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A/N: Hey! Thanks for all the reviews! I love you people! Lol! (Once again, I'm in a peace, love, hippy kind of mood—No offense Queen of Zan) Well, hope you enjoy the new chapter!
"Mr. Potter, Mrs. Potter," Professor McGonagall said sternly from behind the desk in her office as Lily looked around nervously and James looked bored.
"What was that?" Lily snapped in annoyance. The last thing she needed was for that horrid rumor to reach the teachers.
"Nothing, I swear, back to the point, I have a detention to assign to the two of you. Before I assign it, is there anything you'd like to say?"
"Professor McGonagall, I swear—" Lily began nervously. She had never gotten detention before. Ava had always been the one to get detention for inappropriate actions that took place in the dorms, but Lily? Never! What if she couldn't be head girl?
"Ms. Evans, you've jinxed a fellow classmate to speak in a language that only one person in the school understands and as if that weren't enough, you locked yourself in your trunk to avoid said fellow student from forcing you to set him right. I think you've done enough. I was talking to Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall said with her lips thin.
That was never a good sign.
Lily looked at James in shock. Everyone thought he was the victim? It was his fault that he was speaking in French and that she had locked herself in her trunk in the first place!
"Je—" James began while trying his best to look pensive.
"You know, Mr. Potter, maybe it's best if you just keep your mouth shut," Professor McGonagall said as she propped her elbows on the desk and placed her chin in her hands with her eyebrows raised.
"Je—" James began again with hope that for just once in the past week SOMEONE would listen to him. Just because no one can understand what he was saying doesn't mean that he had nothing intelligent to say.
"I believe I told you not to speak. As for your detentions, Lily, you will spend the next week inventing a counter-jinx for the jinx you put on James before the next quidditch match. James, you will help her in any way possible. Even if it means staying out of her way at all times," Professor McGonagall said with thin lips. "As the top candidates for Head Boy and Girl, you need to learn how to work together."
Lily stared at her in horror. She wouldn't be able to finish re-organizing her shoes and finishing "Taming the Shrew"!
James looked at Professor McGonagall with a smile stretched across his face. As long as he didn't get in Lily's way, he could spend all week with her! It was part of their detention. She couldn't even jinx him for it!
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"James, it's only been six hours and you're already driving me crazy! Stay out of my way, quit babbling in French, and for the love of peat, why are you breathing so damn loud?" Lily screamed at James as she paced back and forth near their table in the library. She had been about to slam a book over James' head when she remembered that it was part of her detention. For crawling into her own trunk.
"Je ne—" James began to protest. It wasn't his fault that everywhere he went he seemed to be in her way, that he could only speak in French, and that he seemed to be breathing too loudly, but trying telling Lily that when she can't understand a word you're saying! Then again, Lily probably wouldn't listen to him if she could understand what he was saying anyway. Then again, they probably wouldn't be in this situation in the first place if she could understand what he was saying.
"James Potter! Read my lips: I don't care what you have to say!" Lily shrieked earning her a glare from the librarian, Madam Pince. "Look what you made me do! You annoyed me so much that the librarian no longer likes me!" Lily said in annoyance as she threw herself into the wooden chair and threw her head on the desk. She was a bit stressed out.
"Lily—" James began in a comforting voice. Right, he couldn't actually comfort her because she wouldn't understand a single word he said.
"James," Lily said in a dejected voice that sounded very much like she was close to tears. "I thought you were supposed to stay out of my way?"
James looked at Lily, fully took in just how upset she was about everything, sighed, pushed his chair back, and walked out of the library without another word.
Lily watched his retreated back, feeling very close to tears for some reason beyond her knowledge and began flipping through the next book in the stack.
"Hiya," Ava said as she walked into the common room and collapsed tiredly in the red, poofy chairs in front of the fire-place beside Sirius and across from Remus.
"Hullo," Remus said cheerfully as he measured his homework for DADA. Two inches too short.
"Hi," Sirius said, looking up at Ava and abandoning his own essay. He could copy James' later. Could James even write in English?
"Do you lads have any clue where Lily is?" Ava asked after a moment of pretending to be interested in picking at her nails as Sirius watched.
"She's—" Remus began to say as he wrote yet another line down, wishing that they had a more interesting DADA teacher. One who let them do something instead of just learning theory.
"She's in the library with James for detention, trying to invent the counter-jinx," Sirius cut Remus off, looking at Ava right in her big, brown eyes.
"I see," Ava said as she pushed her hair behind her ears and pouted her lips.
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It took Lily almost all week to invent the counter-jinx, but it came through just in time for two practices—one on Wednesday and one on Thursday before the big game on Friday.
James had been so happy Tuesday night when he could finally speak English that he thanked Lily well over a hundred times and then apologized to Sirius another hundred times for knocking him unconscious—the incident that started the whole French fiasco.
On Friday, Professor McGonagall passed around the sheet for people to sign up if they were staying at school for Christmas holidays--which began the next day. None of the six signed it, preferring to wait until a later day to make their Christmas plans.
On Friday, all classes were canceled so that Gryffindor could play Ravenclaw in quidditch. In just two days of practice, James had worked the team so hard that they managed to beat Ravenclaw 190 to 30 in under an hour. Rumor around the school was that the team had practiced almost all through the night on those two days.
After the game, all of Gryffindor house went back to the common room to eagerly await the arrival of the team.
"That was a short game," Remus said, walking up behind Lily and Ava in the common room as they waited near the portrait hole along with the rest of the occupants of Gryffindor house.
"Hey Remus, Peter," Ava said, nodding at them and smiling.
"Hey lads," Lily said with a smile.
Just then, the portrait hole swung open to reveal six of the seven members of the team. Frank wasn't there and was presumably somewhere in the castle, celebrating with Bellatrix.
The common room burst into applause. After everyone finished applauding, hugging, and congratulating the team, six of the eight sixth years settled in the corner between the fireplace and the window.
"That was awesome," Ava squealed giving Sirius and then James a hug excitedly.
"Gee, you'd think I'd get hugged first, what with managing to catch the snitch in the middle of the snow and everything," James teased Ava.
Lily couldn't help but notice that Ava's cheeks had turned slightly red at James' remark—something very uncharacteristic of her witty and confident friend.
"You would, wouldn't you?" Ava said cockily before sitting down beside Lily on the floor and crossing her legs.
The four boys sat down, the group of six forming a circle.
After a bit of talking, laughing, eating, and Lily screaming at James for hitting on her, they eventually got around to the subject of the Christmas holidays.
"Were you planning on coming this year, Sirius?" James asked as he sipped a butterbeer that warmed his insides; just what he need after flying around in the snow. It was a good thing the match didn't last very long—he might have frozen to death.
"Actually, I'm not," Sirius said, looking down at his plate of food from the buffet that someone had nicked from the kitchens. He spent all their time off school at James' house.
"Are you kidding?" James asked with a laugh.
"Actually, no," Sirius said sadly, "Bellatrix told me that mum demanded that I come home this year. Probably wanted to officially kick me out or something of the sort. Sorry."
"That sucks," Remus said sympathetically.
"I suppose it's for the best that she write me out of the will and everything before I'm an adult." Sirius said in a depressed tone as everyone looked away except James who was used to Sirius' parents. "Maybe I'll be able to make it to your house by New Years," Sirius added hopefully.
"See, the thing is, my parents are going on a fifth honeymoon this holiday and arranged for you and I to stay at Ava's," James said, looking at Ava nauseously. He had just spent the last week following her around like a lost puppy. He had not been too happy to hear about his parents fifth honeymoon.
"Fifth?" Lily asked with her eyebrows raised. Who needs five honeymoons.
"Yes, darling, fifth. That's what happens when your father is the minister of magic," James said, rolling his eyes.
"Don't call me darling," Lily said cuttingly.
"Anyway, back to what we were discussing," Ava said, rolling her eyes. Would they ever just learn to get along? "Upon finding out that James would be spending all of the break at my house, I immediately arranged to spend the week before Christmas at Lily's house and for Lily to spend the week between Christmas and New Years at my house."
"So you and I are going to be in the same house for a week, darling?" James asked with a wicked grin. What a time to woo her over. Girls always got all vulnerable when they were alone over the holidays.
"Don't worry, James, you, Sirius, Remus, and Peter will be staying clear across the house from Lily and I," Ava said in a mock-sympathetic tone.
"Remus and Peter?" Remus asked in a confused voice. He wasn't aware he was spending Christmas at Ava's.
"Yes, you're welcome to come for New Years," Ava said with a smile.
"You know," Sirius began, "If not for the whole officially being kicked out of my parents' house and written out of their will thing, this holiday would be damn good."
~~Hey! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! I'm not quite sure if it's all that great or not, but… Let me know and stuff… I have a question that I'd really like for you to answer… Do you find it confusing how this story changes viewpoints or do you like it? Mmk, well, lemme know in your review… BTW, the next couple of chapters about Christmas break will be very interesting. Especially the parts about Sirius. So, if you want to read them, go REVIEW! I'm hoping for 100!!~~
PotterChick1~ Yay! Saved from the trunk! Wow! I don't think I've ever made someone speechless before! Btw, if you don't review *Line…* soon, I'm really going to start to wonder if you've disappeared or not! Really, I'm starting to worry about my number one reviewer!!
MoeHPplease~ Lol! Thank you! I know there wasn't very much chaos this chapter, but next chapter… *Evil laugh* you'll see! BTW, thanks for the cookies and hug! Lol!
Aurora_Borealis~ *Blush* I'm not that funny… Thank you though!
LightPrincess~ They're short because I put out one every week! Lol! She did in this chapter…
Queen of Zan~ You hadn't reviewed! Lol! Don't worry, I do still love you! Lol! Yeah, um, sweetie, you already did that! (Speaking of which, loving the other story…)
Potato~ Thank you! I'm glad you like it! Yeah, unfortunately, I understand French as well…
LoliPopLozer~ Thank you! I'm SO glad you're enjoying it! Chow!