Disclaimer: Must you always remind me that I own nothing?
Replies:
Starborn—Thanks
Rowan the Green Eyed Cat—sing365.com, lyricsondemand.com, lyricsfreak.com, and lyricsdepot.com, are all really good sites to find lyrics like these at. I can't remember which I used for this though. Normally I go to Google.com, search the song title with the word "lyrics" after it and search and it'll bring me lots of matches!
Bobdogman—Thanks. No, the torture doesn't come until day 3 or 4 and day 2 is just starting now. I looked at your stories. I don't know anything about Inuasha (did I spell that right?). I'll review anyways and boost review numbers if you'd like, but I seriously know nothing about it. The only Anime I watch is Digimon and Yu-Gi-Oh and it's mostly just the older episodes.
Quafflebabe—Thanks.
Briana Marie—Thanks! Yeah, I know I was surprised when I wrote that and realized they still had six whole days left as each other. Selfish boys, they should have left something for the future to follow. Maybe they did! But they wrote it in code or hid it or something and nobody ever found it. I may have to work that in, actually…Well I made James, Remus, and Sirius all Chasers because you know how sometimes you and a friend are just so connected you can finish each others sentences? Like you're one person? That's kind of what they've got going, or at least how I picture it. And I figure in order to be an excellent Chaser, or any team player, you've got to be able to do that. It said something similar in the fourth book about how at the world cup the Quaffle passed back and forward so fast. Don't kill me if I decide to make Peter the commentator person (I know he's obnoxious but I can't just leave him out, they were friends). Thanks again. :-)
Marina—Thanks
Feline-go-meow—hehe, Thanks.
Marauders3—Thanks. Yeah, I admit it: I am a Full-House fan! I've actually got an idea for a story, definitely AU, in which Sirius, James, and Remus raise Harry.
Siriusforeva—Thanks. Yeah, the idea is for them to realize neither has it as easy as the other thinks.
Frankie Beeblebrox—Thanks. I got the horse thing from that book series by Gordon R. Dickson, The Dragon and the George. Excellent books. Thanks!
Radioactive Bubblegum—Thanks. April! That's not fair, I wish I were getting mine off then.
J.E.A.R.K.Potter—Thanks
PeRkieGuRL—Thanks. :-)
FrightninglyOBsessed—Good point. I wonder, they might have been laughing at me…I think they laughed at the line. Hehe. Did this turn out better than the first draft I showed you?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chapter 7: Trying to Get Along
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Lily woke up and yawned. There'd be no getting around it today. She had to shower. She'd sweated at Quidditch practice and now she stunk. She probably smelled almost as bad as James's practice gear itself did. She'd have to remember to put it in the pile of things that needed to be washed.
She rubbed her eyes and listened. No running water, lots of deep breathing. Everybody else was still asleep. She got up and dug through the trunk at the end of James's bed, looking for robes and socks and, to her embarrassment, boxers. She found all of it as well as a few other things. "What's this?" she asked herself, bemused. "Potter's got an invisibility cloak!" she whispered. She also found a book of pranks with one of them earmarked and highlighted with today's date scribbled on top. So this was what they'd been plotting to do to Snape? Didn't too complicated and it seemed mostly harmless. She put the book and cloak away and took the clothes to the bathroom.
There were razors and shaving cream on the sink as well as aftershave. In the shower were little shower caddies. One box was labeled JAMES in big letters and another was labeled SIRIUS in equally large letters. The third one had no label and contained a large bottle of shampoo and a couple of bars of soap. In James's caddy there were two sorts of shampoo, a bottle of conditioner, a bottle of shampoo/conditioner, a bottle hair de-tangle-er, several bars of soap, a washcloth, face moisturizer and a softer cloth, a tube of pimple cream (this had never even been opened), and yet another bottle of shampoo (but this one was flavored and it said "Plumeria"). She laughed. Apparently James put even more effort into his appearance than she'd thought.
There was no more stalling. She picked up a bottle of shampoo and a bottle of conditioner and set them aside. She turned on the water, peeled off her clothing as quickly as possible and stepped in. She squirted the shampoo into her hand and shut her eyes as she worked the shampoo through to her scalp. This was much easier than her own hair because it was so much shorter. James's hair was only about four or five inches long in the longest places (it just barely touched his shoulders at the longest places). She made sure to scrub thoroughly and then rinse the shampoo out just as thoroughly. Then she reached for the conditioner. She almost never used conditioner, but if James did and she was being James, then she ought to use it, she supposed. When she was done with the conditioner she looked through the caddy and picked up a soap and rag. She tried not to think at all while she washed up the rest of her, or rather, the rest of James. She kept her eyes closed. What was left? James's stupid moisturizer. She opened her eyes to look for the moisturizer and other cloth. She picked them up and washed her face. She was done and shut off the water, looking for a towel. She found one and wrapped it around her waist.
She approached sink. Time to shave. She hated shaving; she always nicked her knees with the razor. Always. Maybe her face would be easier? She hoped so; it would certainly be more visible than her legs if she did happen to accidentally cut herself. She squirted out the shaving cream and started to work. The only place she cut was just a little scratch right below her ear. She sighed and stopped the bleeding with some tissue paper. She got dressed and towel-dried her hair. Then she brushed it. She didn't do three thousand strokes and it wasn't really shiny but at least this time it was clean and there were no knots. She took the piece of tissue off her face and gathered the clothes off the floor.
She went back into the dormitory, forgetting that other people might be getting dressed. Remus was in his boxers and looking in his trunk for robes and Sirius was in the process of putting his robes on. They must have showered when they'd gotten back from Quidditch practice the night before. Peter was looking for his shoes under his bed. Frank got up and pushed past her into the bathroom muttering, "Finally."
She tried to find some way to divert her eyes and settled on making her bed, something she almost never did.
"Hey, James. What time did you get in last night?" asked Sirius.
"I dunno. Maybe a couple hours after midnight?" she answered.
"Where were you?"
"Did you raid the kitchen without us?"
"No, I was exhausted. Fell asleep in the common room talking to Lily."
Lily didn't see the glance that passed between Sirius and Remus at that moment. The glance said, James fell asleep talking to Lily? Maybe she really does like him if she was willing to tolerate him that long.
"Yeah. We were talking about how we need to meet with Dumbledore today and try and get him to cancel our punishment. We don't want to go back to glee club," she lied.
They knew she was lying without even looking at her and another uneasy glance passed. Remus said casually, "You looked like you enjoyed yourself at the meeting, I thought."
"Lily looked like it too," added Sirius.
"No. We, er, we just didn't want to be rude. I've got detention tonight. I can't help with that prank against Snape. Sorry."
"Detention! Why?"
"For that thing in McGonagall's class, Sirius."
"Oh, right," Sirius glumly said. "I would have thought glee club punishment enough.
She deemed it safe to turn around and took the right schoolbooks from James's trunk; they both had Herbology this morning. "Yeah. I'll see you guys at breakfast."
"What's your rush?" asked Sirius.
"Just somebody I need to talk to in the common room," she said, leaving.
"You think there's something going on between him and Lily?" asked Remus.
"Definitely," Sirius said.
"I only wish he'd tell us about it," Remus said.
Peter wiggled out from under the bed, shoes finally in hand. "Yeah. Why doesn't he trust us anymore?"
The question was left hanging in the air.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Lily went downstairs and found James already waiting. Today he'd compromised his appearance. He wasn't wearing any makeup and his (Lily's) hair was pulled back in a braid that hung down her back. Of course his robes were immaculately clean, unwrinkled, and completely lint free. They stood for a moment regarding each other. "Not bad," they both said. James grinned, "Thanks."
"Breakfast?"
"Starved."
They silently made their way to the great hall. They sat together. "I was thinking we should talk to Dumbledore."
"So was I."
"Maybe we can get him to take away having to do the show."
"By convincing him we're too busy?"
"It could work."
"It might."
"Have you looked at the song yet?"
"No. Have you?"
"No. I don't even know what we're doing. I left it upstairs without looking at it."
"So did I."
They discussed the best way to go about getting Dumbledore to agree and decided to visit him right before dinner. In the meantime, they had to get to class.
Lily and James went to Herbology and made sure they were paired together when it came time to repot the bubbling brimstone plants. These were one of the only plants that dragons would eat and were often planted on dragon preservation habitats. The plants smelled sulfuric every time one of the gruesome little bubbles on it popped.
They were just finishing up when James took off his dragon-hide gloves and Lily saw her hands (well, the hands that were on her original body anyway). She gave a snort of laughter.
"What?" he asked innocently.
"You painted your nails." She took his hand to look closely at his work. She nearly never painted her nails and here he was walking around with pink nails with other colors painted on top.
"I was bored. I thought I did a good job. In fact, I still think I did do a good job."
"Not bad. You mostly stayed in the lines…"
James grinned.
"…On your left hand."
He pouted.
"Well, it's true. You didn't do so well with your right."
"That's because I was trying to paint left handed. It was bloody well impossible," he grumbled.
She still hadn't let go of his hand. "What this on your thumb?"
A blush tinged his nose. "A daisy."
"You should have waited a little longer for the paint to dry. Even I know that."
"Yeah, well, I wanted to see if I could do it."
They had gathered their things and were walking back to the castle. "And what's on this finger?" She picked up his hand again.
"That is a heart. It's very well done."
"No it's not."
"Yes it is!"
"No, it's not!" she laughed, still holding his hand. "This one?"
"Anybody can plainly see that that is a snowflake."
"It looks more like a snowball."
"It's a snowflake. Don't you see all the lines?" he asked indignantly.
"No," she giggled. "What about this one?"
"That is a 'G'."
"A 'G'?"
"A 'G' for Grand Gryffindor Girls," he grinned.
"It looks more like an 'O'. Or maybe an 'S'."
"It's a 'G'," he insisted. "Besides, if it were an 'S' it would stand for Slimy Slytherin Sluts."
"That's not nice. Okay, what about this one?"
"That is a Snitch."
"It looks like a yellow circle with gray lines on two sides."
"That is the golden Snitch. It has silver wings."
"You're a bird brain, you know that?"
"So?"
They both laughed, Lily not realizing that she was still holding James's hand the whole way back to the castle.
They struggled through the rest of their classes without incident, mainly by both keeping their mouths shut and staying near each other to cover for any mistakes. McGonagall pointedly ignored them in transfiguration (even though they did nothing wrong). She did call them at the end of class to remind them that they had detention at 7 o'clock. Lunch passed peaceably. James listened to Alice talk and paid vague attention, while Lily listened with only some interest to the remarks Sirius and Remus made about Quiditch practice. They resumed class afterward and it passed much as the morning had. As soon as they were done, they went to go find Dumbledore.
They reached the Headmaster's office and went inside, well prepared to argue and reason with him. "Headmaster, we don't think it's a good idea for us to sing in front of the school at breakfast on Monday," Lily started.
"I quite agree, Mister Potter. The performance has been rescheduled for Monday evening during dinner. I think that'd be much better, don't you? That way, everyone will be nice and awake and they shall have your full attention without a peck of owls zooming overhead to bring them their mail."
Lily and James stared at each other in horror. James was quick to pick up the thread of the argument again. He said firmly, but respectfully, "We don't have time to practice for the show. I've got younger students to help educate, they'd be lost without me; clubs to oversee; and Head Girl duties. And James has Head Boy duties and his Quidditch practice. There's a Quidditch match against Hufflepuff this Saturday. We really want Gryffindor to win. This is our last year, after all. Our last chance to keep the House Cup before we turn the team over to new players next year."
"And I've got stage fright," Lily added.
"So do I," James said, not completely lying.
"You don't think you'll be able to do it?" Dumbledore sounded disappointed, very disappointed; he sounded as though he'd just been told Christmas had been canceled and someone had taken all his chocolate frogs away. "Stage fright? You had no trouble singing in front of your transfiguration class. I heard you sounded wonderful."
"It wasn't that many people, sir. You're talking about having us sing in front of the whole school rather than just a group of our closest peers."
"Sing and dance. That shouldn't worry you though, Mister Potter. After all, you play Quidditch in front of the whole school and I've never once seen you balk at the chance to show your talents in front of a crowd."
"But this is different!" protested James, eyes wide.
"As to your time restrictions, I do not really see them posing much of a threat. I'll even give the two of you leave to go into Hogsmeade after the Quiditch game on Saturday. I have a friend there who would let you use one of the rooms in her house at the edge of the village to practice your routine."
They'd run out of excuses. There was nothing left. They were doomed. Totally and utterly doomed with no way out. There would be no one and nothing to save them from utter humiliation.
"Go on and enjoy your dinner," Dumbledore said pleasantly, smiling at him with a twinkle in his eye.
"Fat chance of that," muttered Lily, as she and James started to leave the office.
"Mister Potter, a word or two? I didn't quite hear what you said," Dumbledore remarked, a twinkle in his eye.
Lily froze. She'd never mouthed off to a teacher before like that, let alone the Headmaster of Hogwarts!
James looked at her with sympathy.
"You may go, Miss Evans. Mister Potter, remain behind please."
James squeezed her shoulder in a friendly way and whispered, "I'll be waiting outside. Don't faint on me again."
She grinned a little and sat back down to face Dumbledore.
She heard the door shut behind her and knew James was gone.
"Er, yes, professor?"
"Have you noticed any improvements in Lily's condition? Any change?"
"She hasn't exactly seemed like herself this week," Lily answered hesitatingly.]
"No. I do agree that yesterday's behavior was most uncharacteristic of her. On the other hand, I did admire her choice in nail polish today. It was…colorful."
Lily burst out laughing. "That it was!" She relaxed in her seat.
"Her rebellious air yesterday was probably just her working her way out of whatever has been troubling her of late. It was not unduly abnormal."
"You mean not abnormal by wizard standards?"
"Oh no, I mean by human standards. It's really quite common, though I might have expected it before this. I've seen some girls come back from their summer holidays and return wearing dragon leather clothing, spiked jewelry, and hair in all colors of the rainbow. You're teenagers and still trying to find out who you are after all. I'm sure she'll be over all of this soon. You notice she's trying different things?"
"Like the nail polish?"
"Exactly. Yesterday she wore her hair down, something I haven't seen her do since first year. Today she wore it in a braid. I think this change out of her normal routine has been good for her. It certainly seems to be helping work her way out of her depression."
"Yes, James, that's what it's called when someone gets very sad and stays sad often for no reason," Dumbledore jibed.
"Sorry, sir."
"James, just, do what you can for her. Please? She's a special girl. Don't harass her."
"I haven't been harassing her so much this year," Lily said truthfully. James hadn't been such a git this year.
"Good. Keep it that way." He smiled and leaned back at his desk, hands behind his head and eyes half-closed behind their spectacles.
Lily waited for him to say something, fearing he had gone to sleep.
"James, I really think that whatever caused you and Lily to act as you did in Professor McGonagall's class yesterday is probably the best thing that has ever happened to either of you."
"What do you mean?" she asked curiously.
"Since the incident yesterday, you and Lily have been caught spending time together and actually looking as though you enjoy yourselves; an admirable quality for the Head Boy and Head Girl to have. I did give you the position of Head Boy because I trust you to do the best job you possibly can."
"I know, sir."
"Also, you spent last night at the school glee club. Participating in such events is good; it shows the rest of the school that our Head Boy and Head Girl have a good school spirit. Besides, it helped get Lily out of her cocoon."
"Cocoon?"
"She's never been very socially outgoing. One way and another, I believe that whatever caused her to act as she did in Professor McGonagall's class has certainly instilled some sort of confidence in her."
"Really?"
"Oh, yes. Quite certain."
"She's always been confident, though. Bossy even. Never afraid to boss people around."
"It comes naturally to some people. In some ways it comes naturally to you. In others, well, you seem to hide yourself as much as she does."
"No, I don't. I'm…I'm Mr. Popular." Hmm…Popular Potter. I'll have to use that some time, she thought.
"Don't exaggerate. I think you're enjoying glee club more than you're letting on. I also think you're almost, dare I say, looking forward to Monday?"
She thought grimly, Yes, I'm looking forward to Monday, but that's only so I can be back in my own body again. "Not really. I'm pretty nervous about it. Singing, dancing…" She just tailed off, shaking her head.
"You haven't sung in front of a crowd in seven years. I daresay you miss it."
"I don't think so," she said slowly.
Dumbledore's eyes fluttered open, clear blue. "I think you do." He leaned across the table and whispered conspiratorially, "I am going to find out why you and Lily Evans acted the way you did yesterday. You can count on it." His eyes twinkled.
"I don't think you will, sir," she said, with a little bit of a grin.
"And why is that?"
"Because, there's nothing to find out," she said cheerily. She pushed the chair away from the desk. "If you'll excuse me? I'm starved and detention starts in about half an hour unless you decide to make use of your administrational power and release me from it." She looked at him hopefully.
"I don't think so, Mr. Potter. Mark my words, I will find out."
She stood up and walked to the door, calling over her shoulder, "No you won't!"
As Dumbledore watched "James" retreat to the stairs, he thought something wasn't quite right about the way he was walking. He had to be sure. "Mr. Potter," he called.
Lily turned around and stuck her head back in the door, "Yes?"
"You didn't ask about your costumes for the your show on Monday."
"I was hoping you'd forgotten about them."
"I never forget, Mr. Potter. You may shop for costumes in Hogsmeade or use the ones the school will provide. It's up to you and Miss Evans. If you want the school costumes just come visit me again. I'll be more than happy to assist you."
"Thank you, Professor." She shut the door and left.
James was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. "Ready to eat?" he asked.
"Oh yeah. Talking to that guy can certainly work up an appetite."
"Yeah, tell me about it," he grinned.
Arm in arm and laughing, they walked into the Great Hall for their dinners.
Thanks! What did you think?