Ok, ya... I was just reading a fic the other day and I realized, "Hey! I don't have a disclaimer!" so here it is:
I own a rubber band, the computer I'm typing at, and a banana, but not any of the characters you recognize. They're all Master JK's.
Wow! Finally, I've gotten out chapter 4! I'm sooooo sorry that it's taken me so long, but hopefully you guys will read it anyway. Remember to let me know what ya think!
Chapter 5 might not be long, so I can get it posted as soon as possible, just to let you guys know, because I'm reallly sorry for the delay on this chapter.
Thanks again to all my reviewers!
EyesofEmerald: Thanks again for reviewing, and for letting me know what you think about the 1st person 3rd person thing. I don't really know if I put more of one or the other in this chapter or not, because this one was almost finished being written by the time I got ch3 out.But I'll be sure to take into consideration what you said in chapter 5!
living.life.in.the.dark: lol about yor friend. She sounds great!Similar tome, actually... I always do stuff like that to my friends, then turn around and get their forgiveness by helping them out with stuff. hehe... And thanks so much for mentioning my fic on yours!
MK: Yay! You got to review! I'm so happy! I didn't get the chance to really put a lot of"nothing" stuff in this chappie, but chappie five is all nothing, just for you, MK! I'm thinking maybe Water Quidditch. hehe... Yup, I feel strange reviewing on these boards, too, because on the HP Message Boards at WB, you can just say "bump!" and everyone knows what you're talking about, but here I'm afraid people might think I'm crazy or something. I could just imagine it - "Bump? What is she talking about? I'm SO reporting that! ABUSE!" lol. Anywho, now go post on your ficcy, because I love it! Thanks for your suggestions and opinions and stuff btw. lol. I almost wrote "onions" instead of "opinions". I must be crazy...
emeraldhazel: Thanks so much for reviewing! I posted for ya. hehe... Cool penname!
EvilQueenHannah: Wow! Thanks so much! Oh - from your review on my other fic, yes I do go on the HP boards on WB. Constantly. It's like, my life. lol. My screenname is h.b.princess, if you've ever seen me there. You? I'm always wanting to put "bump!" on my reviews here, but I'm afraid to because people might not know what I'm talking about and report me for abuse or something. hehe... I probably won't update on my other fic for a while, though (Thrice Defied Him). Sorry 'bout that. Just lettin' ya know. I really want to focus on this one for now.
xRazberryGurlx: Thanks for reviewing again! I'm still sad that you're at a stopping place on your fic; it was really good. But I can't wait till you start up your new one!
- Chapter #4 -
Getting Caught and Consequences
James didn't realize that he'd forgotten Sirius until he had already flown halfway back to his house. When he heard a loud scream, he knew that his friend was in trouble. Being the brave Gryffindor that he was – or at least thought he was , James turned around and raced full-speed back to the Waters Mansion to rescue the poor guy. James knew that the girls could be horribly brutal, and he just couldn't bring himself to leave his best mate to that gruesome fate, even if it meant assuring his own safety by not going to help him.
He was almost to Gemma's balcony when he felt something push him down towards the ground. Nervous, he landed, and quickly climbed off his broomstick, holding onto it for dear life. He could hear Sirius' high-pitched, girlish shrieks above him. "James!" he yelled, "Help!" James started to climb back onto his broom to get to his friend and save him, but again he felt the hands, pushing him down.
The invisible hands pushed James towards the Waters' backyard. They stopped forcing him forward when they reached the area near their swimming pool. James looked around and wondered what was going on. "Who's here?" he called, panicky. It couldn't have been one of the girls; they were busy torturing poor Sirius at the moment. He knew that he was wrong, though, when Lily appeared out of thin air in front of him, holding a Nimbus 1570 and his own invisibility cloak.
Lily's POV
Gemma's bedroom was in utter chaos. The twins chased after Potter and Black, screaming at them at the top of their lungs. I, on the other hand, was frozen where I stood, shocked. It was extremely difficult for me to soak in everything that had happened in the past two minutes. With the discovery of the boys in Gemma's room, and all of the secrets that they' more than likely heard, I wasn't exactly in a good state.
The boys were running toward the balcony, where I suspected that they would have hidden their brooms for escape.
I looked around the chaotic room and noticed flashes of light. The crystal ball was flashing red, and emitting horrible noises that could more than likely annoy a banshee. I sprung into action. Looking closer around the room for anything that could help me get to stupid Potter quicker, I noticed a silvery substance on the floor in the corner – the corner that James and Sirius had been sitting in. I walked over to where it was, somehow miraculously able to move my limbs again, and ran my fingers through it. "It wasn't liquid," I realized. It was cloth. I realized what I had in my hands when my fingers disappeared. I was holding an invisibility cloak, something very rare, and I'd have bet anything that Potter and Black had been hiding under the thing for quite a while listening in on our private conversations.
The loud beeping of the crystal ball taunted me, driving me crazy with its constant reminding of what the consequence that I had to do. I was furious at that stupid thing, at James, at Sirius, and even at the twins for giving me the consequence in the first place.
I was mostly worried about my forehead, though; I didn't want to walk around the rest of my life with the word 'BOGEY' written on my head. I knew what I had to do to prevent that happening, and though I would've rather not have had to, I took action. I ran out of the room with the invisibility cloak, ignoring Sirius' desperate cries for help.
I ran down to the bathroom where my trunk was, hastily grabbed my Nimbus 1570, and raced through the front door and out onto the lawn.
Looking around the side of the house, I saw Potter flying towards Gemma's balcony – no doubt trying to save Sirius from the twins' twisted torture. I slipped the invisibility cloak over my head, hopped on the broom, and flew toward him.
He had a worried look on his face. I could understand why; Black's terrified shrieks could be heard from where he was flying near the balcony, and he was more than likely worried for his best mate's safety. Gemma and Jenna were pretty creative when it came to extracting information, and extremely harsh when they didn't get what they wanted. For all James knew, he could get Sirius back as a twisted blob of goo, or even a tomato - mutated.
I flew around over to and above him and sort-of nudged him toward the ground. He looked really freaked out and tried to fly back up toward the balcony, but I just pushed him down again. This time, he landed. He held that broom for dear life – probably thought I was some sort of Death Eater. I led him all the way to an area by the Waters' swimming pool before I stopped pushing him. His eyes darted around, confused.
"Who's there?" he called, sounding alarmed. I silently laughed at him. I could tell that he was utterly terrified.
Taking a deep breath and wishing that I didn't have to do what I did, I went and stood directly in front of him, and pulled off the invisibility cloak. The surprised look on his face and the gasp that I heard come from him was one I had rarely witnessed. I frowned, and stepped forward.
Lily and James stood staring at each other for a long moment; James was in shock, Lily was dreading the kiss that was sure to come soon. Finally, after what seemed like ages of silence to the two teenagers, James spoke. "Why did you bring me out here?" he asked.
"Well, for one, no one is able to see us on this side of the house – at least without looking pretty hard," Lily pointed out. "As for the other thing, I believe you already know what I have to do."
James let a grin split across his face and nodded vigorously; he was glad that Lily would go through with the consequence. He, personally, didn't think she'd be very attractive with "WARTY BUM" scrawled across her forehead, and, of course, he'd wanted to kiss her since seen her at Hogwarts in his very first year. How did she get a hold of his invisibility cloak, though? She answered that question for him, though, as if she knew that he was thinking it.
"While Gemma and Jenna chased after Black, and you ran off like death was on your tail, I noticed something silvery on the floor – an invisibility cloak." She picked the cloak up off the ground and dangled it in front of James' face, taunting him like a cat-owner dangling yarn in front of the cat's face. He gulped.
Lily continued, circling him like a vulture considering its prey. "Now, just how would someone be able to get a hold of an invisibility cloak?" she asked. "They are very rare, aren't they, Potter?" James was sweating; he was nervous. Lily smirked. If she'd have to kiss Potter, she wanted the comfort of knowing that she had made him completely miserable first.
"M- my Dad gave it to me. It's a family heirloom" Lily looked as if she believed his response, but wasn't happy that he'd actually had a good excuse for possessing such a rare item. She'd wanted to make him miserable! How could that happen if the stupid boy had an answer for everything? "Might as well try again." She thought, and went on.
"I assume that you, and the other Marauders, use this thing in all of your pranking expeditions," Lily said questioningly, sounding interested. James felt relieved; maybe he wouldn't get yelled at after all. He nodded.
"And for sneaking around school?" He nodded again. "And for SPYING ON MY FRIENDS AND I!" James flinched. He'd been wrong – Lily had been planning on yelling at him after all. Her calm mood had vanished. She was glaring at him with every ounce of hatred that she could possibly muster.
Unfortunately for Lily, though, James was used to these glares, and was unaffected by them. So she continued.
"James Harry Potter! You selfish, pig-headed, conniving, arrogant, irresponsible, prat! How long were you there, intruding on our privacy like you had the right to?"
James' arrogant attitude showed itself as he grinned cockily and replied, "Long enough." Lily's bright green eyes widened in shock, then narrowed with her anger. "Stupid Potter," she thought, but she was still a little relieved that he would know that she wasn't kissing him out of her own free will when she did it. He'd at least know that she'd been forced to do it.
"Now, Evans," James said tauntingly with a mischievous glint in his eye, "I seem to remember a certain consequence. Do you remember a consequence, Flower?"
"Don't call me Flower."
"Fine. Do you remember a consequence, Lils?"
"Nor Lils," Lily ordered menacingly.
"Okay, Evans!" James shouted; Lily was beginning to test his patience. "I asked if you remembered the consequence! Do you remember it or not?" James' temper had gotten the better of him, and it shocked Lily a little.
"If you must know," she replied, "Yes." Lily knew he remembered; she just answered to calm him down. She narrowed her eyes at James and prepared herself for what she had to do. "Lily!" she thought to herself, "Get a grip on your self! He knows that you're not serious! Just go on and get it over with!" Lily still wasn't keen on kissing James Potter, though, especially with all of Jenna and Gemma's specific directions involved.
"Well then," said James, "Are you going to kiss me? Or would you rather have 'TROLL BREATH' permanently tattooed across your forehead? Ooooh! Or maybe 'PUFFSKEIN KISSER'!" Her face was turning red; James could tell that he was getting on Lily's nerves, so he continued to announce odd names and phrases to go on Lily's forehead.
Lily herself contemplated the situation. She didn't want to kiss James, but she had to, and she was tired of his mocking. "Why not use the element of surprise to my advantage?" she asked herself. "Maybe I'll get lucky and he'll faint or something," She got ready to make her move.
James was just about to suggest 'FLOOFACE' when Lily kissed him. He didn't respond immediately, out of pure shock. Once he finally realized what was going on, he almost fainted, but remembered the twins' instructions to Lily. She had to kiss him until his knees gave in, and James had no intention of letting that happen. He wanted to hold on to the moment as long as he possibly could. Mustering up as much mental strength as his mind would allow, James took control of the kiss and thanked Merlin inside his head that Gemma and Jenna had been so specific with their instructions for Lily's consequence.
Gemma and Jenna had tied Sirius to a chair and were circling around him, acting unknowingly similar to the way Lily in the way that she had circled James, taunting him with the invisibility cloak.
"How long were you listening?" Gemma asked sharply.
"Long enough," Sirius replied. You know, we've still got time enough for a few more rounds of Magical Truth or Dare if you guys would like to play. Personally, I really wouldn't mind the two of you sleeping naked in my dormitory." He grinned and added, "We really don't have an extra bed, you know. I'd be fine with sharing –"
His sentence was cut off by a violent slap from Jenna. "Shut your dirty mouth, Black," she whispered menacingly, "and get your mind out of the gutter."
"Aaaw…" Sirius taunted, "Have I touched a nerve? You'll side with me, won't you Gemma? You know – since I'm the hottest guy at Hogwarts?" He gave Gemma a cocky, knowing grin, and waited for a reply. Gemma threw a similar grin back at him a simply replied, "Bark. Bark."
Sirius' face went deathly pale. "Call it even?" he asked. She nodded her head and Sirius' face regained its color. Jenna gave them both confused looks. She brushed Sirius and Gemma's strange conversation to the back of her mind, though, when Gemma moved to continue in their questioning of Sirius.
"Calling it even on –" she hesitated, "that doesn't get you out of your… interrogation," Gemma said. The color drained from Sirius' face once more.
"Sirius Black, if you tell a single soul anything you've heard and/or seen here in this room tonight, let me warn you – "
"Look!" Sirius interrupted, and jerked his head toward the crystal ball.
Gemma looked confused. "What are you on about, Black?" she asked. "What is wrong with our Truth or Dare ball? Have you developed a liking to pranking it as well?"
Sirius started to reply, but Jenna answered for him. "It's not what is wrong with the ball, Gemma, that you should be considering," she said, "but what's not wrong with it."
Gemma still looked confused, up until Sirius explained. "The Truth or Dare ball flashes red and makes noise like murder when a player in the game is not doing their consequence, right Gem?" She nodded, and he continued. "If Evans wasn't out there doing her consequence – kissing Prongs - right now, it would be going off, right?"
Gemma nodded.
"Notice that the ball is not doing anything."
A look of understanding dawned on Gemma's face. Her eyes grew wide. She untied Sirius' bonds and ordered, "Come on. We're going to find out what our friends are up to."
Sirius jumped out of his chair quickly, ropes sliding off of his body as he moved. The three teenagers gave each other mischievous grins and ran out of the bedroom to find Lily and James, and spy on them.
They finally arrived behind a few bushes by the Waters' swimming pool after checking three other places: James' room, the Potter's Quidditch pitch, and the area under Gemma's balcony. They got to their hiding spot just in time to witness James taking control of the kiss he was sharing with Lily.
"It looks to me like they're both fighting a losing battle," Gemma stated, sounding like a narrator on the Discovery Channel reporting the action of gazelles in Africa. "Poor James is trying to control his raging hormones, white Lily is attempting to shove away her ever-present feelings for him."
Sirius chuckled. "What do you guys say to a truce? Because of what I know to be a common goal –"
He didn't even finish his sentence before Jenna and Gemma stuck out their hands and roughly shook his own.
"It's settled, then," Sirius declared. "We are going to help Lily discover her feeling for Prongsie, and help James to be a little more… attractive to her." The twins nodded in agreement. "We've got to go through with this, no matter what it takes."
"No matter what it takes," the twins repeated.
"We all saw the look on Lily's face when she was kissing him. She liked it! Her eyes were closed. Lily likes James Potter, and she can't deny it any longer – not if we have anything to do with it."
All three nodded together, sharing a determined expression, shook hands once more, and turned back to watching the still-going kiss between their two friends Lily and James had apparently not heard a single bit of the plotting conversation that had gone on not ten feet away from them.
Lily's POV
As Potter took control of the kiss, my mind almost exploded with fury, and with all of the thoughts running through my head at one time. What did that idiot think he was doing? It finally hit me after a few seconds of hard thinking, that Gemma and Jenna had been extremely specific with their consequence instructions. I don't know why I hadn't figured it out before; I had been thinking about it only a few minutes before.
Potter knew that I had to kiss him, as the twins put it, "so passionately that his knees gave in". Therefore, I couldn't stop until his bloody knees gave in, and James was definitely taking advantage of that. He was trying his hardest to stay in control of the effect that I knew I had on him; I would fix that.
Taking the twins' instructions to heart, I kissed him as seemingly "passionately" that I was able to; I knew that he'd have to fall to the ground sometime soon. I even closed my eyes! I have no idea why I did that, though; it's not like he would be able to notice it, anyway. Just impulse, I guess.
Before I could stop myself, I began to think about what I was doing. I was kissing bloody James Potter, the person that I had held an extremely passionate loathe for over the past five years, the one person that I would go to any lengths just to ignore! I was determined to get out of that situation, so I did the only thing I could have done – I deepened the kiss. I kissed the crazy hormonal boy as passionately as I possibly could.
Unfortunately for me, I realized too late what I was getting myself into. Potter turned out to be an awesome kisser. What was wrong with me? I absolutely could not find Potter attractive in any way! I couldn't! This was the boy that was my rival, my enemy! Stupid James…
On the good side, though, my plan worked. After approximately another five minutes of what I convinced myself to be absolute torture, his knees buckled in and he fell to the ground. I pulled away and glared at the panting form below me.
"Take that, Potter," I said, and walked off.
James' POV
I lay sprawled out on the ground, breathing heavily as a variety of thoughts made their way through my confused mind. The kiss I'd shared with Lily was wonderful; it had seemed so real to me. But I knew it couldn't have been. She'd had to act like she meant it.
It'd tried my hardest to keep in control, to stay standing, but I was no match for the effect that Lily's kiss had taken on my stupid hormonal body. If Lily could fake that much "passion", I couldn't even imagine what the real thing would be like! Man, I wished I knew…
I sighed and stood up. My knees were still a little weak, but they'd manage to hold me up for a while; I still had to let Padfoot know what had happened. Of course, I'd leave out the whole collapsing-on-my-knees part. Sirius would never let me live that down if he knew about it.
Only after thinking for a whole minute about Padfoot, did I realize that he was still trapped by the twins, probably being tortured in more horrible ways than I could think of, than I even wanted to think of. Gemma and Jenna could be absolutely brutal – there was no telling what they would do when put to the test, when mad enough. And right then, they weren't just mad; they were utterly furious.
I snatched up the invisibility cloak, jumped on my Nimbus and flew off, taking one last look at Lily's perfect retreating form and wishing that she were mine.
Surprisingly, there was no one in Gemma's room when I arrived there. I looked around for a while, double-checking for anyone that might be there, hiding. Not finding the twins or Sirius, I flew over to my house, hoping that Sirius would be there.
I walked into my bedroom to a very unexpected sight. Gemma and Jenna were sitting on Sirius' bed, smiling at me as I walked through the door.
"Hello, James," they said together.
"Er… hi," I replied, extremely confused. "Um… No offense, ladies, but what are you doing in my bedroom?"
"We need to talk to you," Gemma explained to me.
"About what, exactly? Where's Padfoot?"
Jenna replied, "Calm down, James. Sirius is safe at our place, talking to Lily."
I couldn't help but feel a little bit jealous. "What's Sirius doing talking to Lily?" I asked, practically yelling.
"I said calm down!" Jenna yelled. She's obviously caught on to the jealousy in my voice. "He just happens to be attempting to convince our dear Lily of her undying love and/or lust for you, Jamesie." They giggled. I don't know why they found the situation so amusing, but I sure didn't.
"We saw you two out there, you know. Kissing," Gemma told me. They both grinned ear to ear, and I allowed myself to let out a sigh of relief. There was proof that Lily and I had kissed! She couldn't deny it!
Gemma continued, "We probably would've ended up shaving Black's head had he not noticed that our Truth or Dare ball was being oddly quiet. It wasn't flashing red or making any horrible racket."
Thank Merlin Padfoot was okay! At least – at the moment he was. Who knew what Lily was capable of doing do the poor man?
"Anyway, we snuck around to see the two of you snogging by the pool," Gemma let me know.
"We figure that you should know – everything looked pretty real from where we were sitting. Here eyes were closed, and she was obviously enjoying every minute of it. Though she will deny that she experienced any joy from the kiss if asked about it."
Lily had actually enjoyed the kiss! My life was finally complete! Of course, I could never be sure, but why would Gemma and Jenna lie to me about something so serious? We were pretty good friends – they were the beaters for the Gryffindor Quidditch team; I was captain. I decided to trust their word. I'd check with Sirius later, though, for confirmation, just in case.
"We just came over here to let you know what's going on. Black is over at my house making a bet with Lily at this very moment."
My face lit up. I had a vague idea of what Sirius' terms for the bet were.
"He's betting her that she'll fall in love with you before we graduate from Hogwarts, or at least realize her feelings for you, however vague they might be at the moment."
That was the precise reason why Padfoot and I were best friends. He always had a genius plan. Not that I didn't – his were just better, more creative.
Jenna walked to my window and looked towards the Waters Mansion. "We've got to go," she said. "Sirius is coming. I think he told Lily that he pushed us in the backyard swimming pool and we're now drying ourselves off, or something like that."
"Just a tip," Gemma turned to me and said before exiting my room. "Lily likes it when guys are subtle. You know, James – not hitting on her constantly."
I grinned and shut the door behind her as she left. Sitting on my bed and waiting for Padfoot, I thought, "What did Lily say to Sirius? And what did he bet her?"
Well, guys! That was Chapter 4? How did ya like it? Please RR!
Everyone, check out the fics of everyone else that has reviewed this fic so far! So go check out living.life.in.the.dark's fic, Fooling With Fate, that is completely awesome. Go check out EyesofEmerald's fic, Standing There By You, which I thoroughly love. It's hilarious.xRazberryGurlx is starting a new fic soon, so check for it to come out! And MK has a completelyawesome and original fic on the WB HP Message Boards called You Were My Favorite Mistake.
So goread them all, guys!
:Savanna: