make her move all afternoon!" said Steph.
"You have to go because you're the expert marble transfigurer," said Alex, as if it were the most logical explanation in the world.
"Right," said Stephanie.
"Go on," said Alex.
"This is absolutely ridiculous," said Stephanie, stalking down the hall.
%%
Steph was really a bad influence, Jenny had decided. It had taken all her inner strength to keep from looking at Remus' underwear every few seconds. And she didn't want to know what she would do if she was able to get her hands on those beautiful...
Right. Anyway. Steph really was a really bad influence.
"What?"
"What what?" snapped Jenny. Sirius really could be annoying as hell.
"You were mumbling something about Stephanie and Remus," said Sirius.
"It was your imagination," mumbled Jenny.
"No, it wasn't," said Sirius, "but, anyway, if you were thinking about what a great couple they'd make... I was thinking the same thing! We should get them together!"
"Stephanie and Remus? As a couple?"
"Yeah!" said Sirius.
"That's a match made in heaven, all right," said Jenny.
"I know," said Sirius happily.
Jenny whirled.
"It's called sarcasm. Sarcasm. Do I have to spell it out for you? And, for the record, I think there are few worse couples than Stephanie and Remus. Please refrain from getting them together."
"I miss Alex," said Sirius sadly.
Jenny blinked.
"What did that have to do with anything at all?"
"A lot," said Sirius. "You're mean, and Moony's boring and mean, and I miss Alex," said Sirius.
"Well, she probably doesn't miss you," muttered Jenny.
"Would you two shut up? I have had it up to here with you," said Remus.
Jenny sighed. She was grumpy, tired, irritated, and everything she did seemed to irritate the guy she liked. Oh, this was absolutely lovely. She needed... a distraction.
"Hi Jenny," said Stephanie, falling into step beside her.
"Steph? What are you doing here?" asked Jenny.
"Transfiguring marbles," said Steph.
"What?"
"Nevermind," said Stephanie. "Can you tell Remus I have a trade to propose?"
"Um, well," said Jenny. "No."
"Stop doing that!" groaned Steph.
"Doing what?"
"That shifty eyes thing! Just tell Remus I have a trade to propose," said Stephanie.
"I can't!"
"Why not?"
"He's mad at me," sighed Jenny.
"Mad? How did you get him mad? And don't tell me you talked to him because I know you didn't!"
"I was arguing with Sirius! You know how that is," sighed Jenny.
"How can anyone not argue with Sirius?" said Steph.
"Alex manages," sighed Jenny.
"Well that's Alex," said Steph. "She's just... Alex."
"Right," said Jenny uncertainly.
"Anyway, it's not like they ever do much talking," muttered Steph.
"Thank you for that lovely mental picture, Steph," said Jenny. "Can we please change the subject now?"
"Oh, right! The trade! I need to talk to Remus. I want some of his underwear," said Steph.
"WHAT?" yelped Jenny. Sirius and Remus, just ahead of them, turned.
"Hi Steph!" said Sirius. "We were just talking about you and Alex!"
"We were?" asked Remus, his tone clipped and irritated.
"Oh, yeah," said Sirius. "Remember, Moony?"
"I wouldn't know," said Remus, "I tuned you out when you started talking."
"What?" asked Sirius.
Taking advantage of their bickering, Jenny turned back to Stephanie.
"You already have James' underwear! Why do you want Remus'?"
"Because James will recognise his underwear, of course," said Stephanie. "Anyway, you guys need James' underwear, not Remus', so I figured -- "
"Alex figured," said Jenny.
"What makes you say that?" said Stephanie. "I come up with good plans!"
"Your plan wouldn't have involved giving up James' underwear," said Jenny.
"Fine. Alex figured that it would be a logical trade."
"Well, too bad," said Jenny. "We may have Remus' underwear, but YOU CAN'T HAVE THEM!"
"She can't have what?" asked Remus, turning around.
%%
"Where's Stephanie going?" asked James, watching her turn around the corner. Lily made a harrumphing sound.
"Oh, she's off to her marble-transfiguring place," said Alexandra.
"Marble-transfiguring place?" asked Lily skeptically.
"Mmhmm," said Alex.
"Where's that?" asked James.
"A cave fifty meters below the school," said Alex knowingly.
%%
"Um," said Jenny.
"Oh, give it up. I want to propose a trade, Remus, but Jenny here doesn't want us to win," said Stephanie.
"WELL. I don't want you to win either!" said Sirius.
"Shut up, Sirius," said Remus. "What trade, Stephanie?"
"James' underpants," said Steph, reluctantly extracting them from her robe pocket, "for some of yours."
"Why?" said Remus.
"Because the last thing we need is underwear! And we can't use James', because he doesn't know we took them!"
"Last thing?" asked Sirius.
%%
"A cave fifty meters below the school?," repeated James. "Right. I know all the passageways in this school and there's no cave fifty meters below the school!"
"I was kidding," said Alex. "She's in the dormitory."
"The dormitory?" asked Lily. "The Ravenclaw dormitory?"
"Yes," snapped Alex.
"But Steph was walking away from the Ravenclaw dormitories," said Lily.
"How do you know that?" asked Alex. "You're a Gryffindor!"
"I'm an intelligent Gryffindor," said Lily. "Shocking though that concept may be."
"Well...," covered Alex. "Um. Dammit. I thought she went to the dormitories!"
"Lovely," muttered James.
"Um, look, I'll go see where she went," said Alex. "You two stay here."
%%
"Yes, the last thing!" snapped Stephanie. "Now can I please have some boxers so that we can go win?"
Jenny wasn't exactly sure what happened next. She had made the mistake of blinking. But when she opened her eyes again, James' boxers were across the hall, Sirius had his want out, and Steph was on the floor.
"Sirius, you IDIOT!" yelped Remus. "Why the hell did you stun her?"
"She was going to win!" said Sirius. "Anyway, now we have Jamesey's boxers and we can win!"
"Wait, wait, back up," said Jenny. "Sirius can stun people?"
Sirius glared at her.
"You think it's bad now, but you'll see," he said, taking a macho pose and turning to the wall as it it were his audience. "We'll win! And Alexandra won't know where Stephanie went, and they'll just be waiting, and waiting for Stephanie to come back!"
"Um," said Jenny. "Sirius – "
"And Alex, Lily and James will all stand there wondering why Stephanie's taking so long, and all the while, we'll get the rest of the stuff on the list and by the time Stephanie's woken up, we'll have won!"
"Sirius!"
"It's brilliant! Don't you see?"
"No," said an icy voice. "I don't."
%%
"I think I'm going insane, Lily," sighed James, sinking against the wall.
"You've always been insane, James," said Lily, sinking next to him.
"Thanks for that," said James.
"Anytime," muttered Lily.
There was a lengthly pause, and Lily found herself wishing for the days when the spirited banter between them came so easily.
"I'm worried," said James. "Why didn't Stephanie go to the dormitory?"
Lily shut her eyes as tightly as she could.
"What are you doing, Lily?" asked James.
"Imagining this all away," she muttered.
"Why?"
"Because," she said, "this day has gone from bad to worse. Sirius blackmailed me into this, you know. And right now, I'm thinking that maybe him spreading that all over the school would be better than going through all this."
"Wait," said James. "Spreading what all over the school?"
%%
"Alex!" said Sirius, looking surprised to see her.
"Hi, yourself," said Alexandra, looking very irritated. "There's no need to explain anything. I heard it all."
"Um... oh," said Sirius.
"I can't believe you. I just... I can't believe you! Waiting until we were all gone, and then trying to ruin our chances of winning! You immoral bastard. I am going to ask Malcolm for some of his underwear."
With that said, Alex whirled and stalked off in the opposite direction.
"Who's Malcolm?" asked Sirius, sounding worried.
"Oh, you know him. That tall, dark, and handsome Ravenclaw Chaser?" said Jenny.
"She's asking another boy to give her his underpants?" asked Sirius, turning white.
"You made one major miscalculation, Sirius," explained Jenny. "You forgot how competitive Alex is."
"Oh," said Sirius, looking so forlorn that Jenny had to feel sorry for him.
"Don't feel too bad," said Jenny. "She'll probably forgive you. After she's won."
"Great," moaned Sirius, putting his head in his hands.
%%
"Oh. Well... Sirius just said he was going to spread... things," said Lily helpfully.
"About?"
"Oh, me," said Lily.
"And?"
"And what?" asked Lily.
"What about?"
"Does it matter?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said. "Yeah it does."
%%
"I've never seen Alex that... creepy," said Sirius.
"That's right," said Jenny. "You didn't know her when Lily beat her on that one Ancient Runes test."
"What happened?"
"I wouldn't know," said Jenny, "the only one who even went near her that week was Steph. That was when we decided that Steph should have been a Gryffindor. Don't worry, though, she's usually quite mellow."
"Well, hmph," said Sirius. "That doesn't help me much now, does it?"
"It's your own fault, you know," said Jenny. "I can't help you!"
There was a long pause, and Jenny wondered why everything seemed colder all of a sudden.
"Yes you can, Jenny," said Sirius. "Yes, yes you can!"
%%
"Look, it's no big deal, anyway," said Lily. "He just... he saw me... out of bed one night."
"And?" asked James.
"And what?"
"And then what else did he see?"
"Nothing," said Lily. "We were... I was just asleep."
"We?" asked James.
"It doesn't matter," insisted Lily.
"Yeah," said James, staring at her intently, "yeah it does. To me."
The look he was giving her was a strange mix of jealousy, curiosity, and... something else. Lily tried to look away, but his eyes, for some reason, were suddenly all-too captivating, and Lily bit her lip as she looked into them. A sort of understanding passed between them, and Lily wondered what was happening.
And then the moment passed.
Lily cursed the stray second year that had run through the hall before she caught herself – she didn't want to be in that sort of... moment... with James Potter. It simply wasn't right. And so she dusted herself off and stood up.
"Let's go find the stray members of our group," she said.
"Alex told us to stay here," he argued.
"Well they're taking too long," said Lily, starting to walk off in the direction that Alex had disappeared in only fifteen minutes earlier. "Come on."