Disclaimer – Same old, same old. Not mine. Well, everything you don't recognize is mine. Wish Sirius was!
The next morning, Dallas woke up early, considering her late night. She shook Lily awake, who gave her a disapproving glare.
"What did I do?" Dallas asked defensively.
"You know what you did." She said icily, but according to Dallas' puzzled expression, she didn't. "Stephanie and James?"
"Right." Dallas said, cluing in. "I am sorry, but I have no control over what James does. Well, at least I didn't."
"What do you mean 'didn't'?"
"Well now I am his girlfriend!" She said proudly.
"James? Girlfriend? Not possible, he is a player, and so are YOU!"
"Not anymore, James promised to change, and the only reason that I wasn't exclusive was because he wasn't my man. But now he is!"
"I see that you are elated." Lily said, thoroughly unenthused.
"Yes!"
"Well, good luck. You will need it, if you like Potter."
"Well, most people see the good in him even if you don't!" Dallas said with menace, and turned away. "He is a good guy!" Dallas stormed into the bathroom, and Lily could hear the sounds of running water.
"Whatever." Lily said, thinking about it. 'Yeah, good in Potter...that isn't possible, is it? No, definitely not." Lily got up and made her way to the Head Girl bathroom, and managed to be on time for breakfast, which was amazing considering how much she was pondering other things.
"Sirius, wake up." Michelle said, shaking Sirius slightly. "We're going to miss breakfast!"
"Goway." Sirius muttered while squirming away a bit.
"What happened to mister 'I get up early in the morning!'?" Michelle asked him, but he was still asleep, so she had to shake him again and say it into his ear. That seemed to wake him.
"Morning? What? What time is it?" He asked groggily, trying to feign alertness. Michelle turned around to check the clock, and when she turned back he was asleep again.
"This calls for war." She said giggling. Michelle carefully took the pitcher of water from the end table and positioned herself so that she was in front of him. "OY, SIRIUS!" She yelled at once, and before Sirius could react Michelle poured the whole pitcher over his head.
"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He yelled out of shock, and immediately tackled her to the ground and started a tickling war.
"Break it up." Peter said, padding out of his dorm to break them up.
"What's up, Petey?" Sirius asked, grinning goofily.
"You woke me up, you twits." He mumbled, and walked back to his dorm. The two turned back to each other, shrugged, and continued their battle. They only stopped ten minutes later when they realized that they were terribly late for breakfast, and Peter had left without them. They stood up, straightened their clothes, and ran off to their dormitories to get changed.
Michelle entered the girls' dorm, only to find that no one had woken Stephanie yet.
"Get up!" Michelle demanded, as she pulled her clothes off quickly. "We're late for breakfast!"
"So what." Stephanie said irritably. "I'm not hungry."
"You will come, missy, now get up!" Stephanie slowly stood up and faced a t-shirt and jeans clad Michelle.
"Wow, you got dressed fast." Steph noticed.
"Do I look alright?" Michelle asked, spinning around. Today she wore a green denim skirt with a black tank, covered with a orange plaid blouse.
"As always." Steph said enviously. "I have the world's biggest legs."
"You do NOT, Stephanie!" Michelle said exasperatedly. "For the billionth time, you only weigh 115 pounds, and you are 5.4!"
"Yes, but all of that weight is in my legs."
"Eurgh! See you at breakfast." Michelle said, storming out.
"Wonder what her problem is." Steph asked herself. 'I think you were annoying her.' Squishy said. "SHUT UP!" Stephanie roared.
Michelle met Sirius in the common room and they walked together to breakfast.
"You look nice today." She said with a smirk, referring to his 'Away From Here' shirt. "You know, I love that band." Michelle added blissfully.
"Really?" Sirius asked, grinning. "I didn't know you knew them." Michelle nodded her head, and she noticed that Sirius took her hand and held it until they got to the Great Hall. They walked over and sat down with Dallas and James who were already giving each other looks.
"Please don't snog here." Sirius said bluntly, and the two blushed profusely.
"We didn't plan on it." Dallas said a little bit defensively. It was obvious to the onlooker that Dallas had changed from last week. She was no longer wearing skimpy clothing – she was back to her normal wardrobe, although her jeans were skintight. And she wasn't giving every guy a look – she was saving it for James.
Just then Stephanie rushed in, saw James, and rushed out again. "Uh, excuse me." Michelle said as she jumped up and ran out of the hall. Catching up to Stephanie, she caught her by the sleeve of her yellow sweater and stopped her. "What do you think you are doing?" She demanded.
"I think that I am going to go wait outside of my divination classroom." Steph replied, and started to walk away.
"Not without eating, you're not!" Michelle insisted. "You cannot keep running from James and Dallas!"
"I'm...I'm " Stephanie stammered, her face a dark shade of magenta.
"Then let's go get you fed." Michelle said, and she led the scarlet-faced Stephanie back into the Great Hall for everyone to stare at. Luckily, just then Dallas and James were rushing out, and didn't seem to notice the two.
"Wonder what's up with Pandersun today?' Lindsay Logan said giggling nastily to her friends, who all giggled back. Stephanie gave them an evil glare.
"Oh, hello!" Lily said as the two sat down beside her. "I was wondering where you guys were. I have potions first, but then we all have defense against the dark arts, right? I hope it is another lesson on patronuses today...that seems like so long ago!..." Lily trailed off as the other two nodded in agreement, Stephanie's face starting to return to a normal shade once again. "Oh, hello sweetie." Lily added as
Remus walked in and sat in between Stephanie and Lily. Stephanie inwardly groaned, and said hurriedly, "You know, I'm not all that hungry." She got up and ran away, but this time Michelle didn't bother to follow.
"What is her problem?" Remus asked his ex-girlfriend.
"I think you know." Michelle responded, giving an evil glare to Remus, who she was quickly getting fed up with.
"I do?" He asked stupidly. Michelle broke her evil stare and stormed out as well. 'Oh, shite.' Remus thought to himself. 'Of course I know her problem! But I can't exactly apologize, eugh, what a mess...'
"Sweetie, you okay?" Lily asked.
"Fine as pie." He responded pitifully, but Lily smiled.
"Good," She said. "Because we still have fifteen minutes before class starts." She winked at him and dragged him to the statue of Larry the Lame by the history class where Remus had his first class.
"Steph, c'mon, you need to relax and cool down." Michelle said exasperatedly to Stephanie as they finally met up at the divination class.
"I do, do I?" Stephanie asked with a burning temper. "Why should I? Because I give up my boyfriend for some slut who just steals the guy that I like, who proceeds to snog me, and then tell me that he likes her better? Not to mention Lily and Remus...HE breaks up with YOU for Lily, and yet he runs around snogging ME when he's drunk! So, I need to relax, do I?" Stephanie was now shouting.
"You don't need...need to talk...talk to ME like that!" Michelle said, tears forming in her eyes, and she twirled around to storm off, but James held her back.
"Don't go anywhere." He said quietly, but with force. He turned to Steph, and said a little louder, "You know, the whole tower heard you."
"I don't fluffing care!" Stephanie yelled in response.
"Now," He continued, ignoring her outburst, "We are going to sort this out."
"Why do I have to stay?" Michelle asked. "It is her problem, you know."
"Well," James said, "Number one, she is your friend, and number two, you are the one crying."
"I'm only crying because she KNOWS how long it took for me to get over Remus, and then she goes and brings him up, and acts like it is all my fault that Remus did what he did and...and..." But Michelle didn't continue, as she was now quietly sobbing onto James' shoulder.
"Oh well. That is because it IS your fault." Stephanie said with no remorse. James gave her and evil glare. "Oh, don't YOU start now, whore-snogger! What, is the whole world against me?" She burst out, again.
"No, but maybe you could try to be rational." James told her evilly, while trying to console Michelle.
"Me? ME? Who is the one running around snogging random people?" Stephanie asked in an over-loud voice.
"Last time I checked, you were too. I mean, Sirius, me, and Remus now too, apparently." Stephanie looked like she had been slapped. "Oh yeah, what's up with you and Remus anyways? I mean, now you tell us that you were snogging him? When did he break up with Lily? Hunh?"
"Just you shut up." Stephanie said. "Just you shut up right NOW! Do you think I wanted to ruin my friendship with him? I WAS DRUNK! And he was there, and I can't even remember what happened! And the...the other...time...we were upset! Okay? But my life is ruined, and you won't lay off! Why don't you all just go away?" Stephanie asked him, now that there were tears streaming down her tanned face.
"Well, maybe if YOU would go away we wouldn't have people crying all the time and cheating on their girlfriends." James shot back mercifully.
"You are a jerk, James Potter, how could I have ever thought of you any differently? You are an insensitive jerk, and you won't ever change. People like you can't change, they just can't..." She was now rambling. "You know? I will go." And she ran away, down the stairs, and to her dorm where she would cry away the whole period.
"You know," Said James, "Remus loves you, but he wants to be with Lily, that's all." James said softly.
"I know." Sniffed Michelle. "He told me, and he tells me that a lot, but I still miss him, and it hurts. And I had just finally gotten over it, and then she brought it up, and made it my fault! It's not, it's NOT!"
"I know." James said, sitting her down with him on the floor. "She is something else sometimes, eh?"
"Yeah." Michelle agreed. "A bitch." This sent James into a roaring laughter. "You know, James, even though Lily speaks shit about you, you are a real friend." Michelle told him. "You know that, right?"
"Yeah." James said, although he didn't really know. "You too...well, except Lily doesn't speak bad about you." He added, laughing a bit.
"Yeah, I don't know what I would do without friends. Between you, Steph, Lily, Dallas, Sirius, and Remus, I feel like I own the world sometimes."
"The impossible seven." James said wryly.
"Yes, the impossible seven." Michelle agreed, grabbing his hand and holding it tight. Just then the bell rang, and the two friends got up from the floor to climb the ladder.
"Oh, where's miss Pandersun today?" Professor Hum asked them as they entered the class.
"Oh," James said offhandedly, "She wasn't feeling too well this morning. Not well at all..."
"Finally!" Peter exclaimed. "An escape from the girls!" He said brightly as Sirius, Remus and him entered their history class.
"Whoa man, you make it sound like girls are the devil." Remus said, backing away from peter a bit. "I mean, they can be tough sometimes, but we can't live without them."
"Well, I can." Peter said, and he moved away to sit with Amos Diggory, who welcomed him with open arms.
"Hey, uh, Sirius? Do you sense something different with Peter this year at all?" Remus whispered uncertainly to Sirius.
"Um, a bit, but I haven't really been paying attention..."
"Um, right." Remus said, not really feeling better. 'Why did he feel this way?' He wondered. 'He, Remus, had spent two and a half years dating who he had thought was the love of his life, but then he dumped her because he thought that he liked someone else. It just turned out that who he liked sort of liked, liked him back, so they had a go at it. But it really turns out that he doesn't think that he likes her at all, and he didn't even feel bad when they were fighting, although he feels a small stab of jealously whenever he sees the girl that he dumped having a jolly time with his best friend, and yet amidst all of this he finds himself always staring into the eyes of another woman, whom he has ended up snogging with on several occasions. What was wrong with him?' He continued to wonder, narrarating to himself in the third person.
8
"So you're totally not lying to me?" Lily asked, as her and Dallas made their way through the underground to Potions.
"Why would I lie about something like this?" Dallas asked incredulously.
"Why? Why? Because James doesn't know what he wants. One minute he's snogging you, the next he is snogging Steph, and then some stranger!"
"It isn't like that anymore. James promised." Dallas told her defensively. "Why do you care anyways? Are you jealous or something? You wanna go out with him?" She added in a teasing voice, but Lily looked offended anyhow.
"No I don't!" She said a little too loudly. "But fine, be that way, I'll see you in class." She took off down a different corridor and decided that she would rather be late for potions than walk with Dallas. 'Why DO I care? ' She asked herself. 'It's not like I even like him...he is my friend...so why do I care if he's going out with Dallas...?' Lily was so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn't even see him, until she ran into him.
"Sorry!" She squealed, as she fell backwards onto the cold floor. She looked over and saw that the person she had ran into was Severus Snape. "Oh, it's you." She said, with a hint of pity in her voice.
She knew what the Marauders, especially James, did to him, and she didn't approve at all. She got to her feet and held out a hand to him. "Want a hand?" She asked politely, but the look that Snape shot her was pure venom.
"I don't need help from filthy little no-good mudbloods like you, Evans. Never mind ugly ones." He added nastily, while steadying himself on his feet, but the brute force of Lily's full-face slap immediately knocked him down again.
"Well next time," Lily told him as she walked away, making sure to step ON him, too, "Don't run into me, you greasy-haired, sniveling prick." Lily stormed off to potions, dreading seeing Snape.
"What's wrong?" Dallas asked, seeing the look on Lily's face as she sat down beside her, old arguments forgotten. Lily just shrugged.
"You know what?" She said suddenly. "I am SO happy that the Marauders get him good, because he is a TOTAL ASS!" She shouted the last bit, and Professor Rum gave her a reproachful look.
"Ms. Evans, please leave my class." He told her when she did not say sorry.
"Fine!" Lily shouted, and she stormed from the dungeon to go vent in the Common Room.
&&&&
"Go away." Stephanie muttered as Lily entered the common room, as she was under the belief that Lily had skived off class to visit her.
"I'm not here to see you." She said angrily. "I got kicked out of Potions! Because of that stupid slimy-haired ass."
"Who?" Stephanie asked, keen with interest.
"Severus Snape." Lily said with disgust. "He put me in such a foul mood! I met him in the hall and he dared to call me a mudblood."
"He didn't!" Stephanie gasped. Lily nodded. "Oh Lily, don't listen to him. That's why YOU are Head Girl, and he is just a slimy git." Lily smiled, but nonetheless a tear was still falling silently down her cheek. "Oh Lily." Stephanie sighed, giving her friend a hug.
&&&&
Stephanie and Lily winded their way through the crowded halls to the Defense Against the Dark Arts room.
"We're going to be late!" Lily was squealing, as Dallas was telling her to calm down. They arrived just in time.
"Took you long enough!" Michelle hissed to Lily, attempting to pull her away from Stephanie, who was giving her an evil look.
"Yeah, well, I was upset. He called me a mud blood, you know!"
"You didn't tell me that!" Michelle said with a hint of pity in her voice. "That's awful, you know." She added.
"Yes, I know." Lily laughed. Michelle could always make Lily laugh. They sat down together at a table, and when professor Grum told them to pair up and continue patronuses, they paired up together.
Xxxxx00000xxxxX
A/N Heyloo. It isn't as long as I would like it to be, but I am setting to work on 13 right away. !!! And if there are any mistakes or typos, I'm sorry, but I no longer have a beta reader...so, yeah. Just review, as I am pretty sure you have already read!!!
--- RawBean