Fifteen – Odds at the Bookie's
After the hectic weekend of paparazzi war and revenge, the Head Girl herself could be found lying on the sofa in the Head's Common Room in her pyjamas, a blanket tangled around her legs and an empty tub of Edmund and Jonno's Cockroach Cluster flavoured ice cream on the coffee table in font of her, spoon sticking out.
It seemed she and her best friend had not been bothered enough to go back upstairs once they had polished off three tubs of ice cream and read out every single article in every magazine they possessed.
For the moment, it had escaped Lily's notice that it was, in fact, a Monday morning and that she was expected in a series of lessons very, very soon. At that moment, she was in the hazy area between waking up and actually getting up, a place where you are fully conscious, but have not quite made the decision to open your eyes yet.
Far from going down the route of opening her eyes, Lily was just considering the option of dipping back into sleep when she heard the sound of the doors opening, and then voices, one of a boy, one of a girl.
"So, I've been thinking . . ."
"Sh! Lily's still asleep."
Lily heard the cushions of the other sofa shifting as someone sat down.
"Sorry . . . I've been thinking about what you said yesterday. Well, I've been more thinking about what you implied yesterday."
There was a moment of silence.
"You're doing that thing where you begin to say something and don't finish."
"Sorry, about what you said yesterday. I think you were completely right . . . I think you are completely right and I think I like you ever more for it. I know I like you even more for it."
"You're doing that thing where you reiterate everything you say."
"Sorry, it's just . . . I know I've been rubbish when it comes to being your friend and I know I've given so many excuses as to why nothing will ever go very far, (some excuses more genuine than others) but I've just been so afraid of hurting myself and anyone else . . . especially you."
"You're doing that thing where you tell me things I already know."
"Sorry, I think I will just stop talking and kiss you."
Lily smiled. Their soft murmuring in the background was gone and now she could go back to sleep. Everything was right in the world.
Realisation broke so suddenly that there might have been a snapping sound in Lily's head. Her eyes flew open and there she saw Verity and Remus sitting on the other sofa sharing a kiss.
"Aha!" Lily said sleepily. Perhaps it was just Lily, but Remus and her best friend didn't seem to be in any hurry to break apart. It was a little reluctant if you asked her. She didn't think they were striking the proper adequately apologetic tone either. Well, at least they had the decency to stand up and look embarrassed. Verity coughed and rubbed the palms of her hands down the sides of her legs while Remus tilted his head downwards and adjusted his school tie.
Not liking the fact that she was sitting down while they were stood, Lily stumbled to her feet and snatched the spoon out of the empty ice cream tub, pointing it at the two other Gryffindors for good measure.
"Aha!" she repeated, shaking the spoon, which unfortunately flicked melted ice cream right onto Remus and Verity.
"Look, Lily," Remus began raising his hands in defence, "just put the spoon down, there's a good girl."
"Yeah, Lilo, there's really nothing to get so worked up about."
"Nothing to get so worked up about?" repeated Lily incredulously. "Nothing, maybe apart from best friend," (she pointed the spoon at Verity) "snogging other friend? Perhaps? Without ever a mention, suggestion, or apparent inclination to snog other friend? Maybe?"
Remus and Verity glanced at each other.
"Actually, I was surprised you hadn't twigged already," Verity murmured to her shoes.
"We were being rather obvious," added Remus, "James and Sirius guessed ages ago."
"Really?" Lily asked in an inquiring voice and the spoon took on a less threatening position next to her shoulder. "Gosh, maybe they're both more perceptive then I thought."
Speaking of perception, Lily was hit by a sudden wave of it.
"By the way," she said suddenly, her eyes flicking down towards her friends' attire. "Why are you both in school uniform?"
"Because . . . it's Monday?" Verity said.
"Nine forty-five on the morning of," Remus added, "we have Potions in . . . fifteen minutes."
Lily's eyes widened and she looked around in horror. Needless to say, in her pyjamas, with her hair in disarray and her equipment for the day disorganised, she was liable to get into a bit of a panic. Listening to the variation of curses that emerged from Lily's mouth, Verity was impressed.
"I suppose we'll see you downstairs, then?" Remus shouted to the Head Girl over the sound of her racing to her door and slamming it behind her.
Verity raised her eyebrows and smiled at Remus while he glanced back uneasily.
"Well, er . . ." he said quietly, "that went well."
Verity grinned wider and raised a finger to scoop a fleck of ice cream off the boy's nose and licked it cheekily.
"Could have been worse," she said offhandedly, setting off towards the door.
Lily met her best friend and the Marauders at the exit to the Great Hall. Having rushed about for the past ten minutes in a mad hurry to get ready, Lily had no time to sit down and have breakfast, but she had made the informed decision that she had already forgiven Verity for not telling her about her romantic interests.
She was further convinced this decision was the right one when her best friend handed her a warm Danish Pastry on her arrival, not that the Head Girl was condoning blackmail in any way.
"Sorry," Verity said quietly as the two of them led the way to the dungeons.
"For what?" smiled Lily, chomping on her pastry.
At some point on the group's stroll, James caught up with Lily and Verity.
"Morning," he said cheerfully, and once again, Lily felt some kind of hiccup in her chest that made her very air inside her lungs feel shy and made her want to smile. Verity did not help the situation any by sniggering at her expression.
She was just about to reply with a 'Good Morning' when James tripped and almost went flying.
"Whoa!" Lily yelled and grabbed his arm.
"Oi," James exclaimed indignantly, turning around to stare at someone behind him. When Lily turned to look, she saw a group of Slytherin fifth years they had only just passed. Many of them were sniggering at James and the one closest to the outside of the group (a boy with thick eyebrows and a nose of a rather unfortunate size) was staring straight back at James with a mockingly defiant expression.
"What?" the boy spat, smirking, but James just shook his head with a vaguely disgusted expression and carried on walking. In this action, he amazed even himself. Two years ago and he would have hexed the Slytherin into last week.
"What in magic was that about?" Lily asked him quietly once she had made sure that Sirius was only intending to give a threatening glare to the group and jogged to catch up.
"Some twat stuck his foot out," James told her. Lily tisked.
"Merlin, how immature," she said in a what-is-the-world-coming-to? tone. "I mean, sticking your foot out? Who does that anymore?"
"No one," Sirius supplied, "that gag was outdated thirty seconds before the first person to think of it thought of it."
"Good of you to just ignore it though," Remus commented.
"Yeah, nice one to disregard the louts," added Verity.
"The question is," Lily said suddenly, "who in their right mind would trip you up?"
Later that day, James understood what was going on. Other members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team had reported being tripped up, kicked, attacked, hexed and/or cursed during the course of the afternoon.
It's starting already, he thought, and he was absolutely correct. The pre-Inter House Quidditch Cup Final hype was getting into full swing, and the match was still over three weeks away. Soon, James, Lily, Verity and Sirius had to be careful whenever they ventured out of the Heads Dorms or the Gryffindor Tower. Innocent supporters were getting caught up in the excessive competitive spirit and tensions showed when various fist fights and minor duels began to break out in the corridors. Lily and James were only on their way to Advanced Defence when they witnessed a Slytherin boy and Gryffindor girl, both in third year being dragged in the direction of the dungeons by Filch.
"He said Gryffindor would only have a chance of winning if his team spontaneously keeled over and died on the field!" the girl was shouting furiously, struggling against the grip the caretaker had on her collar.
"She said 'Magic willing, they will!'" the boy yelled back.
"I don't care who done it!" Filch roared at them both, tugging harder on their various articles of clothing . "In my book, yer both guilty! Guilty for getting yer splat marks on the effin' windows, now shut yer 'oles!"
Despite the restrictions of school policy, a widespread gambling venture had been set up by various individuals in the backbenches of classrooms. Odds were going around not only as to whom would win the match, but how many players would be knocked out by injury, how much time it would be before the first foul was awarded for Quaffle-pocking and if or when there would be any crowd streaking during the match.
Even poor old Remus had been offered a substantial amount of money plus a new broomstick on the condition that he do his best to say distracting things about his own house's team during the match.
"You know what you should have done," Sirius said to him, when Remus told them of his encounter with someone who obviously preferred to remain anonymous by the way he apparently was wearing a Honeydukes Pick'n'Mix bag over his head. "Taken the money and then slagged them off during the match."
"That's a fabulous idea, Padfoot!" Remus said sarcastically, "then you can all come and see me in the emergency ward at St Mungo's when the Slytherins assassinate me."
"Was only a suggestion."
Notices went up all over the school reminding students that the school administration forbade both physical and magical violence in the strictest manner and consequences would be most serious for anyone who broke these rules. It was clear how well these public announcements were working when Madam Pomfrey complained to the school administration that the incidents of broken noses she had to treat had gone up by three hundred per cent.
Of course, at the heart of all this tension were the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams themselves.
Lily especially had come under intense fire since the Slytherins had discovered that James had no reserve Seeker. There was also a theory going around that if Lily weren't playing, James's concentration would go down the drain. This theory was of course based on the well-known fact that James fancied Lily's socks off. Suddenly, Lily found herself being pelted with all manner of odd projectiles including dungbombs, ink bottles, gobstones, and once, even an empty can of pumpkin fizz. It was possibly the first time that Lily was thankful for the reflexes she had built up against all the things James had thrown at her when they were eleven.
She and Verity mostly shrugged it off. Verity commented that this sort of pre-match violence happened all the time. Things only got really bad in the week leading up the match when Lily was just shutting the door to the Heads Dorms one morning. Waiting for her outside in the corridor was James, accompanied by two of the largest boys Lily had ever seen. She recalled them both being in seventh year, and their ties told her they were in Hufflepuff. They weren't quite as tall as James, but they were twice as wide and had a way of standing that gave the impression most people would back against the wall to let them pass, even in a four metre-wide tunnel. If it came down to a fight between the two of them, Lily wasn't sure who would take whom.
"Ah, there she is," James grinned, pushing himself upright off the wall with his foot. "Lilo, let me introduce you to Gareth and Trev."
"Hello," Lily said cautiously, hitching the strap of her bag further up her shoulder.
"Hiya,"
"Awrite?"
"Er . . . Potter? What are Gareth and Trev doing here? Shouldn't they be going to their lessons?"
"Well, Lilo, I'm very glad you asked that," James said, putting his hand on her back and guiding her towards Charms. Gareth and Trev followed. "You see, Gareth and Trev have very kindly promised to take time out of their own schedules to make sure nothing happens to you at the hands of those dirty cheating Slytherins. Isn't that right, lads?"
"Yes, yes, it is, Mr Potter, it is," said the boy whom Lily had gathered to be Trev.
"Y'see, Miss Lily, strictly speakin', being Hufflepuff, we is s'posed to be neutral, you know?" Gareth explained leaning over Lily's left side.
"Howeva," continued Trev, "we've also bin somewhat appawled at de massiv amount of dirty dealin's whot 'av bin goin' on, know whot I mean?"
"I see," Lily said, as James nodded solemnly.
"Derfore," said Gareth, "we is just gonna be around tila match, awrite? Only durin'a day around school, y'know?"
"'Xept for da ladies' room, cos we ain't allowed to go der. Y'won't even notice us . . . promise."
"OK," Lily said uneasily, not quite clear on how she wouldn't notice two six foot four blokes following her around. "Thank you . . . I suppose."
"No problem."
And so, for the majority of the next week, Lily was never without Gareth or Trev, who both turned out to be especially good at blocking curses and also quite good fun, especially when Verity and Lily asked them who they would rather date out of all the member of the Weird Sisters and sparked off a debate that spanned two days. The other good side of being flanked by two six foot four blokes was that people on the whole seemed to be less keen on throwing things and, according to the bookies, the odds of Lily being out of the match were down by eighty-seven per cent.
When Lily wasn't with Gareth or Trev, she was with James, who, towards Friday seemed to be taking on their bodyguard duties as his own when he said to Gareth and Trev on the Friday morn,
"It's alright lads, I'll take it from here."
"Right you are, Mr Potter."
"Good luck ina match, Miss Lily."
"Oh?" inquired Lily. "Are Gareth and Trev out of a job now?"
"No, I think they've done a very good job of stopping you getting lynch-mobbed," James said.
"Look, Potter," Lily said as they arrived outside their Transfiguration classroom, "it was a nice gesture, really, and Gareth and Trev are very funny and sweet, but Veri and I can look after ourselves."
"Watch yourself!" exclaimed James suddenly, roping an arm around Lily. Next moment, Lily found herself flat against the Head Boy's chest as she heard something whistle past behind her. On closer inspection, this thing turned out to be some sort of long wooden dart that had impaled itself into the notice board next to Lily.
"Hm, arrows," James commented, gripping the red-tipped dart and yanking it out of the cork board, "they've never done that one before."
"It's . . . fine!" Lily said, her voice shaky and disconnected. "I'm quite used to people trying to kill me by now."
She didn't tell him, but what she wasn't used to was being so close to James at such short notice. She knew she and James were supposed to be friends now, but over the past month, some of the things she had been feeling towards him definitely did not come under the category of feelings you would have towards a friend.
"Well," James said, loosening his arm around her shoulders so she could step back a little, "that's good, I suppose. Still, tomorrow's the match, so this is their last chance to put us out of action. I've asked all the rest of the team to get straight back to the Gryffindor Tower after their last lesson."
"Asked or commanded?" Lily asked, amused.
"All right, commanded, but . . . politely," James said trying not to smile.
"I see."
"Anyway, I think it would be good if you came back to the Heads Dorm after Charms, and stayed there for the evening, just so the dirty cheating Slytherins don't have any opportunity to corrupt you before tomorrow . . . please?"
"Is this your idea of commanding?" Lily asked, smirking, as the line of students began to move into the classroom, "because, honestly, you're not very good at it."
"No, that's the sort of thing I leave to the Head Girl," reply James, tilting his head down so he could peer at her funnily over his glasses.
"All right, Potter, your strength of persuasion has convinced me. I shall retire early to the Dorm in order to evade those dirty cheating Slytherins."
"You're an example to the team," James told her, putting a hand on her shoulder before going off to sit in his usual place next to Sirius.
When Lily had sat herself next to Verity, her best friend leaned over while Professor McGonagall was passing out stems of orchids and poked Lily.
"What's this?" she whispered, "Was that playful banter I heard you exchanging with James a few moments ago? I would have never thought it."
"Oh, stop being such a insufferable gossip," Lily told her, but Verity noticed she was smiling. "We were only agreeing that it would be sensible to retreat to the Dorm after Charms to avoid being mobbed."
Verity made a soundless gasp.
"A date!" she exclaimed gleefully, watching Lily's eyes widen.
"For the love of wands, Verity! It is not a date!"
"Lily, that is complete bollocks, you and James made a profound agreement to meet in a certain place at a certain time. If that's not a date then I'll say Snape has washed his hair in the past week."
They had to stop talking then because McGonagall had started giving them the evils.
"I don't expect you to do any work this weekend," Professor Flitwick said kindly, "I am aware there's a match on."
This got quite a rowdy cheer from the seventh years as everyone packed up their things and made their way to the door. Sirius was the first to turn the handle.
"Holy Horklumps," he exclaimed, upon opening the door.
Coming up behind him, James reflected that he might have been critically mistaken when he assumed getting back to the Heads Dorm from the Charms corridor was going to be a stroll in the park. Outside, in the corridor, was the largest amount of people James had ever seen crammed into a three by five metre space of corridor. At a glance, James summed up that about half of them were Slytherins with intention of doing his teammates harm, and the other half were either Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws or staff with intention of stopping the previous intention. On sight of James and Lily, it seemed all of them started shouting and Sirius (very sensibly, James thought) had to shut the door again with a slam.
"Merlin alive!" exclaimed Verity.
"What was that you said about not getting lynch-mobbed?" Lily asked James nervously.
"Come on! Lesson's over!" someone shouted behind them.
"Yeah, what's the hold up?"
Remus turned round and gave the perpetrator his very worst look.
"The 'hold up', as you put it, is that if any of us step outside this classroom into the rabble on the other side of that door, someone's going to get their nose broken."
Verity smirked at the vaguely terrified look on the Ravenclaw's face.
"Well, we're going to have to make a break for it some time or other," James said reasonable. "Listen, we'll all make for the Heads Dorms, that's closer than the Gryffindor Tower, isn't it?"
"Agreed," nodded Sirius, "right, wands out."
As Lily pulled out her ten and a quarter inch willow, Sirius put a hand on the door handle for the second time. Already more than a little nervous, Lily's heart sparked when she felt James grasp her left hand.
The shouting started up again as soon the door was opened. At the sight of Lily, Verity and the Marauders all with their wands out, the mob seemed to draw back a little, but before anyone knew what was happening, curses had been fired into the air and chaos reigned.
Lily and James busied themselves with bending right over and bowling through the crowd as fast as they could. Above all the incomprehensible noise, James heard some of the things people were shouting.
"Avery! I told you to stun them the first chance you got!"
"Look! That one there looks shifty enough! Get between him and the Head Girl!"
"Mr Potter! Would you care to comment on your team's chances in tomorrow's match!"
"Miss Evans! What weaknesses would you say you still have after a year of playing that we- I mean, the Slytherins could potentially exploit?"
"Hey! What happened? Where'd they vanish off to?"
Slowly, all of the Gryffindors emerged on the other side of the crowd relatively unscathed. Standing up straight, Lily, Verity and the Marauders glanced back at the mob. Just as someone at the back of the group turned round to spot them, James tugged hard on Lily's hand and shouted, "Run!"
Lily let out a small squeal and started laughing as they broke into a run. Oddly, with James holding her hand, nothing seemed quite as scary to her anymore. It could even be said that that mad dash away from the crowd of people at the end of the corridor could have been one of the most fun moments of her life. Let's face it, when you were running for your life away from around five hundred people all in a bad state of crowd hysteria--well, she couldn't help but see the funny side, but only so long as James was holding her hand.
"Bloody Hell!" cried Sirius through a grin as their group rounded a corner, and Verity threw a quick glance behind herself. The mob was falling back a little, and it seemed as though many of them were beginning to decide that it wasn't worth a high-speed chase through the halls of Hogwarts.
Puffing and panting, the Gryffindors arrived at a stop in front of the double doors of the Heads Dorm in a very disorganised manner (Peter even fell over). Someone said the password and the lot of them collapsed through the doors, on the somewhat giggly side.
"My word, that was fun!" Sirius said to no one in particular.
"Never again!" replied Remus, but he was smiling.
"Aw," sighed Verity stretching her arms up and falling backwards onto the sofa.
"Oi, are your hands glued together or something?" Sirius asked James and Lily craftily.
James looked down at the hand which was still clasped around Lily's. They both let go rather quickly and Sirius grinned before turning to Verity.
"Budge up, you lump," he said pushing at her legs so he could sit down.
"Merlin, I could do with some food," remarked Peter.
"Seconded," James said, raising his hand, and all the room's occupants followed the trend.
James's curfew was therefore suspended temporarily whilst Lily and Verity made a brief trip to the kitchens and the Marauders made a brief trip to . . . somewhere, they wouldn't say where. When Lily and Verity had staggered back up to the Dorm with huge bags of food that the house elves had insisted on giving them, they found the Marauders sat downstairs around three or four large crates with 'BUTTERBEER' stamped on the side.
"Good grief," Lily exclaimed, dropping her bags on the coffee table for Peter to root through.
"I'll say," agreed Verity. "Were you thinking of having a party by any chance?"
"Nothing wrong with a bit of light refreshment," Sirius said defensively, before cracking the crates open with his wand.
Much to Lily's surprise, the evening went by faster than she thought it would. She didn't even have to go upstairs to get a book or anything, quickly discovering that the fours boys and one girl with her were hugely entertaining when gathered in one room along with food and Butterbeer.
"I don't know what went wrong," Sirius was saying, "but when you transfigure a primrose into a parrot, I'm sure they're not supposed to go that colour. Anyway, being the well-mannered gentleman that I am, I offered to help the poor girl with her practical Transfiguration homework and then one thing led to another and then . . . Oi, have we run out of Butterbeer?"
"There's another crate somewhere," Lily said, looking around. By now their abode was rather a tip with food packaging everywhere, bottles scattered about at the feet of sofas and on the coffee table, cutlery strewn about the place and everyone stretch out leisurely on every sofa or armchair space that could be found.
"Do you reckon we should clear up?" asked Peter.
"No!" everyone shouted back.
"I'm sorry, but did you lot see Rita Skeeter just now in Charms?" asked Verity excitedly.
"Was that her with the scarf around her head?" James asked with a grin. "And the sunglasses?"
"Yep!" Verity said through her giggles. "I had to stuff my fist in my mouth when Flitwick was taking the register and she had to gingerly put her hand up when he called her name. Obviously she wants to keep a bit of a low key these days."
"Brilliant," remarked Remus.
Soon enough, the excessive food and mildly alcoholic beverage took its toll on the Gryffindors. One by one, they made themselves more comfortable on whatever sofa of armchair they were on as their eyelids submitted to gravity.
Lily looked around sleepily to see Sirius sprawled out sideways on the armchair, head on one arm, knees draped over the other. Peter was sitting on the same sofa as Remus and Verity, clutching a cushion to his head. Verity had tipped over sideways to lean her head on Remus's lap and the boy had one hand on her shoulder and the other supporting his head.
"Lightweights," James murmured from beside Lily. "Three bottles of Butterbeer and five sandwiches each and they're gone."
"Pathetic," Lily agreed. She pulled her feet up onto the coffee table next to James's, being careful not to knock over any bottles.
"Having said that, I might just drop off here and now," James said in a low voice.
"Yeah, Merlin, all those stairs to climb up," Lily sympathised, then she leaned over onto James's shoulder, closing her eyes. "It's really not worth it."
"I had fun tonight," said James, after a while.
"Me too," Lily said, half thoughtfully. "They're a rum lot, your mates, aren't they?"
"You're damn right they are. They like you a lot, you know."
"Do they? Sod knows why."
"Yeah, you're right . . . I'm joking! Joking!"
Lily put down the cushion she was about to hit him with and settled back down onto his shoulder.
"No, really, they do like you, possibly because you're one of the few girls in this school who hasn't fallen for our charms, and by charms, I mean popularity, fame, money and general empty hype."
"How . . . sensible of me," Lily said a little nervously, when she thought about how she may well have fallen for charms entirely different than those mentioned. "But I don't know that the hype is as empty as you say. You're not so bad yourself, you know, Potter."
"Hm. Why, thank you," James replied, putting a dramatic hand to his chest and yawning.
"I think . . ." Lily said, "I think ever since the beginning of this year, every day I'm finding out more and more things I like about you. I like how you don't take yourself seriously anymore. I like how you have such a clear sense of what's right and wrong. I especially admire how after all those years of my constant abuse, you still wanted to be my friend.
"And you know, mostly I'm really glad about this whole 'friends' lark we've got now. I suppose the only thing that's wrong with it is that now that we're friends, you're not allowed to ask me out anymore. I think if you did, I'd probably say yes, you know. I mean, it's sort of ironic; the only time you're socially prevented from making a move on me is when I'm pretty sure I've fallen in love with you . . ."
It was a moment later when Lily realised what she had just said. Oh, Merlin, what had she done now? What had her sleepy brain let her admit? Fraught with nauseous anxiety she waited for James to say something.
. . . And waited, and waited.
Slowly turning her head to look at him, she discovered that James's head had flopped back onto the top of the sofa cushions, his mouth agape. As Lily watched, he made only the response of a light snore from the back of his nose.
Lily sighed wryly. Typical, she thought. The first time she declares love for anybody, and the object of her affection falls asleep during. Obviously, this was not a good sign.
She shrugged, closing her eyes and leaning back down on James's shoulder. Oh, well. If at first you don't succeed . . . it was probably for the best anyway.
a/n Arggghhh! Tomorrow I go back to school and I still haven't finished the fic! There is now less than a month before my GCSEs! What am I going to do? spazpanic
Thank you to everyone who came to the SkeeterBeater party! It was fantastic success, I got many amusing entries from the following lovely people:
Anne-Janet (fellow organizer who bestowed her torn knee onto Rita, ad turned the whole school against her)
Lady of Masbolle (who wrote about shredders and tea parties)
Selina Zambini (who took out her anger simply, ouch)
wwc other guy (subtle monitoring, snigger)
HarryluvsMoaningMyrtle (who abandoned Rita in Muggle London without magic)
Frighteningly Obsessed (who had Rita kiss Snape. Giving her a taste of her own medicine, I see what you got going on there)
The ORIGINAL Meathead (winner)
Sam, the winner, wrote me about 1,600 words in which he carried on from chapter 13, made Rita extremely jealous, cursed her into pink fur and got Lily and James together. (Which, as many people will point out, is more than I can say for myself.) Yeah, so, well done. I had a good old laugh at everyone's circumstances that people wrote and I think we should do it again some time.
Remember, I love anyone who writes me stuff, be it stuff I request or just some random one shot. I think we should encourage the culture of presents among the fanfiction community. Write people one shots, it's a very nice way to show you care. winks
FrighteninglyObsessed: Thank you very much for your entry. It made me cringe with the grossness of kissing Snape all over again. Don't worry, it's nearly the end of the fic, so I suppose I'll have to get Lily and James together soon, won't I?
Tsusetsu: I don't really like putting effort into school work, but if I don't, my head of year will be coming after me, asking if everything's alright at home, or if I'm getting bullied or anything. She's such a pain. Cheers for the review!
siriusforeva: Yes, almost, sadly, not. Never fear! They're bound to figure it out soon.
shortywithbrains: Haha, I can just imagine that sausage. Did I really dumb down Sirius in other chapters? Because in canon, he's really clever!
Mr. Money: Yo. Sadly the party is over, but feel free to write me something. I'd love it if you did.
everblue3: I have to read your fic. Please direct me to it. Anyone who can write 1000 words an hour must be talented, that's all I'll say.
Miss Lady Marauder: Thanks for the review, I'm very glad you like the chapter. I'd be affronted if some accused me of not going to the bathroom with them!
soccerchic1989: What's this about a guy you like? Tell all! Sorry, I'm such a hopeless romantic (or a nosey parker, whichever you prefer.)
GlassBroomstick: Buying a notebook would be a good idea. Actually I have many notebooks that I could use, but I'm just SO disorganised I always leave them places and then find them three weeks later. What a lost cause I am, thank you so much for leaving me a note!
HarryluvsMoaningMyrtle: I'm surprise you didn't just lave Rita in the middle of the street with no house or anything! Oh well, I suppose there must be some good in her. Excellent idea, though. You should wite a fic about how well she'd fair.
Sarcasm is my life (amy-mwpp: Thank you so much!
The ORIGINAL Meathead: Loved your story, very funny. You keep having ideas for one shots! That sleepover thing was genius! Write about that next! Sirius and Remus thank you very much for the luck and will keep it in mind when they write their speech. Be glad in the knowledge that you have contributed in some way to the Potters' wedding.
Monica: Hi! Thanks for the review! You like long stories, do ya? Well, I have a lot of ideas, but sadly, not enough time, it's tragic. See you next chappy!
drumer girl: Cheers!
Flame Of Desire: See you next Chapter!
hazeled eye marauder: Joins in jumping
Victoria87: Spring Break ends tomorrow; I got almost three weeks off, which I think is very respectable, especially since I needed to revise. You're right, I did miss out a word, there should be a 'she' in there somewhere. I would go and change it, but I'm lazy. Snogging does have two 'g's. Nevermind, it's not like it's a posh word, like 'stichomythia' or 'hypothalamic', which you HAVE to spell right, it's the law.
limbo-gal: Sorry about the lateness of the chappy. I'm rubbish.
Red-Emerald: I like writing the fluffy I-like-you stages, they're so fun. Thank you very much for you comments. They bring joy to my heart.
snazzysnez: Thank you very much, see you next chapter!
wwc other guy: Well done, mate. Nice story-telling. I'm glad Rita got what was coming to her.
Selena Zambini: I'll track down that story when I get the chance. Thanks for telling me.
The Big Dance: Oh gosh, did you use that 'denial' phrase on purpose? Cringe I'm so thick. Anyway, yes, Lil and James are getting along nicely, thank you very much!
Sushinase: No problem! NB, means something in Latin, and I am not Latin man, so I don't know what it means. Basically, it's just a note that authors want the readers to pay attention. When people say it outside of literature, it just means 'by the way.' Oh, and a snap dragon is one of those flowers that eats insects, you know?
Tracey: Please thank Frodo for her compliments, and tell she has very good taste in bots of this fic.
milky way bar: I suppose we should give up hope then. How sad. Nevermind. There's hope for boy-kind yet.
geckaclark: Thanks for your note, I'm glad you liked those bits, they were fun to write!
notyouraverageblond: Sadly, I've never seen Teen Titans, as I don't have cable (my parents detest that man who owns Sky.) But thank you very much for the review!
mika-mitch: Aw, sorry your break was less than magic. I'm also sorry that there are about two chapters left. Well, the story had to end some time!
MissMrprk:D
kris-kros: Oh, God, I don't think I'd ever carry this fic on until Lily and James's death. Don't worry, fic's nearly over so they have to get together soon (hopefully).
LilMizHeartbreaker: I did notice that. I think it's just because 'Lily-and-James' sounds better than 'James-and-Lily', not because Lily's more important than James. My parents' names always go a certain order, just because it sounds better. Shrug. Anyway, thanks for reviewing!
helloshanti2: Ah! Why is there a two on the end of your name? Is there another helloshanti? Are you the same shanti? I'm so confused.
SiriusProtege: Sadly, I don't think Rita will make another appearance because now I have to get down to some good ol' nourishing fluff. I think YOU should put her in a fic. Go on, I dare you.
switchfootlover: Thanks a lot!
JamieBell: It's good that I make people laugh. It brings joy to my heart (and a song to my lips :D). Anyway, I very much enjoyed the latest chappy of Letters and Care Packages, as you can probably tell from the review I left. Talk to you soon!
newsieduckling: Cheers, me dear.
Denierure: Thank you very much, but please don't kill Rita.
charbar: Hellohello. Have you had a good holiday? I hope you have. I always go that sort of thing with sweet packet, what's the use of letting all that delicious sugar go to waste? See you tomorrow!
kiwislushie: Hahaha! But then all the bunnies would be all weird and hairless!
Lady of Masbolle: It sounds like you live in the ghetto. :D
Anne-Janet: Well done on your input, I'm glad you like that little séance between Lily and Verity. See you next chapter!
Naidel: So Verity and Remus are together, now are you happy? And Sirius was never celibate! Obviously you were getting the wrong signals from him!
Thunder's Shadow: Sorry, didn't update soon. It's official, I am rubbish.
Next Chappy:
Key Words to Get Sirius to do Whatever You Want, lesson 2
How will the Gryffindors hack it in the match against those dirty cheating Slytherins?
What happens when you're frlying along innocently and someone' grabs the tail of your broom?
Luff, your back-to-school-tomorrow author
