Disclaimer: C chappie #1.
A/N: I changed Dee's nickname and surname in this chapter and the one's preceeding it. Her name is now Delia Flynn, therefore, her nickname is now Fly because I just thought it was cooler to have a Quidditch nut named Fly, don't you think? Well, I may change it back if you's really don't like it, but I just think it's better this way. Well, thanks for reading, and I hope you don't get confused. And to the real Fly, if you're reading this, we miss you and need you to come back. Everyone hates one another now; I need someone to help me hide the bodies. w/ luv, Yo-yo. ULTIMATE ROWING! AND FREE WILLY!
Chapter 5- Animagi:
This was where he was meant to be.
Where the sky was so close he could almost touch the stars. Where he could see the creases and craters of the moon's kind face. Where the wind ran her fingers through his hair. Where the night whispered its secrets in his ear. And where he could feel his soul rise from his body, mingling with the harmony of the world he was meant to belong.
His stomach lurched every time- exhilaration mixed with just an iota of fear. And every time he couldn't imagine a world where this elation didn't exist.
"Potter!" Fly's voice bellowed, breaking from his reverie.
"What?" he groaned, soaring down to her altitude.
"Just because you're on the team doesn't mean you can do what you want," she glared, "you've still got to tryout."
"Yeah, whatever." He frowned, looking down.
"James, I know you're the best player-"
But he wasn't listening. Instead his attention was on the three huddled heads in the stands. He groaned to himself. Sitting in the middle, equipped with notepads were Lily, Sunny and Remus.
God, Lily looked beautiful then. Her dark red curls seemed to shimmer on her head, making her stick out like a sore thumb. The air was comfortable with a slight cool breeze caressing its way past them. She was wearing an olive green tank top, denim shorts and white sneakers. In the seat behind her lay a discarded hoodie, matching the tank she wore.
"What are they doing here?" he asked, pointing. "I mean, Lily doesn't even like Quidditch."
Fly sighed.
Ever since Lily had come back from her night in the Infirmary, Lily and James hadn't so much as looked at one another. Of course their civility had been as "normal" as possible- meaning they barely spoke- but their tension was having a strain on everyone else. Sensitive to Lily's feelings, both Fly and Sunny had almost completely stopped talking to him and the Marauders.
"James," she began, her voice pacified. "What exactly happened between you two? First you guys were barely friends, and now . . . you guys are back to where you were last year after her birthday. What happened?"
"Nothing happened," James frowned, looking away from the trio. "We had an argument, and then we stopped talking. In the past five years, how many times had that happened?"
"Well that's what I'm not understanding. Why has it happened so many times in the past five years, what do you guys have against one another?"
"Against?" he asked, his brows rose as if she'd mistaken him as a woman. "I have nothing against her. It's she that has this two foot pole up her ass! God, everyone knows I like her, including her, and yet she still insists on treating me like shit!"
Fly watched as he looked everywhere but at the girl sitting below with the flaming red hair. And something popped into her head.
She looked down at the girl who'd sworn her utter hatred of James, a realization dawned on her.
"Maybe she likes you too." She whispered, her eyes still on the girl.
"What?" he asked, swiveling his eyes towards her.
"What?" she asked looking up, not realizing she'd spoken those words. "I didn't say anything." She lied.
"Yes you did, you said she might like me back." He insisted, his eyes burrowing into hers.
"N-no I didn't." she frowned, his dark eyes making her falter.
"Delia Flynn . . ."
"Ok," she sighed, failing under his penetrating stare. "I'm not sure, but sometimes . . . sometimes she acts as if there's something she's hiding, or trying not to think of. Sometimes, it's as if she knows something that she'd rather not own up to. She is scared of something. I'm not sure what, and you can't quote me . . . but, she might like you back."
James turned and looked down at the trio in the stands, his eyes falling on the redhead.
". . . I told her she was afraid of me . . ."
"What?"
"I told her she was afraid of me, and that's what made her mad." He closed his eyes, and looked back at Fly, "Could it be true?"
"I don't know, but maybe." She turned away from him. "C'mon, we've got tryouts to conduct."
She stared up at the moon, she smiled. It reminded her of a pregnant belly, all swollen and life-sustaining, hanging up in the sky.
It wasn't full yet.
But tomorrow it would be, and Remus would be carted off to the Shrieking Shack, with the alibi of visiting his sick aunt.
Yes, she knew.
It was the beginning of their third year, a week after Professor McGonagall introduced the class to Animagi. That night, after Lily had sneaked up to the tallest Astronomy tower and watched the sunset, she heard a rustling beneath her. In the crack in the trapdoor, she watched as four boys appeared from beneath an Invisibility cloak and hurried to close the trapdoor and place an Imperturbable Curse on it.
As soon as they'd deemed the room safe, Remus and Potter began lighting candles, leaving Peter and Sirius to sit on the floor, the candlelight distorting their faces.
"Did you guys hear Professor McGonagall in Transfiguration the other day?"
"Yeah," they all agreed, as James took a seat between Peter and Sirius.
"Well, its been stuck in my head ever since she'd said it. Do you guys think we can do it?"
"Do what?" Sirius asked cautiously, his blue eyes dark.
"Well, become Animagi." James answered, as if one of the most intelligent ideas he'd ever thought up.
"You want us to become Animagi?" Peter asked, his watery blue eyes skittered over each Marauder's face.
"Yeah-"
"I'm game." Sirius smiled, scratching his short black hair.
"What!" Remus exclaimed, almost jumping up from his seat. "Why in the hell would you even consider it? Did you actually hear what McGonagall said? She said that Animagus transformations can go horribly wrong-!"
"- You can come out inside out, you can permanently be covered in fur, you can be turned into half a person or even kill yourself. . . blah, blah, blah," Sirius deadpanned. "We paid attention, but I agree with Ja-"
"How can you possibly agree with James? He hasn't even said anything, much less anything competent! He always comes up with cockamamie ideas, and this one is the most dangerous." He turned to James. "Why would you even think this?"
"To help you," James said simply, pushing back his hair.
"What?" Remus asked, his brown eyes wide.
"Once every month you've got to suffer under the moon in the Shrieking Shack. The next day you're always hurt really bad . . . Maybe we can help you. Maybe we can make it a little easier for you to go through this. And just maybe-"
"And just maybe you'll get yourself killed. Hell, you might get bitten."
"We won't get bitten." Sirius said.
"And how do you know that? How can you be truly sure?" Remus asked, looking each one in the face. "Did you even think how I'd feel? Did you even-?"
"Yeah," James sighed. "I thought you'd be ecstatic! I thought you would love hanging with us when you couldn't be with anyone else. I thought- "
"You thought that I'd want to put my friends in danger? You thought that I wouldn't be upset, feel guilty if I accidentally bit one of you and cursed you to the same life that I live? You thought that I would want to risk you guys' expulsion? Want to ruin your lives? Want to explain to Professor Dumbledore and your parents why I disobeyed the rules of my admittance and in the process turned you guys into snarling beasts? Did you really want me to love that?"
"You're too dramatic." Sirius sighed, gently punching him in the arm.
"Sure, I'm just way too dramatic when your mother finds out that you're a half-breed and starts sending me howlers laced with poison and killer owls." Remus sneered. "Yeah, I'll be a total Drama Queen when I'm dead!"
Suddenly Peter busted into a fit of laughter, causing inquisitive glances from the remaining Marauders.
"Well," he chuckled, holding on to his sides. "Well, you describing yourself as a Drama Queen," he managed, "it made me think of the charm that Evans put on James last night in the common room."
James's eyes darkened.
"No offense James, but you could totally have your own act."
"Shut up Peter," James groaned, "Lillian Evans is a total idiot. She's stupid and ugly-"
"-And is the only girl that can totally embarrass the hell out of you. It was really funny man!" Sirius grinned. "How she catches you off guard like that, I'll never know. But she's quick. No wonder she's on the top in Charms . . . she always has you to practice on!"
Remus, Peter and Sirius all erupted in another fit of laughter so great that soon they were rolling on the ground, clutching their sides with tears rolling from their eyes.
"Shut up!" he groaned, pushing his black hair from his forehead.
"You gotta' admit," Remus said, who'd been as upset as James a couple of minutes ago. "You gotta' admit, she did get you good. You didn't even realize it until you got ready for bed!"
"SHUT UP!" James growled, his eyes brown flames.
Finally, after many long moments, they finally calmed down and decided to leave.
Lily was relieved but her mind was also reeling from the new information.
Remus Lupin was a werewolf.
Remus Lupin the guy she usually sat up with studying and reading Muggle literature. Remus Lupin who'd told her many things in confidence. Remus Lupin who'd been her first male friend in Hogwarts was a werewolf.
She'd been so preoccupied by the new information that she'd forgotten to be more quiet getting from the tower and ran into a very solid . . . nothing.
"Lily!" they all gasped at the same time, their voices in a hushed whisper.
Sighing, she followed them to the common room, preparing herself mentally for the interrogation.
And it sure did pack a wallop.
As soon as she climbed in from the portrait hole, she was met with four pair of blazing eyes: two blue, one hazel and one dark brown.
"I-"
"You heard us didn't you?" Potter accused.
"N-no." she lied, but cursed by those famous Evans' eyes, they knew she was lying. Everyone always knew when she was lying. Those damn almond- shaped green eyes always revealed whatever she was feeling. There was no use in her ever lying, with those huge, expressive eyes, even Veritaserum was a waste.
"Lily?" Remus said, his eyes wide and she felt her heart break.
"I-" she sighed, looking down at the carpet. "I- I didn't mean to. I was just watching the sunset and suddenly I hear you guys come in the trapdoor and I just . . . froze."
His brown eyes were wide- scared. He wasn't only scared; he was hurt, betrayed; someone he'd considered a friend had spied on him, as if she didn't trust him . . . as if she didn't know him. He looked as if she'd just run over his boyhood puppy, Scooter, and had laughed while driving away.
"I- I'm so sorry, Remus," she said, suddenly bursting into tears. "I didn't mean to do that. I- I didn't know what to do!" she looked up into his eyes. "You're my friend and I had no right to spy on you- but I guess I knew . . . you're a werewolf."
All four of them stared at her as if she'd just uttered an obscenity.
"I- I didn't even know they were real." She said, her eyes burrowed into his, beseeching him to forgive her.
"How-?" Potter began, but stopped.
She was a Muggle-born. She didn't even know that werewolves existed, so that meant she didn't know the stigmatism that surrounded them either.
"Lily-" Remus began, coming up to her so she sobbed on his shoulder.
"I won't tell anyone. I'm so, so s- sorry. I thought they were just something that Muggles made to scare little children. I just thought it was a myth . . . I didn't mean to- God, I can't even imagine what it's like to be you. God, I'm so damned nosy . . . My Mum says that all the time- and that I eat too much chocolate- but she says I don't think about the ramifications, I don't think about others. I'm so sorry!"
By the end of the night she'd been sworn to secrecy and been made a silent member of the Marauders, although she still hated one of its members. And over the years she'd kept many of the group's secrets. It was she that presided over their first Animagus transformations. It was she who helped them prepare, aided them in gathering the potion ingredients and perfected the incantation. It was she who'd helped them pick their animal to transform into, and it was she who at first assisted with Remus in trying to discourage the Animagus endeavor.
Gently rubbing the moisture from her hair with the fuzzy yellow towel, she stepped out of the perfects' bathroom humming Van Morrison's "Brown-Eyed Girl."
With her eyes closed, she softly sang the chorus. It had been one of her favorite songs, which of course she'd never own up to in the real world. One Mothers' Day she and Petunia burst into her parents' room singing it and bearing breakfast, effectively waking her mother up and getting them both grounded.
Suddenly, she crashed into a very firm- something. When she looked up, she wasn't surprised- with her luck- to find herself staring into the most beautiful set of hazel eyes ever crafted.
"Evans."
"Potter." They'd both said simultaneously, only to be followed by complete silence.
It was obvious that he'd just gotten back from Quidditch practice. It'd been a week since tryouts and of course he'd made the team, in the same position.
He stood before her with his black hair plastered to his forehead from the rain, curling at the ends quite handsomely. His face was a mixture of sweat and rain, with a little rivulet running down his rather long nose, making little drops at the end, which were meticulously dropping to his soaked robes.
From her first sighting of him in their fifth year on the Hogwarts Express, she could only describe James Potter as one thing: beautiful.
It seemed over the summer he'd been transformed into this . . . Adonis. He'd towered above her, standing at a respectable six feet. He'd hit puberty, and hell, it seemed to have agreed with him. He reminded her of a prince finally ready to take on the full weight of the kingdom. He stood before her tall and eminent. His head held high, his jaw square, and his hands firm. His body was strong and limber; ready to take on all that he was given. His face was gentle and beautiful, ready for all his servants to praise him for his kindness and greatness. His eyes strong and passionate, he was ready to reign with justice and rule with pity.
His eyes . . . no matter how much he'd grown as a person, he'd never seemed to lose that boyish charm that made them twinkle in mischief when he was concocting something devious. They never lost that sparkle when he laughed- truly laughed, not what he did in front of those girls he made out with. They never lost that intensity when he looked at her . . . that intensity that made her feel small at times, and at other times seemed to give her strength. That intensity that carried her through some of the most trying times of her life . . . that intensity that made her care for him more than she wanted or cared to admit.
It seemed ages later when they'd both broken from their trance and realize they were both standing in an abandoned hallway staring at one another.
"I'm sorry." They said concurrently, their eyes clashing together as they seemed to silently agree on what it exactly meant.
Finally, as if the silence was too much for her, she began,
"I had no right to blow up at you like that. I don't even know why I did it- Hell, I don't know why I do it half the time. It's like you trigger something inside, and I always flip onto bitch-mode in your presence. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that or said what I said."
"It's not all you're fault," he continued, never taking his eyes from hers. "I shouldn't have begun the whole conversation at all; it was as if I was goading you or something. I know that you get upset quickly, and all I ever do is perpetuate it. I shouldn't do that. I guess when I'm around you I flip to jerk-mode."
"So, we both agree that we said some hurtful things and we apologize?" she asked him, her eyes still in his.
He took a moment to reply, his eyes entranced in hers. He felt as if his body was lifting from the ground, being sucked into her, her eyes acting as a wormhole and he knew he'd never escape their magnetism.
"Yeah."
"So," she said causally, "I guess you're on your way for a bath?"
"Uh, hunh," he mumbled, his hand running into his hair.
"Uh . . . well, the water's great," she looked away from him, "Try the vanilla scent, it's the ivory knob . . . very relaxing."
"I'll probably not try that," he grinned, "I don't think I'd like to smell like a girl."
"Yeah, that'd be a drag," she smiled, his smile infectious.
"So, uh how'd you do on that last Potions exam?"
"A, I mistakened ginger-hide for hide-ginger. One can kill a person, the other can produce a very potent Oblivious Potion, it's my bad." A/N: I so know they didn't use "My Bad" back then, but I don't care, I needed something to say and "my fault" seems pretty redundant right now.
"Yeah, I got perfect, A plus," he sighed, running his hands through his hair again.
"Uh, are you excited about the Halloween Feast?"
"I guess," he shrugged. "It's always great, but the Marauders haven't decided on what prank we wanted to play on the Slytherins yet, so there's not much to be excited about yet."
"Great, you're going to hex them again," she sighed.
"This is awkward isn't it?"
"What?"
"Us trying to be civil to one another. It's really weird, right?"
"Yeah," she said, her eyes turning back to his. "Was it always this way?"
"I don't know."
"Have we ever been civil to one another?"
"The first day at Hogwarts, on the Hogwarts Express, before I tripped you on your way up to the Sorting Hat."
She wrinkled her nose, thinking back to that date. Then she looked at him. "I never knew you then, I'd never seen you on the train."
"Well, that was the only time we were civil to one another, because the first time we'd spoken, I had tripped you and you vowed to hate me for life."
"Why did you trip me?" she asked, something she'd been wanting to know the answer to ever since he'd done it.
"That, I can't answer."
"Why not?" she frowned.
"Because I'm not exactly sure. I just did it. Maybe it was random, I don't know. All I know is that I tripped you and you've never liked me since."
"Well, have a nice bath . . . and watch out for Moaning Myrtle, I heard she's sweet on you and Remus says she's been looking for you."
"Thanks." He smiled softly.
"Well then I guess I'll see you later," she said, a pseudo smile gracing her features as she looked away.
"Bye Lily," he whispered as she moved away from him.
"Bye James," she called over her shoulder, continuing to blot her curls dry on her way to Gryffindor, this time humming Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me." A/N: I'm not sure if that song came out as early as late '77, I think it came out about a year or two later, but just for argument's sake, it came out in '77.
TBC. . .
A/N: hey, I'm sorry this took so long, but my internet was really sucky this month, so I haven't been able to get on. Well, you'll read this the first day I get online, and thanks for reading and the reviews, I definitely wouldn't mind more.
P. A/N: Yeah, I guess that whole crying thing was pretty sappy, even then it was a little stupid. I'm sorry though, I still can't think of a better way of going about it, so we're just going to act like it was really good. o o
W/ luv,
Yo-yo
