Author's Note: I edited a couple of chapters, so you may want to go back and take a look at chapter three so you aren't confused about this chapter.
Jean DARK: Thank you SO much!
AnjaliMalfoy: I love that song too! And yes, I'll definitely answer those questions (Great America rocked, rocked, ROCKED! I'm sorry you're bored in NY! I personally can't wait to go to NY!)
xXXx: Thanks! I hope you didn't miss the underlying hints in this chapter… ;)
OTHCharmedHPFreak: I'll update in a week!
Celina Black: He was mad the whole time, but it's kind of hard not to be amused when you find someone in an embarrassing or funny position, but once his amusement wore off, he was pretty ticked again.
Chapter Six: Mirror Your Intentions
"Like
the diamond in your ring
Cut to
mirror your intentions
Oversized,
overwhelmed,
The
shine of which has caught my eye
And
rendered me so
Isolated,
so motivated."
-Dashboard
Confessional, Vindicated
She passed through the Portrait Hole and went up the stairs to her Head Girl dormitory.
"That you, Lils?" came Cerise's voice.
"Yeah," Lily replied, her voice soft.
"Mind if I talk to you?"
"Not at all." She gave a bitter laugh. "You're probably the only one who would willingly talk to me right now."
"Besides Remus," Cerise agreed. "He's always so nice to you. Do you think he has the hots for you?"
"Don't even say that!" Lily exclaimed. "That's blasphemy! You know he and Chelsea are going out."
"Yeah." She was quiet for a moment. "Can you come in our dorm, please?"
"Sure," Lily said. "Wait, Amirah and Chelsea…"
"They're asleep," Cerise assured her. "Come on."
Lily went inside and shut the door behind her. She then sat at the edge of Cerise's bed and asked, "What's going on?"
"Sirius and I decided we should see other people. Well, he suggested it and I agreed because I didn't want to seem too desperate."
"Oh," Lily said, furrowing her eyebrows. "So you aren't too happy about it, huh?"
"Of course not," Cerise said miserably. "Do you think he likes someone else?"
"I don't know," Lily said honestly, "but if he does, good riddance!"
Cerise shrugged. "It isn't that simple. I think that you, Amirah, and Chelsea get annoyed with me a lot of the time, but I'm not as dumb as I seem."
Ouch. That was really harsh. "Maybe a little," Lily said tentatively, "but I never disliked you. You have the tenacity to be very sweet and insightful. You have a good, investigative brain on your shoulders."
"I still care about him," Cerise continued softly. "At least I think I do."
"This doesn't help at all," Lily said. "But he's a jerk."
"No, that doesn't help," Cerise said flatly. "Quite honestly, I don't see what you have against him."
Lily shut her eyes and breathed in deeply. "Neither do I. I know you care about him, but maybe you should try dating other people. Maybe you'll see that you like someone better than him."
"Maybe," Cerise agreed. "But besides Sirius, the only hot guys at this school are James, who's taken by you-"
"He is not!" Lily said indignantly, and regretted it instantly. She didn't want Cerise to make a move on him for some reason.
"And Malfoy, but he's yours too," continued Cerise, ignoring her remark. "Plus, he's a Slytherin, and no offense, but I don't date Slytherins. Then there's Sirius, of course, but that doesn't help any. Then there's Remus, who's Chelsea's."
"What about Majed? Trevor Halstead the Ravenclaw? Amos Diggory the Hufflepuff?" Lily suggested. "I can think of several more guys you might like."
"Yeah," Cerise said dreamily. "I think you're right. Sirius is a jerk. I'll go out with someone else, possibly Majed, and make him jealous. Thanks, Lils."
"No problem," said Lily. "'Night."
"'Night."
James's forehead itches, but his hands are tied behind his back, so he can't reach.
"Find her," says an unfamiliar, but chilling and high-pitched voice.
"Shall I kill him, too?" questions another man, and a hand slaps James, the nails grazing his skin. It stings and he feels blood begin to trickle down.
"No," the voice replies harshly. "We must have him alive for the Polyjuice Potion. Prepare it for me, Malfoy."
"You are going to take it, sir?" says Malfoy – the man who slapped James – with surprise. "I thought I – "
"This girl has the ability to create a powerful child," the voice says. "It can be either his child or mine. However, his child will be our enemy, while my child will be assurance of my eternal reign over the realm of magic."
"She can have another child after this one, though," Malfoy argues.
"No," the voice replies coldly. "After my child is born and after he has been nursed, we shall kill her."
"And if it doesn't work? If the child isn't born?" questions Malfoy.
"She'll miscarry and never be able to bear another child," the voice replies calmly.
The hairs rise on James's arms and the back of his neck. They're going to kill this woman!
James woke up early the next morning, Saturday morning, an unpleasant feeling settling in the pit of his stomach. He decided to go downstairs for breakfast, and ducked his head in the seventh year boys' dorm as he passed, but didn't bother waking his friends because they would undoubtedly be cross at having been awoken at an ungodly hour such as this.
But the moment he opened the door and accidentally bumped it against a trunk, another Gryffindor seventh year named Majed Gavankar rose.
"You all right, James?" asked Majed in his cool, but pleasant voice.
He was so similar to his cousin, slender, tall, and elegantly graceful. His skin was the same golden tone as hers, and a few dark hairs fell into his emerald eyes, even more naturally so than Sirius's.
While Sirius and James were thought to be "devilishly charming" by the girls of the school (that wasn't vanity talking – a Gryffindor sixth year named Lola something-or-the-other had "anonymously" sent him a letter telling him that, and he had found out who it was from right away), Majed was simply irresistible to them.
"I'm fine," James replied. "I'll get over it – someday."
"No, you won't," Majed responded as they went downstairs after showering and getting dressed. "It's so rare to see you without Sirius, Remus, and Peter."
"I wanted to be alone," James explained. "Plus, they would hate to be woken up right now."
"So my presence defeats the purpose, eh?" he said with a grin.
James shrugged. "I don't mind your presence actually, because you don't constantly rant about Malfoy like Sirius or say 'be nice to Lily,' like Remus or keep bashing Lily like Peter."
"That's because I think you should do what you want," Majed said simply. "I like Lily, though. I refuse to treat her like anything other than a person, even though I do disapprove of her keeping that secret and dating a Slytherin."
Several girls passed by, giggling and saying, "Hi, James, Hi, Majed."
"Hi," they both replied – James listlessly, and Majed with a friendly grin.
"I – " began James, turning his head to Majed as he talked. But the grin had left Majed's face. James followed his gaze.
Malfoy and Lily were walking through the hallway, their backs to James and Majed. Malfoy took Lily's shapely hand in his own and said something to her. Lily replied and ran her free hand across her face. Malfoy took that hand too, leaned forward, and kissed her. James stopped dead. It was a long kiss; a very long kiss.
They broke away and Lily when Lily turned to look down the hallway, her eyes met those of James, and her face grew ashen.
"Coming, Majed?" James asked, ignoring her and walking right by. "Let's get some breakfast and we should probably head out to the Quidditch Pitch right away. We have to start practicing now if we want to keep the tradition of clobbering Slytherin."
"Lucius!" Lily exclaimed, upset. "That was…we shouldn't…you can't…"
She stopped and took a deep breath.
Lucius looked at her, visibly alarmed and perturbed. "What, Lily? Is it because Potter walked by?" He said "Potter" with a note of disgust.
"No, well, yes," she responded miserably. "It is."
"I thought we were going to admit that we're together so we don't have to keep hiding," he reminded her, seeming annoyed.
"That's true," she said, "but James is…well, he's my friend now, and I don't want to give him more of a chance to be angry at me."
"Just friends, right?" Lucius asked.
"Of course," she replied. "He's a great guy, but I can't see us as more than friends."
"Okay," Lucius said, not sounding very convinced.
"What should I do to prove it to you?" Lily asked, becoming a little frustrated.
"Well, you got so upset after I kissed you and it turned out that he saw," Lucius pointed out.
"I told you," she said. "I don't want him to be mad at me. If we begin talking again, then maybe all my friends will see what a great guy you are."
"And You-Know-Who will send a bouquet of roses to Dumbledore, begging for his forgiveness and perhaps ask McGonagall to marry him," he said sardonically.
"Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, Lucius," she corrected.
"I know, my dear," he said. "But I just can't see how they would ever begin to accept me as friends. This isn't a perfect world, unfortunately."
"I know, but – "
"Wait, let me finish. The enmity between Gyrffindor and Slytherin stretches far back before any of us. It's not just something any of us can overlook."
"The two of us did," she said quietly.
"That's different," he said, with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Love has no boundaries. Think about Romeo and Juliet and every story we've ever heard or read about forbidden lovers."
"A lot of them didn't turn out well," she said, "because their friends and family were enemies."
"Lily," he began, then thought better of it. "Let's just drop the subject, okay?"
"Fine with me."
"You guys are so not clobbering us," Lucius said with a grin.
"We so are," Lily said lightly.
Trying to put the horrified and furious expression on James's face out of her mind, Lily continued forward with Lucius.
"What's the matter, mate?" asked Sirius. "First you didn't wait for us for breakfast, then you just ran off onto the Quidditch Pitch?"
"I needed to be alone," James said. "Majed was keeping me company in my loneliness."
"Aww, come on, we could've kept you company in your loneliness," Sirius said.
James shook his head and lowered his voice before glancing at Majed and turning back to Sirius. "No, because you, Moony, and Wormtail know me too well. Also, would you have liked to be woken at seven a.m. on Sunday?"
"Ah," Sirius responded, before tactfully changing the subject. "So, what's the plan for our Halloween Hogsmeade trip then?"
"I don't really feel like going," James said dully.
"If this is about Lily, then why don't you take your Invisibility Cloak?" Sirius suggested.
"I wish they would take the Invisibility Cloak," James muttered darkly. "I don't care about them seeing me, but I just don't want to be seen by them."
He scanned the group that had just arrived.
"Good, looks like everyone's here. Let's start Quidditch practice then?" James said.
"S'long as you share the pitch," a voice said calmly.
They all looked up.
"Malfoy," growled Sirius, his eyes taking on that rabid glint he got whenever faced with a Slytherin (or someone from his family or anyone who would willingly hurt a loved one of his.)
"Watch it, blood traitor," Malfoy said, raising an eyebrow. "One word from me and Lord Voldemort could sweep down on you."
"I knew it!" James exclaimed. "How did you ever manage to hoodwink a clever witch like Lily into thinking you love her?"
"Simple," Malfoy replied quietly. "I do love her. I didn't have to 'hoodwink' her into believing it."
"She's Muggle-born," Sirius pointed out.
"She's an exception," he said. "The extent of her powers make up for the fact that she isn't Pure-Blood. You know, her prowess is so great that I think her ancestors may be Pure-Blood, but her parents and sister are just Squibs."
"Shut up, Malfoy, and get away from us," James ordered, his voice cold and almost crackling with power. "Slytherin's free to practice when we're done."
"Fine," Malfoy said, narrowing his eyes. "Come on, team."
"Hi, Alice," Lily said with a big smile. Alice was the first one to the first Defense Against the Dark Arts Clinic of the year. She hoped desperately that her friends would show up despite the fact that they were angry at her.
"Hi," Alice responded.
"So, are you going to Hogsmeade?" Lily questioned.
Some Ravenclaws and Gryffindors poured in.
Alice nodded. "I'm glad you're spending more time with me, Lils. You've always been so nice."
Of course, that made Lily feel horrible because she hadn't really spent any time with poor, sweet, shy Alice Flynn before.
"You're a lot of fun when you actually open up," Lily said. "I'd encourage you to do it more often."
"Can I tell you something?" Alice asked.
"Definitely," Lily responded.
"Well, I – "
At that moment, Sirius, Remus, Chelsea, Peter, Helga, and Amirah strolled in, followed by Majed and Frank Longbottom and then Cerise. Lily scanned the group several times over, but there was no James. Disappointed, she looked up to see Lucius. She was surprised, to say the least, but even his appearance couldn't placate her.
"I would like to join this clinic," he announced boldly.
"Sign up with Professor Smartt," she told him.
'See? I'm trying to make peace,' Lucius's eyes told her.
"Great," she whispered to herself. But what was the use if James wasn't consoled?
Why did it matter so much to her anyways?
"I don't think we should allow prospective or even current Death Eaters to join the Defense Against the Dark Arts clinic," Amirah said smoothly, but not obnoxiously…well, it seemed obnoxious to Lily anyways.
"It'll let them in on all our secrets," agreed Sirius. He glared at Lucius's back.
"Come now," Professor Smartt said. "Don't judge people by their families. Look at you, Mr. Black. Your family is full of Dark Wizards, and look at you. You ran away from home and you aren't so bad."
"People can change," Lily spoke up timidly.
He shrugged. "Well, I can't disregard anything I heard with my own ears."
"Today we'll be talking about vampires," Lily said, deciding to ignore him. "More specifically, vampire-related myths and lore. Does anybody have anything to say?"
"Vampires can appear completely human," Alice spoke up. "In that case, the only thing that distinguishes them from humans is their superhuman strength, ability to grow fangs, and of course, their need for blood."
"Very true," Lily agreed. "Surprisingly enough, vampires can go in sunlight for extended periods of time. In fact, it's the cold that bothers them more because they are cold-blooded. Of course, after their…er…ingestion of blood, they can stand cold for protracted amounts of time because of the warm blood of humans that they feast on."
She tried not to watch Sirius, Amirah, Remus, and Chelsea talking quietly, but her eyes seemed to land upon them over and over.
"This Lily," Sirius muttered. "Can't she see how much she's hurting other people? Why's she being so selfish?"
"Why don't you stop harassing Lily?" Remus asked, with a sigh. It was getting really tiring to hear all of them continuously talk about Lily and how Lily had lied, how Lily had betrayed them, et cetera.
"Why are you all of a sudden taking her side?" Chelsea questioned, crossing her arms across her chest.
"Because Lily's a human, like all of us. She has thoughts and feelings too," he said patiently.
"I think Cerise was right," Chelsea said.
"What are you talking about?" Remus asked, berating himself for opening his mouth. He should have just ignored it the way he always did when James and Sirius were being immature or Peter was being annoying.
"What did she say?" Sirius asked, pretending he didn't care.
"I overheard her talking to Lily at night," said Chelsea, her tone accusatory. "She said she thinks you fancy Lily."
"I do not," Remus lied.
Well, currently it was the truth. He cared deeply and immensely about Chelsea – so much more than anyone else. Once, in fifth year, he had fancied Lily. She was clever, kind, friendly, so pretty, and a prefect like him.
"If you say so," Chelsea said coldly.
Sneak-peek Chapter Seven:
"Fine then," James said, whirling around and grabbing Amirah. He kissed her on the lips.
Author's Note: The next update will either be on Sunday, June 26 or Monday, June 27. Look for it!