Sirius's Top Ten
Thanks to all my reviewers – James-Padfoot, bBy x jUjUbee, TeenTypist, Jen Riddle, Hippie1212, ShanYuri, cocoyasha, Rose-Mariann-Johnston, SiriusSweetie7 & Evil-Angel-911. I LURVE YOU!!!
I am SOOOOO sorry for the delay. I went to camp on June 27 and didn't get back till Sunday, so I've been working on this chapter, and it's finally here! Yay! It's a nice long one since I feel so bad, and another should be up within a day or so. SORRY!! Anyways, I saw the third Harry Potter movie just before camp and I'm wondering what you thought of it? I loved it, the acting was much better, and it was funny. R&R!
Chapter 19: Alone on Valentines Day (Part II)
"Stupid jerk. I'm never speaking to him again! EVER!" Cass murmured angrily as she paced from one end of her dormitory to the other. She longed for Lily to be back so she could vent her feelings, but Lily wasn't expected until Monday. Abby was busy, Cass had discovered on her way from breakfast, making up for all the time she wasted being away from Remus.
She needed Lily's advice right now – whatever elegant words Abby used to describe Lily were correct – she was an amazing listener and great at offering advice. Sirius had told Cass about the conversation between Lily and Abby in the library, but he stupidly could not recall exactly what word Abby had used, only that it had something to do with being a good listener. Sirius… Why had he done that? Cass was certain he had not been hit by one of the bewitched Cupid arrows. Besides, they only made you profess your love for the last person you talked to, not kiss them.
Abandoning her pacing, Cass slumped down in front of Lily's desk and immediately found some parchment and a quill, and began to write furiously in her messy scrawl.
Dear Lily –How was the wedding? I'm assuming you'll probably get this afterwards. Hate to bother you, but I'm… well Tig, I'm really upset. Something happened at breakfast this morning and I really need to talk to someone (Abby is busy with Remus :D)
Please write back!
Love, Cass.
Finishing her letter, she marched determinedly toward the Owlery, only to meet James marching in the opposite direction. She frowned, and forgetting her problems for a moment, gently grabbed his shoulder as he passed. "James? You alright?"
"Not really." James admitted feebly, the anger in his eyes disappearing and a look of hurt replacing it.
"I'm not either." Cass smiled weakly. "I was just going to send this to Lily…" Cass trailed off as James flinched at the mention of his girlfriend.
"I was going to, too. But Feathery-Beast wasn't there…" James trailed off as Cass flinched at the mention of Sirius's owl, Feathery-Beast or FB for short. Obviously something had happened between the two. Probably just another row. But normally, Cass wouldn't be, or look, this upset.
"Did you and Sirius have another row, Cass?" James asked quietly.
Cass shook her head and looked to the floor, her blue eyes welling up with tears. "No… He… He kissed me, James…"
"Isn't that a good thing? I thought you two fancied each other." James replied, looking rather confused. Cass was the first girl he'd ever met who was unhappy that Sirius Black had kissed her. Obviously she was mental, and Lily kept her around for human contact.
"Then he said it was a mistake." Cass finished.
James's face went blank, and Cass continued staring intently at the floor, wiping the tears from her eyes before they fell.
"So…" Cass choked out. "What's up with you and Lily?"
"She ditched me." James replied coolly, hiding his disappointment and hurt. He had thought Lily actually loved him.
"Ditched you?" Cass chuckled weakly, looking up from the floor to make eye contact with James, wiping another tear from her cheek and smiling amusedly.
"Yes!" James retorted, looking very offended. What did she find so funny about his girlfriend ditching him on Valentines Day to go to a wedding for a woman said girlfriend didn't even like??
"You're really self-interested sometimes, James, you know that?" Cass said, giving a shaky laugh. "I'm sure she didn't want to 'ditch' you, but you have to look at where she's coming from. It's her sister's wedding day!"
"Her sister doesn't even like Lily! Why would she even bother?" James retorted fiercely. He had an itching in the back of his mind telling him that Cass was probably right already, but he didn't like to be wrong, and wasn't going to admit to it easily.
Unfazed by James's violent tone, Cass kept a cool smile, temporarily distracted from her own problems. "Because, Lily cares for her sister, whether Petunia returns the feelings or not. Poor Tig, stuck with a big heart. Even though Petunia hates Lily, Lils – I mean, Tig," Cass corrected quickly as James shot her a glare, "wants to try to patch their relationship by being there for Petunia and showing she cares, even if Petunia never accepts her."
James was silent for a moment, letting Cass's words sink into his mind before responding. 'Damn, she's right.' James offered a weak smile to mirror Cass's. "Made a mess of things then, haven't I?"
"A little. Although, you've come a long way James. You used to be even worse." Cass replied sympathetically, though a smug smile played on her lips.
"You know, Cassidy Flemmings, I believe I've just realized why Lily considers you to be such an amazing friend." James commented after a moment of companionable silence.
"Have you, James Potter?" Cass replied. "Why did you think Lily and I were friends before?"
"Previously, I thought you were a mentally perturbed child who Lily kept contact with so you could have human association." James replied formally, though he broke out into a grin as Cass leaned over to punch him playfully in the chest.
"So now that you've realized that you were wrong and that it is you, in fact, who Lily keeps around so you can benefit from human association, what are you going to do?" Cass asked, quirking a brow.
"I intend to solve all our problems." James replied confidently.
"How so, King Prat?"
"Well… Wait a minute – 'King Prat'?" James asked with an amused smile.
"Your new nickname, silly. Now please, enlighten me as to how you will solve our problems?"
"Firstly, yours – you need to talk to Lily about this Sirius-issue, correct?"
"Yeah…" Cass agreed, frowning as she tried to figure out what he was getting at.
"And I need to apologize to Lily, correct?"
"Yeah…" Cass agreed again.
"Here's the plan. How good are you at faking other people's writing?"
Sirius hummed softly to himself as he snuck into the Slytherin common room, pleased that Lily had given him something to do, so he could keep his mind off Cass. It scared him he was still thinking about Cass and her reaction to the 'incident' at breakfast.
He had enjoyed the kiss, and knew it wasn't an accident. He had meant to kiss her, and he wanted to kiss her again, but it scared him how much he cared about Cassidy Flemmings. Suddenly he was in James's shoes, falling head over heels for a girl – it had never happened to him before. He was Sirius Black, the infamous bachelor who never stayed with one girl any longer than two weeks.
Quickly he fell silent as a door up the stairs creaked open, and Severus Snape marched down the stairs, his cloaks billowing behind him, and out of the common room, muttering quietly to himself. Sirius smirked from beneath James's invisibility cloak, standing silently in the centre of the common room.
It wasn't an especially nice room, lacking the warmth of Gryffindor Tower. Located in the dungeons and discovered by the Marauders in their third year, it was dimly lit by wrought iron lamps that hung overhead, and furnished in a dull, dark green. On the walls grew a green mould or fungus, Sirius wasn't sure what.
Safe beneath the invisibility cloak, Sirius completed his task for Lily – pouring a transparent, powdery substance all over the couches and chairs of the common room. He had no idea what this powder would do exactly, and Lily refused to tell him, only asking that he take several wizard cameras to breakfast tomorrow morning, since she would miss the effects of her prank, being away at the wedding.
Sirius trusted Lily anyways, and had already stolen away to Hogsmeade to buy several cameras. His task completed, Sirius too left the common room, anticipating what breakfast would bring.
It had taken Lily quite a while to prepare for the prank, almost three weeks had passed since the Quidditch game, and she had spent all her extra time looking up complex charms in the library – but it was finally done.
The next morning, Sirius woke up late. Cursing himself as he leaped down the stairs into the common room, yanking on a shirt as he went with cameras dangling from his wrist, he arrived outside the Great Hall in record timing. The hall was roaring with laughter, and Sirius was quite concerned he had missed the prank. But when he saw the scene in the hall, a smug smile appeared on his face, and he began to snap several photos of the Slytherins, who were looking about hopelessly for someone to save them.
Lily's powdery substance was some sort of a timed releasing mechanism for a an old charm she had found in 'Charm Your Enemies' an ancient book at least twelve hundred pages long. The charm, once placed upon all of Slytherin house caused the name of the first Gryffindor that particular Slytherin spoke with after being charmed to appear in wispy red letters about their head, along with an amusing message.
The situation was quite amusing, as Bellatrix Black, Sirius's own cousin, had exchanged words with a first year Gryffindor named Dandy Leon. Thus, above her head floated the message: "Dandy makes me randy!" Snape had spoken with Arthur Weasley. "I love Arthur Weasley!" Both boys were exceptionally embarrassed. Sirius had used up three cameras before he glanced about the table for his friends. Cass, Abby, and Remus sat together, laughing happily. Sirius joined them, grinning manically.
"She deserves to be a Marauder for this, Moony!" Sirius yelled amidst the laughter as Rodolphus Lestrange joined Snape in having a homosexual message, "Alex Jordan makes my world go round."
"Indeed!" Remus agreed. "She'll have to be an honorary member, and we'll need a nickname."
"Hey! Why can't we be Marauders?" Abby protested, feigning a hurt look.
"Because you're not special enough." Sirius replied immaturely, with a whiny kid-like tone.
"Well if that's how it is!" Abby declared loudly, as if that were a veritable response.
"Where's James?" Remus interrupted, not in the mood for Abby and Sirius to get into another one of their keep-thinking-of-smart-comebacks-till-the-other-can't conversations.
"Dunno." Sirius replied, though he was now glancing about the Hall keenly, looking for his best mate.
"He left." Cass said nonchalantly, biting into her toast.
"What?!? Left for where exactly??" Sirius demanded.
"Not supposed to tell." Cass replied coolly, sipping some pumpkin juice.
"Not supposed to tell?" Sirius replied scathingly. "So he'd tell you but not his best mate?"
"S'ppose so." Cass replied evenly, trying to ignore Sirius's harsh tone and picture how Lily was probably feeling at that moment. 'Probably happy. Very happy.'
At that exact moment, however, Lily was rather depressed. Rain was thundering down against her parents' tiny house in Surrey, and the large amount of people within the house was causing the windows to steam over. Fat women (Vernon's relatives) were bustling about in tacky lilac bridesmaids dresses, complaining about their hair or how horrible Lily was. Luckily, the feeling was mutual, so Lily didn't mind as much. Petunia was shrieking about her hair and her bouquet, which had conveniently fallen apart, and the only thing Lily wanted was to be with her friends.
"Lily?"
Lily looked up from the reply she was writing to Cass to see Charlie, peeking his head through a crack in the doorway of her room.
"Yes, Charlie?"
"Mum says you ought to get ready now, Petty's gonna 'blow a casket' any minute if you don't. Dad says he hopes she does and that it'll knock some sense into her and she won't want to marry Vernon anymore and Mum says not to listen to Dad."
Lily grinned. "Thanks Charlie. You about ready?"
Charlie opened the door completely, revealing that his small, wiry form was clothed in a formal looking tuxedo, though his bow tie was slightly crooked. Lily smiled and pulled herself off her bed, padding over in her socked feet to her brother and gently adjusting his tie until it was straight.
"Is James coming?" Charlie asked bluntly, picking at his collar, which he found most uncomfortable.
"No, Charlie." Lily replied softly, and somewhat remorsefully.
"Why not?" Charlie persisted.
"Petty didn't even want me to come, Charlie. She hates me. D'you think she'd want my friends to come?"
"Probably not." Charlie admitted. "But Petty doesn't hate you."
"I'm afraid she does, Charlie." Lily said quietly, shutting the door to allow them some privacy, and slipping out of her pajamas and into her hideous lilac bridesmaid dress. Luckily, Petunia had talked her mother out of making Lily the maid of honour, so Lily didn't have to wear the not-matching lime green outfit selected for the role.
"She doesn't. She told me. She hates how lucky you are. She hates that you're a witch and she's not, how you have so many good friends and she doesn't, how you have a boyfriend like James and she has Vernon…" Charlie said quietly as he zipped up the back of the dress. It was strapless and fell to the ground, made of silk and fitted to each bridesmaid's body – it would have been quite a pretty design had it not been for the disgusting selection in colour.
"Then why is she marrying that oaf when she could do so much better?" Lily protested, forgetting she was talking to her ten-year-old, soon to be eleven, brother.
Charlie shrugged, returning to the mindset of a normal ten-year-old boy. Lily sighed softly, and the two spent a few moments in companionable silence until a loud shriek erupted from downstairs. It was Petunia, and judging from the volume of her voice, she was in the living room.
"IT'S HIM!!" Petunia shrieked again.
Her mind lost in thoughts of the Wizarding World, Lily immediately assumed that by 'him', Petunia meant Voldemort. Immediately she grabbed her wand from her school things and hopped down the stairs as fast as she could in the dress. Busy with thoughts of what exactly she was to do, it didn't cross Lily's mind that Petunia didn't know of Voldemort's existence. Sure enough, Petunia was standing the living room, pointing out the window at a cloaked figure that was approaching the house.
Lily made her way to the front door and stepped out into the rain, her hair falling out of its up-do almost immediately and falling in chunky wet strands around her face. Wand out and pointed in the direction of the cloaked figure, Lily stepped forward, ready to duel if she had to. She could hear Petunia ushering Vernon's relatives from the windows, and Charlie asking her mum repeatedly what Lily was doing. She had no clue. Was she actually going to duel with this Death Eater? Or what if this figure was Voldemort himself?
"Lily?" The figure spoke in disbelief, and the voice was familiar.
"James?"
Dropping her wand to the ground, she ran over to him, coming to an abrupt halt right in front of him, ignoring the grass and mud stains that now covered her dress. James grinned happily and removed the hood from his face, Lily now recognizing that it was his school cloak.
"Any reason why you were pointing your wand at me so menacingly?" James asked innocently.
"Well, aside from the fact that I think you're a huge prat – "
"And I agree with you on that point." James interjected, causing Lily's cross look to fade from her face. "You do?"
"Yeah. I'm really sorry. I was a total prat. Enough of one for Cass to call me 'King Prat', anyways." James admitted, causing Lily to laugh. "I should have seen that you're trying to make an effort with your sister and supported you about it."
Lily smiled and pulled James into a hug, ignoring the cold sensation as the water from his cloak seeped through her dress to her skin.
"What was the other reason for the wand?" James asked after a minute of silence.
"Err… I thought you were Voldemort." Lily explained quietly.
"Voldemort? Me?" James asked incredulously.
"Well I was still in Wizarding-World-mode, and then Petunia shrieks 'IT'S HIM!' since she doesn't like you, and I just… wasn't thinking."
"Taking after Sirius with that then." James said with a smile.
"I s'ppose." Lily admitted. "But if you tell him I agreed, I'll never speak to you again. Any reason why you're here of all places, in the rain, when you should be at school?"
"Well – "
"Wait a minute! How did you get out of school? I mean, the teachers didn't let you, did they?" Lily interrupted, looking up at her boyfriend in disbelief and sounding slightly hysterical.
"One question at a time, please Lils." James replied calmly. "Firstly, I am 'here of all places' to see you and apologize. And it just so happens that Cass needs you and is very skilled at faking other people's writing."
"Cass did what?"
"She wrote a letter to Dumbledore, pretending to be you about how you needed my support at your sister's wedding because she hates you so much and how isolated and alone you feel. It was quite heart wrenching to read, of course. Then Dumbledore calls me to his office and informs me of all this, but since I couldn't floo to your house, I flooed to the Leaky Cauldron and flew on my broom from there. Oh, happy Valentines Day… I think it's wet…" James stuttered, retrieving a damp package from his pocket.
"James…" Lily began, in a you-really-shouldn't-have tone.
"Open it." James persisted.
Timidly, Lily took the package from him and began to peel away the layers of wet paper until only a box remained. Just as gently, Lily lifted the lid of the box. A confused look of distaste spread across her face, and James looked crestfallen.
"You don't like it?" he asked quietly.
"What kind of joke is this?" Lily demanded, ignoring his obviously hurt tone and shoving the box at him. Inside, was a dungbomb.
"But… This isn't what I got you!" James offered weakly, trying to explain.
Lily's face softened slightly, if only because she hated being mad at James. "It isn't?"
"No… Damn it! Sirius must have switched it!" James said angrily, his face heating up with anger. "I'm so sorry Lily, he's being a prick because Cass is mad at him and – "
"Why is Cass mad at him?" Lily interrupted, looking apprehensive. "What did that idiot do now?"
"He… err… kissed her." James said with an awkward smile.
"WHAT?!?" Lily roared, "Then why is she mad?"
"He… err – "
"I swear James, if you say 'he… err…' one more time I will kill you." Lily interrupted, agitated by how he was informing her.
"He said it was a mistake."
"WHAT?!? I'm going to kill the bloody tosser!" Lily had never looked so angry, and James could only be happy she wasn't mad at him.
"Lils, calm down. She'll be fine. I have a letter from her, and you two can just have a girl chat when you get back..." James said as calmly as possible. He was actually quite terrified by the look on Lily's face and was relieved when it softened into a look of admiration. 'Someone's moody today!'
And she was. With Petunia getting married to Vernon, Lily's diminishing relationship with her sister, and the constant worry that her family might be the next set of muggle casualties, Lily was highly strung at the moment. "I'm sorry I got so mad. I love you." She said quietly, hugging James tightly.
James grinned. "I love you t – "
"LILY MARIE CORDELIA EVANS! GET IN HERE THIS INSTANT!" Lily's mother roared angrily from the doorstep. "You too, James dear."
James gave Lily a look of utter disbelief and amusement. "Your middle name is Cordelia?"
"One of them," Lily corrected, "Yes."
James tried to hide his laughter by coughing loudly as Lily led him toward her house.
"Oh look, Lily, you've gone and gotten James sick standing out in the rain like that." Mrs. Evans muttered as she shuffled James into the hallway and out of the rain. "Pick up your wand and come inside and dry off. Petunia might pass out if she sees you like this."
Lily sighed, and obediently retrieved her wand before returning to the main hall, where Mrs. Evans was fussing over James, ignoring Vernon's relatives as they watched curiously from the stairs.
"Now, I'll find something dry for you James, and of course you can borrow one of Michael's suits for the wedding…" Mrs. Evans began rambling, taking off James's cloak and trying to hang it in the closet.
"Mum," Lily protested. "I don't think James wants to come to the wedding."
"Don't speak nonsense, Lily, of course he does! Don't you James?"
Both Evans women were giving him expectant looks, waiting for him to agree with her, so James did what any male in his situation would do – smiled stupidly and began to play for time. "Well… really I don't mind either way… Petunia probably won't want me to come though…"
"Nonsense!" Mrs. Evans said with a smile.
Petunia Evans, soon to be Petunia Dursley, was holding one of the tackiest weddings James had ever been to. James, the only son of well-known, affluent Aurors, had been to many weddings – both Wizarding ones and Muggle-themed ones.
He sat uncomfortably in the hard pew at the local church, trying to adjust the collar of Mr. Evans's tuxedo and not create too much of a disturbance as the service progressed.
The entire sanctuary was covered in bright pink bows and streamers. The groom, a large portly man that James had casually met but never actually spoken to was wearing a black jacket and purple shirt with a tacky spotted bow tie. All the bridesmaids were in disgustingly bright neon green dresses, and Petunia's dress, which puffed out so much in the skirt it nearly hid her left little to be desired. But Lily, as she stood at the front in her now clean and dry lilac outfit, looked absolutely stunning to James. Her hair was in messes of curls that fell down her back, and she easily outshone the bride.
Occasionally, she would glance back and catch his eye, giving him a quick smile before returning her attention to the ceremony in front of her. Each time she did, James's heart would flutter, and he'd be thankful all over again that she had forgiven him. Man, he had it bad.
"Thank god that's over." Lily groaned as they drove to the reception, sitting in the back of the Evans's car with Charlie, Mr. and Mrs. Evans seated in the front. Charlie nodded in agreement.
"Now Lily…" Mrs. Evans warned, although she stopped at that. She too was quite relieved it was over.
"Yes, Mother dearest?" Lily asked innocently.
"Don't rib on your sister like that." Mrs. Evans replied, trying to sound stern though it came out as more of a request.
The Evans family car arrived at the location of the reception quite promptly. It was a moderately sized hall, decorated in the same tacky pink bows and streamers. The dance floor was quite a scene, as neon green meshed with purple and other, more normal wedding colours.
"I hope she's getting the photos done in black and white." James muttered in Lily's ear as they sat at one of the tables near the edge of the dance floor, causing Lily to laugh.
"Lily?"
Lily turned to see Mario standing over her with an unreadable expression. She smiled nervously and stood. "Mario… Nice to see you… You remember James?"
Mario nodded, his face still blank, waving off the hand James extended as he too, stood. "Why didn't you reply to my letters?" he asked bluntly.
"What letters?" James asked with a confused expression.
"Mario, I have a boyfriend and it didn't seem appropriate – " Lily began softly, before James interrupted.
"What letters?" James repeated.
"Lily, you can't be over me. I know, because I'm not over you." Mario said breathlessly, ignoring James.
"Lily, what the hell is this kid talking about?" James demanded.
"It's true, isn't it Lily? Tell him that you're still in love with me!" Mario demanded.
"Well… Mario's been sending me letters since Laurel's funeral… They're weren't appropriate" Lily paused to send a disapproving look at Mario, "for an ex-girlfriend, let alone one who was seeing someone else. So I didn't reply to them."
"He sent you love letters?" James asked in disbelief, no longer trying to control the volume of his voice. "And you didn't tell me?!?"
"I…" Lily began, suddenly at a loss for words. 'Fuck.'
Coming up!
- What happens with Lily & James? Will they ever get a break just to be happy?
- What happens with Cass & Sirius? Will Lily be able to sort it out?