A/N: Some of you might've noticed that James called her "Hermione" once, right before the food fight. That was my bad, just ignore it. Thanks to: Caroline, and yo.
At The Party
On the way to the Common Room, James pulled Hermione aside and said, "Hey, Sirius and Remus and Peter and I are gonna go nick some food from the kitchen, 'k?"
"What? You can't leave me! I don't know anyone!"
"You'll be fine. Look how easily you made friends with us!"
"Yeah...but...."
"No buts. You'll be fine." He said, and snuck off.
And he was right. When the Marauders got back, she was chatting animatedly with aa group of girls, whom James recognized as Viki, Stella, Caroline, and Tina. Remus went off with his longtime girlfriend, Minerva, Sirius went to scan the crowds for his flavor-of-the-week, and Peter went off to do....whatever it is Peter does when he's alone. Which meant James was by himself. He went over to Sirius for awhile to see if there were any prospects, and was told that Ashleigh, a petite blonde sixth year, was looking pretty fine. Then he was pulled aside by Zach, a lecherous fellow seventh year, that referred to girls as "meat."
"What do you want, Zach?" James asked wearily. He had tired of Zach the first minute he had known him.
"What I want is Lily. And I'm gonna get her." Zach growled.
"Keep your paws off Lily, Zach. I mean it." James threatened.
"James, Lily is mine. I'll have her, and then you can have her. If you want my throw away's."
James probably would've killed Zach on the spot if Sirius hadn't come up and said, "So Zach, how was your summer?" purposefully cheerful. Zach glared and stalked off.
"What was that about?" Sirius asked.
"He wants Lily." James forced through clenched teeth.
"What about me?" Hermione asked, coming up behind the boys.
"Oh, um, nothing. We were just saying how well you seem to be getting along with the other girls." Sirius lied, thinking fast on his feet.
"Oh. Right." Hermione replied, suspicious. She brightened though, as she talked. "It's so brilliant, though, because I share a dorm with Tina, Viki, Stella, and Caroline. And Tina and I are both in Transfiguration: Animagus, which means I'll have a friend there."
"You're taking Transfiguration: Animagus?? But Professor Dumbledore teaches that class himself, and only takes up to five people!" James said, incredulously.
"I know! And by the end of the year, I'll be one of the only five student animagi on campus! Isn't it great?" Hermione exclaimed.
"Right. Only of the only...five." Sirius said. He and James traded glances, and James nodded almost invisibly, but Hermione caught it.
"What aren't you telling me?" She asked, eyes narrowed.
"Listen, Lily, don't freak about what we're about to tell you." James said nervously, as he dragged her into the only corner not occupied by snogging couples.
"There are three unregistered animagi running loose on the campus. And me, Sirius, and Peter are them."
Hermione's mouth formed an "o" of suprise, and she started a barrage of questions.
"Did it hurt? What're your forms? Is it very hard? Why'd you do it? How long did it take you to figure it out?"
"Woah. Slow down. No, it doesn't really hurt. I'm a stag, Sirius is a big black dog, and Peter is a rat. It's dreadfully hard, and it took us the better part of three years." James said.
"One more question: Why not Remus?" She asked, as she devoured the information that he gave her. She did notice that James didn't answer the "why" question she asked him, but was too excited to say anything.
At this James got nervous, and Sirius deliberately would not meet her eyes.
"Becausehe'sawerewolf" Sirius muttered, looking anywhere but at her.
"What? I didn't catch that." Hermione said, quite dangerously.
"Because he's a werewolf." James said, steeling himself for the explosion that was sure to come.
"Oh! So you two and Peter became animagi to help him during the full moon! That's so sweet!" She cheerfully exclaimed. She kissed both of them on the cheek ("Such sweet boys")
and ran off to talk to Caroline, Tina, Stella, and Viki some more.
"Wow. That was easy. Shoulda told her sooner." Sirius said, and then looked at James.
"Yeah." the other boy said, dazed and blushing, holding a finger to his cheek where she had kissed him.
"Oh, come off it, James! It was just a kiss!" Sirius chided.
"Yeah." James said, still not in the plane of reality.
"Ugh!" Sirius complained, and stalked off, probably to flirt with Ashleigh.
In The Girl's Dorm.......
"Oh my god, I can't believe you kissed Peter!" Stella laughed, giggling and half-drunk off butterbeer and candy. The girls were playing truth-or-dare.
"It was once, and he looked so sad and desolate, okay!" Caroline said, slightly annoyed. She grabbed a handful of popcorn and turned to the next girl.
"Truth or dare, Lily?" She asked.
"Um.....Truth." She said.
Same time, Boy's Dorm
"Shh! Padfoot! I can't hear! She's answering a truth question!" James said.
No need to ask who 'she' was. James and the gang had been listening to (and watching) the girls for three hours, on and off. When they started to play "Truth or Dare," the boys watched nonstop. The ability to do this is provided by Sirius's two-way mirror, one of which was hidden carefully in the girls' dorm.
The boys crowded around the mirror to hear the truth question Hermione must answer.
"Ok, Lily, I've got one for you. What is your opinion of James? Make it long." Tina said.
"Uh...we...he's really nice and everything...and..uh... he seems really sweet...he's cute...uh..." Hermione trailed off into silence. The other girls had all leaned in, listening intently.
"Well?" Caroline prompted impatiently.
"He's...uh.....I..uh...."
"Don't make me hex you!" The girls shouted.
"All right! All right!!" Hermione yelled, cowering in fear from the four annoyed girls leaning toward her. "I like him! A lot! Possibly more than I should...." She trailed off.
"Alrighty then!" Stella exclaimed happily. "Who's next?"
"Ya hear that, Prongs? She likes you!" Sirius said. "Now I'm going to tease you no end!" He finished gleefully, clapping his hands with an evil grin on his face.
"Well, I think she's unsure and scared of her feelings for you, James." Remus advised sagely. "Give her, and yourself, time to adjust to new feelings before you make your move."
"Yea, I think I'll just treat her normally for a couple of weeks, then see where it goes." James said, still slightly in shock.
"Chicken." Sirius taunted.
"Oh." Peter said.
"I'll go." Stella said.
"Truth or dare?" Lily asked.
"Truth."
"Ok. Which one of the Marauders"(she had learned this term during the evening.) "Would you most like to date?" Lily asked, watching Caroline blush.
"Uh.....Sirius, minus the whole flavor-of-the-week thing." Caroline said, so fast they almost missed it.
"Ohoh! Someone likes Sirius!" Viki chanted.
"Oohh, Sirius, someone's got a crush on you!" James taunted, recovered from his shocked state.
"Uh, Yeah." Sirius said, blushing.
"Looks like Sirius has a crush on someone other than his girlfriend!" Remus said, quick to notice.
"I suppose...." he admitted.
"Gonna have to choose, Padfoot." Remus advised. "Can't have two girlfriends, ya know."
"I know that, Remus!" Sirius exploded. "Did I ever say I wanted to date her? No!"
"Sorr-y!" Remus said.
"Ya know he's got a girlfriend, right?" Tina said.
"Yeah, yeah. Who's next?" Caroline asked, changing the subject.
No one volunteered, so Hermione stepped up again. (A/N:Hey, she is the main character, ok?)
"You have to do a dare since you did a truth last time, so......How about you sneak into the boy's dorm and.........um....help me out here, people!" Caroline finished.
"And confess your undying love to James!" Stella added, always putting people in uncomfortable positions.
"No! I can't do that!" Hermione shrieked.
"Why, afraid?" The girls taunted.
"No!" Hermione said, even thought she was. She wouldn't be normally, but in this case she didn't want to do something like that because she was half-afraid it might be true......
"Bwakbwabwabwabwak!" The girls flapped their arms.
"All right, all right!" Hermione conceded.
The boys had been listening to the conversation in the girls' dorm with baited breath. When Lily caved, they let out a collective sigh of anxiety.
"All right! Come on, hide the mirror!" Remus ordered. They scrambled to make it look like they had just been talking, and not watching the girls.
Soon they heard a knock, and immediately afterward, Hermione came in. James's breath caught in his throat, and the other boys couldn't particularly blame him. She looked delicious, in a pale green silk tank top and matching shorts, with disheveled hair and a nervous blush on her cheeks.
"Just so you all are forewarned, this is a dare. D-A-R-E." She went over to James, got on her knees, and took his hands in hers.
"James, I love you with all my heart, and I will never stop loving you." She looked him in the eyes as she said this, and there was no doubt in his mind that she had meant every word of it, even if she had not meant to mean it. (A/N: Did that make sense?) She dropped his hands, looked him in the eye again, and then ran from the room.
"Hey guys, how are we gonna know if she did or not?" Viki asked the group.
Stella, always on a different wavelength than the rest of them, said, "Ooh... look at this pretty mirror I found!"
Caroline rolled her eyes before answering. "I'm not sure. I suppose Caroline could always ask Sirius..." She threw a sideways glance at her friend, who blushed red and stuck her tongue out.
At this, Hermione came into the room, very embarrassed.
"So?" Stella asked, setting the mirror on the nightstand and looking at her dorm mate questioningly.
"I did it." She replied, and no one could get anymore information on that subject out of her the entire night.
"Wait a minute, Stella, hand me that mirror." Stella handed the mirror over to her. "I've seen this before." She said. Scrutinizing the figures moving in the background. "There are people in there. They're talking. Hmm...oh my god. That's James! And he's saying....you gotta look at this, guys."
"James is saying, 'you gotta look at this, guys'?'" Tina asked, very confused.
"No! I said that! Come look!!!" Hermione burst out.
The girls crowded around Hermione like bees around a particularly fragrant flower. The shapes swirling inside the mirror were becoming clearer, and there was no doubt that it was
James, and the rest of the Marauders, in the mirror. Suddenly the image in the mirror blurred and there was a close up of James's face. Hermione saw James' eyes and then realized that there was sound. James had let out a yelp and she could hear scuffling in the background. Hermione shrieked and dropped the mirror. (fortunately it landed on a pillow)
"They've been spying on us all along!" Tina cried, staring at the mirror with her mouth open.
"Can I go kill them?" Viki asked, her eyes lighting up.
"NO!" Screamed Hermione and Caroline in unison.
"Ok, ok! I know you guys like them but sheesh!" Viki said taking a few steps back, her hands stretched out in front of her like a shield.
"Sorry Viki. Here," Hermione picked up the mirror, "I'll go give this to them and give them a hex or two." She said with an evil grin on her face.
"Ooooh!! I want to come!!" Stella said jumping up and down clapping her hands.
"Me too!" Chorused the other girls.
"AAH!" James yelped and dropped the mirror as though it had just stung him. (It too landed on a pillow)
"What?" Serious asked urgently as he snatched the mirror and took a look inside. "Oh my god!! They found the mirror!" He to dropped the mirror
"Padfoot, SHUT UP!! We need to know what they're going to do!" Remus said exasperatedly catching the mirror just before it hit the floor. But it was too late. The only image in the mirror was of the ceiling. Suddenly there was aloud bang and the door to the dormitory flew open. Standing there, with the rest of the girls behind her like reinforcement troops was Lily. She stormed in, her green eyes blazing. She shoved the the mirror into Sirius' chest knocking him over with the force. Hermione stormed over in front of James and slapped him across the face. That was the signal all the other girls were waiting for. They stormed in and turned the room into a disaster area. when they were done, four angry girls were standing over the four cowering boys, panting angrily.
"I can't believe you, James Potter!!" Hermione finished, and then left, as angrily as she had entered.
"Lily......" James called after her, stretching a hand out toward the door. He was answered with empty air and the sound of a slammed door.
A/N: Ok, so nice little "Angry Herm" bit there. Anyways, Thanks to:
Nissy Padfoot: Ooooh! You reviewed again! I was half afraid you wouldn't.......
Amanda: Thanks for reading it, finally! lol. I love ur ORCS! story.....Be safe during the hurricane!
Caroline: I've already thanked you....so y am i writing this?!? GET ONLINE MORE!!!! pwetty pwease?
jamesfan: Ooh, thank you!
fdfs: Thanks!
yo: Thanks for pointing that out! And thank you for reviewing!
mmelbear: Thanks!
padfoot7085: Thanks! Yea, it's so much easier this way....
And now for my response to the first flame I have ever gotten:
To The Avenger. I'd just like to point out, this is fanfiction. F-A-N F-I-C-T-I-O-N. Meaning it's fiction, based off the characters the lovely J.K. makes, and written by fans. If we were all to follow canon exactly, it would defeat the purpose, as there would only be, oh, about 10 different plots available, and we couldn't be very creative, now could we?! Also, I've seen some less believable stuff out there, and it was very good! So, if ya don't like it, don't read it!!
P.S: Sporked? Why not forked or spooned? Or even knifed? Sporked?!?
Ok, that was stupid....Probably just made a fool out of myself. note to self- let Viki write responses to flames from now on
Anyways...........You guys don't know how much the reviews mean to me!! When I see I have one, I save it till I'ver read all the other emails, like dessert! They make me so happy!! And happy me more updates! So, push the review button, and make me very very happy!!!