Transformations and Transfiguration

By: Jasmine

Chapter 14

"The Way You Look At Me"

"Oh, Lily! Quit being so pessimistic!" Jasmine cried the next morning, throwing her hands up in the air in frustration, her eyes rolling for the thousandth time that morning. "You don't know that he forgot, and if he did, who cares? It's not like you haven't forgotten his birthday before!"

"June 3rd." Lily said quietly, making Jasmine stop in mid-sentence. She stared, a stunned silence following. Lily looked up into Jasmine's silver eyes. "He told me over the summer while we were sitting on the beach, watching the sunset." She paused, looking back down at her own feet. Jasmine opened and closed her mouth a few times, unable to respond to such a statement. It turns out Lily was right. Jake really had forgotten, unless...

A thought just struck Jasmine, and her eyes lit up. "Unless he's putting on an act..." She whispered. Lily gave her a questioning look. "Yes! That must be it! Lily, don't you get it? He's putting on an act because he's got some extraordinary present or something. It is the first time he's celebrating your birthday, because you've only been going out since the summer!"

The ends of Lily's mouth curled upward very slowly until they formed a very visible smile. "I guess... I guess you're right, Jasmine." Lily replied, beaming.

"Tell me something new." Jasmine joked, mock-rolling her eyes. The girls laughed.

"Stop going out with Sirius." Lily giggled. Jasmine stopped abruptly, glancing at her. "You're starting to sound more and more like him everyday." Jasmine's eyes widened and she playfully punched Lily's shoulder, yelling at her to shut up. The pair made their way to the Great Hall for breakfast, never noticing that they were being closely watched and followed...

"Where is that goddamn thing?" James muttered under his breath in a deadly whisper, his narrow eyes flicking across the corridor in a quick procession. He was looking anywhere but at Lily, something very out of the ordinary.

"Keep your pants on, Prongs, it'll—" Just then, cutting Sirius off in mid-sentence, a bright, feathery bird flew from just over his shoulder, making him jump. It landed just ahead of Lily and Jasmine, a thin letter clasped in its beak, its eyes staring curiously at the two girls.

"What the...?" Jasmine mumbled, bending down and outstretching her hand toward the bird, reaching for the note, but the bird backed away from her, still staring. Then, it held out its beak toward Lily, pecking her until she took the parchment from it. It then began pecking Jasmine for no absolute reason, so Jasmine stood and screeched at it until it disappeared.

Lily was already standing up straight, slowly unfolding the piece of parchment. "What is it?" Jasmine asked expectantly. Lily shrugged, staring down inquisitively. Her curious gaze turned to a glare. "What?"

"It's blank." She said very softly, her voice like the calm before a storm. She stuffed the parchment back into her pocket and made her way back toward the Great Hall, never noticing the loud groan that came from behind her.

"You're supposed to wait!" James cried, his palm obscuring most of his face. Sirius shook his head sympathetically and strode off, following his girlfriend through the double doors straight ahead. After a few silent moments of self-pity, James made his way through as well. He opened the doors to find all heads turned toward Lily, who'd stood up to pull out something from her pocket. His frown slowly faded, being replaced by a light smile. He, as well as the rest of the hall, watched expectantly.

Lily looked down upon the once clean parchment, now small words forming upon it...

L is for the way you look at me...

She read over the line many times, unable to take in exactly what it meant. It made no sense to her, so she replaced it in its prior spot, her brow furrowed, as was Jasmine's, an inquiring look coming her way. Lily shook her head, still oblivious to the many pairs of eyes following her every movement.

James broke the silence, coming over and seating himself ahead of the girls, to the other side of Sirius. "All right, Evans?" He greeted nonchalantly. Lily ignored him, taking out the note and showing it to Jasmine, who read it over quickly, her expression puzzled. Then, she grinned, making Lily ask what it was. James, seeing the attention was not on him, decided to try again, "Don't see Jake anywhere."

Lily suddenly glanced up at him as if she'd just noticed he was there. "What?" She mumbled, her eyes flying down the Gryffindor Table. An 'Oh!' of surprise left her lips and she sprang up, dashing out the hall and out of sight.

James opened his mouth to begin complaining when the Great Hall doors opened again and Lily strode back inside, retaking her seat beside Jasmine, who stared incredulously at her, along with the rest of the hall. "What was that about?" Jasmine inquired, buttering a piece of toast for herself.

"I'm hungry." Lily said curtly, beginning to fill up her own plate with food. Sirius snickered, covering his mouth quickly. Jasmine glared, her eyes wide as the golden plate she ate from.

Just as Lily'd brought the piece of toast close to her mouth, opening it to bite in, a second bird zoomed into the hall through a small open window at the very corner of the wall behind. It landed with a soft thump ahead of her, softly setting itself down and holding out its beak to give Lily a brightly wrapped parcel, an oddly thick bow atop.

Lily took it anxiously, taking the gift and expecting the bird to fly away, but it remained rooted to its spot, as was the rest of the hall, pin drop silence falling again. She tugged at the ribbon, pulling it loose, crumpling it, and throwing it aside.

She flipped open the flaps of the bar, her emerald eyes gazing curiously into its depths. "Oh my god!" she cried, a small smiled perched upon her lips. Before anyone could inquire to the reason of her sudden outburst, she'd shoved the parcel under Jasmine's nose, pointing at the contents within.

Jasmine's eyes lit up again, and she basically imitated exactly what Lily'd just done, with her own little addition. "It's so cute! Wonder who it's from..."

James, taking initiative, immediately voiced, "I think there was something written on the ribbon." He stood in his seat to get a closer look, as did various other onlookers in the hall, at the string lying abandonedly on the floor just below the girls.

Lily gave him a venomous glare, coldly stating, "No one asked you, Potter." But she hastily picked up the string off the floor none-the-less, making James smirk ever so slightly.

Many tense seconds passed as Lily unraveled the ribbon, holding it up at last. Jasmine then muttered loud enough meant for only the two of them to hear, but considering the hall was quiet as mice, her voiced echoed off the stone walls, "...because you look so sweet to me."

The girls turned toward each other in unison, grins upon both faces. "That's so sweet!" Jasmine squealed, rolling her eyes at her use of the word 'sweet' at that moment. Then, she turned a quirked eyebrow in Sirius's direction, saying in a mock-dangerous tone, "I wish my boyfriend would do things like this for me once in a while."

Sirius looked taken aback that a girl was actually demanding more of him. Who could want more than Sirius Black? But that was probably why he loved her so much. "What? Aren't the things we do every night enough?" He smirked.

Jasmine's expression, however, remained indifferent. In fact, her quirked eyebrow intensified into a glare and even possibly a glower. What was most frightening, perhaps, though, was the slight grin lingering about her mouth. "Oh, you mean the studying?" She smirked as well. Before Sirius had a chance to respond, she continued, "Don't try to make yourself look good, Sirius Black, because you'll surely regret it."

A snicker echoed through the Great Hall once again, this time its owner none other than James Potter. "I don't really see what's so funny." Sirius said in an icy tone that could give his eyes a run for their money. James waved him off curtly. "What's in the box anyway?" Sirius asked, curiosity drowning out all bitterness. He gave James a sideways glance.

"See for yourself." Lily held the box out for him to see, making him gasp in delight. Lily snatched the box back just as Sirius's hand had appeared seemingly out of thin air to grab anything he could muster.

"Sweets!" Sirius moaned the loss of what he'd never had, his eyes and lower lip considerably larger as he begged for even the smallest bit, putting on his best puppy pout, which was obviously of no use.

"No. They're mine for the keeping." Lily said in a very commanding voice, turning to hide her smile. Jasmine rolled her eyes and shook her head unbelievingly. Then, the girls stood and exited the hall, making their way to their first class.

"Very thoughtful." said a voice, startling both James and Sirius. They spun around in their seats, nearly knocking each other over to see Remus looking very exhausted and exhilarated all at once ironically. "My compliments, James. You finally did something right."

"Well, thank you." said James smugly, crossing his arms around his chest. "Wait—what?"

Sorry about the long wait, you guys. I truly had no idea what I was going to do for the next few chapters and was considering abandoning this story and deleting it from the database, but decided against it... Anyway, I'm pretty sure most of you know this song, so you know what the other chapters MIGHT be named, but you've no clue what's to come up in the next few! I'm not promising a chapter in a day, but I'll promise it within a week and a half, at most. I'll try my best to keep that deadline!

Thank you my lovely reviewers, I've not the time to name you individually, but I love you all! Keep reading and reviewing!

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