Okay, guys; this is it! Chappie #3! Sorry it's taken me so long to update, but I hope this chapter will be worth it. It's about as long as the other two chapters put together. I'll try to put up chapter 4 a little quicker.
Wow! You guys sure know how to make somebody feel good about their work! Thanks for the reviews! Okay, EyesofEmerald does this on her fic, Standing There by You (read it; it's awesome), and I know that a lot of her fans, including me, really appreciate it. So I will be responding individually to each review. Oh - and you all are my VERY FIRST reviewers! So I'm gonna (if you don't mind) give you all little cameos in this ficcy! If you mind, just put it in your next review.
EyesofEmerald: Thanks so much for reading and reviewing! I like the name Quaffle, too. I was trying to think of good Quidditch-related names for James' owl, and that one just popped in my head. Thanks so much for the compliments!
xRazberryGurlx: Thanks for reviewing! I can't wait to find out what happens, either. (lol) I checked out your new fic and it's great! I reviewed it.
living.life.in.the.dark: Thanks! The bomb-diggidy? I say that, too! Except I write it BOMB DiGGiDY. hehe. Anywho, don't worry. I won't abandon. I checked out your ficcy, too. Great work!
MK:Sadly, you're unable to review (darn!) but I get bumps on your HP boards, so I'm cool. btw, BUMP to your ficcy! Hope work goes better for ya! BUMP to your ficcy again!
READ:
Okay, if you guys have any suggestions at all, please post them in your review. And I'd also like to know if you like the POV style or the 3rd person style better in my writing. I want to write more of whichever one is best for you. Please let me know!
Well, here goes:
- Chapter #3 -
Listening and Lists
After Lily had finally gotten most of the mold off of her, the first thing she'd done was threaten James with the removal of a few choice parts of his anatomy. She then ran upstairs to, as she put it, "wash off the horrible stench of Potter".
Now Gemma and Jenna waited by their bathroom door for Lily to come out. She'd been in the shower for at least 45 minutes before the girls heard the water stop running. When at last she emerged, she was wrapped in a large scarlet towel with her wet, bright red hair dripping down her back. "I feel refreshed," she said calmly as she went to dig pajamas out of her trunk.
The two boys pulled James' invisibility cloak over their heads and heaved themselves onto his Nimbus 1590. "Ouch, Prongs! You're pushing me off!" Sirius complained as James launched them into the air.
"Oh, shut it, Padfoot. We're only going next door. Did you remember the sweets, mate, and the tape recorder?"
"Yes," Sirius replied, not really paying attention to a thing James was saying. "Just get us there, and hurry. You know I love flying, mate, but only when it's just me on the room."
"It's not my fault we're uncomfortable! You're just fat! I take girls up on this thing all the time, and none of them ever complain."
"That's because they like being huddled up against you. I know I'm your best mate and everything but we're not that close." Sirius said. "And I'm not fat!" James decided that they'd done enough joking around and flew a yard higher. Sirius, unfortunately for him, slid off the back of the broom. "This isn't going to work," James thought, and flew down to Sirius, who was moaning in very exaggerated distress. "Are you alright, Padfoot?" he asked.
"I might be," he gasped, "It's a good thing I forgot to bring the tape recorder, or I would've crushed it when I landed. I can't take another ride on that broomstick with you, though, Prongs. I barely survived the last one! I wish my broom wasn't broken." Sirius winced in another attempt to make James believe that he was actually in pain. James wasn't fooled.
James gave him a stern look. "Whad'ya mean you forgot the tape recorder?" he asked. "Didn't I make sure you had it before we took off?"
"Maybe," Sirius replied, "but since when have I paid attention to anything you say?" He screamed again, making a horrible "in-pain" face.
"Go get it, then. And you're not hurt; don't pursue acting. I'll figure out something so that we don't have to stay on the broom togeth er while you're gone," James said.
Sirius started toward James' room with a pretended crestfallen look on his face. "I can too act, Prongs. You just don't recognize talent. It could be dancing on your nose wearing a house elf's pillowcase and you still wouldn't see it," he muttered. Sirius couldn't hide his bark-like laughter, though, and the two boys ended up rolling on the ground in amusement.
After a good 5 minutes of this, they got up and Sirius started off toward James' room again.
"Watch out for Libby!" James shouted at Sirius' retreating figure. "You know she fancies you!" Sirius chuckled back at James as he opened the back door and went inside the Potter Mansion. Libby was one of the Potters' house elves. She had taken a special liking to Sirius when he'd run away from his pureblood-crazed Slytherin family in the summer before his 3rd year to live with the Potters.
He was gone for quite a while, ten minutes. "Probably staring at himself in the mirror again," James muttered to himself as he sat on the grass; he might as well be comfortable while he waited.
After waiting another 5 minutes, James heard the back door open and close again. Sirius came outside, holding the tape recorder and a bag that was more than likely stuffed with sweets. He walked over to James, his breathing quick. "I got the sweets!" he yelled, as if they were the most important thing in the world.
"Padfoot," James said, looking Sirius up and down, "did you spend fifteen minutes in there changing clothes?" Sirius wasn't wearing the same blue jeans and T-shirt that he had been before he went into the house. James could also tell that his hair had been brushed recently. "Sirius is so self-conscious," he thought as he stood up.
"No!" Sirius exclaimed. "I spent 5 minutes finding the tape recorder – your room is a mess, by the way – and five minutes changing clothes." Sirius stuck his nose in the air and pretended to look offended.
James laughed. "I had grass stains!" Sirius yelled defensively.
"Where'd you spend the other five minutes, then?"
"Avoiding Libby. I caught her snogging a picture of me." He heard James snickering and blushed crimson. "She was in her closet, Prongs. I couldn't help seeing. It's not like I was spying on her or anything!"
"A bit defensive, are we Padfoot? I never said you were," James chuckled. "But who's to say that it wasn't just the picture she was snogging? What if she wanted a little fun with the original Sirius, huh mate?" He elbowed Sirius in the stomach and winked at him suggestively.
"Come off it," Sirius said.
While Sirius had been retrieving the tape recorder, James had been thinking about how to get both of them to Gemma's second story balcony with just one broom. After considering a number of different options, he settled on the simplest one. James would fly up, land on the balcony, and hide behind something. From there, he would throw the broom and invisibility clack down to Sirius, who would be waiting below. James explained the plan to Sirius, and then they went their separate ways – James to the balcony on the broom, and Sirius below it on foot.
Once Sirius was up on the balcony, they hid James' Nimbus behind a small tree. The two of them slipped under the invisibility cloak. After they'd positioned themselves in a corner of Gemma's room by the door, Sirius spoke. "Where are they, Prongs?" he asked, already sounding bored.
"I don't know," James answered, unwrapping a Chocolate Frog and stuffing it into his mouth. James hadn't even finished reading the card (Morgana) when he heard the light footsteps and laughter of 3 girls making their way down the hallway. They were all still snickering as they came through the door in their pajamas. "I can't believe Petunia actually believed that!" Gemma exclaimed.
"She did," Lily assured her, amusement in her bright green eyes. James and Sirius exchanged glances and wondered what the girls were laughing at.
Lily plopped down on Gemma's bed; the other two girls sat on the floor beside it. "So, now that we're done talking about our summers, what do you guys want to do?" Lily asked. Gemma shrugged, but went over to a desk, where she picked up a long piece of parchment.
Lily and Jenna got up and walked over to where Gemma was standing. "What's that?" Lily asked. James and Sirius were inquiring the exact same thing.
"A list," Gemma said, "of all the things I that want to do before the summer is over." Lily looked amused, but said, "Okay, then! Let's get started. What's the first thing on the list?"
"A Chocolate Frog eating contest," Gemma replied. Lily nodded and all three girls went over to Gemma's bed and lifted up the bed skirt. Under the bed was the most immense stash of Chocolate Frogs that James and Sirius had ever seen. James had to hold Sirius' mouth closed so he wouldn't drool. "Stay under control, mate," he whispered.
The girls were already getting started on their competition. "3…2…1…" they counted, then all yelled "GO!" at the same time. James and Sirius watched in both amusement and amazement as the girls gobbled down the Chocolate Frogs at a rate of about 6-8 per minute. "I could do better," Sirius informed James. James was sure that he could; Sirius was like a human vacuum when it came to food.
The two still stared as the girls guzzled down more and more chocolate. They became a little more alert when James was hit in the head by a stray Chocolate Frog wrapper thrown by Lily.
For a full five minutes the girls ate, until Gemma checked the clock, and announced that time was up. She counted the number of chocolates each girl had left, wiped her mouth, and declared, "Lily Evans! I would like to present you with the honor of coming in -," Lily's face lit up, "dead last in out official Chocolate Frog eating competition." Lily's face fell, but she picked herself back up and punched Gemma lightly on the shoulder.
"Now," Gemma said in an anchorwoman-like speech, "I would like to present to you, ladies and gentleman, the real winner of the contest… Miss Jenna Waters!" Jenna jumped up and hugged her twin, still a little hyped up on sugar. She bowed to no one in particular, saying, "Thank you, thank you!" over and over again while blowing kisses. Her wavy black hair flew everywhere as she twirled about.
James and Sirius chuckled at the chocolate-covered girls and waiting for them to say something interesting and secretive. That was when they would turn on the tape recorder.
Lily's POV
The twins and I had already had a Chocolate Frog eating contest, stood on our head for fifteen minutes straight, and figured out who could spit the farthest (I won) before the really difficult items on "Gemma's List of Things to Do Before the Summer is Over" started showing up. I don't know what Gemma was thinking when she wrote, "Steal Mum and Dad's knickers", but it couldn't have been good. It was I who got stuck with having to do that particular thing, and let me tell you, it was not easy. I must've dodged 5 house elves on the way down to Mr. And Mrs. Waters' room. I got back safe and uncaught, though.
Gemma was the unfortunate one that had to hit on one of her house elves. Jenna got off extremely easy, though, only having to wear her pajamas backwards for the rest of the night.
There were a few things on the list that I certainly didn't mind doing. For example: the three of us snuck over to the Potters' house, stole James and Sirius' wands, and threw them into their swimming pool. I also quite enjoyed stuffing James' pillow with Zonko's Non-Removable Itching Powder that just got worse if it was scratched. He deserved it, for covering me in that nasty molded ham!
Everything went okay up until we got to number 27 on the list – "Play Magical Truth or Dare". Regular Truth or Dare would've been fine with me, but Magical Truth or Dare was a completely different case.
It was played with a crystal ball type-thing, that used your own mind to decide on the particular question or dare it would give you. You had to place your hand on the ball, and remove it; then the fog in it would clear, and words would appear, informing you of what you had to do or say. It would start with little things, like chewing on socks, but it would gradually get more difficult, digging deeper and deeper into your mind to find your most guarded secrets and fears.
If you lied, the horrid device would flash red and beep loudly until you did, driving you crazy. If you didn't participate in the dare, you would have to do a consequence. At the beginning of the game, the players would pick out different things for each other to do if they chose not to do their dare. These things were called "consequences". Gemma and Jenna had picked out the worst possible consequence for me that they could imagine.
"Lily," Jenna said, grinning after a few minutes of whispering with Gemma. "Your consequence…" she said slowly. "Merlin! Get it over with already!" I yelled, rushing her. She jumped at my sudden outburst and continued. "You have to go up to James Potter the next time you see him, and say, 'I love you James Potter, you sexy beast!'" I started to get up and rant at them, but Gemma stopped me.
"Wait a minutes, Lils," she said. "We're not done. Continue, Jen." I was ready to murder her.
Jenna continues, "Then, you'll jump into his arms and kiss him so passionately that his knees give in!"
"And act like you mean it," Gemma added. "It has to be completely and utterly convincing, tongue and all." My heart fell. "Don't worry, Lils. You've only got to do it if you don't do what the 'Magical Truth or Dare' ball says to." That didn't make me feel any better.
I almost punched the two of them right then and there, but I held myself. I was so mad! There was no possible way to get out of doing consequences, unless, of course, they went against wizarding law. When you agreed to do the consequence or put your hand on the crystal ball, it was like signing a magical contract. If you didn't do what you were supposed to, you would get very nasty words permanently tattooed on your forehead. I didn't fancy that happening.
All I could do was cross my fingers and hope that I didn't get anything too bad. Then I got an evil genius-like idea; I couldn't change what I'd gotten, but I could assign the twins horrible consequences as payback for mine, and I did.
"For both of you," I said, rather pleased with myself for coming up with the brutal idea that I had, "the consequences, should you choose not to accept a dare or answer a question -" They looked at me anxiously, " – is to sleep naked in the 6th year boys dormitory at Hogwarts for the whole first week of school."
They gave me the most murderous glares I'd ever seen (besides my own, of course) and tried to make me change their consequences, even though they knew I couldn't. I just grinned. The damage had already been done, and I was extremely proud of myself.
James and Sirius sat still in their corner under the invisibility cloak, crossing their fingers and hoping that the girls would have to accept consequences. James was extremely excited about the prospect of a kiss from Lily, and Sirius was always happy to have naked girls in the dorm – let alone twins.
Sirius elbowed James out of his fantasies of Lily as the game started. Jenna was going first. She said "Dare," put her hand on the ball, removed it, and waited anxiously for her orders. She glanced over at Gemma and said, "Why in the world did you get us into this?" Gemma just smirked and pointed at the crystal ball; the fog was clearing out and words were starting to appear.
The girls read the words aloud. "Pick and eat one of your own boogers," they read. Jenna made a disgusted face. "I don't want to!" she yelled. Lily grinned and reminded her, "It's either that or the consequence. I, personally, wouldn't really mind a week less of your horrid snoring." Jenna threw a scarlet pillow at her and contemplated her situation. "Anything's better that Peter Pettigrew seeing me naked," she muttered. "And I'd be sleeping! Who knows what they'd do to me? I don't even think they have an extra bed in that dorm!" She shivered at the thought of having to do the consequence.
Sirius grinned. They really didn't have an extra bed. He got James' attention with an elbow to his ribs and whispered, "I'd be more than happy to share mine." James hushed him, a bit disgusted, and focused his attention back on the girls and their game.
Jenna looked like she was about to gag. He could tell she didn't want to eat a booger, but she had to. Still looking as if there was something dead underneath her nose, she reached to get a tissue, blew her nose, and swallowed the tissue with all its contents. "Eurgh!" all the girls yelled; the boys worked very hard at not laughing.
Jenna got up and ran to the door, nearly smashing it into James and Sirius in their corner as she flung it open. "Where are you going?" Lily and Gemma asked in unison. "To brush my teeth!" she yelled while dashing down the hallway to the bathroom. While she was gone, Lily and Gemma played Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who would take the next turn. Lily won, so Gemma would have to go next; she swore at Lily under her breath. Jenna returned after five minutes of hardcore teeth brushing, and they continued the game.
Gemma picked Truth; no one would say "Dare" for a while after Jenna's disgusting experience. She put her hand on the crystal ball, removed it, and waited anxiously for he results, just as Jenna had. She swept her long black curtain of hair into a side ponytail and drummed her fingers absentmindedly on a near-lying book.
Sirius crossed his fingers and whispered to himself, "Please be something horrible; Please be something horrible…"
"Look!" Lily cried as words appeared in the crystal ball. Sirius stopped his whispering and read the words to James. "'Who do you think the hottest guy at Hogwarts is?' That's easy!" he whispered, "me!"
Gemma cheeks turned a deep scarlet as she mumbled something under her breath. "Come again?" Jenna asked. "Sirius Black!" Gemma yelled, frustrated. Lily and Jenna were rolling on the floor laughing the next second; Gemma turned redder and redder.
"I never said I liked him!" she shouted. "I just think he's cute!"
"Correction," Jenna stated, trying her hardest to hold her laughter in long enough to spit a few words out. "You think he's hot. And if that's not enough for you, you think he's the hottest guy at Hogwarts!" No longer able to control herself, she went back to rolling on the floor with Lily.
Sirius elbowed James again and gloated, "I told you it was me, mate! Even Gemma thinks so!"
"She's stark raving mad, Padfoot, remember?" Sirius nodded, but the grin on his face remained.
Another 30 minutes passed by without any dares, during which Lily revealed that she hadn't learned to ride a bike until she was 12 years old, Gemma told about a secret relationship with a Slytherin in her 2nd year, and Jenna let the others know about a number of disgusting habits. James and Sirius had every word on tape, too. That tape would be a lifesaver for the Marauders. Having blackmail on the girls meant that nobody would ever find out about their being animagi, or Remus' condition. The tape lifted a huge weight off of their shoulders. They couldn't wait to see the looks on the girls' faces when they played their private conversations back to them.
James re-crossed his fingers for the fourth or fifth time that night as Lily placed her hand on the crystal ball and removed it again. The fog cleared and he heard Lily let out a yelp of horrified surprise.
"I can't go out with Severus Snape! I can't take a day with him, let alone a week!" James peered at the words in the crystal ball. They read "Date Severus Snape for an entire week". James let out a gasp. He would never let Lily, the love of his life, his one and only, into the greasy arms of that stupid Slytherin.
Lily's POV
I glared at the crystal ball with fury. I'd never go out with Snape! That stupid git that thought that purebloods were the center of everything, NEVER!
I was torn inside between my two greatest hatreds. Should I let Potter think that I'm in love with him, and risk his arrogance taunting me every second for the rest of my life? I could clearly imagine James blackmailing me. He'd more than likely tell everyone at Hogwarts that we'd slept together, and that I was utterly infatuated with him. Eurgh…
But going out with Snape for a week would be slow and painful torture, torture that I wasn't willing to submit myself to. I'd be made fun of forever. I buried my head in my hands and made my decision. I muttered, "consequence," my face reddening in anger and embarrassment with every passing second.
The twins exchanged glances and chuckled at me. I wanted to murder them. I wanted to attach boulders to their legs and shove them into the backyard swimming pool, but I restrained myself. I'd have to wait until we got back to Hogwarts and do something even worse.
James' POV
James rejoiced. Lily had chosen him over Snape! She was such a violent shade of red at the moment that James figured he would be able to fry eggs on her forehead had he wanted to.
Sirius gave James a quick thumbs-up and patted him on the back. "I'm tired," he said, and stretched. Unfortunately for he and James, he stretched out a little too far. He feet stuck out the invisibility cloak and it slid off their faces.
The girls were quick to notice. Sirius and James looked at each other in panic and made a mad dash for the balcony.
"Oh, no you don't!" Gemma yelled, and the twins went after the boys. James reached his Nimbus in the nick of time and flew down below the balcony, temporarily forgetting Sirius. He exhaled a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and started flying towards the Potter Mansion.
That was chapter 3! Hope ya liked it! Please R&R and answer my question that was at the top. I'll try to get chapter 4 out soon.
::::Savanna::::