UPDATED CHAPTER
Author's Note:
Right, so I'm reposting this chapter on the 13th of May. So, if you've read it already, I'm marking the start of the new part with bold. Read after that.
And…some notes to the reviewers updated…check it out.
CANDOR: Thanks for putting me in your fave list!
Becky6: My first reviewer for this chapter! Ooh, you do make me sound evil. But thanks for the reality check. I realized that I have A LOT of loose ends that need tying up. Hence, the purpose of this chapter. By the way, OC means other character or something like that. Characters, which are not in the original story. It was mean of me to use abbreviations, since usually I'm the one who asks authors what they mean…
Starborn: Yeah, I guess I'm being very…miserly, so to speak. But what I meant was that the last chapter got only 4 reviews. The main thing is I really want to know who all is reading this story. I've been put on the fave list by someone who has never reviewed! No offense or side meaning or anything.
PurplePuss323: glad you liked it!
MissProngs: I know…but hey, you know the worst part…it's the fact that we know that Sirius and Lara CAN'T be together in the future. Sad…
Elven-Princess123: oh, what's so confusing? Please tell me the especially confusing parts.
The prank fest continued, but the pranks devised by Sirius were more spiteful than funny, like sending letters to Snape saying his mom had died… sure it got a couple of laughs. But only because the prankster was the Sirius Black, one of the hottest guys in Hogwarts. Personally, even his closest friends did think it was just plain mean.
Sirius…Sirius just needed to do something to get his mind off things. He needed to drain off all those bitter thoughts. Although he wouldn't admit it, not even to James or Remus, he missed Larika desperately. And now, on Saturday, the grapevine had it that she was officially going out with Ralph.
Sirius had to acknowledge Ralph was a pretty good guy. Even in the few days he had been there, he had proved to be compassionate, caring, understanding, sensitive…proving him to be a complete jackass in Sirius' mind…but that was just because he was going out with Lara Anderson exclusive property of Sirius Black, after all.
Ralph was… everything that Sirius lacked. Or so, Larika continuously told herself. He was sweet and nice and always complimented her and held her hand. With Sirius, it was always constant flirting or snogging or…had it? She tilted her head, confused. Ralph…he hadn't been able to make her…laugh. Not flirty-I'm-laughing-only-because-I'm-going-out-with-you laughing but straight-out-you-are-Siriusly-funny-laughing. She shook her head trying to get thoughts of him out of her head, startling Lily sitting near her on the Gryffindor couch.
Lily had been watching Lara for quite some time. And she noticed James was doing the same to Sirius, unconsciously. She was worried about Lara. She hadn't gone on one of her 'he's-so-great-wonderful-utmost-incredible' babblings about Ralph like she usually did when she went out with someone. Lily was worried because she didn't know. Was the lack of babbling good or bad for Lara? It could mean that a) she was serious about Ralph or b) she hated him and was only going out with him to make Sirius jealous. Lily didn't want to ask. She knew that when Lara was ready, she would talk to Kat and Lily. Even though Lily could see Sirius and Larika cared for each other deeply, she did want the best for her best friend.
Maybe the best just wasn't Sirius.
Unknown to Lily, someone somewhere else on campus was also thinking. Thinking not about Sirius and Larika but about Potter and Evans.
This someone was Severus Snape.
He had liked Lily Evans ever since he had seen her way back in first year when everyone called her a bossy snob...to her face. Well, no one was calling her names now, at least not to her face.
Now, sixteen years old, she had turned out to be popular, smart, beautiful and admired. Just as Severus had imagined it. Except, in his dreams, Severus had been the one by her side…Fate had some twisted sense of humor. Potter, Severus' most abhorred rival was the one next to her.
And worst of all, Snape was sure that he didn't even love her. Potter would probably wait for her to fall into his 'trap', use her, throw her away and go on to his next victim.
And at the end of it all, Severus Snape would be waiting there for her, be Lily's knight in shining armor. Severus frowned.
He remembered what Lucius had told him. Potter didn't seem to be in any hurry. He probably wanted to savor hurting Lily after dumping her after he had used her, judged Severus.
So, Potter was waiting.
But how long would Severus be willing to wait? After all, he had been waiting for six years now…
Lucius had suggested speeding up the process, separating the couple before Potter could get a chance to hurt Lily. He had said that 'other parties' were also interested in this particular dealing. Lucius had been careful not to mention their names, but Severus guessed the parties included Lucius himself, along with James' or Lily's exs. Probably James'.
And Lucius wanted an answer. Tonight. Rather, thought Severus as he looked at his watch, half an hour form now.
What would be his decision? Severus himself didn't know.
That night, dinner was very, very quiet. Those who hadn't heard about the break up looked askance at the group, wondering why they hadn't broken out into song as usual. A few moments later, one of their very knowing friends would hurriedly explain, looking at the group wildly.
Although Larika had been avoiding Sirius, coming to meals early or later than him, Lily had chided her (And Gryffindors are supposed to be brave!) and had forced her to have dinner with everyone. For once, Sirius barely said a word through out the meal, speaking only to asking Katrina to pass the peas, (even though Larika was closest to them) or things like that. Everyone thought he was still angry with Larika. Truth was he had realized his mistake and was desperately trying to summon up his courage to talk to her.
Lily had also realized her own mistake. She shouldn't have tried to force Lara to come. God, what sort of a friend was she? She poked her mashed potatoes listlessly. As she was about to start on the peas, she looked up, suddenly and involuntarily, glancing not at any of her friends, but at the Slytherin table. Although she didn't quite know what she was waiting for, she kept watching them. Perfectly on cue, a couple of seconds later, Snape slowly stood up and deliberately walked towards Malfoy, bending to say something. Lily wondered what he had said. But just as the thought entered her mind, she shook her self. Why did it matter to her whether Snape was talking to Malfoy or not? After all, it wasn't a crime to talk to someone, was it? Of course, it wasn't of consequence to her…but her eyes still lingered on Snape as he walked out of the hall. Unexpectedly, he turned at the door and looked directly at Lily. But he hadn't expected Lily to be staring right back at him. A tinge of pink crept into his pale cheeks as he walked out.
Lily looked back at Malfoy. He seemed extremely pleased. She sighed. At least someone was happy.
Sunday arose, bright and sunny, exactly opposite to what some of the inhabitants of the castle felt. Sirius thought grimly. But then again, today, he would have something really big to take his mind off things. Yes, he might as well try to make the most of this day. What was today? Today was the finale, the end result of the four Marauder's combined efforts. And the best part? It would last all day! Yes, no one would have any reason to pity Sirius Black today. No, he was going to be normal…what was normal for Mr. Padfoot, you may ask?
He got up and moving to James' bed, pulled open the curtains. James was still asleep, blissfully oblivious to the figure towering over him. Sirius stood there for a moment, pitying what was going to happen to poor, sleeping, little Jamesie. Then, he jumped.
"AAHH!" yelled James. "AAHHHHHH!"
Remus toppled out of the next bed with a loud bang, holding his hands to his ears.
"AAHH!" screamed Sirius, grinning manically all the while.
"AAHH!" screamed James again.
This time, Peter fell out of his own bed, shouting "Mummy, mummy, I want my mummy!"
Remus crawled over to James. Just as Sirius opened his mouth to let out another bloodcurdling scream, he interrupted. "Sirius, what the heck are you doing on top of James?"
James sat up alarmed. His sleepiness had disappeared with the shock. "It's not what it looks like! I love Lily!"
Remus nodded slowly, feigning disbelief.
"It's not what it looks like!" he yelled again.
The door opened and Lily tumbled in.
She got a clear view of Sirius and James. "My God! James! I thought…I never imagined you swung that way!"
"LILY!" yelled James but she put a hand on her head and in mock regret cried, "I'm sorry, dear dear Sir James. But if you love Sir Sirius, I'm afraid we can never be together!"
Sirius spoke interrupting James' exclamations. "Alas, lovely Lady Lily. I could never let Sir James remain in only your arms! But…" here he adopted a business tone "I'm sure we can come to a compromise!"
James stared at them openmouthed.
Lily raised her eyebrows appraisingly. "A fair proposition, brave and valiant Sir Sirius." Suddenly, she took on a business tone as well. "What say I get him on the weekends, you the rest of the week?"
Sirius considered the matter carefully. "Deal!" and they shook on it.
James looked at Sirius. Then he looked at Lily. He jumped back into bed pulling the sheets over his head.
"Good Night."
Sirius looked at Lily. Lily looked at Sirius.
"On the count of three?" He said.
James froze under his sheets.
"One."
Remus moved back warily.
"Two." Said Lily.
"What the hell are you doing?" came James' muffled voice.
"Three."
Both of them pounced on James, tickling him madly. HE began to kick them away.
"Hahahahaaaa…. stop…stop it… please! Come on…. hahaha...Remus…help!"
He fell off the bed, trying to defend himself.
Sirius and Lily followed him down. Unfortunately, since they had been trying desperately to tickle James, their aim wasn't too good. When they hit the floor, Lily's foot was in James' mouth, Sirius' elbow in a place mighty uncomfortable for James.
"Sius, gech yuouch elbow off muoy…" He glanced at Lily. "Jhust gech it off!"
Sirius did so obligingly. "Yech!"
Remus looked at them smirking. "So…are you people quite comfortable?"
"Yes, Remus, we're wonderfully comfy." Replied Lily sarcastically.
Remus smiled. "That's so good to hear."
The three stared at him. Well, at least Sirius and Lily did. All James could do was cross his eyes.
Remus continued. "Yes, especially since you're going to be here awhile." He muttered something under his breath.
"Rhemhus, whatch dhich you do?"
"HEY!" Sirius yelled. "I CAN'T MOVE!"
"Like I said." He replied as he walked out of the door. "You're going to be here awhile!"
Faintly, he could still hear three different voices cursing him into oblivion. "Ah! The wonderful sounds of the morning!" He walked down calmly.
Forty-five minutes later, three very disgruntled students sat down to breakfast.
As the passed Remus, each of them hit him on the back of his head. Hard.
"Ouch.
Ouch!
OUCH!"
Kat and Lara looked at their parade strangely.
Lily stabbed a knife into the butter. "Don't ask." She began to chew her sausages fiercely, throwing murderous looks at Remus every once in a while. James and Sirius also joined her.
About fifteen minutes later, Peter walked in, looking particularly smug and happy.
"What are you so happy about?" snapped Remus. J, L and S's glares were getting to him.
"Oh…nothing." Peter replied.
"Oh, nothing?" Sirius gritted his teeth. "Oh, nothing! He's getting the entire month's homework done…free of cost!"
Remus looked surprised. "Oh?"
"Yep." Lily looked at him angrily.
"So…I'm just guessing here…you three…you didn't get out of that mess…by yourselves?"
James snapped his toast into two and glared at Peter. "No…that freaking blackmailer…." Peter stuck his tongue out at James.
Remus tried very hard to suppress a grin. "He…got pictures?"
The three nodded grimly.
Remus clapped Peter on the back. "I'm proud of you, Wormtail! Didn't know you had it in you!"
At this, Sirius threw his goblet down, Lily dropped her fork and knife and James picked up some of his food and made to throw it at Remus.
"NO! James…the prank!" Remus said but ducked down all the same.
James reluctantly let his hash browns fall to his plate.
Shortly before breakfast ended, Peter muttered something into Remus' ear. Remus nodded and passed the message to James and Sirius. The both of them nodded as well. Remus, James and Sirius slowly pulled out their wands, particularly careful not to advertise the fact. They each whispered a different incantation. All of a sudden, shrill screams were audible. The entire school turned to the source, the Slytherin table. Lily, Larika and Katrina however instinctively looked at the Marauders.
"What" Lily asked.
"Did" said Kat.
"You" said Lara
"Do?" asked Lily.
Remus stared at the ceiling. Sirius pondered over the filthy state of his shoes. Peter turned to stare at the blank wall behind him. James didn't have any alternative left. He began to whistle softly.
Lily leaned over the table and shook him. "You nitwit! You're a prefect!"
"Don't worry…it's nothing illegal!"
"Illegal? ILLE" began Lily but Sirius interrupted her. "Okay, fine. We'll let the cat out of the bag, we'll spill the beans, we'll tell you the truth, we'll let you into the secret, we'll"
"Sirius."
"Ahem, yes…if you promise not to give us away…"
"Give you away?" Lily looked at him incredulously. "It was sort of obvious, you know… You might as well have put a signboard up saying: HEY! MCGONAGALL! THIS PRANK WAS PULLED BY THE"
Remus put a hand over her mouth. "Alright…we get it. Only promise it won't come from you."
"Well…technically, I haven't made any promises and you just gave me a full confession. I can go to McGonagall right now."
"But, you won't, will you?" said James.
"No…I won't." She admitted. "But if anyone asks," she warned. "I don't know a thing."
"Deal." Sirius replied.
"You know…I'm getting worried."
"About what?" asked James, the ever-anxious-boyfriend.
"I'm making too many deals with crazy people…namely Sirius here."
"Oh, don't worry about ol' Padfoot! He can't hurt a fly."
Lily snorted.
"No, really! I could never hurt a fly." Sirius cried.
"Yeah…has to do with the fact that he's terrified of them…" Remus mocked.
Lily gaped at him. Then she vanished and rolling laughter began emitting from under the table.
Larika suppressed a wicked smile. She had been fighting this for a long time. She could never be angry with Sirius for long. But she had to keep face.
("It was very important in her culture." Phoebe from Friends.)
She had to say something. Sirius was looking at her, right at her, for the first time in days. She felt…not quite uncomfortable in his gaze but…just different. NO! She couldn't let this happen. She opened her mouth.
"Black is afraid of…flies?"
At the sound of his last name from her mouth, Sirius scowled. Why couldn't she just act normal around him?
"Yeah well…" he retorted. "At least I'm not scared of" He faltered with the fearful expression on her face. He was the only one who knew her personal fear- rubber duckies. It was silly, she admitted. But that didn't stop her from being scared of them. Sirius knew she was horribly tormented by the thought that her friends would find out.
"Scared of…um, balloons."
"Balloons?" asked Lily, having come up for air. "She's not scared of balloons…"
"Yeah…whatever." Sirius made a mental reminder to hit himself. Yeah…whatever? What sort of a response was that? He gave himself another chance. "Hey! Don't you want to know about the prank?"
"YEAH!" She turned to the Slytherin table. "Totally forgot about it!"
All of the Slytherins were scattered across the hall. Almost every single one was running. Running? Yes, they were running away…away from what looked like…an assortment of… banshees…bunches of broccoli…snakes…a clown…books?
"Well?" James asked.
"Well…what did you do? I mean, besides total pandemonium?"
"See, we" Sirius began, but Remus shoved him aside. "Excuse me, but I came up with this and I'll explain it! See, we basically made personal boggarts."
"Huh?"
"Boggarts, remember them? Riddikulus and all that?"
"Yeah."
"We basically put a fear finder spell, so that we knew all the fears of the Slytherins."
"And I came up with this spell to make holograms of those fears." Sirius added.
James said, "Yeah, and I figured out how to make them last all day and make it so that magic will have absolutely no effect on them."
The Marauders were looking at her, expectantly. She sighed.
"James…"
"What you don't like it?"
She shook her head sadly. "Fears? That's pretty mean. And dangerous. I mean, we could have a hologram of You-Know-Who running around."
"That's where I came in." spoke Peter from behind her. "We have only the stupid, not very scary fear holograms, so no really creepy icky stuff."
Lily nodded, pleased. "By the way…. what's Snape's fear?"
"Let's go find out." Everyone said in unison and they walked to the next class, coincidentally, one with the Slytherins. It was going to be a fun day, thought Sirius bemusedly.
Author's Note:
BY THE WAY, i'm posting this in a cyber cafe! My net's not working, so don't expect an update too soon!
Hehee, check out Chapter 13, third last line of the first um…stanza thingy. It says Lily, instead of Lara! I can't believe you people missed that! And, the same chappie, a bit further, James nodded her head vehemently. I mean, come on people!
I'd like to thank all of the people who put my name on the author alert watch list thingy.
Many many thanks to:
Padfootprongs04
Lady of Masbolle
Windowseat Wonderer
Cassialia
LiLyeVaNsPoTTeR08
Blondelily
HappySnakes Rule
LiL'AnGel1011
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BlueEyedDemon10
I'llhexyou
The-Angel-from-Hell-09/10
Love ya,
Stargirlr
