Chapter SIX!!!! BUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!
THANK YOU for those of you who reviewed and are sticking around. (Gets on knees) THANK YOU. (If you speak Japanese) ARIGATO GOZAI MASU. (If you speak Spanish) GRACIAS (did I spell that right?).
Songwithoutwordz: yes, I used to live in North Carolina. As a matter of fact, every state Amberle has lived in, I have lived in. Lol. I was born in Texas, moved to Missouri, moved to Utah, moved to Wisconsin, BACK to Texas, moved to New Mexico, moved to North Carolina (and moved three times while still living in Carolina), then moved back to New Mexico. Hell, I have moved more times than most adults have and I haven't even graduated high school. As for the character of Amberle, I did NOT base her off myself. Actually she is based off of a really good friend of mine, but I changed her physical appearance somewhat, and she is very shy, unlike Amberle. So I gave her traits of a bunch of my friends, the only thing from myself I gave her was all the States she was from.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. All is property of J.K Rowling, great literary genius of this generation. The only characters I own are Anthy, Amberle and Professor Lantis. All you blood sucking lawyers can go screw off. Besides even if ya did sue me, all you would get is $6.75 because that is ALL I have at the current moment.
Sorry this chapter was a little late, but I have recently been in contact with a lot of my old friends so I have been catching up with them. Heck, the other night I was up to three in the morning talking to my friend in JORDAN. His family is American, but they are living in Jordan for the time being. Also he is coming back to the states soon, so I am really happy. Too bad I moved away, and I won't be able to see him.
One last thing, in case I get too caught up in making fun of Snape, I happen to like Snape. He is an awesome character that clearly hasn't had a good past. I also think that he knows more than what he tells anyone, except for maybe Dumbledore. We already know that Snape's father abused him and his mother right, right? Remember, when Harry broke through Snape's mind in OotP and it said that a Hook-nosed man was yelling at a woman and a dark haired child. Well, now we know where Snape got his hook-nose from, although I think his nose rather compliments him. So don't go thinking that I hate Snape, because I love his character. Poor Snivellus, James was such an ass to him; I can't believe that he de-panted poor Snape. Even though the book doesn't say specifically that he did that because that was when Harry got caught in the Penseive, you know that James did it. Poor Snape.
Also I make reference to a magpie, and just to clear up some of the confusion a magpie is a raven, not a crow. That is all. A bunch of my buddies thought it was a crow, including myself until I read a bird book. Lol.
Just for the record, I am on music high; this time it is Lynyrd Skynyrd. Who says rednecks and hicks can't sing? Hey if you don't like it go to Russia. Sweet Home Alabama, where the skies are so blue. Sweet Home Alabama lord I'm coming home to you... actually I am listening to the song Voodoo Lake. Enjoy...
XVIVX
The Halloween feast went on without much incident, as did the next three weeks at Hogwarts. Lily and James did their Head Duties and not a single fight had broken out between them. As a matter of fact the two of them seemed to be getting along very well. Lily seemed to laugh a lot more around James, and James was eager to please. Dorcas and Anthy had noticed that Lily seemed a lot more lighthearted and almost seemed to delight whenever the Marauders played some trick on an innocent first year. Under normal circumstance, Lily would storm up to James tell him off and the fight would end up with James having a smack mark across his face and Lily being covered in Dungbombs. Sirius, Remus and Peter seemed to be along the same lines as Dorcas and Anthy. Lily's niceness towards the Marauders was enough to cause some concern because at one point Sirius asked if he could copy Lily's essay for Professor Bins, and she actually agreed, which for Lily was a first. It was strange. Even some of the teachers were pondering about the very same thing, Professor McGonagall in particular. Because both Lily and James were in Gryffindor, McGonagall knew the animosity between them more than any other teacher, or student for that matter. It got so strange that at one point McGonagall questioned Dumbledore as to weather any of their heads had been altered by magic.
On a Tuesday evening during dinner, the Marauders, for the first time, sat with Lily and her friends and the conversation went along smoothly. For the first hour or so of dinner nothing out of the ordinary happened in the Great Hall, but then Professor Dumbledore stood up and called attention to the Great Hall. All of the students immediately went silent, as were waiting for him to speak. "This evening, for the first time in Hogwarts, a student will transfer to our school from America. Please give this new student a warm welcome, and show her our good British hospitality," Dumbledore said with his usual twinkle in his eyes. "Minerva, if you please, would you bring out the Sorting Hat," he said to Professor McGonagall. The middle-aged witch rose and walked silently out of the Great Hall.
"Hey, I bet it is that girl we meet down in Hogsmead several weeks ago. Remember, the one we called an American-yank," James whispered in an undertone to Sirius.
"You know what, you're probley right," Sirius whispered back. At that James and Sirius fell silent as Dumbledore signaled to the back of the Great Hall.
Two figures were walking out. One was clearly the lanky figure of Professor McGonagall, and the other was unknown. As the duo stepped into the light of the Great Hall it turned out the transfer student was in fact Amberle H. Adams. James looked at his best friend who was staring intensely at Amberle. Sirius had a reputation of being a playboy in Hogwarts, but he had died down during the middle of his 6th year, and had no girlfriend at the current moment. It looked as if he fancied the new American.
"Everyone, this is Amberle Helen Adams. I hope you will make her feel welcome in Hogwarts," Dumbledore said in a friendly voice.
Professor McGonagall led Amberle to the front of the Great Hall, just in front of the Staff Table, and signaled for Amberle to allow McGonagall to place the Sorting Hat on her head. Unlike the nervous scores of first years when they were in the same situation, Amberle had a rather bored look upon her face as if she had done it a million times in the past. The Sorting Hat took several minutes for it to decide what house to place the American student, but at last it boomed out "GRYFFINDOR".
The table second to the left broke out in applause. Amberle walked over to it and sat in a vacant seat next to a sixth year named Versalillles Johnson. At that the Great Hall returned to its normal atmosphere, and Amberle helped herself to some generous portions of steak.
IVI
The next day Lily was running down the corridors at full speed. She had to make it all the way from the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest (Care of Magical Creatures) to the bottom level of the dungeons where Potions was held. As it stood, she was already late, and was facing a detention from Professor Lantis, and his detentions usual consisted of scrubbing the dungeon floor clean without magic. Of course Lily was from a muggle family so she was fairly good at cleaning without magic, but she hated to do it none-the-less. And to make matters worse, Potions was with the Slytherins.
When Lily had reached the door to the dungeon she tried to make as quite of an entrance as possible, but the second she was inside the door frame Professor Lantis barked out in his oily voice, "Lets see Evans, you are six minutes late so how about six points from Gryffindor. Now hurry up and take your seat or else it will be sixty. And because you chose to e late to my class you will receive detention," he said, his pitiless cold black eyes flashed towards Lily.
"Yes sir," Lily replied with her head down. She quickly took her seat next to Dorcas and Anthy, which turned out to be behind the Marauders. Slowly Lily withdrew her quill and a piece of parchment and began taking notes on the lesson. That bastard {Lantis} was the only teacher who ever had given Lily a detention, and she had only ever received one other detention in her entire life; it was for neglecting to do one of Professor Lantis' essays. Lily bit her tongue from lashing out at him, and paid attention to the lecture.
"Today you will attempt to create a Dream Inducing Potion. It is a potion that will allow the drinker to dream about whatever they desire, depending upon the ingredients that are added. For example sugar will make the drinker have a dream about friendship, a ball of pure cotton for a humorous dream, rose petals for a romantic one, or even chocolate for a sexual dream, and so forth. A complete list of ingredients will be found on the board, "he waved his wand and they appeared." Now the intensity of the dream will depend upon how much of each ingredient is added. However before you even begin to add the special ingredients you need to brew the basic constancy to allow you to have a choice of what you are to dream. For all of my N.E.W.T students you will be paired up and you will both brew the potion AND drink it. I will be the one pairing you, and there will be no same sex pairs," (PERVERTS, not like that) Lantis sneered.
The entire class groaned. Whenever Professor Lantis picked the partners it meant that everyone Gryffindor would be paired with a Slytherin, and vice versa. Unless of course there were two eternal rivals in the same house.
"Do you think it wise to have a member of both genders work on a project than can educe sexually based dreams?" Remus said. It was more to himself than anyone else, but unfortunately for him he was overheard by Professor Lantis.
"No Lupin, because I will be carefully watching what each member puts into the potion. If I find that one of you unknowingly puts in chocolate into the potion without the other's consent there will be severe consequences. I will not put up with raging teenage hormones, and that is why I will be the one pairing you up," Lantis said coldly.
"But there wouldn't be a problem if you just let us work with the same sex," James blurted out. He seemed to be the only one who wasn't intimidated by Professor Lantis.
"A further ten points from Gryffindor Potter, and you can join Evans in detention tonight," Lantis said quickly and coldly.
James shut up because his position as Head Boy could be revoked if he got too many detentions. James loved being on talking terms with Lily, and didn't want to blow it. It was the first time that she didn't try to rip his head off when they talked, and their conversations were rather enjoyable. James learned a lot about her, for example that she hates going home for summer, Lily never did tell him why, and that she is scared of getting on a broomstick. As it turned out Lily wanted to become an Auror like James, and wanted to rid Voldemort of his high power over the wizarding world, and land his Death Eaters in Azkaban.
"When I call your name you will immediately sit with your given partner. Snape you will be with Simmons. Lupin, Meadows. Black, Adams. Potter..." Lantis went on icily.
Not me, anyone but me, Lily thought desperately. It was true that she had been getting along with Potter if the pair of them ended up stuck together to brew a potion that can give the drinker questionable dreams without the drinker's consent, it was likely that their temporary tolerance of each other would fall to ruins. As it turned out, Lily did think better of James since they started performing Head Duties together.
"Evans. Let's see what we make of the school rivals. Lestrange you will be with Johnson," Professor Lantis said. For the next ten minutes he spent pairing people up. Luckily for Sirius and Remus they were paired up with Dorcas and Amberle, apparently Professor Lantis wasn't aware of the 'compromise' made between the Marauders and Lily's group, as wells as Lantis seemed to have no idea that Sirius fancied Amberle. Anthy on the other hand had to be paired up with Severus Snape; everyone seemed to feel sorry for her. Although Snape was an excellent potion brewer, his lack of personality made him a royal pain in the rump to work with.
When Professor Lantis was finished he said, "You have thirty minutes to brew the basic consistency. The instructions will be found on page 185 of Advanced Potions. Begin".
Lily got out her book and turned to the instructed page. Although the prospect of being paired up with James Potter wasn't the brightest one, she decided to take the same approach as she took their Head Duties.
A quarter of an hour later James and Lily on had one ingredient left. The class room was usually silent because each student, with the obvious exception of Lily, James, Amberle and Sirius, was paired with their rivaling house. Surprisingly, Anthy and Snape seemed to cooperate very well to get the potion done. All was going well until;
"DAMNIT POTTER! YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO LET IT SIMMER FOR THREE MINUTES BEFORE YOU ADD THE CAMIELLA OIL!" Lily exclaimed at the top of her lungs. This was exactly why Lily hated to be partnered with anyone in potions; Lily lived for order and following directions and she was very good at it, but when someone didn't follow the directions to the dot Lily would go off on that person.
"Evans, a further five points from Gryffindor for being obnoxiously loud. As long the potion has simmer for two minutes it will have no damaging effect. The extra minute is just to make sure that some group of clumsy buffoons don't add the oil too early," Lantis said giving James the evilest smirk he could muster.
Once the thirty minutes were up, Professor Lantis got up again and began lecturing the class "If you have done the procedures correctly your potion should be a clear color. If your potion is silver or a light white then it should still work just fine. Now then, on the desk in front of you, "Lantis waved his wand and with a bang that sounded like a gun the desk appeared, "has all of the other ingredients on it. I have limited each product so that you have to use a bare minimum of three different ingredients. As you add them, you will write down which three you chose and the amount. You all must have the total amount of ingredients that posted on the board. You may continue with your work, "he said. With that Professor Lantis went to his desk and began scribbling down comments on the class's latest homework assignment.
"So Lily, what will it be," James said cheerfully.
"What will what be," Lily said.
"Tut tut, wasn't the school genius paying any attention to what that old bug was saying," James said.
"As for the ingredients, what do you want in your dream?" Lily said quietly. "That doesn't involve snogging someone," she added quickly. If the decision was left entirely up to James, it would be a sure thing that a sufficient amount of chocolate would be included in the potion.
"Damn Lils, you take all the fun out of life," James whined.
"Don't call me Lils".
"Okay my Lily-flower".
Lily laughed. Even she had to admit that James had the boyish charm that made everyone smile; no matter how foul of a mood they were in. Lily's father had told her that if a boy ever called her 'Lily-flower', as her father did, he would be her soul mate. Lily doubted that James would ever be a soul mate, but he was a good friend. She was still somewhat tense around him, but the infamous leader of the Marauders broke through the first twelve or so layers of the ice shield Lily had built around her. "How about we get a cotton ball, which means that you will have a humorous dream?" Lily questioned. Nothing pleased James more than a good joke, and because they would both be drinking Lily wouldn't mind a little humor.
"That sounds good. Hey look at this Lily," James said referring to the long list of ingredients that was listed in the book. "You can even have a dream about world domination if you add a magpie feather. Cool!"
"Because sugar represents friendship, how about we add some of that as well?" Lily questioned.
"Great minds think alike, I was just about to suggest that. Although I don't get why sugar signifies friendship, must be some kind of muggle thing," James remarked. He never did understand muggles.
"That makes two ingredients but we still have to agree on a third one, "Lily said, changing the subject rapidly. Lily was somewhat touchy when it came to how wizards viewed muggles. Even at Hogwarts, Lily had been called a mudblood several times and other such rude terms. It was mainly the Slytherins would were doing it, but Lily hated it. She didn't understand why a person's type of blood had to be so important. Lily's way of thinking was far from rare, as a matter of fact James had shared to her that he hated discrimination against those who were muggle-born, and muggles in general. It was true that he didn't get them, but at least he didn't discriminate them. Lily admired that about James. Even before they had began to get to know each other through Head Duties Lily had known that James was dead set against the Dark Arts and what people did with them. But as time went on Lily found many more admirable qualities that she didn't know about James Potter, as well as some unknown feelings that swelled up inside her.
"Humor and friendship are all that I want in the potion. Or at least all the ingredients that I am allowed to have; I wouldn't say no to a sliver of chocolate mixed in with a magpie feather. You can add whatever ingredient you want, I don't care. As long as it is not..."
"Rose petals," the two of them said in unison. James groaned. That was the bad thing about being partnered with a girl, all most of them wanted was romance. Why do girls like romance so much, James thought to himself.
"Hey, you got your two now I get mine," Lily protested.
"But...," James trailed on.
"James Everett Potter," Lily growled menacingly.
James groaned again. That was not a good sign when Lily used first, middle, and last name. When Lily said that it was a sign that she was about to re arrange someone's face; which she had done before. In James' fourth year, after provoking Peeves to attack Lily with Ink Pellets, the ink was specially made by Sirius and James, it wouldn't come off without the counter spell, she had went over to James and literarily re-arranged his face using very advanced Transfiguration. After her assault, James had an extra eye, his nose was upside down and seemed to be missing his lower lip. Both Lily and James had gotten two weeks worth of detentions, but luckily they were for different teachers. Lily was being punished by Professor McGonagall, and James had to face the wrath of the caretaker Filch for 'befouling the school'.
"Alright, you win. On one condition," James said.
"What is it?"
"That you put in no more than three petals".
"Deal. Besides, I couldn't put any more in because we have reached our limit. I'll be right back while I go collect what we need," Lily said.
She rose from her chair; all the while James was getting a good glimpse of her butt, and walked to the table in front of the class room that presented all of the potential ingredients. Lily quickly picked out the three they needed. Once they were added to the potion, it had turned a neo-pink color.
"Is it supposed to look like that," James asked with a look of utter disgust on his face. He could see Sirius laughing at the color of his potion from the corner of his eye. From the looks of things, Sirius was getting a really good laugh too. James also caught Remus' eye and it was clear that he was suppressing, with great difficulty, a rather loud chuckle. Sitting with Sirius, Amberle has a look that suggested that she was breaking a rib to keep herself from laughing, and the look on Dorcas' face was the same. Even Professor Lantis smirked when he saw the color change. Anthy on the other hand kept a straight face, while Snape smirked at the color.
"According to the book no two potions are exactly alike, due to the difference in what each person adds," Lily answered. "It doesn't look to appetizing dose it," added. Truth be told, Lily hated with all her gut the color of pink. Or any neo color for that matter. They were too bright, and pink especially screamed the phrase 'slut'. The main reason she wanted to add the rose petals was because all of the other choices had to do with either sex or world destruction or domination.
Professor Lantis rose again and began talking to the class, "I see that those of you who managed to concoct this correctly are finish. You will each cork a flagon for me, and one for you and your partner. Once you have had your dream I want you to write down all of the details of it as accurately as you can recall. Beware, for I will know if you are lying. All I have to do is look at the color of your potion to determine what you added in it, and if what you dreamed is inconsistent to what is in your potion you and your partner will both receive failing marks," Professor Lantis said with his eyes flashing over at Lily and James. "Before you leave this class, I will see to it that you all drink your potions," Professor Lantis waved his wand and a small glass appeared on each desk. "You will fill the glass to its entirety and drink it. Now," he added acidly.
Both Lily and James took their glasses and dunked them grudgingly into the cauldron. When they drank them an odd flying sensation swept through them but was gone as soon as it had come. Oddly enough it tasted very good. James was reminded of his mother's Brandy Rose Jam that was made from real rose petals (A/N: if you watch Utena, you can guess who my fav character is. Akio-sama). It was the best jam James had ever had, and a secret family recipe. His family had been offered quite a lot of money for the secret recipe, but James' mother declined every person who had offered.
"Your homework is to record your dreams. Class dismissed," Professor Lantis said as the bell rang.
The students began to pour out the class room, and James quickly found Sirius and Remus.
XIXIX (several hours later)
Lily had just gotten out of the shower and was dressed in her pajamas. Her day had been just as bad as potions had turned out. Dorcas, Anthy and Amberle had been giving her a hard time on what color the potion was, and Professor Vector had given Lily another essay. Lily just wanted to get to sleep as fast as she could, and pray with all her might that James didn't slip in any chocolate while she wasn't looking.
That night at dinner, Lily had stuffed her face hopefully to get rid of the idea of the affects of the potion. She had even indulged herself in some chocolate éclairs for desert, something which she rarely did. Sure, afterward she felt like she was going to burst but at least she wasn't thinking about Potter or the potion.
The other two 7th year Gryffindor girls, Adrienne and Rei, just entered the dormitory. They were both a bit on the slow side, and loved to flaunt themselves to boys. Adrienne had thick dark brown hair, while Rei had her hair bleached blonde. Lily never really talked to them, but she knew that they were both Marauders worshipers, and threw Lily looks of the utmost loathing.
As if on cue, Dorcas and Amberle walked in. Since transferring, Amberle had become a good friend to Lily and she was the official fourth member of their group. According to Dorcas, Anthy was still in the library and wouldn't be coming back until much later. "Man, she makes my study habits seem small," Lily said. Dorcas and Amberle laughed. Then the two girls disappeared into the showers, and Lily pulled the curtains around her four poster bed and slowly slipped into a dream abundant sleep.
XIXIXIX (POV change)
James was busily having an animated conversation with Sirius when Remus and Peter walked in. "Pink Prongs? I doubt that Lily would ever agree to that," Remus said. At that it seemed that the laughter that he was working so hard to suppress burst through, and Remus was consumed in fits of hysterics. He was quickly joined by Sirius.
"Hey, it was her idea not mine, "James said to try and keep some of his honor left as he turned a slight shade of red.
"I don't think Professor Lantis will want to know what you will dream," Sirius managed to say in-between fits of laughter. Then Sirius put on his best imitation of Professor Lantis "Before, for I will know if you are lying". That sent the two into even deeper fits of laughter. Even James laughed.
"Oh shut up," James said.
After Remus and Sirius had gotten control of themselves the four friends occupied their minds for the next several hours by playing Exploding Snap. Peter, naturally, was out in the first round (A/N: Take that, u little bastard), and the battle eventually wound down between Sirius and Remus. James had dropped out claiming that he needed sleep because he had to patrol the corridors the next night.
With a loud bang it was proclaimed that Remus was the winner of the match, and the rest of them went to bed. James, with his curtains closed around his bed, was having a mental battle with himself. I am NOT sleepy because I want to see Lily in my dreams, he thought. Evans, he corrected himself a second later. Sure she was beautiful and they had become friends over the past several weeks and James had fancied her for most of his school life but that did not mean that he wanted to see her in his dreams. That would mean that he felt more intimate feelings for Lily, and James didn't.
Oh yes you do, came another voice in his head.
Who is this, James asked himself
I am your inner thoughts; some would like to call it a conscience. I have been silent for many years because you willed me to, but now I am forced to reveal myself.
I didn't know I had a conscience
Like I said, you have willed be to be silent but now that your hormones are raging I am forced to appear.
You make me sound like I am a love sick puppy.
Well aren't you? With Miss Lily Evans.
No, James thought forcibly.
Stop lying to yourself said the other voice even louder.
Get out my head.
How? I am your head.
For the remainder of half an hour James battled it out with himself, he did not care about Lily Evans. Did he?
XVIVX
END CHAPTER
That is it for this chapter. Ha. This is coming along pretty good, if I don't say so myself. And I do say so myself. I am in a good mood right now, and that is why I worked my ass until three in the morning to get this baby done. Main reason I feel good is because I finally am able to get this video card so I can play this fifty dollar computer game I got at Christmas. The video card isn't cheap either, so I am looking forward to playing it.
And for those of you who have played the Fellowship of the Ring on the PC, I HATE having to kill the Balrog. Hell, in The Return of the King on PC, Gollum is easier to kill than the Balrog. My opinion anyway. I have beaten the Balrog before, but since I had to run the recovery program on my computer I lost all my saved games, so I am playing it over again.
You know the drill, more reviews=faster next chapter comes out. All flames will be laughed at and deleted. And I forgot to mention this in my disclaimer but the potion idea IS NOT MINE. I DO NOT own it. It dose NOT belong to me. I don't remember who originally came up with it, but it was NOT me. I did change some aspects about it though, so I am not stealing an exact replica, but the person who originally thought of it said that chocolate is for a sexual dream, and a cotton ball is for a humorous dream. I own all the other elements.
Please review, or e-mail at geishaofrohanyahoo.com
Sayonara Narya, of the Fire
THANK YOU for those of you who reviewed and are sticking around. (Gets on knees) THANK YOU. (If you speak Japanese) ARIGATO GOZAI MASU. (If you speak Spanish) GRACIAS (did I spell that right?).
Songwithoutwordz: yes, I used to live in North Carolina. As a matter of fact, every state Amberle has lived in, I have lived in. Lol. I was born in Texas, moved to Missouri, moved to Utah, moved to Wisconsin, BACK to Texas, moved to New Mexico, moved to North Carolina (and moved three times while still living in Carolina), then moved back to New Mexico. Hell, I have moved more times than most adults have and I haven't even graduated high school. As for the character of Amberle, I did NOT base her off myself. Actually she is based off of a really good friend of mine, but I changed her physical appearance somewhat, and she is very shy, unlike Amberle. So I gave her traits of a bunch of my friends, the only thing from myself I gave her was all the States she was from.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. All is property of J.K Rowling, great literary genius of this generation. The only characters I own are Anthy, Amberle and Professor Lantis. All you blood sucking lawyers can go screw off. Besides even if ya did sue me, all you would get is $6.75 because that is ALL I have at the current moment.
Sorry this chapter was a little late, but I have recently been in contact with a lot of my old friends so I have been catching up with them. Heck, the other night I was up to three in the morning talking to my friend in JORDAN. His family is American, but they are living in Jordan for the time being. Also he is coming back to the states soon, so I am really happy. Too bad I moved away, and I won't be able to see him.
One last thing, in case I get too caught up in making fun of Snape, I happen to like Snape. He is an awesome character that clearly hasn't had a good past. I also think that he knows more than what he tells anyone, except for maybe Dumbledore. We already know that Snape's father abused him and his mother right, right? Remember, when Harry broke through Snape's mind in OotP and it said that a Hook-nosed man was yelling at a woman and a dark haired child. Well, now we know where Snape got his hook-nose from, although I think his nose rather compliments him. So don't go thinking that I hate Snape, because I love his character. Poor Snivellus, James was such an ass to him; I can't believe that he de-panted poor Snape. Even though the book doesn't say specifically that he did that because that was when Harry got caught in the Penseive, you know that James did it. Poor Snape.
Also I make reference to a magpie, and just to clear up some of the confusion a magpie is a raven, not a crow. That is all. A bunch of my buddies thought it was a crow, including myself until I read a bird book. Lol.
Just for the record, I am on music high; this time it is Lynyrd Skynyrd. Who says rednecks and hicks can't sing? Hey if you don't like it go to Russia. Sweet Home Alabama, where the skies are so blue. Sweet Home Alabama lord I'm coming home to you... actually I am listening to the song Voodoo Lake. Enjoy...
XVIVX
The Halloween feast went on without much incident, as did the next three weeks at Hogwarts. Lily and James did their Head Duties and not a single fight had broken out between them. As a matter of fact the two of them seemed to be getting along very well. Lily seemed to laugh a lot more around James, and James was eager to please. Dorcas and Anthy had noticed that Lily seemed a lot more lighthearted and almost seemed to delight whenever the Marauders played some trick on an innocent first year. Under normal circumstance, Lily would storm up to James tell him off and the fight would end up with James having a smack mark across his face and Lily being covered in Dungbombs. Sirius, Remus and Peter seemed to be along the same lines as Dorcas and Anthy. Lily's niceness towards the Marauders was enough to cause some concern because at one point Sirius asked if he could copy Lily's essay for Professor Bins, and she actually agreed, which for Lily was a first. It was strange. Even some of the teachers were pondering about the very same thing, Professor McGonagall in particular. Because both Lily and James were in Gryffindor, McGonagall knew the animosity between them more than any other teacher, or student for that matter. It got so strange that at one point McGonagall questioned Dumbledore as to weather any of their heads had been altered by magic.
On a Tuesday evening during dinner, the Marauders, for the first time, sat with Lily and her friends and the conversation went along smoothly. For the first hour or so of dinner nothing out of the ordinary happened in the Great Hall, but then Professor Dumbledore stood up and called attention to the Great Hall. All of the students immediately went silent, as were waiting for him to speak. "This evening, for the first time in Hogwarts, a student will transfer to our school from America. Please give this new student a warm welcome, and show her our good British hospitality," Dumbledore said with his usual twinkle in his eyes. "Minerva, if you please, would you bring out the Sorting Hat," he said to Professor McGonagall. The middle-aged witch rose and walked silently out of the Great Hall.
"Hey, I bet it is that girl we meet down in Hogsmead several weeks ago. Remember, the one we called an American-yank," James whispered in an undertone to Sirius.
"You know what, you're probley right," Sirius whispered back. At that James and Sirius fell silent as Dumbledore signaled to the back of the Great Hall.
Two figures were walking out. One was clearly the lanky figure of Professor McGonagall, and the other was unknown. As the duo stepped into the light of the Great Hall it turned out the transfer student was in fact Amberle H. Adams. James looked at his best friend who was staring intensely at Amberle. Sirius had a reputation of being a playboy in Hogwarts, but he had died down during the middle of his 6th year, and had no girlfriend at the current moment. It looked as if he fancied the new American.
"Everyone, this is Amberle Helen Adams. I hope you will make her feel welcome in Hogwarts," Dumbledore said in a friendly voice.
Professor McGonagall led Amberle to the front of the Great Hall, just in front of the Staff Table, and signaled for Amberle to allow McGonagall to place the Sorting Hat on her head. Unlike the nervous scores of first years when they were in the same situation, Amberle had a rather bored look upon her face as if she had done it a million times in the past. The Sorting Hat took several minutes for it to decide what house to place the American student, but at last it boomed out "GRYFFINDOR".
The table second to the left broke out in applause. Amberle walked over to it and sat in a vacant seat next to a sixth year named Versalillles Johnson. At that the Great Hall returned to its normal atmosphere, and Amberle helped herself to some generous portions of steak.
IVI
The next day Lily was running down the corridors at full speed. She had to make it all the way from the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest (Care of Magical Creatures) to the bottom level of the dungeons where Potions was held. As it stood, she was already late, and was facing a detention from Professor Lantis, and his detentions usual consisted of scrubbing the dungeon floor clean without magic. Of course Lily was from a muggle family so she was fairly good at cleaning without magic, but she hated to do it none-the-less. And to make matters worse, Potions was with the Slytherins.
When Lily had reached the door to the dungeon she tried to make as quite of an entrance as possible, but the second she was inside the door frame Professor Lantis barked out in his oily voice, "Lets see Evans, you are six minutes late so how about six points from Gryffindor. Now hurry up and take your seat or else it will be sixty. And because you chose to e late to my class you will receive detention," he said, his pitiless cold black eyes flashed towards Lily.
"Yes sir," Lily replied with her head down. She quickly took her seat next to Dorcas and Anthy, which turned out to be behind the Marauders. Slowly Lily withdrew her quill and a piece of parchment and began taking notes on the lesson. That bastard {Lantis} was the only teacher who ever had given Lily a detention, and she had only ever received one other detention in her entire life; it was for neglecting to do one of Professor Lantis' essays. Lily bit her tongue from lashing out at him, and paid attention to the lecture.
"Today you will attempt to create a Dream Inducing Potion. It is a potion that will allow the drinker to dream about whatever they desire, depending upon the ingredients that are added. For example sugar will make the drinker have a dream about friendship, a ball of pure cotton for a humorous dream, rose petals for a romantic one, or even chocolate for a sexual dream, and so forth. A complete list of ingredients will be found on the board, "he waved his wand and they appeared." Now the intensity of the dream will depend upon how much of each ingredient is added. However before you even begin to add the special ingredients you need to brew the basic constancy to allow you to have a choice of what you are to dream. For all of my N.E.W.T students you will be paired up and you will both brew the potion AND drink it. I will be the one pairing you, and there will be no same sex pairs," (PERVERTS, not like that) Lantis sneered.
The entire class groaned. Whenever Professor Lantis picked the partners it meant that everyone Gryffindor would be paired with a Slytherin, and vice versa. Unless of course there were two eternal rivals in the same house.
"Do you think it wise to have a member of both genders work on a project than can educe sexually based dreams?" Remus said. It was more to himself than anyone else, but unfortunately for him he was overheard by Professor Lantis.
"No Lupin, because I will be carefully watching what each member puts into the potion. If I find that one of you unknowingly puts in chocolate into the potion without the other's consent there will be severe consequences. I will not put up with raging teenage hormones, and that is why I will be the one pairing you up," Lantis said coldly.
"But there wouldn't be a problem if you just let us work with the same sex," James blurted out. He seemed to be the only one who wasn't intimidated by Professor Lantis.
"A further ten points from Gryffindor Potter, and you can join Evans in detention tonight," Lantis said quickly and coldly.
James shut up because his position as Head Boy could be revoked if he got too many detentions. James loved being on talking terms with Lily, and didn't want to blow it. It was the first time that she didn't try to rip his head off when they talked, and their conversations were rather enjoyable. James learned a lot about her, for example that she hates going home for summer, Lily never did tell him why, and that she is scared of getting on a broomstick. As it turned out Lily wanted to become an Auror like James, and wanted to rid Voldemort of his high power over the wizarding world, and land his Death Eaters in Azkaban.
"When I call your name you will immediately sit with your given partner. Snape you will be with Simmons. Lupin, Meadows. Black, Adams. Potter..." Lantis went on icily.
Not me, anyone but me, Lily thought desperately. It was true that she had been getting along with Potter if the pair of them ended up stuck together to brew a potion that can give the drinker questionable dreams without the drinker's consent, it was likely that their temporary tolerance of each other would fall to ruins. As it turned out, Lily did think better of James since they started performing Head Duties together.
"Evans. Let's see what we make of the school rivals. Lestrange you will be with Johnson," Professor Lantis said. For the next ten minutes he spent pairing people up. Luckily for Sirius and Remus they were paired up with Dorcas and Amberle, apparently Professor Lantis wasn't aware of the 'compromise' made between the Marauders and Lily's group, as wells as Lantis seemed to have no idea that Sirius fancied Amberle. Anthy on the other hand had to be paired up with Severus Snape; everyone seemed to feel sorry for her. Although Snape was an excellent potion brewer, his lack of personality made him a royal pain in the rump to work with.
When Professor Lantis was finished he said, "You have thirty minutes to brew the basic consistency. The instructions will be found on page 185 of Advanced Potions. Begin".
Lily got out her book and turned to the instructed page. Although the prospect of being paired up with James Potter wasn't the brightest one, she decided to take the same approach as she took their Head Duties.
A quarter of an hour later James and Lily on had one ingredient left. The class room was usually silent because each student, with the obvious exception of Lily, James, Amberle and Sirius, was paired with their rivaling house. Surprisingly, Anthy and Snape seemed to cooperate very well to get the potion done. All was going well until;
"DAMNIT POTTER! YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO LET IT SIMMER FOR THREE MINUTES BEFORE YOU ADD THE CAMIELLA OIL!" Lily exclaimed at the top of her lungs. This was exactly why Lily hated to be partnered with anyone in potions; Lily lived for order and following directions and she was very good at it, but when someone didn't follow the directions to the dot Lily would go off on that person.
"Evans, a further five points from Gryffindor for being obnoxiously loud. As long the potion has simmer for two minutes it will have no damaging effect. The extra minute is just to make sure that some group of clumsy buffoons don't add the oil too early," Lantis said giving James the evilest smirk he could muster.
Once the thirty minutes were up, Professor Lantis got up again and began lecturing the class "If you have done the procedures correctly your potion should be a clear color. If your potion is silver or a light white then it should still work just fine. Now then, on the desk in front of you, "Lantis waved his wand and with a bang that sounded like a gun the desk appeared, "has all of the other ingredients on it. I have limited each product so that you have to use a bare minimum of three different ingredients. As you add them, you will write down which three you chose and the amount. You all must have the total amount of ingredients that posted on the board. You may continue with your work, "he said. With that Professor Lantis went to his desk and began scribbling down comments on the class's latest homework assignment.
"So Lily, what will it be," James said cheerfully.
"What will what be," Lily said.
"Tut tut, wasn't the school genius paying any attention to what that old bug was saying," James said.
"As for the ingredients, what do you want in your dream?" Lily said quietly. "That doesn't involve snogging someone," she added quickly. If the decision was left entirely up to James, it would be a sure thing that a sufficient amount of chocolate would be included in the potion.
"Damn Lils, you take all the fun out of life," James whined.
"Don't call me Lils".
"Okay my Lily-flower".
Lily laughed. Even she had to admit that James had the boyish charm that made everyone smile; no matter how foul of a mood they were in. Lily's father had told her that if a boy ever called her 'Lily-flower', as her father did, he would be her soul mate. Lily doubted that James would ever be a soul mate, but he was a good friend. She was still somewhat tense around him, but the infamous leader of the Marauders broke through the first twelve or so layers of the ice shield Lily had built around her. "How about we get a cotton ball, which means that you will have a humorous dream?" Lily questioned. Nothing pleased James more than a good joke, and because they would both be drinking Lily wouldn't mind a little humor.
"That sounds good. Hey look at this Lily," James said referring to the long list of ingredients that was listed in the book. "You can even have a dream about world domination if you add a magpie feather. Cool!"
"Because sugar represents friendship, how about we add some of that as well?" Lily questioned.
"Great minds think alike, I was just about to suggest that. Although I don't get why sugar signifies friendship, must be some kind of muggle thing," James remarked. He never did understand muggles.
"That makes two ingredients but we still have to agree on a third one, "Lily said, changing the subject rapidly. Lily was somewhat touchy when it came to how wizards viewed muggles. Even at Hogwarts, Lily had been called a mudblood several times and other such rude terms. It was mainly the Slytherins would were doing it, but Lily hated it. She didn't understand why a person's type of blood had to be so important. Lily's way of thinking was far from rare, as a matter of fact James had shared to her that he hated discrimination against those who were muggle-born, and muggles in general. It was true that he didn't get them, but at least he didn't discriminate them. Lily admired that about James. Even before they had began to get to know each other through Head Duties Lily had known that James was dead set against the Dark Arts and what people did with them. But as time went on Lily found many more admirable qualities that she didn't know about James Potter, as well as some unknown feelings that swelled up inside her.
"Humor and friendship are all that I want in the potion. Or at least all the ingredients that I am allowed to have; I wouldn't say no to a sliver of chocolate mixed in with a magpie feather. You can add whatever ingredient you want, I don't care. As long as it is not..."
"Rose petals," the two of them said in unison. James groaned. That was the bad thing about being partnered with a girl, all most of them wanted was romance. Why do girls like romance so much, James thought to himself.
"Hey, you got your two now I get mine," Lily protested.
"But...," James trailed on.
"James Everett Potter," Lily growled menacingly.
James groaned again. That was not a good sign when Lily used first, middle, and last name. When Lily said that it was a sign that she was about to re arrange someone's face; which she had done before. In James' fourth year, after provoking Peeves to attack Lily with Ink Pellets, the ink was specially made by Sirius and James, it wouldn't come off without the counter spell, she had went over to James and literarily re-arranged his face using very advanced Transfiguration. After her assault, James had an extra eye, his nose was upside down and seemed to be missing his lower lip. Both Lily and James had gotten two weeks worth of detentions, but luckily they were for different teachers. Lily was being punished by Professor McGonagall, and James had to face the wrath of the caretaker Filch for 'befouling the school'.
"Alright, you win. On one condition," James said.
"What is it?"
"That you put in no more than three petals".
"Deal. Besides, I couldn't put any more in because we have reached our limit. I'll be right back while I go collect what we need," Lily said.
She rose from her chair; all the while James was getting a good glimpse of her butt, and walked to the table in front of the class room that presented all of the potential ingredients. Lily quickly picked out the three they needed. Once they were added to the potion, it had turned a neo-pink color.
"Is it supposed to look like that," James asked with a look of utter disgust on his face. He could see Sirius laughing at the color of his potion from the corner of his eye. From the looks of things, Sirius was getting a really good laugh too. James also caught Remus' eye and it was clear that he was suppressing, with great difficulty, a rather loud chuckle. Sitting with Sirius, Amberle has a look that suggested that she was breaking a rib to keep herself from laughing, and the look on Dorcas' face was the same. Even Professor Lantis smirked when he saw the color change. Anthy on the other hand kept a straight face, while Snape smirked at the color.
"According to the book no two potions are exactly alike, due to the difference in what each person adds," Lily answered. "It doesn't look to appetizing dose it," added. Truth be told, Lily hated with all her gut the color of pink. Or any neo color for that matter. They were too bright, and pink especially screamed the phrase 'slut'. The main reason she wanted to add the rose petals was because all of the other choices had to do with either sex or world destruction or domination.
Professor Lantis rose again and began talking to the class, "I see that those of you who managed to concoct this correctly are finish. You will each cork a flagon for me, and one for you and your partner. Once you have had your dream I want you to write down all of the details of it as accurately as you can recall. Beware, for I will know if you are lying. All I have to do is look at the color of your potion to determine what you added in it, and if what you dreamed is inconsistent to what is in your potion you and your partner will both receive failing marks," Professor Lantis said with his eyes flashing over at Lily and James. "Before you leave this class, I will see to it that you all drink your potions," Professor Lantis waved his wand and a small glass appeared on each desk. "You will fill the glass to its entirety and drink it. Now," he added acidly.
Both Lily and James took their glasses and dunked them grudgingly into the cauldron. When they drank them an odd flying sensation swept through them but was gone as soon as it had come. Oddly enough it tasted very good. James was reminded of his mother's Brandy Rose Jam that was made from real rose petals (A/N: if you watch Utena, you can guess who my fav character is. Akio-sama). It was the best jam James had ever had, and a secret family recipe. His family had been offered quite a lot of money for the secret recipe, but James' mother declined every person who had offered.
"Your homework is to record your dreams. Class dismissed," Professor Lantis said as the bell rang.
The students began to pour out the class room, and James quickly found Sirius and Remus.
XIXIX (several hours later)
Lily had just gotten out of the shower and was dressed in her pajamas. Her day had been just as bad as potions had turned out. Dorcas, Anthy and Amberle had been giving her a hard time on what color the potion was, and Professor Vector had given Lily another essay. Lily just wanted to get to sleep as fast as she could, and pray with all her might that James didn't slip in any chocolate while she wasn't looking.
That night at dinner, Lily had stuffed her face hopefully to get rid of the idea of the affects of the potion. She had even indulged herself in some chocolate éclairs for desert, something which she rarely did. Sure, afterward she felt like she was going to burst but at least she wasn't thinking about Potter or the potion.
The other two 7th year Gryffindor girls, Adrienne and Rei, just entered the dormitory. They were both a bit on the slow side, and loved to flaunt themselves to boys. Adrienne had thick dark brown hair, while Rei had her hair bleached blonde. Lily never really talked to them, but she knew that they were both Marauders worshipers, and threw Lily looks of the utmost loathing.
As if on cue, Dorcas and Amberle walked in. Since transferring, Amberle had become a good friend to Lily and she was the official fourth member of their group. According to Dorcas, Anthy was still in the library and wouldn't be coming back until much later. "Man, she makes my study habits seem small," Lily said. Dorcas and Amberle laughed. Then the two girls disappeared into the showers, and Lily pulled the curtains around her four poster bed and slowly slipped into a dream abundant sleep.
XIXIXIX (POV change)
James was busily having an animated conversation with Sirius when Remus and Peter walked in. "Pink Prongs? I doubt that Lily would ever agree to that," Remus said. At that it seemed that the laughter that he was working so hard to suppress burst through, and Remus was consumed in fits of hysterics. He was quickly joined by Sirius.
"Hey, it was her idea not mine, "James said to try and keep some of his honor left as he turned a slight shade of red.
"I don't think Professor Lantis will want to know what you will dream," Sirius managed to say in-between fits of laughter. Then Sirius put on his best imitation of Professor Lantis "Before, for I will know if you are lying". That sent the two into even deeper fits of laughter. Even James laughed.
"Oh shut up," James said.
After Remus and Sirius had gotten control of themselves the four friends occupied their minds for the next several hours by playing Exploding Snap. Peter, naturally, was out in the first round (A/N: Take that, u little bastard), and the battle eventually wound down between Sirius and Remus. James had dropped out claiming that he needed sleep because he had to patrol the corridors the next night.
With a loud bang it was proclaimed that Remus was the winner of the match, and the rest of them went to bed. James, with his curtains closed around his bed, was having a mental battle with himself. I am NOT sleepy because I want to see Lily in my dreams, he thought. Evans, he corrected himself a second later. Sure she was beautiful and they had become friends over the past several weeks and James had fancied her for most of his school life but that did not mean that he wanted to see her in his dreams. That would mean that he felt more intimate feelings for Lily, and James didn't.
Oh yes you do, came another voice in his head.
Who is this, James asked himself
I am your inner thoughts; some would like to call it a conscience. I have been silent for many years because you willed me to, but now I am forced to reveal myself.
I didn't know I had a conscience
Like I said, you have willed be to be silent but now that your hormones are raging I am forced to appear.
You make me sound like I am a love sick puppy.
Well aren't you? With Miss Lily Evans.
No, James thought forcibly.
Stop lying to yourself said the other voice even louder.
Get out my head.
How? I am your head.
For the remainder of half an hour James battled it out with himself, he did not care about Lily Evans. Did he?
XVIVX
END CHAPTER
That is it for this chapter. Ha. This is coming along pretty good, if I don't say so myself. And I do say so myself. I am in a good mood right now, and that is why I worked my ass until three in the morning to get this baby done. Main reason I feel good is because I finally am able to get this video card so I can play this fifty dollar computer game I got at Christmas. The video card isn't cheap either, so I am looking forward to playing it.
And for those of you who have played the Fellowship of the Ring on the PC, I HATE having to kill the Balrog. Hell, in The Return of the King on PC, Gollum is easier to kill than the Balrog. My opinion anyway. I have beaten the Balrog before, but since I had to run the recovery program on my computer I lost all my saved games, so I am playing it over again.
You know the drill, more reviews=faster next chapter comes out. All flames will be laughed at and deleted. And I forgot to mention this in my disclaimer but the potion idea IS NOT MINE. I DO NOT own it. It dose NOT belong to me. I don't remember who originally came up with it, but it was NOT me. I did change some aspects about it though, so I am not stealing an exact replica, but the person who originally thought of it said that chocolate is for a sexual dream, and a cotton ball is for a humorous dream. I own all the other elements.
Please review, or e-mail at geishaofrohanyahoo.com
Sayonara Narya, of the Fire