Hi guys! Aren't you happy the chappie is done? (Wow, I'm a poet…) Thanks MUCHLY for all your support, every single one of you. *dramatic sob* You inspire me! No, seriously. So read and enjoy, and I'll try to get the next chappie out to you as soon as possible! A SQUILLION thanks to vamperfly for betaing this chappie! Another lil' note: I keep visualizing drawings from this fic and I have no idea why. I'd draw them myself, but then all the characters would be reduced to stick people. So if any artsy peoples are reading this, do you want to give it a try? Pretty please? *does puppy dog eyes*. Kay, that was weird. I'll stop rambling now and let you read.
Chapter 11: Too Much Potter
The man sat, ramrod straight, in his throne-like chair. His red eyes flicked around the room, taking in everything, missing nothing. As he watched silently, a man walked cautiously out of the shadows.
"This was left at the door, my lord. No name, no sign...nothing. Shall we destroy it?" the second man said, bowing.
"Give it to me," the first man hissed imperiously, sounding vaguely reptilian. Stretching out a pale hand, he snatched the small package. He pored over the plain brown wrapping paper and turned the package over. Nothing. Just the brown, slightly grubby exterior, kept shut by simply knotted twine. Grasping the string, he prepared to open it.
"My lord! You must not! We know not what enchantments lie upon it!" the other man cried out. The first man's sanguine gaze narrowed.
"Who are you to defy me?" he snarled. Realizing his mistake, the second man fell, groveling, to the floor.
"M-my lord...f-forgive me...I w-was rash..." the man stuttered. Smirking, the lord drew his wand without a sound. The other man looked up, an expression of terror crossing his face.
"You forget, Grimsley...the Dark Lord does not forgive..." Voldemort whispered as he drank in the abject fear emanating from the prostrate form. "Avada Kedavra!" A whoosh of green light shot from his wand, and the man known as Grimsley collapsed silently. Voldemort's attention, however, was already riveted on the package.
Holding his wand at the ready, Voldemort tore the package open with a single rip. He relaxed as he saw a small black book, with a note lying on top. Tossing the message aside, he picked up the book cautiously.
"By Satan..." he hissed in a tone of great reverence as he opened to the first page. "The diary of Djukta!" He threw his head back and laughed, a sinister, evil laugh of triumph. "Long have I searched for you," he said, running his fingers almost lovingly along the pages. "With your help...I will be unstoppable."
"Jyeth!" he called to his guard outside the door. "Be sure I am not disturbed, or your head will roll." Then, sitting back down, he opened the book eagerly and began to read.
The note lay forgotten, tossed on its side. In spindly, stilted writing, it read simply: The balance has been restored.
* * *
James came awake as suddenly as if someone had yelled in his ear. *What the hell was that dream about?* he thought, getting up and slinging on some old robes. *Weird...they were almost like ghosts. And one sounded familiar...like I had heard it before.* Shrugging it off as the byproducts of an overactive mind, he grabbed his treasured broomstick, a Silver Arrow XL, opened his window wide and flew out.
As he soared down to the Quidditch Pitch, the wind ruffled his hair and sent a blast of cold air through every opening in his robes. Finally awake, he flew over the stands and into the Pitch, doing a few loops and quick turns to limber up. James grinned widely, overcome by the pure joy in flying. Zig-zagging over the Pitch in a move called the Woollongong Shimmy, he crouched down against his broomstick as he soared straight through a goal hoop. Smiling a little at his own antics, he soared down to the ground and headed to the locker room.
Picking up a Quaffle he had left out previously, he walked back out to the Pitch and easily hopped on his broom. Flying towards the goal hoop, he paused. *Gotta work on batting the Quaffle with the end of my broom,* he thought, peering closely at the distance between himself and the hoop. *Woulda scored in that game against Ravenclaw if I'd been more accurate.* Granted, Gryffindor had won the game anyways, but James took every miss to heart, and worked relentlessly to improve himself and his team.
Tossing the Quaffle up gently, James spun on his broom and whacked the Quaffle towards the hoop. It bounced off the edge. "Crap!" he said angrily, and sped over to catch the slowly falling Quaffle. Zooming back to his previous position, he studied what had gone wrong. *Shit. I hit it on the wrong spot with my broom. I have to hit it closer up the shaft.* Sighing in frustration, he repeated the same move. This time the Quaffle soared straight through the middle of the hoop. A lopsided grin broke out on James' face, and he zoomed towards the falling ball with an expression of glee.
"Okay, now to try it when moving." he muttered, and flew to the far end of the Pitch. Repeating the zig-zagging move, he tossed the ball up and batted it. He aimed for the far left hoop, but it flew off to the side, fortunately through the far right hoop. "Grrr..." he muttered, and easily caught the falling Quaffle. He was about to try it again when he noticed a redhead running laps around the Pitch. Smirking in anticipation, he flew silently towards her until he was flying directly alongside her.
"Fancy seeing you here." he drawled.
Lily didn't even look up. "Well, you're dedicated," she replied, slightly out of breath. "What did I tell you about sneaking up on me?"
James threw a hand up in careless abandon. "Pish posh. It's fun, plus I get to see what I'm going to learn in Dueling classes." Lily looked at him, and he was startled to see dark circles under her eyes.
"What does that have to do with anything?" she asked.
"I get to see if I can get out of the way when you lunge at me." James said.
"Oh?" Lily said.
James recognized the dangerous tone of her voice, but chose to ignore it. "Yup. Good for my Quidditch reflexes. In fa-"
Lily reached out and pushed the handle of the broom down to the ground. James hit the dirt with an inglorious splat, and Lily kept running.
"You'd better work on those reflexes then!" she called back, and James couldn't help but smile. In retaliation, he lobbed the Quaffle at her. Showing no effort, Lily sidestepped and caught the ball without even looking. James' jaw dropped. Hopping on his broom, he sped up until he was next to her once more.
"How did you do that?" he asked, shocked. "You'd make a great Chaser."
"Other than the fact that I've never been on a broomstick before," she said wryly.
"What? We all did flying lessons!" James exclaimed. Lily stopped suddenly, and he flew past her. Wheeling, he halted, hovering, in front of her.
"Correction: you did, Potter; flying lessons are in first year, remember? I came in third year," she said, amused.
*Wow. She is in a good mood this morning!* he thought. He decided to take advantage of that. "Well, we'll fix that. Hop on!" he said, gesturing to the broomstick as he landed.
"Don't get any crazy ideas, Potter; there is no way in hell I am playing Quidditch." she warned.
James shrugged. "You're going to need to fly eventually. Besides, if you fly..." he searched around for anything that might tempt her. "You can beat me up!" Just brilliant, wonder boy, the voice muttered. James ignored it.
To his surprise, Lily actually smiled again. *Must be a record.* he thought, bemused.
"Potter, you really are an idiot. The prospect of me beating you up is not going to tempt me onto a little bit of wood and straw, I can do that any time I want."
Her last sentence gave James a clue of what to say next. "You're afraid of flying, aren't you?" he said slyly.
"I am not!" she proclaimed, though rather weakly. "Besides, I have to go do my pattern dances so," she turned to go, "nice chatting with you, Potter." She started to walk off, and would have done so if James had not intervened.
Desperate to get her onto a broomstick (though again, he wasn't quite sure why), he jumped on, flew alongside her and, praying fervently that she wouldn't attack him, lifted her onto the broom in front of him. *I have no idea why I just did that,* he thought dazedly as Lily went ballistic.
"JAMES POTTER! IF YOU DON'T PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT I'LL-"
James cut her off, barely avoiding her punches. "If you try and fight me right now, Lily, we'll crash." he pointed out, the broom swinging wildly. To avoid further confrontations, James jerked the broomstick up sharply. Lily didn't say a word. "Lily? Are you okay?" he asked carefully.
"Just fine, Potter." she confirmed shakily. He noticed her hands gripping the handle so hard they were turning white. "At least, I would have been if you had LEFT ME ON THE FUCKING GROUND!" she screamed in his ear.
James winced. "Relax, Lily," he said soothingly, guiding the broom in a diamond pattern. "I won't let you fall."
"Very reassuring." she scoffed, still gripping the handle in a death grip.
"So, the iron-willed Lily Evans has a weakness, hmm?" he said, trying to establish friendly banter.
"Shut up, Potter. When we get down to the ground, I'll kick your ass so hard you won't be able to tell your face from your foot," she growled.
James couldn't help it; he chuckled.
"What?" she asked irritably.
"Lily dearest, might I remind you who is in control? We go down to the ground when I want to." he said cheerfully, and he could see her scowl.
"I hate not being in control," she muttered.
"Have you ever seen Hogwarts from up here?" he said conversationally.
She turned to look and immediately shut her eyes tight. "I don't like this, I don't like this, I REALLY don't like this," she said nervously.
"Oh, Lily, just look," he said, beginning to get frustrated.
Slowly Lily opened one eye, and then the other. "Wow," she breathed, and James sighed an inner sigh of relief. "I never knew it looked like this."
James soared over the castle to the Forbidden Forest. The sun was just rising over the horizon, turning everything brilliant shades of red, yellow and orange. Lily's fiery hair shone, he noted idly, and the sunlight gave her a golden halo, making her look like a goddess.
He soared closer to the treetops, startling a flock of birds who fled, cheeping, into the air. "Potter!" chided Lily absently, still staring at the Forest, which seemed to stretch on forever.
"Well?" he asked after a few moments.
Lily turned back towards him.
"I still haven't forgiven you for snatching me," she said ominously, and turned towards the scenery once more. James gulped nervously. "But I have to thank you for showing me all this," she finished softly, and he smiled.
James turned the broomstick around, and they soared over the Lake. He brought the broom down until their toes skimmed the surface of the water.
"Is this what makes everyone want to fly?" Lily asked after they had pulled up and were flying towards the mountains.
"This…and more. When it's night and you're soaring towards the stars. When the adrenaline's flowing and you're flying towards the goal hoops and you know you'll score. When you can get away from everything by just hopping on a broom and going anywhere your heart desires. When you're...free…" he finished, trailing off. Lily turned around to look at him. She stared in silence for a few moments, and James began to wonder if he said the wrong thing.
"I had no idea you were so eloquent, Potter," she said finally, and James flushed.
"Yeah, well, there's a lot of things you don't know about me," he finally said, and guided the broom over towards the Quidditch Pitch. "You can steer if you want," he offered cautiously, but Lily shook her head.
"It's more fun just sitting here. Maybe later," she said, finally relaxing for the first time. James guided the broom back down to ground and touched down gently.
Lily hopped off, whirled to face him but James was quicker. He soared once more into the air and hovered there. "So, Lily...I'll see you at breakfast?" he said cheerfully.
The frustration was evident for a moment on Lily's face, but it quickly vanished. "Very well, Potter. And let me tell you right now, no, I will not be a Chaser." Turning, she walked off, making no sound.
"Don't forget the Prefect's meeting tonight!" James yelled at her.
She turned around once again. "With reminders like those, how can I?" she replied, and ran off, presumably to do her pattern dances.
* * *
After her workout, Lily walked back to her dorm. Passing the unicorn statue without any difficulty, she trotted into the bathroom and closed the door with a sigh. Unbidden, the glorious vision of the Forest popped into her head, and she allowed herself a dreamy smile. *Wow,* she thought as the bathtub filled. *There's definitely more to Potter than I thought.* Slipping into the hot water with a slight gasp, she lay back and relaxed as her muscles unknotted.
*And his description of flying...he should be a poet! Who would have thought that popular, pretty-boy Potter could be so...so...* she trailed off.
Deep? A voice answered her from nowhere. For some reason, it didn't surprise her. He's really not that bad, you know. the voice hinted. Lily chuckled. *Great. The voice in my head is trying to set me up with a pompous asshole who infuriates me.* she thought wryly as she sank deeper into the water, almost purring.
I was only suggesting...the voice said, almost sounding hurt.
*Hang on...* Lily thought, sitting up suddenly. *I'm talking to a voice! In my head! AGAIN!* It seemed as though from faraway there was a sigh of frustration, but the strange voice bothered her no more.
Lily scrubbed quickly, hopped out of the tub and dried her hair. Walking out of the bathroom in a towel, she headed up to her room to get dressed for the day. As she threw on her clothes, she re-read her History of Magic essay. Grabbing a quill, she added a few more lines before bundling it up again.
Putting her books together in her bag, she took a quick glance at the mirror ("Oh, you look lovely, dear!") and headed down the steps. As she passed through the archway, she saw Aria standing there.
"Hey Aria!" she said happily at the sight of her friend.
"Hey Lils. How are you?" the other girl asked, blue eyes sparkling. The two began the trek to breakfast.
"Pretty good, I guess. You?" As Aria launched into a tirade about her roommates' messiness, Lily smiled. Just hearing her friend ramble on made her feel comforted.
"...and then she was like 'No way! This is my side!' and I said-"
"Aria, you're the best." Lily interrupted, giving her friend a hug. Aria smiled and hugged back.
"Any time, hon. So, what's on the schedule for today?"
"Potions, double History, Transfig, Charms, double Arithmancy and..." Lily screwed up her eyes trying to remember.
"Care of Magical Creatures?" Aria offered.
"Yeah! How'd you know?" Lily asked, her eyes opening.
"'Cause I have it with you!" Aria said, chuckling. Lily smiled too, and linking arms, they strode into the Great Hall.
"So, which table are we eating at today?" Lily asked as they paused.
"Dunno...let's try Gryffindor, then Ravenclaw for lunch, then Gryff-" Aria said, but Lily cut in.
"Okay, Aria, I get the picture! Let's go," she said, and the two girls sat down. As they grabbed toast and pumpkin juice, a slightly hyper James Potter walked over to them.
"He-lo, ladies." he said in a deep voice, trying to sound seductive. Aria rolled her eyes at Lily, who chuckled.
"Hello again, Potter." Lily said. Turning back to a breakfast as a sign of dismissal, she was surprised to hear him begin to talk.
"So,Lily,where'sthemeetingbeingheld?Idon'tknowbecauseI wasn'tlisteningtoDumbledoreatthebeginningofthespeechandIknowIprobablyshouldhavereadthelittle pamphletthingybutIdidn'tfeellikeitbecauseIhadtodohomeworkbutIdidn'tfinishitanywaysandnow..." he babbled, practically bouncing up and down.
"What have you been eating, Potter?" Aria interrupted, incredulous. Lily just stared at him.
"OhnothingjustsomemaplesyrupandtenpancakesandfrostedcerealandfrenchtoastandIatehalfthesugarinthesugarbowland..."
Remus walked up behind the extremely hyper James and clapped a hand over his mouth. "Sorry, girls. Sirius fed him one of the Hyperactivity Sweets and he's been like this all morning." Remus smiled at the two. Lily smiled back at him, and Aria stared like a stunned ox. "See you in Potions, Lily." Remus said, and he dragged off James.
"Wha....wha....whoa..."Aria mumbled.
Lily turned to her incoherent friend. "See something you like?" Lily said sweetly.
Aria shut her mouth with a snap. "Who? Me? Remus? No! Noooo. Not me...him...whatever! Nope, not me, nothing, nada..." Aria stammered.
Lily stood there with a knowing smile on her face. "Quit while you're ahead, Aria," Lily advised while patting her best friend on the back. "You're just digging yourself in deeper."
Aria turned an interesting shade of magenta.
* * *
"Lily? Hey, Lily! LILY!" a male voice called.
Lily's face contorted in a silent snarl. She had not had a good day. First, she had been distracted in Potions and mixed the wrong ingredients. Then, in History of Magic, she actually fell asleep, something she never did. Her Transfiguration was well below it's usual standard, and in Arithmancy she had completely lost her head. The only class she had done marginally well in was Charms. To top it all off, she had a mound of homework and she still had another class.
"What?" she snapped, whirling around. There was Potter, his hands raised in a mockery of self-defense.
"Whoa, Lily. Calm down." he said. Lily regained her composure.
"I could have said the same thing to you earlier," she said as he began to walk beside her.
"Sorry," James said without the slightest hint of embarrassment. "Sirius thinks it's fun to put random Zonko's pranks in my breakfast. You gotta admit, though," he said, his face breaking into his famous grin, "it was kinda funny."
"You confuse me, Potter." Lily said as they started off across the grounds. "One minute you're so different than the way you seem, and the next you're back to being the immature prankster."
"You know you love me, though," he joked.
Lily stared.
"Uh, yeah," he continued quickly after his attempt at humor fell flat, "so where is the Prefect's meeting?"
"In our common room," Lily said shortly as they reached the edge of the Forest.
"Oh," James said weakly as they joined the rest of their class.
Lily slipped next to Aria, who gave her a welcoming smile.
"In today's class, we shall be studying unicorns." Professor Kettleburn announced. He gestured toward the edge of the forest. There, pawing at the edge of the trees, stood a brilliantly white creature. Lily felt her face soften into a smile.
"They prefer women and girls to men and boys, so… miss Evans," Lily jerked her head up. "Will you be so kind as to approach the unicorn for us? I'm sure you know how."
"Of course, professor." Lily said confidently. She set off towards the animal, and stopped when she was merely a few feet away. "Hello." she whispered, and the magnificent creature cocked an ear towards her. "I'm Lily; my class would like to take a look at you. Would you mind coming with me?"
Imperiously regarding her with it's blue eyes, Lily felt as though her soul was being bared to the unicorn. Slowly, it nodded, and Lily undid the collar.
"Follow me, please," she said, and began to walk towards her class once more. Hearing the soft footfalls behind her, she kept going. Once she reached her class, she patted the unicorn on the neck. "Thank you," she whispered, and slipped back into the crowd.
"Well done, miss Evans! Ten points to Gryffindor." Professor Kettleburn beamed at his favorite student. "Now, unicorns are mythological creatures with many magical properties. Uncannily smart, they..." The professor's lecture drifted into the background noise as Lily stared. The unicorn stared fixedly back at her. She felt an odd sense of responsibility. Almost as if the unicorn would blame her for anything that went wrong.
"Psst...Lils!" Aria whispered.
Lily broke her gaze with an effort. "Yeah?"
"How'd you do that? It was following behind you like a puppy!" Aria seemed shocked, for she had never had much skill with animals.
"I asked politely. They're very smart." Lily whispered back.
"You don't ask an animal to follow you! You tell it to!" Sirius hissed from in front of them.
Aria seemed taken aback, but Lily was just angry. "Don't eavesdrop into conversations you don't understand, Black!" she snapped back. Sirius recoiled as if physically struck.
"Oh, Siri-poo, ignore the bitch," Allicia cooed as she wrapped herself around him. "She doesn't understand manly dominance." She glared at Lily.
Lily caught the insinuation and saw red. It was only Aria's touch on her arm that kept her from jumping the other girl right then and there.
"Ignore her." Aria whispered, returning Allicia's glare with one just as frigid, "She's just trying to get to you."
"Well, she's doing a damn good job of it, then." Lily whispered back heatedly.
"Miss Figg? Anything to share with the class?" Professor Kettleburn asked.
"No sir," she answered quickly.
Sighing, Lily turned her attention back on the lecture.
* * *
"So, ready for the meeting?" James asked after they had finished arranging the chairs.
"Not particularly, no," Lily said as she sat down with a thump on one of the couches. "At least we managed to agree on most things."
"I still think it should be the Pumpkin Parade!" James said, sitting down in his own chair.
Lily groaned. "Potter-" she started, but was interrupted as the Prefects filed into the room.
"Take a seat, guys," James said. To Lily's shock, they did just that. "Okay, we have a few things to discuss tonight, but we'll try to get you out of here as quick as possible." Some of the Prefects smiled. James glanced at Lily, and she took that as her cue.
"First thing is the Christmas ball," she announced. A few of the girls started to giggle. "Potter and I have decided that it will be called the Snowflake Soirée, unless anyone has any other ideas." When no one put their hands up, she went on. "Obviously, it will be a snowflake theme. We're going to start delegating jobs now, because the balls are a lot of work. Okay..." she took a quick glance down at the list. "Who wants to do decorations?" Several of the girls put their hands up, and Lily wrote their names down.
"Okay, food...any takers?" James said. Remus, another Gryffindor Prefect named Damien and a Hufflepuff named Randy put up their hands.
"We need a few people in charge of entertainment..." Lily trailed off. A few of the Slytherins put up their hands.
"Fine." James said, writing that down as well. "People who organize the rules..." No one moved.
"Put me down for that, Potter," Lily said with a sigh. "Advertisements for the ball?" Aria and the Hufflepuff Marcy both put up their hands.
"Right. We'll need some people for setup, arrangement of tables, stuff like that." James said, and the rest of the Prefects volunteered.
"Well, that takes care of that." Lily said, adding James' name to the list. He saw, and was about to say something when she kicked him under the table.
"Now, moving on...any ideas for other events during the school year?" James said, wincing slightly from the effects of Lily's kick. Immediately, people started shouting out their ideas.
"Whoa, guys!" James called. No effect. He looked at Lily helplessly.
"HOLD IT!" she roared, and everyone paused. "Hands, guys, otherwise we can't hear you." Immediately, half the room shot up their hands.
"Okay, from left to right guys." James said.
Sabrina, the Gryffindor fifth-year prefect, was first. "I think we should have a fashion show. Have tickets, put the money for charity, you know?" she said.
Lily looked disgusted, but James nodded and wrote it down.
"A talent contest! Same thing with the tickets, I guess..." said Thom, a Ravenclaw boy.
"Rent one of us for a day...it can be bidding and we be the slave of whoever wins us for a day. We can keep the profits." Georgina, a Slytherin, suggested lazily.
"More balls! We, like, hardly had any last year!" exclaimed one of the Hufflepuff girls as she filed her nails.
"Okay guys, that's enough for now," Lily said, interrupting the ideas. "That's about it, I guess." she said, shrugging. "If you need to ask us something, talk to the statue of the unicorn outside the dorm. Anything else?"
Everyone shook their heads, and filed out. Lily gave Aria a quick hug, but she had some homework to get to as well. Soon, Lily and James were left alone again.
"Why'd you write my name down?" James asked the minute everyone had gone.
"You're Head Boy," Lily said simply as she pored over her textbook. "You can't just sit back and do nothing. Besides, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. If I do something like the rules, I don't even have to show up to the ball; it's all in what you pick."
James stared at Lily. "You don't want to go to the ball?" he asked, puzzled.
"Why should I? I don't want to go," she said. Hearing no reply, she turned to see James smirking at her. "What?" she asked cautiously.
"I'm afraid, Lily dear, that you must go. You and I must open the Soirée and dance the first dance together. Your presence is required," he said smugly.
"Me? Dance...dance with you?" Lily asked. James nodded. In a moment, Lily burst into hysterical laughter. James looked injured.
"What? It's not funny!" he exclaimed. Lily stopped laughing immediately.
"I thought...you're joking, right?" she said carefully. James shook his head.
"Oh my fucking god." Lily said, her eyes wide, and buried her head in her hands. "This is SO not good."
Well, finally done! Hope you guys liked, please R&R! This chappie's reviewer present is…*dumdumdum* a bag of Zonko's Hyperactivity Sweets! Amuse your friends! Embarrass your enemies! Laugh your arse off at the secrets revealed! Comes in mini size for those with limited space (*cough*harper92*cough*).
Next chappie: Full moon. Ooooh. 'Nough said. ;-)
Well, I was about to do all the reviewer thingies, but then I realized that it would take me a few days, (the last one took me almost a week to do, seriously or Siriusly, however you want it). So, I decided I'll write them all up and post them with the next update, kay? Don't be too mad, I just wanted to get the chappie out to y'all sooner! Please review and tell me what you think!