Sorry about the 1st chapter, I stuffed it somehow while I was editing it. Anyway, it's all fixed now. Thank you very much for your reviews- I really do appreciate it! I love this plot so it's not like I writing for the sake of numbers of reviews, but it would motivate me. (No threat intended!)
Dready Girl- it's great to know that you love FB as well, as you can see I am a big fan, having just watched the anime and desperately wanting the manga. Your review has definitely caught my attention and I'm glad you like it considering you speak French!
Jillie- thanks for pointing out my grammar mistakes, I was originally planning to write it in first person, so that's why there's MY instead of HER and stuff like that. I've changed it now, can't stand having obvious mistakes like that! I'm pleased when you said that you liked my interesting plot- I like it too even if I didn't come up with it!
TariOrona- Hey, Fruits Basket is cool, I'm sure you would like it if you actually watched it. I don't diss Beyblade! I made Lily gentle because she always represented as hot-tempered so it can get repetitive. Anyway, this is supposed to be an original and more heart-warming story than most. Just read and see!
Tiger Lily21- Wow, question machine! I've just answered one question; here I am with a new chapter! The others will come later. Hope this will be enough to satisfy you in the time being!
Chewy1- Sorry about the grammatical mistakes, it's partially explained to Jillie's answer. Another point could be because I'm Australian, where the spelling's a bit different. I know it was bad to break in the middle of the conversation! Thanks for your lovely comments.
Gryffspopgurl, DrAcO's MINE- Don't worry, even if Lily's sweet and innocent it will be interesting. This story is not love/hate, as least not really. Unless you count the number of times James will get pissed off at Lily.
Also a big shout to Sweetstrawberry211, ShimmeringEvil, Jessie Flower, Lily-Evans3001, Evil-Angel-911, Manny2003, Jessie Flower, W-tru, uRbAnGaL & iT's MeH for wasting a minute or two of your life span to click on the review button and type irrandom (That's not a proper word) words that happens to make me feel special.
SORROWS OF LOVEJames was still angry when Transfiguration was over, having turned his feather into a frog (instead of an owl). I should be happy, so why do I feel that something is very wrong? He was puzzled, whilst fidgeting with his quill.
"Hey, Prongs." Sirius greeted after class, in the Common Room. "What's up?" he added, seeing James's frown.
James plunged into the story, of course throwing his line of defence. Sirius listened with surprising attentiveness, his gray eyes glimmering with tomfoolery.
"What?" He gave Sirius a cold look, "Why the hell are you staring at me like that?"
"I- have- a- brilliant- idea." He emphasized each word, as if speaking to a toddler.
"Brilliant." James said sarcastically. "Tell us about your brilliant idea.
"I highly doubt that anything that comes out of Padfoot's mouth would be classified as brilliant." Remus spoke for the first time, though his eyes were really fixed on the chessboard. He was playing with Peter Pettigrew, who darted his eyes about like a nervous wreck.
"Oh, shut up, Moony." Sirius grumbled. "Anyway, this really is a brilliant idea. Wonderful, clever, original, dazzling, magnificent-
"Get to the point." James groaned.
"We-ll, I was thinking..." Sirius began whispering his brilliant idea to James, who slowly started to smile and beam and beam...it must have been a fine idea.
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"Anyone bothering you, Lily?" Kisha Fayette's voice boomed, which made a few first-graders jump of her way. This has always been her way of greeting Lily, which often resulted in astonishing discoveries.
"Oh no, not at all." Lily's eyes grew wide- an obvious sign that she was way off the mark from truth.
"Seriously Lily, you know you can't lie to me." She chuckled heartily, making herself comfortable on the lounge.
Lily smiled. "I've never been any good at it."
"That's my Lily, nothing sinister about her," she teased fondly, "100% angel, like a real darling."
Lily gave in and narrated the incident- exactly as it is. The fault was clearly Potter's, anyone could see to that. Kisha started cursing when Lily finished. She found herself watching her best friend's animated actions- admiring her confidence and coolness.
Kisha Fayette had been Lily's friend of six years, her oldest friend. She was extra- protective of her because she was thought that Lily was too docile. As far as conversation, she never talked about her family and Lily never pressed her. It seemed like she had a harsh time with her family. Perhaps that's where she developed her I-don't-care-what-you-think attitude, cool but doesn't quite cut it. She's not popular, not quite an outcast, but in between like where Lily stands.
She has a mixed descent- a Japanese mother and French father. Lily thought that Kisha was what you might call a 'Black Beauty', dark and beautiful. Her knee-length, flowing black hair had been recently dyed a deep purple, and Lily swore that her eyes glowed like amethysts when she's ecstatic, instead of it's usual ocean blue. She was eye-catching, but somehow her attitude intimidated the most of the male population. Also, she attempted to make herself look like a real gangster, which in Lily's opinion made her look ghastly. Girls who are envious of her liked to say that she brought people bad luck because she was malicious.
But that's not true at all. Lily, only Lily knew the truth. Deep down, Kisha's cold attitude is melted by her friendliness toward Lily. Like many, she needs to find an escape- a shell, which covered her true self, even if she doesn't realize it's there. I guess I'm like that too, not wanting to expose myself fully. But I have hope for Kisha; someday there will be someone who will help her drop the act and start acting like the real her-, which she is when she's around me.
"Lily, LILY!" she waved her hands frantically. "Are you listening?"
"Of course."
"Good. As I was saying, James Potter is such a bastard. What kind of a sicko goes around the school picking up any girls he can find? Doesn't he have a life? Same goes for Black- he's not any better. Thinks he can charm the school and make everyone laugh. Laugh at my arse! Do you know what he did yesterday; he tried to pick me up! Me, Kisha Fayette, the big scary Gangersteress! I told him to sod off because no way he's going to succeed- puts on his puppy face and stares at you- I told him that even if he is a Veela it's not going to work. Oh, I had a lot of fun putting him off; he looked really pissed off but couldn't say anything. Went puce in the face and walked off, swearing his head off when he thought I couldn't hear. Lily, it was so funny- you should've been there! I can imagine how disastrous it would be if you were in stuck in my shoes." She told her story with evident satisfaction.
Lily giggled. Kisha is so totally against guys. Doesn't trust any of them. They're a bad lot, guys; you can't expect them to love you only and always. That's why she stays out of that namby-pamby fairytales. Well, I'm somewhat of an opposite to her- I believe those everlasting fairytales. I believe that someday I will find my Prince Charming who will love me to bits, despite my curse...yes, the curse always had to come up.
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The next morning, Lily and Kisha seated themselves on the house tables, and even Maude came up shyly for a chat. Lily was thankful that Kisha was civil to her- unlike most people she meets. Perhaps, she thought that Maude had the same problems as Lily- inferiority complex.
"James, he didn't do- anything to you, did he?" she stuttered timidly, even more shyer than ever by the presence of Kisha.
"No, so don't you worry about me." Lily soothed sympathetically, understanding the phase that she was going through.
"Good." Maude drew a long breath of relief, "He's never been the forgiving type. So I'm really very sorry-
"How long have you been dating him?" kisha interrupted, knowing the Maude type of girl who never stops mumbling the same message over and over again.
"Oh, about two days and 8 hours." She replied, blushing deeply.
"No wonder why he wants to dump her," Kisha muttered so that only she could hear.
"Really, thanks for being concerned about me." Lily smiled gratefully. "I'm honoured to have a friend like you."
Kisha rolled her eyes that meant 'Lily is being sickingly sweet again.'
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"You ready?" Sirius whispered.
James gave a thumbs-up. He ran his hand through his hair in attempt to flatten it. He cleared his throat. He swiped an imaginary dust off his robe. He proceeded to sit next to Lily.
Sirius, on the other hand, had finally roped Kisha into Exploding Snap- her favorite card game. He gave mouthed good luck to James, giving him the space alone with Lily.
"Hey." James said casually.
Lily widened her eyes. What was James doing here, in the obvious unpopular corner of the table? Was he still angry for what had happened yesterday? With a sinking heart, she realized that he must have. But he didn't sound angry just then?!
"Hi, about yesterday..." she started hesitantly.
"Oh, it was my fault. I'm sorry, Lily. Will you forgive me?" James looked deep in her eyes. He was observing her reaction, like he did with all girls.
"Oh!" Lily nearly fell back with surprise. He was apologizing; James Potter was apologizing to me? "That's- that's alright."
James poured a goblet of pumpkin juice for Lily and one for himself. "So I was thinking- you know, I ought to apologize to Maude as well. I shouldn't have hurt her feelings and broke her heart, but you're right, it was a mistake on my part." He bowed his head humbly.
"Oh, really- that's very sweet of you." Lily found confidence in her voice, whilst sipping along. "Life is tough, everyone makes mistakes and recognizing them is already a big step. If you know what they are, then you know what changes in your attitude to make so that you can become a better person. And once you make a change- oh sorry, am I boring you?
"Oh no, this is really most interesting." James shook his head firmly and said in a singsong voice. The truth was, he was really setting his eyes on attractive brunette behind Lily...
Lily glanced at her watch. "Oh my, I really must be going now- I need to go to the Owlery. I'm sorry for taking up your time." She stirred from the seat.
"Huh? Oh, that's not a problem." James said with emphasis. This is it!
He fixed his eyes on Lily, Lily looked back at him oddly.
Come on, hurry up!
Just as he chanted the words in his mind, a bang broke out in the hall. Everyone turned around in curiosity. Lily stood frozen, she felt a dull pain gradually building up her body. It was like she was set on fire. And then, just as she wanted to cry out for help- it stopped throbbing.
But something worse was about to come.
Lily looked down. She shrieked.
The audience was no help- they laughed. They laughed so hard and loud that she just wanted to sink down to nothingness and die.
Lily had sprouted furry cat ears; a furry cat tail and her fingers were starting to change into claws. She gave James a how-could-you-do-this-to-me look before running off- meowing instead of being able to say anything. James was laughing so hard that his stomach was sore, but stopped as Lily gave him a fleeting look.
She ran and ran and ran- not caring where she was going and if she would get into trouble or not. Right now, she just wanted to get away from the humiliation, shame, embarrassment, mortification, ridicule, yet the truth...
She stopped in her tracks. A million thoughts crossed her mind. They were mostly about James, how could someone be so inhumane. So, it was all a horrible joke. Doesn't he know how cruel it is to hurt people like that? Doesn't he have sympathy for someone like me...I'm unpopular as it is. Now he's never going to let me live it down. A single tear rolled down her eye. Another and another, until her silk robes were stained with them.
Lily found herself crying for the first time in ages. She wasn't just crying for that incident, but also for everything else that she had put a brave face on. She didn't exactly have a perfect life, but her optimism had always kept her going. But now, she had let her depressing side get the best of her. Petunia- that made her upset and sent shivers down her spine.
N.E.W.T.S- she was secretly dreading it. It haunted her if she would ever fail one of her subjects. Her parents had always carried more responsibility than most- she would be so mortified if she had to let them down.
Then, on the back of her mind was her nightmare- the curse. James turned me into a cat. But I am a cat. Well, if I do ever kiss somebody. But will I, I mean I will won't I? Someone will accept me- will they? The scene of the laughter replayed in her mind over and over again. She tried to stop, digging her nails into her hair. It didn't work. The memory remained as fresh as ever.
At that point, Lily broke down completely and hopelessly. All the color from her cheeks drained out of her. No, the laughter had been real. Face the truth Lily; their reaction is the same way they will act if you ever spilled your secret...
Okay, that was angst (grits teeth) unfortunately I don't like it that much. But ignore me because I hope you do. Now before you leave, you must drop your heart-felt statement that can either make me feel over the moon or rotten. Choose at your own risk. If you're feeling bored, why not check out these two talented authors, Glittery-Snowflake and Sweetstrawberry211 for some light entertainment!