IA/N: Okay! On with chapter three!/I
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The next morning at breakfast, Lily acted as if nothing had happened. Remus sat next to Cassie and Sirius was between him and Laura. Lily, Peter, and Deedee sat across from them. James sat next to Gina and her friends.
"Ugh! Sirius, leave me alone!" Laura yelled.
"Aww, come on." He put his arm around her waist.
"Why me?" She asked no one in particular. "Why not Cassie or Lily?"
"Well Remus would cut my head off and Lily is my friend." Sirius said, laughing at Laura sobbing into her cupped hands.
They received their timetables and set off to their first class, Charms.
Lily sat with Laura, so that Sirius was stuck with James.
"Thanks." Laura whispered as she sat down next to her.
"No problem." She said, glancing over at Gina. She was talking animatedly to Remus. He looked bored out of his mind.
"Good morning, class." Professor Witflick beamed at his pupils. "Today we will be learning one of the restoring charms. I have put together a fun but dangerous lesson for today." He gestured to a table with sixty or so cups in rows filled with-
"Beer." He explained. "A muggle alcoholic drink that works very quickly and is very strong. Each of you will have a partner. The both of you will drink two cups and quickly enough, you will get drunk." A bunch of students started cheering. "One at a time and only two cups! In addition, the spell is Etherian Restorum. Alright, go and get your cups."
"Is he kidding?" Lily asked.
"Apparently not." Laura said. "I'll go get the cups."
"Here you are." Sirius strode over cheerily and placed four cups on their table.
Laura sat back down, scowling at him as he walked away.
"Somebody likes you!" Lily bugged her friend. "Can I go first?"
"Sure. Its better, I think I'll strangle Sirius if I have enough." Laura eyed him.
"Bottoms up!" Lily said and gulped down her first cup. "Oh man."
"What?"
"It tastes horrible." She stuck her tongue out.
"Take the second cup, go on." Laura urged her.
Lily gulped down her second cup and waited a while until she started feeling dizzy. Then the room started to move around rapidly. "Woooaah."
Laura giggled at her friend's reaction. Lily fell backwards onto the floor.
"Etherian Restorum!" Laura said loudly. Lily sat bolt upright and then fell back again, clutching her head.
"Man do I have a headache." She squinted at her best friend as she helped her onto her chair.
"Look at Sirius!" Laura hissed. Sirius was on the table, trying to strip down. James worriedly yelled the spell, but it had no reaction.
Lily walked over to their table and shouted, "Etherian Restorum!"
Sirius stopped in the middle of his dance. He blushed and put his shirt back on as Lily helped him down. "Ah, my head!" He wailed.
"Me too." Lily patted him on the back. She walked back over to Laura to see her giggling madly. The cups were empty. She got up and started running around the room like a maniac. She got to the cup table and chugged down four more cups of beer.
"Etherian Restorum!" Lily shouted, pointing her wand at Laura. Laura stopped drinking and fell to the floor. Lily kneeled down towards her.
"Lily?" She asked.
"Are you okay?" She asked frantically.
"Ye-yeah..." She sat up and rubbed her head. "I think I'm going to be sick. Really sick."
"Come on." Lily pulled her up and they walked over to their teacher.
"Professor, may I go to the restroom?" Laura asked, almost hurling on the floor.
"Yes, yes, by all means." He said shooing them out of the classroom.
Sirius and James saw them run out.
"Wow, Laura could really chug!" Sirius said happily.
"Yeah." James said.
"It's your turn." He handed him a cup.
James drank both cups and just sat still with a dreamy expression on his face. "You know?"
"I know what?" Sirius asked.
"You know!" James rubbed his eyes.
Sirius took this as an opportunity. "Lily is pretty isn't she? Do you even like that Gina girl?"
"Gina?" He said loudly, "Heck no! She just has a nice body, but she sucks at kissing. Lily is pretty, maybe..."
"What?" Sirius asked.
"Maybe she is nice too, cause I am so tired of using girls, man, y'know?" James turned around to see Gina running towards him with anger on her face. "Hey Trina!"
Gina slapped him across the face, "How dare you!"
"Fine!" James yelled, waving his hand at her. "Have a nice summer!"
"Etherian Restorum!" He said and James bent over the table.
"Jeez!" He yelled.
"I know the headache sucks afterward." Sirius said.
"No it's not that!" James said seriously. "I remember what I did when I drank the beer!"
"Really?" Sirius asked in shock.
"Didn't Gina just slap me?" Sirius nodded. "And...I said that I didn't want to use girls anymore."
"That's true, wow, I wonder how you remember!" Sirius said, seeing Lily come into the room with Laura. Laura was looking pale and sickly. Lily led her over to his table.
"I barfed!" She cried and threw her arms around Sirius's neck. Sirius was taken aback but held onto her and sat her down.
"She threw up like 6 times." Lily said, sitting on the corner of his desk.
"Why?" James asked.
"After she drank her beer, she ran toward the table and drank four more cups." Lily sighed.
"Oh my gosh, are you okay, Laura?" Sirius kneeled and looked her in the eye.
"Careful Sirius, I think she is still drunk. Really drunk." Lily said. "My charm wasn't strong enough."
"Sirius?" Laura looked at him and smiled. "I love you!" She put her arms around him and kissed him hard on his mouth.
Lily fell off the table in laughter.
Sirius pulled away and looked her in the eye. "Oh yeah, she'd never do that if she were sane."
Laura looked at him and started crying. "You don't love me!"
"No, Laura, don't say that." Sirius pleaded. He looked to Lily and James for help but they were now both on the floor, laughing.
"I hate you!" Laura yelled and pushed him away but started sobbing into his shoulder. "Why don't you love me? Did I do something wrong? I am sorry! I am sorry! I love you! I am so mean to you usually! Now I do not know why, I love you so much! I am sooo sorry, please forgive me Sirius!"
"I'm taking you to the infirmary, Laura." Sirius said. He looked at Lily and grinned. Lily could not deny it and now Laura could not either...she really did like Sirius.
James smirked. Lily got up and walked to where Cassie was working with Deedee.
"How's it going?" She asked.
"Cassie started dancing on the desks." Deedee giggled. "So, I guess Laura's secret is out."
"Yeah." Lily smiled. "It was the funniest thing, in the bathroom she kept talking about how she only acted mean to him was because she didn't want him to use her."
"Really?" Cassie asked. "I thought so."
"She talked through giggles and throwing up though." Lily said.
The bell rang for lunch and everyone rushed out of class. Lily and Cassie walked out together, watching different people stumbling around. Their charms were not very effective either.
"I'm so hungry." Lily moaned.
"Man, being drunk sucks." Cassie said. "Especially the after part."
Lily giggled in reply as they walked into the Great Hall.
"Hey, I forgot to tell you, Lil." Cassie said when they sat down next to each other.
"What?" Lily asked, shoveling food into her mouth.
"Sirius is so sweet, Laura deserves him." Cassie sighed.
"Uh...yeah." Lily said. "I already know that."
"When James was drunk," Cassie lowered her voice. "He asked him questions about you."
"I don't care." Lily said.
Cassie studied her. Yes you do. "Well anyway, he said you were pretty and that he didn't want to use girls anymore."
"Whatever." Lily said.
Cassie rolled her eyes. "He also said that Gina didn't know how to kiss and she only had a nice body and Gina stormed over. She slapped him and ran off."
"Really?" Lily asked eagerly. "Oh, I mean...oh. Oh."
Cassie smirked mischievously at her.
"Stop it Cass." Lily blushed.
"Hey! Here comes Laura and Sirius." Cassie noticed them walk in.
Laura was red in the face and Sirius was smiling. They reached the table and sat down.
"So..." Lily started.
"Shut up." Laura said stubbornly.
Sirius smiled even broader and started eating. James and Peter joined them.
"Hey Laura." James said.
"Shut up." Laura said again.
"I saw you..." He began.
"La la la la la la laaa." Laura plugged her fingers in her ears and sang rather loudly, to block out his voice.
"Fine." James gave up and Laura pulled her fingers out of her ears, still blushing furiously.
"What class do we have next?" Remus asked.
"Transfiguration." Laura said.
"Can I walk you to class, sweetums?" Sirius asked sweetly.
Laura glared at him and sighed, shaking her head at her 'misfortune'.
"Only if Lily comes too." Laura said.
"Why?" Sirius asked.
"She has a really nice right hook that Cassie taught her in case you try anything funny." Laura explained.
Lily smiled and stood up. "Come on now." She casually walked by Gina and her friends with Laura and Sirius at her side. She glanced over at Gina. She was crying.
"Serves her right." She mumbled.
"Serves who right?" Laura asked.
"N-no one." Lily blushed. Okay that was totally the last time she would ever verbalize her thoughts.
They kept walking until they reached the door separating the Entrance Hall and the Great Hall where someone blocked their way.
Lily looked up at the greasy haired figure before them.
"Hello Severus." She said as casually as she could.
"Are you going to Transfiguration?" He asked eagerly.
"Yes...why?" Sirius asked cautiously.
"May I accompany you?" He asked, ignoring Sirius's comment.
"Sure, but I-"
"Lily, you forgot your book." James called running behind them, waving a large book in the air.
"Thanks James." Lily eyed him and then the book. "Oh this isn't my-"
"Can I walk you to class?" He cut her off.
Lily looked at him curiously and then nodded. "Still up to it?" She asked Snape.
He scowled at James and turned back to his table without a word.
James smiled a toothy grin at her.
"What was that for?" Lily asked him, handing him his book.
"I said I'd watch out for you whenever Snape was around." James said as they resumed walking out of the Great Hall.
Lily looked at him in disbelief. "What will Gina say?"
James turned around to look at Gina, she was glaring in their direction. He shrugged and said, "Who cares?"
"Well, you should, unless you are still abiding by the two week rule." Laura interjected hotly.
"Ah, ah, ah Sweetie." Sirius said as he casually draped his arm around her, pretending to yawn. "We've erased that rule now."
"Don't call me sweetie." Laura shrugged him off.
James nodded. "I think I'll give her a chance, but I don't really know if she's the right one."
Lily smiled to herself as she tightened her grip on her Transfiguration book. "I wonder what kind of lesson Professor McGonagall has prepared for us to start us off." She thought aloud as they entered the room.
"I wonder." Laura sat down next to her and James and Sirius sat directly behind them. The rest of the class started shuffling in and soon everyone was seated.
"Good afternoon class." Professor McGonagall greeted. "Now sixth years, I trust that you are all sitting in a favored seat, because these will be the seats for the rest of term."
Laura groaned and looked back at Sirius. He blew a kiss at her and Laura turned around with a disgusted look on her face.
"I will be starting you off with a project due in exactly one month." She waited until all of the groaning stopped. "You will be placed into boy-girl pairs and I will read your names off the list. In each of these boxes," She gestured to her desk containing fifteen or so bright red boxes about the sizes of shoeboxes atop it. "There are five different objects. You are to take one for each pair and figure out what each item is supposed to turn into." The professor stopped and looked at everyone. "There is a piece of parchment with the directions and five different spells. When I call you and your partners name, you will come up and check your name off the list, take a box, and settle together at a table, is everything clear?"
There was a fervent nod of heads and Professor McGonagall started reading off the parchment.
"Mr. Black and Miss Ashcott." She looked up.
"What?!" Laura sat still. "No, there has to be another person I could-"
"Come on, honey bun." Sirius dragged her to the front of the room and checked their names off.
"Mr. Lupin and Miss Randall." Remus walked slowly over to the front of the room with Gina. James did not seem to care.
"Mr. Pettigrew and Miss Andrews."
"Oh cool!" Cassie said. "Come on Petey."
"Mr. Potter and Miss Evans." Lily widened her eyes. Did she hear correctly? She was paired with James?
"Lil, come on." James stood next to her desk.
"Oh, yeah sorry." Lily got up and walked to the front of the classroom. She caught Gina's eye while James checked their names off. She stared at her with the utmost hatred. Lily turned back around and picked up the box.
"Okay lets open it." James said and pulled the top off the box.
"Okay..... Uh lets see." Lily said poking at the items.
"James sweetie." Gina stood in front of their desk. "I'm sorry for slapping you."
"That's, that's fine Gina." James stared at her, wondering why she had a sudden change of heart.
"Oh, good." Gina smiled, bent over, kissed his lips softly, and stood back up. She looked at Lily in disgust and walked back to her table.
Lily glared after her. Oh yeah. Kathy told her about yesterday's incident. She knew how much Lily liked James now.
"What was that?" Laura asked from behind them.
"I don't know." Lily said in a toneless voice.
The class went on for a while longer and then it was time to pack up.
"Lil, lets go to the dorm before Herboligy, I forgot something." Laura said as Cassie walked over.
"That stupid bitch." She said about ready to kill.
"What's the matter?" Lily asked her, she had a very fiery temper, but she rarely got this mad.
"Gina. She was all over Remus." Cassie glared at her, still flirting with Remus.
"How do you know?" Duh, that was a stupid question, Lily.
"I watched her. At least Remus didn't fall into her trap though." Cassie's expression softened a little.
"Poor James." Lily cooed, looking at his retreating back. "He wants to give her a chance.
"Well, she better pray I don't get my hands on her before you do, Cass." Laura clenched her fists. "Did you see what she did in front of Lily?"
"Oh yeah! That too." Cassie said. "So I guess she knows about your crush."
"It was so embarrassing, she just looked at me like, 'Hah, he is mine and you'll never get him.'" Lily said sadly. "What makes me mad is that I think she is right."
"James was dumbfounded though." Laura explained.
"Oh Lil, don't let her pinched nose get to you." Cassie said. "And that blonde hair, I could have sworn it was a dead animal perched atop her head."
Lily giggled and walked out with her friends. Laura steered them to the greenhouses. Lily stopped. "I thought you forgot something."
Laura smiled and said, "No, it was my excuse to talk to you about Gina. But I guess we already have."
"Oh." Lily resumed walking. "It's no big deal really."
"Lily!" Cassie yelled. "She deliberately tried to embarrass you!"
"Well, she didn't really." Lily sighed.
Laura rolled her eyes at Lily's politeness. "That's the problem with you, Lil. You always try and see the good in people."
"Isn't that a good thing?" Lily asked.
"Not if you want revenge." Cassie grinned evilly.
"Oh no, you wouldn't-" Lily asked.
"No, I have something better in store for her." Cassie said as they strolled into the greenhouse and took their places at a tray.
Professor Ports explained to the class about Hearamantica Planticas. They were regular green stems with a single leaf. At the top of the step where a bud of a flower should have been, there was a green ear.
"Eww, are those human ears?" An idiotic Hufflepuff asked.
"No dear." Professor Ports explained. "Do you see the dark green color they are? They turn slowly flesh color when they are treated correctly. Now, to keep them healthy, all you do is keep them in a loud place, and feed droplets of water into the opening every day. You will group into threes and fours, remember to make conversation with the Hearamanticas, so that they turn yellow. Yellow is the sign of health, and in about a week they will be flesh colored."
"This seems simple enough." Laura said, pulling her gloves on.
"I'll go get the plant." Lily said and walked over to the large tray containing about ten Hearamantica Planticas. James turned around as she got there and knocked her to the ground.
"Oh god, Lily are you okay?" He helped her up.
"I'm fine, James." She brushed herself off and picked up a plant. She walked quickly over to her tray. She noticed Gina staring at her from behind.
"Look at that stupid bimbo." Cassie hissed.
"Cass, be nice." Lily pleaded.
"What's her problem?" Laura asked, referring to a girl limp over to Professor Ports.
"Professor, it's my spleen, its acting up again, could you escort me to the infirmary?" She moaned.
"Sweetheart, that's not your spleen." She pointed to her hand. "Those are your ribs."
"Right." The girl said quickly. "Ow, my ribs hurt."
Professor Ports eyed her suspiciously and gave in. "Class, I need to escort Melinda to the infirmary, I'll be back in no longer than ten minutes." With that, she exited.
"Hope she is alright." Lily said.
"Ow! Hey!" Laura turned around. There was a huge dirt clod tangled into her dark hair.
Lily and Cassie turned around to Gina and her friends snickering behind their hands. Cassie picked up a dirt clod threateningly, but Lily pushed her hand down. Gina had a face full of dirt; Sirius clobbered her with a clod the size of his fist. She screamed and ran over to him. Their tray was directly to the right of Lily's.
"Are you going to let him treat me like this, James?" She screamed, wiping the mud off her face.
"You hit Laura for no reason!" Sirius said.
Gina looked up at him and slapped him hard on the cheek. Laura was outraged. She walked up to Gina and pushed her as hard as humanly possible. The impact hit Gina so hard that she fell into a table of trays.
James laughed his head off. Sirius was surprised, still rubbing his cheek.
Gina got up and pounced on top of Laura, trying to choke her. Sirius pulled her off within a few seconds and Laura got up gasping for air.
"You stupid bitch." Gina rounded on Lily. All eyes were on them now.
"What did I do?" Lily asked, stepping up to her. Gina did not scare her a bit.
"You are trying to steal my boyfriend away from me." She glared at her.
"What?" Lily asked. "Why the hell would I do that?"
"Because." Gina smiled. "You like him, you always have."
"No I don't, and what's it to you?" Lily asked. "You are just another one of his bimbos. Why would I want that?"
Gina gasped and slapped Lily. Cassie and James were about to do something but it was too late. Lily nailed her in the jaw with a right hook.
"Alright Lily!" Peter yelled over the cheering as Gina cried out in pain.
Gina was about to move forward but James grabbed her arm. "Are you really going to try and hit her again? She nearly knocked all the teeth out of your mouth." As everyone expected, Gina slapped him and scoffed out of the greenhouse.
"Oh no she doesn't." Lily walked to the door but Remus held her back.
"Come on Lily, we'll wait until Professor Ports comes back." Remus said, looking at her as everyone else did.
"What? Why is everyone staring at me?" Lily asked loudly.
"I didn't know you could hit so hard." Cassie smiled. "I've taught you well."
Lily reddened and everyone went back to his or her trays. James walked up to her and turned her around.
"So that's it, is it?" James looked angry. "I only go for bimbos?"
"James, I am sorry I-" Lily started.
"I don't even want to hear it." James said and walked out of the greenhouse.
"Great." Lily muttered. She did not even feel like crying it seemed to be the only thing she ever did.
"Lil, I think you did the right thing." Cassie said and Sirius, Peter, Remus, and Laura nodded solemnly.
Lily looked them all in the faces and turned around.
"Are you going after him?" Laura asked.
"No. I'm just going to go drown myself." Lily said but added, "I'm only kidding." To there horrified faces. She walked out of the greenhouse and broke into a run, where, she did not care. She just wanted to get away from James. How could she be so stupid? She thought, running through the trees, making her way towards the lake, and finally collapsing at the feet of a tree. Now she was certain of it. James Potter does not and will never like her.
"I'm so stupid." She said softly. Now was her time to cry.
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The next morning at breakfast, Lily acted as if nothing had happened. Remus sat next to Cassie and Sirius was between him and Laura. Lily, Peter, and Deedee sat across from them. James sat next to Gina and her friends.
"Ugh! Sirius, leave me alone!" Laura yelled.
"Aww, come on." He put his arm around her waist.
"Why me?" She asked no one in particular. "Why not Cassie or Lily?"
"Well Remus would cut my head off and Lily is my friend." Sirius said, laughing at Laura sobbing into her cupped hands.
They received their timetables and set off to their first class, Charms.
Lily sat with Laura, so that Sirius was stuck with James.
"Thanks." Laura whispered as she sat down next to her.
"No problem." She said, glancing over at Gina. She was talking animatedly to Remus. He looked bored out of his mind.
"Good morning, class." Professor Witflick beamed at his pupils. "Today we will be learning one of the restoring charms. I have put together a fun but dangerous lesson for today." He gestured to a table with sixty or so cups in rows filled with-
"Beer." He explained. "A muggle alcoholic drink that works very quickly and is very strong. Each of you will have a partner. The both of you will drink two cups and quickly enough, you will get drunk." A bunch of students started cheering. "One at a time and only two cups! In addition, the spell is Etherian Restorum. Alright, go and get your cups."
"Is he kidding?" Lily asked.
"Apparently not." Laura said. "I'll go get the cups."
"Here you are." Sirius strode over cheerily and placed four cups on their table.
Laura sat back down, scowling at him as he walked away.
"Somebody likes you!" Lily bugged her friend. "Can I go first?"
"Sure. Its better, I think I'll strangle Sirius if I have enough." Laura eyed him.
"Bottoms up!" Lily said and gulped down her first cup. "Oh man."
"What?"
"It tastes horrible." She stuck her tongue out.
"Take the second cup, go on." Laura urged her.
Lily gulped down her second cup and waited a while until she started feeling dizzy. Then the room started to move around rapidly. "Woooaah."
Laura giggled at her friend's reaction. Lily fell backwards onto the floor.
"Etherian Restorum!" Laura said loudly. Lily sat bolt upright and then fell back again, clutching her head.
"Man do I have a headache." She squinted at her best friend as she helped her onto her chair.
"Look at Sirius!" Laura hissed. Sirius was on the table, trying to strip down. James worriedly yelled the spell, but it had no reaction.
Lily walked over to their table and shouted, "Etherian Restorum!"
Sirius stopped in the middle of his dance. He blushed and put his shirt back on as Lily helped him down. "Ah, my head!" He wailed.
"Me too." Lily patted him on the back. She walked back over to Laura to see her giggling madly. The cups were empty. She got up and started running around the room like a maniac. She got to the cup table and chugged down four more cups of beer.
"Etherian Restorum!" Lily shouted, pointing her wand at Laura. Laura stopped drinking and fell to the floor. Lily kneeled down towards her.
"Lily?" She asked.
"Are you okay?" She asked frantically.
"Ye-yeah..." She sat up and rubbed her head. "I think I'm going to be sick. Really sick."
"Come on." Lily pulled her up and they walked over to their teacher.
"Professor, may I go to the restroom?" Laura asked, almost hurling on the floor.
"Yes, yes, by all means." He said shooing them out of the classroom.
Sirius and James saw them run out.
"Wow, Laura could really chug!" Sirius said happily.
"Yeah." James said.
"It's your turn." He handed him a cup.
James drank both cups and just sat still with a dreamy expression on his face. "You know?"
"I know what?" Sirius asked.
"You know!" James rubbed his eyes.
Sirius took this as an opportunity. "Lily is pretty isn't she? Do you even like that Gina girl?"
"Gina?" He said loudly, "Heck no! She just has a nice body, but she sucks at kissing. Lily is pretty, maybe..."
"What?" Sirius asked.
"Maybe she is nice too, cause I am so tired of using girls, man, y'know?" James turned around to see Gina running towards him with anger on her face. "Hey Trina!"
Gina slapped him across the face, "How dare you!"
"Fine!" James yelled, waving his hand at her. "Have a nice summer!"
"Etherian Restorum!" He said and James bent over the table.
"Jeez!" He yelled.
"I know the headache sucks afterward." Sirius said.
"No it's not that!" James said seriously. "I remember what I did when I drank the beer!"
"Really?" Sirius asked in shock.
"Didn't Gina just slap me?" Sirius nodded. "And...I said that I didn't want to use girls anymore."
"That's true, wow, I wonder how you remember!" Sirius said, seeing Lily come into the room with Laura. Laura was looking pale and sickly. Lily led her over to his table.
"I barfed!" She cried and threw her arms around Sirius's neck. Sirius was taken aback but held onto her and sat her down.
"She threw up like 6 times." Lily said, sitting on the corner of his desk.
"Why?" James asked.
"After she drank her beer, she ran toward the table and drank four more cups." Lily sighed.
"Oh my gosh, are you okay, Laura?" Sirius kneeled and looked her in the eye.
"Careful Sirius, I think she is still drunk. Really drunk." Lily said. "My charm wasn't strong enough."
"Sirius?" Laura looked at him and smiled. "I love you!" She put her arms around him and kissed him hard on his mouth.
Lily fell off the table in laughter.
Sirius pulled away and looked her in the eye. "Oh yeah, she'd never do that if she were sane."
Laura looked at him and started crying. "You don't love me!"
"No, Laura, don't say that." Sirius pleaded. He looked to Lily and James for help but they were now both on the floor, laughing.
"I hate you!" Laura yelled and pushed him away but started sobbing into his shoulder. "Why don't you love me? Did I do something wrong? I am sorry! I am sorry! I love you! I am so mean to you usually! Now I do not know why, I love you so much! I am sooo sorry, please forgive me Sirius!"
"I'm taking you to the infirmary, Laura." Sirius said. He looked at Lily and grinned. Lily could not deny it and now Laura could not either...she really did like Sirius.
James smirked. Lily got up and walked to where Cassie was working with Deedee.
"How's it going?" She asked.
"Cassie started dancing on the desks." Deedee giggled. "So, I guess Laura's secret is out."
"Yeah." Lily smiled. "It was the funniest thing, in the bathroom she kept talking about how she only acted mean to him was because she didn't want him to use her."
"Really?" Cassie asked. "I thought so."
"She talked through giggles and throwing up though." Lily said.
The bell rang for lunch and everyone rushed out of class. Lily and Cassie walked out together, watching different people stumbling around. Their charms were not very effective either.
"I'm so hungry." Lily moaned.
"Man, being drunk sucks." Cassie said. "Especially the after part."
Lily giggled in reply as they walked into the Great Hall.
"Hey, I forgot to tell you, Lil." Cassie said when they sat down next to each other.
"What?" Lily asked, shoveling food into her mouth.
"Sirius is so sweet, Laura deserves him." Cassie sighed.
"Uh...yeah." Lily said. "I already know that."
"When James was drunk," Cassie lowered her voice. "He asked him questions about you."
"I don't care." Lily said.
Cassie studied her. Yes you do. "Well anyway, he said you were pretty and that he didn't want to use girls anymore."
"Whatever." Lily said.
Cassie rolled her eyes. "He also said that Gina didn't know how to kiss and she only had a nice body and Gina stormed over. She slapped him and ran off."
"Really?" Lily asked eagerly. "Oh, I mean...oh. Oh."
Cassie smirked mischievously at her.
"Stop it Cass." Lily blushed.
"Hey! Here comes Laura and Sirius." Cassie noticed them walk in.
Laura was red in the face and Sirius was smiling. They reached the table and sat down.
"So..." Lily started.
"Shut up." Laura said stubbornly.
Sirius smiled even broader and started eating. James and Peter joined them.
"Hey Laura." James said.
"Shut up." Laura said again.
"I saw you..." He began.
"La la la la la la laaa." Laura plugged her fingers in her ears and sang rather loudly, to block out his voice.
"Fine." James gave up and Laura pulled her fingers out of her ears, still blushing furiously.
"What class do we have next?" Remus asked.
"Transfiguration." Laura said.
"Can I walk you to class, sweetums?" Sirius asked sweetly.
Laura glared at him and sighed, shaking her head at her 'misfortune'.
"Only if Lily comes too." Laura said.
"Why?" Sirius asked.
"She has a really nice right hook that Cassie taught her in case you try anything funny." Laura explained.
Lily smiled and stood up. "Come on now." She casually walked by Gina and her friends with Laura and Sirius at her side. She glanced over at Gina. She was crying.
"Serves her right." She mumbled.
"Serves who right?" Laura asked.
"N-no one." Lily blushed. Okay that was totally the last time she would ever verbalize her thoughts.
They kept walking until they reached the door separating the Entrance Hall and the Great Hall where someone blocked their way.
Lily looked up at the greasy haired figure before them.
"Hello Severus." She said as casually as she could.
"Are you going to Transfiguration?" He asked eagerly.
"Yes...why?" Sirius asked cautiously.
"May I accompany you?" He asked, ignoring Sirius's comment.
"Sure, but I-"
"Lily, you forgot your book." James called running behind them, waving a large book in the air.
"Thanks James." Lily eyed him and then the book. "Oh this isn't my-"
"Can I walk you to class?" He cut her off.
Lily looked at him curiously and then nodded. "Still up to it?" She asked Snape.
He scowled at James and turned back to his table without a word.
James smiled a toothy grin at her.
"What was that for?" Lily asked him, handing him his book.
"I said I'd watch out for you whenever Snape was around." James said as they resumed walking out of the Great Hall.
Lily looked at him in disbelief. "What will Gina say?"
James turned around to look at Gina, she was glaring in their direction. He shrugged and said, "Who cares?"
"Well, you should, unless you are still abiding by the two week rule." Laura interjected hotly.
"Ah, ah, ah Sweetie." Sirius said as he casually draped his arm around her, pretending to yawn. "We've erased that rule now."
"Don't call me sweetie." Laura shrugged him off.
James nodded. "I think I'll give her a chance, but I don't really know if she's the right one."
Lily smiled to herself as she tightened her grip on her Transfiguration book. "I wonder what kind of lesson Professor McGonagall has prepared for us to start us off." She thought aloud as they entered the room.
"I wonder." Laura sat down next to her and James and Sirius sat directly behind them. The rest of the class started shuffling in and soon everyone was seated.
"Good afternoon class." Professor McGonagall greeted. "Now sixth years, I trust that you are all sitting in a favored seat, because these will be the seats for the rest of term."
Laura groaned and looked back at Sirius. He blew a kiss at her and Laura turned around with a disgusted look on her face.
"I will be starting you off with a project due in exactly one month." She waited until all of the groaning stopped. "You will be placed into boy-girl pairs and I will read your names off the list. In each of these boxes," She gestured to her desk containing fifteen or so bright red boxes about the sizes of shoeboxes atop it. "There are five different objects. You are to take one for each pair and figure out what each item is supposed to turn into." The professor stopped and looked at everyone. "There is a piece of parchment with the directions and five different spells. When I call you and your partners name, you will come up and check your name off the list, take a box, and settle together at a table, is everything clear?"
There was a fervent nod of heads and Professor McGonagall started reading off the parchment.
"Mr. Black and Miss Ashcott." She looked up.
"What?!" Laura sat still. "No, there has to be another person I could-"
"Come on, honey bun." Sirius dragged her to the front of the room and checked their names off.
"Mr. Lupin and Miss Randall." Remus walked slowly over to the front of the room with Gina. James did not seem to care.
"Mr. Pettigrew and Miss Andrews."
"Oh cool!" Cassie said. "Come on Petey."
"Mr. Potter and Miss Evans." Lily widened her eyes. Did she hear correctly? She was paired with James?
"Lil, come on." James stood next to her desk.
"Oh, yeah sorry." Lily got up and walked to the front of the classroom. She caught Gina's eye while James checked their names off. She stared at her with the utmost hatred. Lily turned back around and picked up the box.
"Okay lets open it." James said and pulled the top off the box.
"Okay..... Uh lets see." Lily said poking at the items.
"James sweetie." Gina stood in front of their desk. "I'm sorry for slapping you."
"That's, that's fine Gina." James stared at her, wondering why she had a sudden change of heart.
"Oh, good." Gina smiled, bent over, kissed his lips softly, and stood back up. She looked at Lily in disgust and walked back to her table.
Lily glared after her. Oh yeah. Kathy told her about yesterday's incident. She knew how much Lily liked James now.
"What was that?" Laura asked from behind them.
"I don't know." Lily said in a toneless voice.
The class went on for a while longer and then it was time to pack up.
"Lil, lets go to the dorm before Herboligy, I forgot something." Laura said as Cassie walked over.
"That stupid bitch." She said about ready to kill.
"What's the matter?" Lily asked her, she had a very fiery temper, but she rarely got this mad.
"Gina. She was all over Remus." Cassie glared at her, still flirting with Remus.
"How do you know?" Duh, that was a stupid question, Lily.
"I watched her. At least Remus didn't fall into her trap though." Cassie's expression softened a little.
"Poor James." Lily cooed, looking at his retreating back. "He wants to give her a chance.
"Well, she better pray I don't get my hands on her before you do, Cass." Laura clenched her fists. "Did you see what she did in front of Lily?"
"Oh yeah! That too." Cassie said. "So I guess she knows about your crush."
"It was so embarrassing, she just looked at me like, 'Hah, he is mine and you'll never get him.'" Lily said sadly. "What makes me mad is that I think she is right."
"James was dumbfounded though." Laura explained.
"Oh Lil, don't let her pinched nose get to you." Cassie said. "And that blonde hair, I could have sworn it was a dead animal perched atop her head."
Lily giggled and walked out with her friends. Laura steered them to the greenhouses. Lily stopped. "I thought you forgot something."
Laura smiled and said, "No, it was my excuse to talk to you about Gina. But I guess we already have."
"Oh." Lily resumed walking. "It's no big deal really."
"Lily!" Cassie yelled. "She deliberately tried to embarrass you!"
"Well, she didn't really." Lily sighed.
Laura rolled her eyes at Lily's politeness. "That's the problem with you, Lil. You always try and see the good in people."
"Isn't that a good thing?" Lily asked.
"Not if you want revenge." Cassie grinned evilly.
"Oh no, you wouldn't-" Lily asked.
"No, I have something better in store for her." Cassie said as they strolled into the greenhouse and took their places at a tray.
Professor Ports explained to the class about Hearamantica Planticas. They were regular green stems with a single leaf. At the top of the step where a bud of a flower should have been, there was a green ear.
"Eww, are those human ears?" An idiotic Hufflepuff asked.
"No dear." Professor Ports explained. "Do you see the dark green color they are? They turn slowly flesh color when they are treated correctly. Now, to keep them healthy, all you do is keep them in a loud place, and feed droplets of water into the opening every day. You will group into threes and fours, remember to make conversation with the Hearamanticas, so that they turn yellow. Yellow is the sign of health, and in about a week they will be flesh colored."
"This seems simple enough." Laura said, pulling her gloves on.
"I'll go get the plant." Lily said and walked over to the large tray containing about ten Hearamantica Planticas. James turned around as she got there and knocked her to the ground.
"Oh god, Lily are you okay?" He helped her up.
"I'm fine, James." She brushed herself off and picked up a plant. She walked quickly over to her tray. She noticed Gina staring at her from behind.
"Look at that stupid bimbo." Cassie hissed.
"Cass, be nice." Lily pleaded.
"What's her problem?" Laura asked, referring to a girl limp over to Professor Ports.
"Professor, it's my spleen, its acting up again, could you escort me to the infirmary?" She moaned.
"Sweetheart, that's not your spleen." She pointed to her hand. "Those are your ribs."
"Right." The girl said quickly. "Ow, my ribs hurt."
Professor Ports eyed her suspiciously and gave in. "Class, I need to escort Melinda to the infirmary, I'll be back in no longer than ten minutes." With that, she exited.
"Hope she is alright." Lily said.
"Ow! Hey!" Laura turned around. There was a huge dirt clod tangled into her dark hair.
Lily and Cassie turned around to Gina and her friends snickering behind their hands. Cassie picked up a dirt clod threateningly, but Lily pushed her hand down. Gina had a face full of dirt; Sirius clobbered her with a clod the size of his fist. She screamed and ran over to him. Their tray was directly to the right of Lily's.
"Are you going to let him treat me like this, James?" She screamed, wiping the mud off her face.
"You hit Laura for no reason!" Sirius said.
Gina looked up at him and slapped him hard on the cheek. Laura was outraged. She walked up to Gina and pushed her as hard as humanly possible. The impact hit Gina so hard that she fell into a table of trays.
James laughed his head off. Sirius was surprised, still rubbing his cheek.
Gina got up and pounced on top of Laura, trying to choke her. Sirius pulled her off within a few seconds and Laura got up gasping for air.
"You stupid bitch." Gina rounded on Lily. All eyes were on them now.
"What did I do?" Lily asked, stepping up to her. Gina did not scare her a bit.
"You are trying to steal my boyfriend away from me." She glared at her.
"What?" Lily asked. "Why the hell would I do that?"
"Because." Gina smiled. "You like him, you always have."
"No I don't, and what's it to you?" Lily asked. "You are just another one of his bimbos. Why would I want that?"
Gina gasped and slapped Lily. Cassie and James were about to do something but it was too late. Lily nailed her in the jaw with a right hook.
"Alright Lily!" Peter yelled over the cheering as Gina cried out in pain.
Gina was about to move forward but James grabbed her arm. "Are you really going to try and hit her again? She nearly knocked all the teeth out of your mouth." As everyone expected, Gina slapped him and scoffed out of the greenhouse.
"Oh no she doesn't." Lily walked to the door but Remus held her back.
"Come on Lily, we'll wait until Professor Ports comes back." Remus said, looking at her as everyone else did.
"What? Why is everyone staring at me?" Lily asked loudly.
"I didn't know you could hit so hard." Cassie smiled. "I've taught you well."
Lily reddened and everyone went back to his or her trays. James walked up to her and turned her around.
"So that's it, is it?" James looked angry. "I only go for bimbos?"
"James, I am sorry I-" Lily started.
"I don't even want to hear it." James said and walked out of the greenhouse.
"Great." Lily muttered. She did not even feel like crying it seemed to be the only thing she ever did.
"Lil, I think you did the right thing." Cassie said and Sirius, Peter, Remus, and Laura nodded solemnly.
Lily looked them all in the faces and turned around.
"Are you going after him?" Laura asked.
"No. I'm just going to go drown myself." Lily said but added, "I'm only kidding." To there horrified faces. She walked out of the greenhouse and broke into a run, where, she did not care. She just wanted to get away from James. How could she be so stupid? She thought, running through the trees, making her way towards the lake, and finally collapsing at the feet of a tree. Now she was certain of it. James Potter does not and will never like her.
"I'm so stupid." She said softly. Now was her time to cry.