Disclaimer—I still own nothing. Quit reminding me
Dedication—This chapter dedicated to Vo, because there's a special line in it for her!
Replies—
Jadyn Potter—Thanks
HarryandGinnyforever—Technically it was a girl hitting a guy…well, I guess that depends on how you look at it though, huh? Thanks.
Child-of-scorpio—Thanks
Siriusforeva—Yes, it will be good for him, if it doesn't kill him. After all, whatever doesn't kill us makes us stronger.
HYPERdingdong39—Thanks
Allie—Thanks
Radioactive Bubblegum—Thanks.
Tenshinoreika999—Thanks. You mean you're not insane already? I'm already insane myself, though I think I was that way before I came to FF.net
Cait-chan1—hehe. Good luck on your English exam
Marina—Thanks
YankeeTorp—Thanks and indeed it does! He's just so much fun to torture
Starborn—Thanks. Yeah, I thought about that. I think in the future she going to have to worry about it not causing permanent damage, after all, eventually she'll get her body back.
Joeyperson—Thanks. Hehe, some people cringe at my evilness. Evilness. That's a cool word! The other day me and my friends were making all these were with "evil" like evilocity and evilnessicious.
Rowan the Green Eyed Cat—Tgabjs, Yes, yes, repeated torture for James. This isn't even the most torturous chapter. Yeah, if they weren't switched and Lily hit James, McGonagall probably would have congratulated her. You liked my OotP story? Thanks. Some people complained it was too much like Rowling's, but the thing is, I finished writing it before Rowling's Order of the Phoenix came out. Fortress of Shadows isn't done yet, and I've been terrible about updating it so I'm going to go hide now before other reviewers attack me.
Pherhyandoiel—Thanks
Briana Marie—Thanks. Yeah, they do need to be more careful. I'm thinking about having somebody find out about the switch but not tell them that they know and just make things very awkward for them. Thanks again. I'm going to read your story, I swear I am but I haven't had a minute to myself this week and I think I'm volunteering at one of the Habitat for Humanity warehouses tomorrow.
J.E.A.R.K.Potter—Thanks. It was fun to write.
Hannah—Nah, that's going to happen. James shall become a woman, but that's not 'til later. Maybe at the end of the next day. This torture is different. Probably a little educational for James even.
Feline-go-meow—Thanks
Mrs.shigwa.cobain—Thanks.
PeRkieGuRL—Thanks.
Moggy-is-cool—Thanks. Hehe
FrankieBeeblebrox—Thanks. I figure it's one of those embarrassing stories that parents like to tell. Hehe.
BamsSk8Chic—Thanks
The Marauders3—Thanks. Other shows? Let's see, I like Knock First, Switching Places, Family Matters, pretty much everything.
Frightningly Obsessed—And Walla Walla, you can't forget Walla Walla! Hehe. Hope you like this chapter. Haven't put it on the board yet, I'll put it on right now before I update here.
FlamezFlyer—Thanks. Really? You don't see it as Lily-ish? I kind of see her as having a bad temper so if they were in their right bodies it would be such a big deal that she punched him. But I admit it kinda did come out of nowhere. Sorry about that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chapter 9: Girl Talk
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Though it was a long while before Lily was able to return to Gryffindor Tower and get some sleep, James was back in Lily's dorm a little over an hour and a half after leaving McGonagall's classroom.
Well, 8:30 was much too early to go to bed, so he decided to go down the kitchens and get some ice cream. He was back in the common room by nine-thirty. He sat in the common room and sulked for about half an hour or so before going upstairs. It was early and he wasn't in the least bit tired but there was nothing else to do, so he might as well go to sleep.
Alice, coming up just after he'd put on pajamas, had other ideas.
"Lily, it's been a long time since we've talked, hasn't it?
"Not really. I just saw you at lunch."
"I mean really talked."
"I guess," he answered uneasily.
"So, I think we should have a girls' night."
"A girls' night?"
"Makeovers, truth or dare, the works. Some real time for girl talk."
James's mouth gaped open. "Girl talk?" he asked faintly.
She nodded firmly and smiled. She went over and got her hairbrush. "I'm thinking maybe French braids? Or a twisty bun?"
"Er…" James really didn't like people to touch his hair without his permission. Occasionally he'd let a girl run her fingers through his hair (he'd been told it was very run-handable), but he typically didn't like people to mess with it. It was his hair and he made it look just right.
"What did you do to your nails?" she asked, horrified. "If you wanted to paint them, you should have asked for help."
"They look fine," he said defensively, forgetting his hair for the moment.
"No, really. They don't. I'm telling you for your own good." She started removing the polish for him and then started painting the nails an inconspicuous pale pink.
"But I liked the pictures and letters on there," he protested.
"Fine." She rummaged through a box of polishes and found a gold nail polish and put an "L" on James's thumb. "Happy?"
He muttered under his breath.
"Did you see Frank earlier?"
"No. I had detention with McGonagall. I was grading papers while James had to clean the Owlery." He didn't mention the punch because it would make James himself look like the bad guy for hitting a girl.
"Really? I almost would have thought she'd have him grade the papers but I guess she wanted to show that she wasn't showing favoritism to her best student. Don't make that face at me, Lily Evans. You know he's better at transfiguration than you."
"So what were you going to say about Frank?"
"Here, let me put this face mask on you. It's good for your skin. "Frank? Oh, he was alone in the library studying. He's so studious. I don't understand why he didn't make Head Boy. Probably because Dumbledore favors Potter. You know he does, Lily."
"James made Head Boy because he deserved it. He knows who the troublemakers in this school are and how to deal with them. That's why Dumbledore made him Head Boy. I asked."
"Knows who the troublemakers are? It's him and his friends!"
James sniffed. "What's in this facial cream?"
"I still say Frank would make a much better Head Boy. Besides, would you rather be with Frank instead of Potter? Oh, the cream?" She started listing ingredients.
"Take it off! Take it off! You never use an oil-based facial cream. Do you want my face to break out or something? Oil! Unbelievable. Everybody knows you never used oil-based anything on your face." He grabbed a towel off the floor and started scrubbing his face vigorously.
"Well, I'm sorry, it was new cream and I wanted to try it. Besides when did you start knowing or caring about this sort of thing?"
"Never you mind. What were you going to say about Frank?" He brought up Frank again just so that Lily wouldn't lose her best friend over some stupid fight.
"Oh, Frank was in the library studying alone at a table. I almost went over and talked to him."
"I heard, from a reliable source that he likes you."
"No. Besides, who could you hear it from? He's such a loner. He doesn't hang out the other Gryffindor boys in our year, not that most of them are worth hanging out with. He's always by himself or sometimes helping younger students. I feel so bad for him sometimes. I just want to scoop him up in my arms and hug him 'til he smiles. He almost never smiles."
"Algie, his cousin or second cousin or something like that, is in Ravenclaw. He hangs out with him a lot and he's in our year."
"Really? But his name isn't Longbottom. Oh, a relative on his mother's side. I've got it. Frank. Frank Longbottom." A smile passed over her face. "Isn't he dreamy?"
"Uh, yeah, sure," James said awkwardly. What did Frank have that he didn't have? He'd ask. "What about…James Potter?"
"Are you falling for James? Is that what all that has been about this week?" she asked eagerly. She'd wanted to get to this question eventually and now was as good a time as any. She moved and sat on the other side of him to start braiding his (or rather Lily's) hair.
"No. Of course not. It's just I thought…" James sputtered.
"You know very well how I feel about James Potter," she said, yanking the hair tightly as she braided it.
"Ow! Watch it!"
"Sorry, but really! Why did you even suggest that, Lily? James Potter may be gorgeous, I'll admit that and I've admitted it before, but I hate him even more than you do sometimes. The way he and his friends treat Frank. I swear it's just not right!" She yanked a little to hard on James's hair again.
"I told you to watch it. James isn't that bad. And neither are his friends. Did you ever think that maybe there's stuff you don't know about between Frank and the four of them?"
"Since when have you started standing up for Potter?"
"Well, it looks like somebody's got stand up for him. They don't torture Frank."
"But leaving him out of things all the time is just as bad."
"I won't argue with that. But their personalities just don't match. James and his friends are loud and rowdy. Frank is the quiet shy type."
After a moment, Alice said, "He likes Quiditch, did you know that? I talked to him about it once. A long time ago."
"He does?" James was genuinely surprised.
Alice nodded. When she spoke, her voice sounded far away. "He's out there practicing even sometimes. I see him from my window when nobody's out there. Just flying like anything. But he didn't want to be on the team because of who are on it. Fabian and Gideon, they're brother and they goof off all the time. Besides that, they're a closed group. Two brothers. James and his friends are a closed group too. They wouldn't let anybody in anyway. Chaser is a group spot after all."
"What about trying for Keeper, or Seeker? Those are solitary."
"Keeper still has to work with the Chasers."
"Seeker? He's got the build for it."
She shrugged. "I don't know. He kind of closed up after that. But he did say that he worries for the team next year. Too many people will be leaving. A whole new team of Chasers will have to be started from scratch because they never opened it up to mix in new people." She sighed. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to bash on James. I know you tolerate him and sometimes he's a great guy, but sometimes when I see this sort of thing, I just can't help it."
"You've got a good heart. I'll talk to James and have him talk to Frank." James silently swore to himself to have a good long talk with Frank once he was back in his right body. He'd talk to Sirius and Remus and Peter about it too.
"So what has been up with you and James?" she asked, changing the subject.
"Nothing. Really."
"You've been dressed up all week and not acting normal at all. It's got to be something. I won't tell. You know I'm your best friend."
"Oh…I don't know."
"It's not your time of the month, is it? Sometimes I act a little strange…"
"No," he said, wondering what she could possibly be referring to.
"Did you see Sirius this morning?"
"Yeah."
"He looked really hot. I know he's arrogant and thinks he's a stud muffin, which of course he is, but despite his personality flaws he's good-looking. At least as good-looking as James. Maybe more. Not as good as Frank of course, but still…" She sighed happily. "Then again Remus is great too, but in a more subdued manner. Like not having his hair so wild. What do you think?"
James knew this was going to be a very long night.
END OF DAY 2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What did you think? I'll update s soon as I can. Don't know what the next chapter will be about. Then again, I rarely know so don't be worried.