Disclaimer: You know I don't own anything but the band-aid on my finger.
To my reviewers: I love you! But I'm setting up a warning. This is tech week for the school play. I won't get home until 8 o'clock any night this week and I'll still have all my homework left when I get home. You might get a midweek update since the next chapter is pretty much already written but you might not, so I'm just forewarning you. The latest you'll get your update is Saturday.
Starborn—Thanks. As to what's wrong with her, I'm not quite sure. Probably just a little bit depressed, I think. I've yet to decide what.
DOJ—Thanks. Stubborn Lily, perhaps someday soon she shall realize James has seen the error of his ways?
J.E.A.R.K.Potter—Thanks. Me too. I think those bits are funny.
Feline-go-meow—Thanks. Yeah, the "cats and dogs" thing is kind of common. I thought about changed the title because when I searched "Switched" fics in the Harry Potter category there were 19 other stories…
Frankie Beeblebrox—Thanks. Hehe, yeah not so subtle. :-)
Radioactive Bubblegum—Thanks. Haha, yes, I'm evil, aren't I? Yeah! I thought my cousin and I could possibly be long lost twins, even though she's got red hair and I'm blonde and she's almost 3 years older than me. IT could happen!
PeRkieGuRL—Hehe, you're probably right about that but it was a spur of the moment James lie; the sort of thing that always gets him in trouble later! Maybe there should be some girl-talk coming up between him and Alice. I think that'd be fun to write. Thanks, Jenna.
Padfootforeva123—Thanks, I'll come read one of your fics but I'm swamped this week (tech week on the school play, we open Friday!) and I don't think I'm going to be able to read any fics until this weekend.
Marina—Thanks. Marina is a cool name. I like it. Mind if I use it in a story? I don't know which one, but it sounds really cool.
PumpkinCake—Thanks.
Briana Marie—Thanks. There are lots of switching places stories out there, a few are even Lily and James, though usually it isn't their idea to switch in those stories. Usually some spell gone wrong or somebody trying to teach them a lesson. I'm not sure why I made Dumbledore close to James, maybe just to add to Lily's confusion? As soon as I figure out what's wrong with Lily, it'll start progressing in the story. I think I have an idea about it, but it won't really come in until the end.
Jenn—Thanks.
Mrs.shigwa.cobain—Thanks. I try to keep it simple for who is who. I'm not 100% sure what is wrong with Lily. Their friends are still pretty clueless. All they know is that something isn't right, but they have no clue as to what it could be. They have their theories though. I don't think Dumbledore is playing dumb, but that's yet to be decided. So far, I don't think he knows. But then again, he might. Me neither. That chapter won't appear for a while but I already started writing it! But for anybody who doesn't to read that sort of thing all put a warning at the top and a mini-summary of anything they need to know for the chapter that isn't related to that.
WalkingCensure—Thanks. And there will be lots more random outburst of song. How do you feel about 1970s music? There's a lot of it I think in this. Maybe some earlier stuff thrown in too. *hint hint*
And now…ON WITH THE STORY!
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Chapter 4: Awake Again
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Lily groaned. She didn't feel well. Not well at all. She heard voices. She heard her voice. "Look, just cover for me, Alice. I'm not going to class."
"Lily, you aren't going to stay here and take care of him all day, are you?"
"You can't just desert somebody when they faint right in front of you. Friends don't do that to each other."
"Since when have you and James Potter ever been friends? And I've been meaning to talk to you about you and him acting up today in class—"
"If you're not going to help, Alice, just send Sirius or Remus back here. At least they were somewhat quieter."
"If that's the way it's going to be, humph!" She stalked out of the room, muttering about Lily's new choice in friends.
Lily opened her eyes and tried to sit up. She saw James (still appearing as Lily of course) bending over her and tucking the blankets around her.
"Lily, you're awake!" He sounded greatly relieved and sat down on the side of the bed. He leaned over and gave her a hug, then let go awkwardly and scooted a few inches back while mumbling, "Sorry."
She just nodded. "What happened?"
"You came out of Dumbledore's office. I was waiting for you to walk back to class and I saw you come and you started to stumble and fall. I caught you when you were fainting."
"I think I remember that," she said softly. "How did I get up here?" She was sure that James, in his own body, would have no trouble carrying her back up here in her own body, but with the roles reversed…well she couldn't picture her body carrying James's body up any amount of stairs.
"I tried to carry you up here. Normally, you know I'd be able to but…" He shrugged and she understood. The switch. Stupid idea really. Why had they switched? Ever since they'd switched their lives had been miserable and it hadn't even been 12 hours yet! "I got you up here with a levitation spell. Brought you in. Put you in bed there where you are now." He shrugged again. "Sirius and Remus and Peter came looking for me, well, for you. I sent them off. Alice found out from Sirius that I was up here and so she came looking for you, well, for me but I sent her away too."
"You called me your friend."
His eyes widened slightly. "How long ago did you wake up?"
"Just a couple of minutes ago. When Alice tried to get you to go to class."
James nodded. "What did Dumbledore want?"
Lily blushed. "Nothing important."
"You aren't being honest. I was honest just now. You should be too."
"I'm sure you'd rather me not say. Why didn't you ever mention that you knew Dumbledore before Hogwarts?"
"Oh. Well…er, he's a family friend. He's come over for dinner a few times."
"Do you and he talk often? It sounded like you two knew each other really well. That's the impression I got at least."
"I get sent there when the teachers are mad at me." He attempted to change the subject, "Glee club! I'll never here the end of it."
"From who?"
"Sirius and Remus for starters. Peter even would tease me for it and that's saying something; a lot of times Pete usually backs off and won't tease the three of us."
"But you're going to be in my body when you sing. They won't know it's you."
"But you've got to do it too and everyone still thinks you're me. How long until we switch back?
"What time is it?"
"About noon now."
"Roughly 156 hours."
James leaned forward to smack his head against the bed repeatedly, unfortunately Lily's legs were in the way and her knees were much more painful than the mattress would have been.
"Not interrupting anything?" asked Sirius from the doorway, he'd come just at the time when James banged his head.
James was now rubbing his forehead. "No. Nothing. Just making sure Li—little Jamesie here was alright."
"Well, you can be done playing nurse now, Evans, and scoot off down to lunch. We would have been here sooner but we had to bring James something to eat."
James noticed Peter standing behind Remus and Sirius, carrying multiple plates of food.
"Lily can stay," Lily said from the bed, she sat up.
"Are you sure?" asked Remus.
"If she wants to," Lily said. She turned to James, "Do you want to stay?"
"Sure."
Lily shifted so she was in a comfortable sitting position and James moved so he was sitting more comfortably next to her. The plates of food were passed to Lily and James and Remus, Peter, and Sirius sat on their own beds with plates. Everyone's bed curtains were pushed away so they could talk to one another.
"S' wha' wa' tha' disblay in McGoggal's glass?" Sirius asked with his mouth full.
"What?" asked Lily.
James, used to translating Sirius's sentences like that, told her, "He said, 'So what was that display in McGonagall's class?'" He looked at her hopefully. "You want to field this one?"
"Evans, since when did you get so good at understanding Sirius's stuffed-mouth language?" asked Peter.
Sirius gulped down what was in his mouth. "And I still want my question answered."
"Why don't you answer it?" Lily asked James.
There was a moment's hesitation between the two of them. What sort of answer could they give that was plausible?
Lily (the Lily that looked like James of course) replied, "We made a bet with a couple of Hufflepuffs this morning. They said if we got McGonagall to give us a week's worth of detention in the first 10 minutes of our class, then they had to treat us to lunch in Hogsmeade."
"No lunch is worth five night of detention."
"And I can't imagine you agreeing to try and get five detentions." Remus was looking at James (who of course appeared to be Lily).
"I needed some excitement in my life," James replied.
"Well, you could always date me," Sirius said, using his charming smile.
James thought he might throw up. His friend had no idea he'd just asked him on a date. It was incredibly creepy. He scooted closer to Lily; she was the only safe one in the room. The rest really were boys!
"No," Peter quipped up, "she wants to go out with James, see?"
"I do believe you're right, Pete," said Sirius. "But how can she prefer him to a stud muffin like me?"
"Easily," James answered. "James has better hair, better teeth, and he's a much better Quidditch player."
"Is not!"
Lily grinned at Sirius's indignation, though she was vexed at James giving the impression that she liked him. She tried to give a James-ish response, "Give it up, Sirius, she likes me best."
James decided to take advantage of his situation. He was still mad at Lily for her singing earlier. "Well, not necessarily best, just better." He flicked his eyes toward Remus and gave a slight smile. He saw a faint blush on Remus's cheeks; only someone who knew him as well as James would have noticed. Oh, yes, Lily would kill him for this later if she noticed.
She noticed.
"Shouldn't you be getting your books for your next class?" Lily asked him.
He knew that if he didn't want his demise to occur in the next 5 minutes, this was his cue to leave. He gave them all a smile and walked out saying, "Thanks for lunch." Lily really had no idea. Sure he'd fallen hard for her, but he wasn't the only one. Just the first and the worst. Sirius. Peter. Remus. They'd all at some time or another had a crush on her. James had just fallen the hardest. Sirius had realized that Lily was too serious for him and much preferred tormenting her rather than being polite. Peter had admired her for all her help with his classes. And he thought she was pretty (which she was, even if she seemed to do everything possible to prove otherwise). Remus had moved passed his crush last year and become friends with her; he only blushed in the room just now because Lily Evans, his good friend, had given him a flirting smile. Ha! Lily would kill James for that, but he couldn't resist: it had been the perfect opportunity for a revenge strike. He needed to find better ways to claim his revenge, something that didn't involve him having to flirt with his best friends. It was too creepy.
Lily watched James leave, scowling at his retreating back.
"Ha!" Sirius said.
"What?"
"Prongs, I think she might be coming around, you know."
"What do you mean?"
"I think she's finding you almost tolerable now," Sirius said eagerly.
"How do you figure? I hope you aren't referring to those lame compliments," Lily said agitatedly.
"Not that," he waved his hand as though actually pushing the matter aside. "She called you James. Not Potter. Not insufferable prat. Not imbecile. Not git. Not Creep-Who-Won't-Leave-Me-Alone-and-who-I'm-going-to-file-a-restraining-order-against. James."
Peter asked, "But didn't you see the look she gave Moony?"
So Moony must be Remus, Lily thought. It made sense.
"No. She was just kidding around," Remus said, sounding only the slightest bit disappointed.
Lily decided to take advantage of the situation. "Do you like her?"
The three of them gaped at her. "James?"
"Yes?" she asked, a little uncertainly.
"Where have you been? Of course he likes her!" Sirius said.
"I- I- I guess I thought he was over her," she said sheepishly.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "You thought he was over her? Honestly! Nobody can get over her. Heck, even I still fancy her. A little bit anyway."
"Really?" That was a shock.
"James, you know that Frankie is the only one in the whole dormitory who can stand up to the charm, allure, and mystery that is Lily Evans," Sirius told "James."
"And that's only because he's infatuated with that Alice girl Lily hangs out with," added Peter.
This is certainly enlightening, and a little disturbing, Lily thought. She had no idea she was so popular with the boys. Or so popular with anyone for that matter. This information about all of them meant that James must still like her too. What was she going to say? "I guess you're right. I don't know what I was thinking. Maybe it was wishful thinking."
"Wishful thinking?"
"Wishing I had her all to myself," Lily said.
Sirius snorted. "Wishing you had her at all. She hardly says a word to you without shouting. What were you arguing about earlier anyway?"
"Earlier?"
"In the beginning of McGonagall's class," Remus persisted.
"Just an old argument." She shrugged. "You know we fight all the time."
"But this was weird. You shouted. You never raise your voice, Prongs. You always said, 'I'm too cool for that; only an idiot loses control so badly that they've got to scream'."
So that was what James thought of her! He thought she was an idiot! She tried not to glare. "Well, I guess I was an idiot this morning."
"You can say that again," Remus said.
"What?"
"Honestly, getting up in front of McGonagall's class and singing 'My Girl' to Lily. What were you thinking?"
"She was mocking me. The way she was looking at me."
"You've never complained before when she looked at you."
"She's never looked at me before. Except when we argue."
"Please say you're joking, James. We've all seen her stealing glances at you. She fancies you. Plain and simple."
What? No she didn't! There was no way in the world she would ever fancy James Potter! Never! Never, never, never! "Trust me, Lily doesn't like me. Lily hates me. She always has and always will and there's nothing anybody can do about it. So I might as well stop trying. She's got a much better chance with somebody like Remus. Honestly, she doesn't like guys that goof off. She's not really into sports. She only likes studying. She likes smart guys. Not me." The words spilled out of her mouth as fast as she could make them come. "Look, I've got something to take care of. I've got to go. Now. I- I'll talk to you later." Lily got up and backed out of the room, not taking her eyes off the three of them.
There was a moment of silence and confusion. Peter said what they were all thinking, "James is acting strange."
"Yeah. I mean, first not showering this morning and actually leaving the room with knots in his hair. Then all that bother in McGonagall's class and fainting outside of Dumbledore's office."
"Yeah. Lily hasn't been any better. She totally primped today. I don't know if I've ever seen her so dressed up. She usually attempts to pull off the McGonagall look. And I'd never expect her to act like that in class, or expect her to come up here and take care of James."
"Do you think there really is something going on between the two of them?" asked Peter.
"Maybe. It could explain all the weird behavior. They did sit together at breakfast and walk to class together."
"Yeah. Maybe. But if Lily were finally showing interest in him, he'd tell us. We're his best friends."
"I know, but what if he's afraid we'll be jealous and try to break them up?" Peter asked.
"Why would he think we'd do something like that?"
Peter shrugged. It wasn't as though the thought hadn't crossed his mind; of course, he'd never betray a friend like that, but hey, he couldn't control his brain.
"He's got a point. We do still like her." Remus sat on his bed with a flop.
"Gentlemen, I say from this day forward, we make a pact," Sirius announced.
"What sort of pact?" Remus asked.
"I say, we take a vow, to rid ourselves of anything but friendly feelings for Lily Evans."
"Well, what about James? Are we letting him in on it?"
"No. That boy is a lost cause. But the three of us, we still have time to escape."
Remus looked at him, "Sirius, I don't know if I want to escape. Lily is smart, beautiful, funny…"
"Moony, you already told us. You decided not to get married. Ever. You don't want to love her. That just makes things more painful," Sirius said, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"I know. I'm in."
"Pete, you in?"
"I suppose. I've got no chance with a girl like her, right? She's too good for me?"
They didn't really have anyway to respond kindly to that one. "You're just not her type," they told him gently. It was the best they could do.
Pete nodded. "I know. I'm in."
Pete and Remus looked at Sirius. "You?"
"I'm in, too. James can have her. She's not my type. Sure she's pretty but I can't date a girl who's more serious than I am. She's follows all the school rules. Never has any fun. Well, except for that show in Transfiguration today."
"Speaking of Transfiguration, aren't we supposed to be in Charms right now?"
"Want to skip it?"
"Yeah."
"Me too."
"Let's stay here and hold the first official meeting of the Guys Obsessing Over Lily Evans."
"So, we're GOOLE."
"Yeah. We're Goole."
They started going over the list of reasons why none of them should ever consider dating Lily Evans.
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Lily found James waiting in the common room.
"That almost sounded like you were telling the truth about the bet," James congratulated her. "What made you say Hufflepuffs? Knowing my buddies, they might check your story."
"I said Hufflepuffs because there's 2 of them that owe me a favor. If you go tell them to stick to the story I told, we'll be fine."
"Good thinking. Who are they?"
"Anna and Taylor. Third year. Do you know them?"
"Yeah. Twins right? Sister and brother? Taylor plays for the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. He's their new chaser."
"I learned some interesting things after you left."
"Like what?"
"Why don't we go for a walk? I've got a lot to say."
Lily and James got up and left the common room, not really realizing that class was supposed to start in 5 minutes.
"First of all, Sirius thinks Lily is starting to like James."
"Wait, why are you talking in the third person?"
"To make things simpler. It's too confusing to know just who thinks who is who at the moment."
"Okay. Continue please then," James said courteously.
"So, because Lily called James 'James' instead of 'Potter' up in the boys' dormitory, Sirius thinks Lily is starting to like James. Now, I learned that Peter, Remus, Sirius, and James like Lily. James also said he wishes he had Lily all to himself."
"I never said that."
"Yeah. I kind of said it for you. I needed to get out of a tight corner."
"So, wait. You know about the guys?"
Lily nodded.
"They'd flip if you knew. Honestly. Sirius is too cool to like somebody smart. Pete's too, well, I'm not sure but you're just somehow out of his league. And Remus, well he has his own reasons for not seriously dating you or anybody else."
"Because of his lycanthropy?"
James's eyes looked like they were about to come out of his sockets. "You know?"
"It wasn't that hard to figure out."
"You can't tell anyone. Not even, Alice."
"I won't."
"Swear to it. Swear!"
"I swear, I won't tell. But you'd think people would notice that he goes home every month."
"He doesn't."
"He doesn't?"
"He goes to the Shrieking Shack. And we go with him."
"What? Did you get yourself bitten too so that you could be safe around him?"
"No. We change ourselves into animals every month."
"Oh. You always were the best in our class at transfiguration. I could never deny that. How long have you been able to do animal transformations? We only just started on those at the end of last year."
James marveled. She still didn't understand. She thought they used spells. She underestimated him; she didn't think he was capable or would even think of becoming an animagus. Or maybe she just hadn't thought of it because it was illegal. "A few years now."
"Oh. It always was your best subject."
"Yeah. Charms is your best, isn't it?"
"Yes. Do you know how much I wanted you not to get an O in charms in fifth year, just so I could do better than you in one subject?"
"Yeah." He smiled fondly, remembering. "Transfiguration is my best, charms is your best, and we tie for the rest."
She smiled back at him. Maybe Potter wasn't so bad after all.
"Um…I think we're late for charms," he said.
"I know. Class is almost over."
"No point in going now then, is there?"
"Probably not."
"Unless you want to go find out the homework?"
"Not really." She smiled at him.
"Are you sure you don't want to go back down to charms?" That's what he meant to say. He rather choked with the look she was giving him. He tried to repeat himself, "Maybe we should get going?"
"No. Let's keeping walking." She'd stopped looking at him so strangely, but still smiled again. They were nearly at the Owlery. "You really took care of me today." They were standing at the window together.
"What made you faint?"
"Nerves. Stress. Information. I'm not quite sure."
He nodded. He knew what it was like to just overload and not be able to handle something.
"How long was I out for?"
"A while. I started to get worried." He shifted awkwardly.
"Well, thanks," she said, equally awkward.
"For what?"
"For not freaking out and getting mad at me. For not thinking your friends would overreact to you fainting and think you weren't macho or something. For taking care of me." She smiled at him.
James wasn't sure why, but he was suddenly very nervous and a little weak in the knees.
Lily stared into his eyes and leaned forward and…didn't kiss him. She wasn't sure why but for some unknown reason, she'd had every intention of kissing him for how sweet he'd been today. But it was too weird. She'd be kissing herself. Just too strange, even for Hogwarts. "Let's get back to the common room." Besides, why would she ever want to kiss James Potter?
"Yeah. Let's go."
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So, what did you think? Let me know. I'll update when I can, but it might not be 'til next Saturday. Review!