Transformations and Transfiguration
By: Jasmine
Chapter 4
"Apology Accepted"
James stood in the doorway of the hospital wing, listening for voices. All was silent with the exception of his own breathing. He put his fingers to the door and slowly creaked it open slightly, peering in through the small crack. The first thing that caught his eye was a bright red braid, indicating Lily was sitting in the infirmary. He stared, wondering why she was alone. Then, his question was answered with the new school nurse's voice.
"All right, Ms. Evans. I've got it here." said Poppy Pomfrey, appearing through a small doorway in the back of the room. She came and sat next to Lily, making her wince slightly. "Now, I'm going to ask you again. There's two things you can do to rid yourself of this wretched skin. Either have me quickly pop all those boils, because inside them is the antidote to your skin. It'll be painful, mind you. Or, you can take the less painful way out and bathe yourself in this potion, but you'll have to stay here the night and maybe even tomorrow. It'll take up to two days to go away, while the boils' antidotes will instantly take effect."
Lily stared, looking down her arms. She was sure there wouldn't be any marks left, and she had other things to be doing. She couldn't afford to lose nearly forty-eight hours of her life, so she answered, "I think it'd be wisest if you just went with the boil antidote. I'm used to the pain, anyway." She held up her arms to Madam Pomfrey.
"If you say so, Ms. Evans." Madam Pomfrey stood to go put the potion in her hand away, returning with her wand and a large bottle instead. "You might want to get comfortable because it's going to take up to thirty minutes for me to deflate them all." Lily leaned back on the bed, looking away as Madam Pomfrey began poking at the boils one by one. She winced a few times before getting used to it. The silence they sat in was nearly deafening, so Madam Pomfrey spoke up, "How did this happen to you, anyway?" James stiffened, knowing he was about to receive yet another week's worth of detention.
However, after a small pause, Lily replied, "Oh, it was a potions accident. There was something wrong with my ingredients, but I didn't know it'd have such an impression." Madam Pomfrey nodded, wiping Lily's arm with a washcloth. Lily dared a peek at her arms to see they were gradually returning to normal. James stared in disbelief, wondering why on earth Lily hadn't given his name. It was the ultimate revenge, and he was sure she'd normally have done that to him, even if he'd never done anything to her.
About twenty minutes later, Madam Pomfrey said, "There you go, all done. You should be all right now." Lily hopped off the bed, beaming at the school nurse, and hugged herself, glad to have her normal skin back. Madam Pomfrey smiled as well. "Just to be on the safe side, before you go to bed tonight, be sure to shower. The liquid from the boils is mighty helpful for cases such as these, but if kept on the skin too long, it might burn it or lead to infection or worse."
Lily nodded her head and strode toward the hospital wing door, placing a hand on it. Then, she quickly spun around and said, "Thanks, Madam Pomfrey." She grinned one last time before throwing the door open only to bump into James. He jumped back slightly, as did Lily. They stared at each other for a few moments, Lily's smile instantly disappearing. Then, Lily walked right past him, down the corridor and toward Gryffindor Tower.
James followed, at a loss for words. Then, he remembered the disappointment on Remus's face. He hated when his friends were angry with him, so he called out, "Hey, er, L-Lily?" She grunted in reply. He quickened his pace, catching up with Lily. "I just—er—wanted to apologize for what I...did. I know it was wrong and you didn't deserve it." He paused for a breath, trying to read Lily's expression. "Well, I'm sorry." He glanced at her through the side of his eye, rubbing the back of his neck.
Lily halted her steps just ahead of the portrait hole, but instead of giving the password, she said, without looking at him, "It's ok." James spun his neck around so quickly, he cricked it. Lily continued, her eyes still on the wall. "It's not what you did that bothered me. It's just, why did you do it? I mean, I haven't even done anything to you? It's only the first day of school."
James opened his mouth to reply, only to realize that his response was a bit out of the ordinary. She wouldn't be able to understand what he was going to tell her because even he didn't quite fully understand it himself, so he just said, "Well, something just came over me. A stupid thought, really... Why didn't you tell on me when Pomfrey asked how that happened to you, anyway?" He quickly added, changing the subject.
"I don't believe in using others to get people in trouble." She turned his way, finally staring into his eyes. "Besides, if I want revenge, I have my own ways of getting it." She smirked, her emerald eyes sparkling mischievously. What came next, James couldn't help. Her abrupt change in attitude and the look she'd given him caused a spur of the moment reaction, which he'd regret later on. Before he knew it, James had thrown his arms around Lily and pulled her into a tight embrace, his lips brushing against hers. Though his eyes were closed, hers were open and shocked. She pulled away, slapping him across the face.
She gave the password and entered the common room, James following her close behind, his face stinging. He touched it, feeling the burn, and knew it was bright red. "Evans, wait up!" He called after her, reaching out and stopping her by the shoulder.
Lily swiftly moved away from his hand, glowering at him. "What the hell is your problem, Potter! Why did you do that? First you come and apologize so convincingly, so I accept. Then what? You decide to—to—" It seemed Lily was unable to speak the next words aloud, still disgusted by what had happened.
So, James decided to finish her sentence. "Kiss you?" At those words, the the common room went into a frenzy, whispers and gasps easily heard. People crowded around them suddenly, yelling out questions. "Are you two going out?" "Since when have you been an item?" "Black said he decided you two didn't have to go out!" "Can I name your first kid?"
At that last sentence, Lily went berserk. "Potter and I are NOT going out, so quit thinking of such things! It is Potter's own fault that he lost the one true chance he actually had at going out with me and decided instead to be an ARSE! Now, all of you get AWAY!" Her words had no effect on the crowd, though. Instead, it just grew, her words adding to the noise.
"All right, all right! Out of my way!" said a strong, familiar voice. Sirius pushed his way through the crowd to James's side, Remus following close behind. The circle grew slightly, letting them through. They knew it could only get better with them around. "Well." Sirius began, crossing his arms. "Well, well, well." The crowd fell silent, not because they wanted to listen to what he had to say, but because they were confused about what he was trying to say. "You went to apologize for nearly ruining her life and came back married."
"WHAT!" Lily and James bellowed, the crowd roaring with laughter again. "What the hell d'you mean by 'married'! We're not even dating!" Lily replied, her hands placing themselves on her hips again.
"Well, Lily, dear. If you'll realize what I'm trying to tell you, Pro—er—James, here, has always acquired whatever girl he yearned. It's the Black charm that's rubbing off on him, if you catch my drift." James groaned, slapping his forehead. Sirius smirked, the crowd still laughing.
Lily glared at the pair of them before maliciously retorting, "Let me show you exactly how I feel about Potter." She balled her hands into tight fists and stomped her heel hard on James's foot before turning and walking straight up the girls' staircase, not even looking back at James, who was cowering on the ground in pain. She slammed the door behind her, making the windows in the common room rattle.
Sirius looked down at James as the crowd began to disperse, talking amongst themselves. He shrugged his shoulders saying, "Sorry, mate. Better luck next time." He then helped him up and dragged him to an armchair in front of the crackling fire. Once seated, James picked up a spare bit of parchment and transfigured it into bits of ice, letting them melt on his toes.
"I hate him." Lily fumed, combing her hair rashly. She glared at the mirror, attacking an extremely annoying knot, continuing, "What's his problem, anyway? He can have any girl, so why's he going after me? I'm surprised I'm saying such a thing, but I think I enjoyed life much more when our hatred was mutual. Who knows what's going to happen now that he's trying all this kissing rubbish."
"Yep..." Jasmine sighed, lying on her bed still fully clothed.
Lily looked over at her, laying her comb down momentarily. It wasn't like Jasmine to act so completely out of it. "Jasmine? What's wrong with you? You're acting so weird. Did something happen?" He slowly stepped toward Jasmine's bed.
"Today was kind of unusual, actually. Sirius took me somewhere today..." Her voice faded. Lily waited to hear more. "He took me to some weird room that I've never seen before. It had some weird sort of tunnel in it, and that tunnel lead to Hogsmeade! Can you believe it! He took me to Hogsmeade!"
Lily gasped, pulling the four poster's curtains to the sides. "No. Jasmine, you've got to be kidding me. You can not be falling for Sirius Black. Think of who this is! Sirius Black, the one who's jinxed you at sight since second year. The one who'd put peanut butter in your hair, and rude signs on your back, and toothpaste on your eyebrows!" Lily shook Jasmine slightly before realizing exactly what was going on. "POTTER! BLACK!" She screeched, throwing her robes back on and trudging down the stairway.
"You hollered?" James said smugly, leaning against the wall at the bottom of the stairs.
"Not you!" She looked around and spotted Sirius, running over to him. Then, before he had time to turn around, Lily had hit Sirius hard on the back of his head. Sirius yelled in pain, spinning around to find Lily glaring at him. He began to ask what the hell was going on, but Lily cut in, "They're banned at school! How did you get it into her!" The common room stared, some amused, some curious, and some just plain annoyed. Twice in one night was not normal for Lily or James to start yelling, but it was amusement.
Sirius, however, knew exactly what was going on, though he chose not to voice this, knowing it'd only get him in trouble. "Oh, so you've spoken to Jasmine already? Then she'll have told you of the wonderful night I gave her."
"Wonderful, my foot! You gave her a love potion!" Lily cried, pointing a threatening finger at Sirius. Her anger level increased, though, when Sirius just shrugged his shoulders, turning away from her. "Black, you look at me now and give me the antidote! If you don't, I'll give you detention!"
"You can't do that." Sirius replied nonchalantly.
"Oh yes I can. I'm Prefect." said Lily, smirking, pointing to the shiny badge that was pinned to her robes. Sirius gaped at it, wondering how he'd missed it before, and how Remus had failed to mention such crucial information to him. "Now, about that antidote." However, Sirius still didn't budge. So, Lily yelled, "Professor McGonnagal!" She ran to the portrait hole, going through it.
"W—Wait! Evans, no!" Sirius yelled after her, following her out.
That's it for now. How was it? I'd like all of your comments. I have no clue what I'm going to put in the next chapter, but I've got an idea, anyway, so review if you'd like to read on! I promise it's going to get better. It's only the first day of school, after all.
Jasmine
Oh, and thanks loads to Ju Ju Bee 1000, J.E.A.R.K.Potter, Willows Grace, Jessie Flower, and sosirius'sgurl3245 for reviewing! You guys have no clue how much you mean to me...
Well, I'm off to finish typing out Chapter 5. You'll probably have it Monday night or eve later. I've got exams coming up next week, so it might be a bit late.
Review!