TWO SIDES TO EVERY STORY
Part I
Thrill of the Chase
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the famous characters or the world of Harry Potter. I'm borrowing them from JKR's fabulous writing. I just own the characters you've never heard of ;P
A/N: Here's the next re-posted chapter. Ummmm..... No changes. I wish I could re-post every single chapter up to where I left off but I can't because...I'm weird... and wellllll... I have my reasons. Do not fret. We're halfway there.
"I am slowly going crazy, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, switch. Crazy going slowly am I, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, switch."
Chapter 4 Slowly Going Crazy
Lily lay in her bed, staring up at the ceiling. Right after the wild animals in the common room incident, she had retreated back into her dorm room, wondering miserably why James Potter hated her so. She knew though that it was going to keep escalating and there was probably nothing she could do to stop it. Lily could hear her friends whispering outside her hangings, more than likely about her, but she didn't care. The start of term did not exactly start off too well and showed no signs of getting better. She was becoming exasperated by it all.
"Hey." Lily rolled over as Julie stuck her head in, smiling slightly. Lily smiled back.
"Nope, she's still alive!" Julie yelled playfully over her shoulder.
"Oh good, I didn't know what we were going to do without her," Latisha said, breathing a mock sigh of relief. "Heard about the incident." She clucked her tongue sympathetically. "Now that's where my owl went."
"Want to do something?" Julie asked Lily.
"Besides kill Potter? No, not really. I'm beginning to wonder if this whole prefect thing is worth it. See Ashlynn, I told you they were monsters."
Ashlynn laughed and grinned before returning to her homework. There were scrunched up balls of parchment everywhere and Lily couldn't help but grin at her friend's perfectionism.
"Chocolate frog?" Julie offered, but without waiting for an answer she shoved the whole thing in Lily's mouth, causing her to sit up and cough.
"Thanks," Lily said meekly. Her eyes wandered to Jade's empty bed and she felt a slight pang of loneliness. Jade would probably be sitting there, flipping through Witch Weekly or Teen Witch. "Do you guys think Jade will ever come back?"
Her friends stiffened at the mention of Jade.
"I hope so," Latisha choked out, breaking the silence. Ashlynn nodded in agreement, she had met Jade and hung out with her a few times before.
As if on cue, a handsome tawny owl came fluttering in through the open window and landed on Ashlynn's desk, scattering her parchment and quills. She looked at it in surprise, and Lily, recognizing the owl as Pagon, nearly jumped on Ashlynn's desk, snatching the letter from the owl's leg.
"Hey Pagon!" Latisha exclaimed happily, stroking the owl before he flapped his wings and disappeared out of the window from whence it came. Lily had tore open the letter by now and started reading aloud.
Hey girls,
Hope you haven't missed me too much, but I sure as hell missed you guys a LOT. Just wanna say hi to Ashlynn, I can't wait to meet her again.
Anyways, I'm just writing to let you guys know that I'm coming back to Hogwarts sometime next week. I really can't stand the thought of being in hiding, what with my father being killed and all, and then my mother freaking out. I've finally persuaded her to let me come back to school, I told her Hogwarts was pretty safe, after all. My mom can be so pessimistic at times. It wasn't like my father was personally targeted after all. He just you know, stuff like this happens when you're an Auror.
So my summer really sucked. I hope yours were all better. I've decided that I'm not going to brood over my father's death, he always told me that his job had no guarantees. He told me that if something should ever happen to him, he wouldn't want us to be brooding over it. He would want us to move on and be happy. But I know my dad. If he died while making a difference to the world, that's all that matters. He told me to live life to the fullest
I'm trying to. It's so hard. But hopefully things will get better at Hogwarts. Hope I haven't missed much. See you all soon and take care.
Love Always,
Jade
Lily blinked, staring at the parchment as if it was a joke. Her friends froze around her, smiles on their faces.
"I can't believe Jade's coming back!" Lily exclaimed, jumping up and down and hugging Julie. Maybe things were going to turn out for the best after all.
--
All thoughts that things were going to get better flew out the window the way it came the next night. Her problems came back, in the form of James Potter. He just didn't know when to quit.
This time, she entered the common room to smoke. And lots of it. Thinking there was an uncontrollable fire or something, Lily freaked out. Only to find that the Marauders (minus Remus) were playing a charmed version of Exploding Snap, which included lots and lots of smoke. Then when Lily tried to get them to stop, Sirius thought it would be quite funny to set off fireworks, indoors. Adding to the massive amount of smoke now accumulating in the common room. Lily's eyes stung and watered and she couldn't open her mouth to yell at them because she would end up breathing in smoke, sending her into coughing fits.
After a minute or two, Lily finally rushed over to the window and tried to wrench it open. Only to have it stuck. Unopenable Windows from the Prefect's Manual flashed through her head and she couldn't help but grin a bit. It was a bit odd. Sirius, now realizing how much smoke was in the common room, hurried over to help her open the window to try and lessen the amount of smoke in the common room. It lessened all right, but not by much. James, finally reaching his senses, muttered a charm that got rid of all the smoke. When the smoke cleared Lily found herself glaring at the Marauders, all of whom were covered in ash and soot. Peter looked extremely guilty but that did not cool Lily's temper at all.
"What in the name of Merlin are you lot trying to do?!" Lily yelled, outraged. "Burn down all of Gryffindor tower?!"
"We were playing a game of Exploding Snap, actually," Sirius answered innocently, quite quiet compared to Lily's yelling.
"Charmed Exploding Snap?!"
"Well, we're young, and we're students, and we were just curious - " Sirius began, trying to save face and attempting not to grin, but failing miserably. Although he had soot smothered across his face he was still very handsome and good looking. His icy blue eyes stood out against his dark hair even more and the innocent look on his face was to die for.
James had not said anything yet, just stood there with a smug look on his face and Lily felt as if she could've slapped him. In fact, it took her everything not to.
---
James Potter was well on the way with Phase II of his plans and he was delighted at the results he was getting. He still had a few more events up his sleeve, and would only stop if Lily would go out with him, or until he felt bored of the ideas. One or the other. Probably the first one.
Lily had expected to enter the common room to some sort of mischief every night. Some of them weren't so bad. But some of the ideas that he came up with were outrageous. Take the next one for example.
Lily entered the common room (as usual) except with Ashlynn with her this time. They had both finished the weeks' homework (Lily was glad that she now had someone on the same wavelength homework wise instead of her always being the homework freak) in the library.
And they both stopped and stared at the scene in front of them. James and Sirius, along with a few other guys from the Quidditch team, were flying around on brooms playing Quidditch indoors. Lily couldn't believe it and she had to do a double take. Ashlynn, meanwhile, was staring at the scene in amusement, a grin escaping from her lips as she laughed in delight.
"Can I play?" she asked, to Lily's horror. For a split second Lily was glad that Latisha wasn't also joining in on the 'fun,' but probably would be if she knew what they were doing.
"No!" Lily yelled. "Get off your brooms now! You're not suppose to be playing Quidditch indoors! Take it outside!"
Lily ducked as a bludger flew her way and Sirius swooped down behind her. He stopped and poised, holding the beating stick as if he was holding a baseball bat and swung, hitting the bludger into the fireplace and sparking flames everywhere.
Then, Latisha bounded downstairs, and being the Quidditch freak that she was, demanded that she play too. Lily told her no and Latisha (either ignoring her or genuinely didn't hear her) grabbed the stick out of Sirius' hand.
'And these two are suppose to be my friends,' Lily thought glumly.
Lily and Ashlynn watched as Latisha swung with all her might and smashed the bludger through the closed window, shattering it to pieces in a shower of glass. Lily's mouth dropped open.
"Snitch outside!" James hollered. Lily watched, in relief, as each one of them soared through the broken window, amazed for a second that they could all fit.
Latisha was laughing and Ashlynn had a mad grin on her face. Lily glared at her friends and they immediately shut up.
"You guys are Quidditch freaks," Lily retorted. "You're my friends, you're suppose to help me."
"But I did," Latisha replied. "I got them outside, didn't I?"
"Breaking the window in the process." Lily went over and peered out the window. She couldn't see where they had gone, but she could hear their cheers and whoops. "Reparo."
Lily watched as the window repaired itself and then muttered a charm to clean up the shards of glass dangerously littering the floor.
Things did not get better from there. The next night there were a bunch of first year boys fighting with each other, and when Lily had gone to intervene, they wouldn't heed her orders and just kept on socking each other in the face. When Lily had pulled the one first year away from the other he stopped for a moment and looked up at Lily.
"We'll only stop if you go out with James Potter!"
Lily glared at the little boy, and then looked swiftly around the room, her eyes resting on Potter, who was sitting quite comfortably in a squishy armchair, watching the scene with a smirk on his face.
Lily thought it would be quite wrong to yell at the boys if they were working for James, so she sent them away with the threats of them spending quality time with Professor McGonagall if they did not stop. She watched in satisfaction as they hurried up to their dorms. She then rounded on James.
"Don't you think you're taking this a bit too far?" Lily asked angrily.
James shrugged. "You heard the boy. I'll stop it all if you go out with me."
Lily shook her head. "You just don't get it, do you Potter?" She turned from him and ascended the stairs to the girls dormitories herself, her footsteps echoing.
---
Maybe Lily had hoped that James won't get the picture and eventually stop and leave her alone. But James Potter did not work that way, and his determination was even more set in stone. He seemed to have taken a liking to get others on his side, especially the younger ones, in which he used against her.
The days did not go by uneventful. She had first years setting fires to couches, first years pulling down curtains, first years doing everything imaginable and she was losing it. Very slowly. She wondered where the hell Remus was and why he wasn't ever around during times of need. She doubted he would stop it even if he were around though. And so the days passed, in which she would grit her teeth and boil over everyday. And James seemed to enjoy every second of it.
---
"Well, you've progressed really well over the last couple out-of-practice practices," Sirius grinned, high fiving her.
They were both in the Quidditch pitch, hovering several feet from the ground. Their practice had started off sunny and bright, but in the last forty five minutes that had elapsed dark rain clouds had rolled in and were threatening to spill. It was amazing how quick the weather could change.
Ashlynn smiled at him but said nothing.
"In fact, I would go as far as to say that I would think that you don't need them anymore."
Ashlynn looked up and shook her head violently.
"No, not yet." She smiled slightly. "I mean, I've progressed to being able to catch the Quaffle without fumbling. I want to, I dunno, make a comeback. I know James is your friend, but he was really mean to me when I first started."
Sirius nodded. "Yeah, James is like that." He thought for a moment. "What about I teach you some Quidditch moves. And maybe some flying tips." His eyes glinted playfully for a second. "What about laps? Or races?"
"Races? With you?"
Sirius pretended to look around. "Well, I don't see anyone else."
"No need for sarcasm. But, I would actually like to save my pride today."
"What's that suppose to mean?" Sirius asked, looking at her.
"Well, you're good. And if I raced you, I wouldn't stand a chance."
Sirius nodded playfully. "Yeah, true," he said jokingly. He watched her duck a bludger, almost instinctually. During the weeks he had got to know her and seen her in practices, she seemed to have a true love and talent for Quidditch. But she had stopped playing. Something did not seem to click.
"Latisha told me you use to play Chaser. And you played well. What happened?"
Ashlynn stiffened and looked off into the distance, where the clouds seem to be getting darker. "I, uhm, well - I got into an accident. So I stopped playing. Hey, race you to the other end of the pitch!"
Sirius watched her accelerate away from him. He had a feeling that she was not exactly telling the whole story, but shrugged it off. They weren't exactly friends after all, so what right did he have to intrude. He decided to give her a few seconds head start and then took off after her, beating her (of course) to the other side of the pitch. By now it had started to lightly spit.
"Oi, Ashlynn!"
Sirius and Ashlynn both looked down and noticed Lily beckoning her over for dinner.
---
"I can't wait for Jade to come back," Lily sung happily. She seemed to have developed a way for her to bounce back every time Potter made her mad. She would think about Jade coming back and then she would feel much better for the time being.
But of course, James Potter always had a surprise for her.
Latisha entered the common room first, saying the password (wigglewaggle). She took a step in and heard a splash. Looking down she saw that there was a puddle. Julie came in after her, followed by Lily, and then Ashlynn.
Lily looked down at the slightly flooded floor and thought that maybe someone had left the window open, since the sky had split open and buckets of rain was pouring outside. She quickly changed her mind when she looked over at the stairs leading up to the boys and girls dormitories dripping with water like a waterfall. She closed her eyes in frustration.
"Bloody hell," Latisha cursed aloud as she ran up the stairs and noticed the stream of water coming steadily from the girls bathrooms. Shrieks and screams could also be heard coming from the bathrooms.
"What now?" Lily questioned angrily as she pushed open the door.
"Lily!" a fellow sixth year exclaimed. "Lily! Make the taps stop running!"
"Lily! The toilets won't stop spitting water!"
"Lily!"
"Lily I'm soaked, what am I going to do!"
"Lily, the showers - "
"Lily stop it!"
"Lily, this whole place is flooding!"
"Lilyyy!"
"Be quiet, the whole lot of you!" Lily yelled angrily. "Yes, I see the taps are running, yes I see the toilets and showers spitting water, yes I see that you're wet so then why don't you leave?!"
She briskly walked over to the taps and muttered a spell to counter the sticking charm on the taps. The taps immediately stopped running and Lily wondered for a moment why nobody else had thought of to use a counter charm. Were they witches or not?
She then stopped the toilets and shower from spitting water and cleaned up the flood with a flick of her wand. Did being prefect mean babysitting too? Why on earth couldn't they have stopped it themselves?
Lily automatically knew that it was James, but how James managed to get into the girls bathrooms completely baffled her as he couldn't even get up the stairs. She wouldn't put it past him to do something so atrocious though.
She stormed down the stairs, cleaning up the water and repairing the damage as she went. She stood there, fuming to herself angrily as her friends stood at the top of the stairs watching her cautiously, in the event that she might explode.
Sirius then bounded down the stairs, smiling gleefully and making a beeline towards Lily. "Lily the whole boys bathroom is - "
Lily held up a hand. "Shush. You know as I know who did it. And you know as I know that you are more than capable of handling it yourself. You are one of the top wizards of the year, Black. Don't tell me you don't know how to stop it yourself."
Sirius opened his mouth as if to retaliate, but Lily had already walked up the stairs and Sirius stared after her. Wow, she was so mad she couldn't even yell. It made him wonder if James was even any closer at getting Lily Evans to go out with him because it sure as hell didn't look like it.