Lessons of Love

GreyEyedScrewUp

Chapter 2 Hot Cocoa and Ha Ha Grounded

"Lily? Lily!" Marlene continued pounding on the portrait, even though it appeared Lily either couldn't hear her, or was choosing to ignore her.

"Lily, if your sitting in there ignoring me, you'll regret it!"

"Marla, let me try." Dorcas said, trying very hard to balance all three cups of now cold cocoa in two hands.

"She's obviously not going to answer!"

"Let me try." Dorcas said again, more firmly.

Marlene rolled her eyes.

"Whatever you want." She said, taking the mugs from her friend. Dorcas smiled sweetly back at her.

Marlene was very short, with short, black, raven hair, and strange, intriguing blue eyes. Her Asian heritage was very apparent in her gorgeous appearance. She was one of those people who seemed to be able to eat whatever, whenever she wanted, and never have to worry about gaining a pound. She wasn't overly skinny, but definitely not over weight either. Although she was most assuredly not shy, she thought things over before saying them, and kept quiet when she felt the need.

Dorcas on the other hand was completely opposite. She was taller than Marlene, which wasn't saying much, with long, super straight blond hair that reached the middle of her back. She hated her long hair, and practically always wore it up in a clip or messy bun. It was only as long as it was because her mum refused to allow her to cut it. She had pale blue eyes, which more often then not, appeared more grey than blue (a/n: he he…. are you guys catching the hints about this character? If not, never fear, its not important). She was concerned abut her weight, always wishing she could lose just five more pounds, but would never let her friends know about it, because she was always stressing to them that they should not care about looks and other peoples thoughts. She was loud, talkative, and flirty, and had a not so fabulous habit of sticking her foot in her mouth.

"Lily! Open the door!"

No response.

"Told you." Marlene flaunted.

"I'm not done." Dorcas shot back playfully.

"Lily, if you don't open this door I'm going to go tell the Marauders about that one time in fourth year when you-"

"Dorca! Marla! What a surprise!" Lily shouted suddenly as the portrait swung open.

"Why hello Lils." Dorcas replied, flashing a victorious smile at Marlene, who stuck her tongue out in return.

"Come in guys." Lily said, stepping aside.

"Evans, I don't think McGonagall would appreciate you inviting your friends in at a time like this." They heard a voice behind Lily comment. Dorcas and Marlene immediately noticed how Lily's calm demeanor quickly changed to one of fury and irritation.

"Oh shut it Potter, we'll only be here a minute or two." Dorcas said, stepping into the common after grabbing two of the mugs away from Marlene. She handed one to Lily, and waited for Marlene to follow her inside before shutting the portrait.

"Hello there, James." Marlene said.

"Hey Marlene."

Lily shot Marlene a glare. Marlene played keeper on the Gryffindor quidditch team with James, and they actually got along quite well besides the fact that she was the best friend of his enemy. Lily sipped the cocoa, immediately spitting the cold liquid out again.

"It's cold!" she exclaimed.

Marlene just shrugged in response.

"Maybe if you had opened the door when we fist knocked…." Dorcas offered sweetly.

"So why exactly are you guys in here? By yourselves?" Marlene asked innocently, but Lily noticed the suggestiveness she was implying with the comment. She only hoped that Potter hadn't.

"McGonagall banished us from the Gryffindor common room and said we aren't to leave the Head commons unless its for meals or lessons."

Marlene and Dorcas looked at each other for a moment, before both broke down in laughter. Dorcas clutched her stomach and fell to the floor, spilling her mug of hot cocoa all over the pale gold carpet. Marlene covered her mouth in attempt to suppress the bought of laughter, but didn't succeed very well, and ended up on top of Dorcas on the floor.

Lily and James failed to see the humor in the situation.

"What's so funny?" Lily finally asked of her friends.

"McGon- Mc…." Marlene tried to force out through her laughs.

"McGonagall grounded you!" Dorcas said for her, and both broke into a brand new set of laughter.

"Well thanks for the support guys." Lily said sarcastically.

"Sorry Lils." Marlene and Dorcas said at the same time, wiping tears from their eyes and picking themselves up off the floor. Dorcas pulled out her wand and cleaned up the cocoa she had spilled, and set her empty mug on the coffee table in the center of the room.

"Hey, wait a minute! James, what about quidditch?" Marlene asked, the idea suddenly downing on her.

"McGonagall said she would have to approve all the practice dates and that we weren't allowed more than absolutely necessary."

Marlene nodded in relief and understanding.

"So, how long are you guys…. Confined…. In here? Together? Alone?" Dorcas said with an innocence that Lily knew she didn't have. Marlene suppressed more giggles, and stared at the floor, and Lily narrowed her eyes menacingly.

"McGonagall didn't say." James answered when Lily didn't.

"Excuse me, I believe that question was directed at ME, not you, Potter." Lily said icily.

"Well you didn't exactly seem to be in any rush to answer it, Lily my Sweet."

"Don't 'Lily my Sweet' me!"

"Fine, god Lily, most girls would be flattered."

"Number one, there is nothing flattering about it, and number two, I am not most girls!"

"Got that right.." James mumbled under his breath.

"Sorry, I didn't catch that." Lily snapped.

"If you were meant to, you would have."

"Prat"

"Bookworm"

"Git"

"Know-it-all"

"Do all your insults have to be about my intelligence?"

"No, I also have a few about your hair and your overall personality!"

"Ahem."

Both Lily and James snapped their heads in the direction of Marlene and Dorcas. Lily wasn't sure which one had coughed to get her attention, but they were both standing with amused looks on their faces and arms crossed over their chests.

"Could you leave?" she snapped, turning back to James.

"Well that's not very polite."

"I really don't care! Get out!"

"I have just as much right to be hear as you, Lily."

"It's EVANS to you! And fine, if you won't leave, I will!" she said, turning on her heel and stalking up to her room.

Dorcas leaned over and whispered into Marlene's ear.

"Does she want us to follow her?"

"Dorcas! Marlene! Get up here!"

"I think that's a 'yes'." Dorcas answered her own question, and ran to the steps leading to Lily's bedroom.

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Meanwhile In the Gryffindor Common Room

"So what do you think McGonagall did to them?" Remus asked of Sirius while making his next move in a game of chess against Peter.

"Oh she probably took them down to the dungeons and hung them from the ceiling by their toes until either their toes all fall off or all the blood rushes to their heads till the explode." Sirius replied, not bothering to look up from his quidditch magazine.

"So you think detention too, huh?"

"Yeah, probably."

"You think a week?"

"More like a month; McGonagall seemed pretty peeved."

Remus nodded in agreement. "Check." He said to Peter with his next move.

"But Lily sure looked gorgeous when she was yelling at James, didn't she?" Sirius said, throwing the magazine aside.

"Don't let James hear you saying that. That vein in his head will probably stop popping again. But that look of authority she had on was definitely very attractive."

"Attractive? You mean damn sexy Moony." Sirius said with a sly grin. Remus raised an eyebrow at his friend.

"What are you getting at, Padfoot?"

"Not getting at anything my friend. Just stating the facts."

Remus nodded in agreement. "Check mate."

Peter squeaked in reply.

"Face it, Wormtail, you'll never beat him."

"That's not true! I did that one time…."

"Oh yes! I remember! That one time!" Sirius replied teasingly.

"Shut it Padfoot." Peter snapped.

"You know who the catch of the week is?" Remus said thoughtfully, interrupting the other boys' about-to-be argument.

"Other than Lily?" Sirius asked.

"Emmeline Vance." Remus replied, ignoring Sirius's question. (a/n: Emmeline is also a real name! You can check if you want.)

"That Ravenclaw? Yeah…. She is pretty fabulous." Sirius agreed.

"Where do you think Prongs has gotten to?" Peter suddenly asked.

"I don't know. He'll show up."

"Well if for some reason he doesn't, I'm taking his bed." Peter said moodily.

Peters bed was closest to the bathroom, and due to the mornings events, had caught fire and was thoroughly trashed.

"Oh come on Wormtail! It's not as bad as the first time Sirius decided to hide the fireworks in the bathroom so McGonagall wouldn't find them." Remus consoled.

"Yeah! And the pipe broke when one of them went off, and we used all your clothes to clean up all that water! Merlin that water was a mess…."

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"How am I going to survive living alone with James Potter for Merlin only knows how long?" Lily shouted as she heard her friends enter the room.

"Well, I have a few ideas." Dorcas said slyly.

"Dorca! That's disgusting! Its Potter!"

"Oh I know who it is. Did you see him down there? Merlin he's gorgeous."

"Dorca!" Lily shouted, horrified.

"Oh come on, Lily! You have to admit he's cute!"

"He's not cute at all; he's an egotistical pig."

"You should see him before a Quidditch match, Dorcas!" Marlene put in. "Once, we walked out of the boys changing room without his shirt on….I could have died!"

"You lucky bastard! Why am I not playing Quidditch again?"

"Cause your no good." Marlene supplied teasingly. Dorcas threw one of Lily's pillows at her.

"It is true Dorcas. You have no skill in Quidditch whatsoever." Lily joined in teasing her friend.

"Oh well…. fine! I don't have to sit here and take this abuse!" Dorcas replied, trying to fight the smile off her face. It didn't move. She turned and stalked to the door, opened it, and then slammed it shut again, leaning against it. Her eyes were wide.

"James Potter just walked out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel."

Both Marlene and Lily, to her surprise but no one else's, shot up from their seats and ran to the door. When they opened the door the saw….. James Potter sitting in the exact same spot that he had been when they left him….. fully clothed. They both spun around to see Dorcas laying across Lily's bed, a copy of Witch Weekly in her hands, and an evil smirk across her face.

"Dorca you foul creature!" Marlene shouted, grabbing a pillow and smacking her with it hard. Soon Lily had joined, and the two girls pelted the third, who was still laughing hysterically.

"'Dorca! That's disgusting! It's Potter!'" Dorcas teased, mocking what Lily had said earlier.

"'He's not cute at all!'" Marlene joined in.

"'He's an egotistical pig!'" the two shouted together. Lily blushed bright red.

"You should have seen how you raced to the door, Lils! It was like you were running from Voldemort himself or something."

A silence fell over the room. Dorcas had never been sacred to say the name most people hated to hear, but to throw it around so lightly was what got her her reputation for sticking her foot in her mouth. She flinched at the tension filled silence.

"Sorry, guys." She said.

"Don't worry about it." Lily said, shaking her head to emphasize her point. Marlene tried to smile, but the moment of carefree fun was lost.

"We'll, I got to go. Lots of homework you know." Marlene said.

"Right! Me too." Dorcas said. "See you at dinner, Lily."

"Bye guys." Lily said.

Both girls got up and walked to the door together. After the door shut behind them, Lily let herself collapse on her bed. Before she had even hit the mattress though, the door opened again, and Dorcas stuck her head back in.

"Don't forget that little discussion we had about James now!" she said with a wink. Lily threw a pillow at her, but Dorcas shut the door before it hit her.

"Good Night Lily!" She called through the door.

"Night." Lily called back.

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"Night James!" Marlene called as she and Dorcas reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Bye. See you at Quidditch." He replied.

The girls looked at each other and broke out in fits of laughter. James shot a confused look at the girls, and they continued to laugh hysterically all the way to the portrait hole.

"Bye James." They called simultaneously as they shut the portrait behind them. James could hear their laughing echoing through the halls.

"Merlin those girls are weird." He muttered to himself as he got more comfortable on the couch.

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Disclaimer: I am nothing compared to J. K. Rowling! I am not worthy to kiss the ground she walks on! Enough said? I hope so.

Thanks to all of you who reviewed! I will be thanking you all individually in the next chapter!

PLEASE REVIEW! You have no idea how much just a small "nice job" absolutely makes my day. Also, I still want to know whether or not you guys want quotes and bits of songs at the beginning of the chapters…. If you don't comment I'll probably just do it, so please leave your opinion on it!

I know this chapter was kind of on the more dull side…. But I already have most of the next one typed, so no fear, right?

Thanks for reading!

Love, peace, and blackberry jam,

GreyEyedScrewUp