Hello readers!
Thanks for all the positive reviews! Everyone keeps telling me to WRITE MORE WRITE MORE WRITE MORE. So I am. I've already formulated pieces of the next chapter in my mind, and you will LOVE it. :)
Responses, as usual:
Yami: You ARE like me! Shutup! I don't want to hear it; you are a great, wonderful, stupendous, fantastic writer and that is FINAL.
Wahooligan08: Thanks! I do have other fanfics, but they all keep dying on me.. They're all old anyway. But you would like the one recent fanfic I finished writing but have yet to post the rest; it's a Teen Titans exploit on Grocery Shopping. Pure humor. It's gotten lots of laughs before. Also, Lily is.. 15. Yes. I think I wrote that in the first chapter? All fifth years are 15, too. Have you forgotten OotP already? OO
Snidgetglass: Crows are evil, sinister creatures. Like squirrels.
Theoneandonlystephy: Hillbillies are scary, too.. Well, glad it made you laugh that much! XD No problem explaining it to you; that's what I do.
Yosh: Yeah, I sent you an email for YOUR response. It is ONE HUGE RESPONSE.. It's almost as scary as the squirrels..
Alrighty: here's what you've been waiting for!
Chapter 7: Miss Dragon's Dinner Party [Don't ask; I ran out of ideas on this title.. XD]
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Lunch was a normal affair. Well, as normal as lunch in the hospital wing gets. Madam Pomfrey had conjured large amounts of sandwiches, cauldron cakes, pumpkin pasties, pumpkin juice, and butterbeer for the potion victims before she disappeared somewhere, and the students pigged out accordingly.
Sirius was having quite a lot of fun. According to him, he couldn't hold anything properly with his burned hands and therefore had his wench feed him.
Remus, on the other hand, was miserable. He could barely eat through all the bandages on his face, forced to take tiny nibbles at a time.
James had abandoned the momentary plot of getting Lily to feed him, like Celina was doing to Sirius. He decided not to bother Lily further. Cowering in fear once a day was more than enough. It was like sugar. Enjoying the taste of it was one thing, but having to deal with tooth decay and major health problems was a horribly different story.
If there was a thing WORSE than temporarily becoming an unwilling transvestite, Lily Evans could cause it to happen.
So, for now, James was sitting on Remus's already crowded bed, far, far away from Lily's venomous looks and heartless jinxes.
Back to Lily, the star of the show. She had already eaten 5 large sandwiches, 2 cauldron cakes, 3 pumpkin pasties, and was on to her third bottle of butterbeer. Recovering from burns made a patient quite hungry.. Sipping her butterbeer carefully (it was easy to spill things when you were forced to remain lying on your stomach), Lily observed Olivia Carson on the other bed next to her. She was waving goodbye to a tall boy with short dreadlocks. [Sound familiar..?]
"Was that Matthew Jordan? From Ravenclaw?" Lily asked curiously, trying to get a conversation started. She had been getting kind of lonely.
"Yes," Olivia replied shyly, shifting the bandages wrapped around her left shoulder. "My boyfriend. He left lunch early to come see me."
"Oooh.. How nice! So how long have you two been together? I never knew you had a boyfriend."
"Since this summer, actually.."
The two continued talking for a while. Lily found Olivia an interesting person to talk to; she never knew why they didn't talk much before.. Maybe because Olivia had lots of friends from other houses, and Lily was often a loner when she was not with Celina. Also, Olivia didn't spend a lot of her free time in the library like Lily did. They just greeted each other in the mornings (as they were roommates) and then set off. That was it.
Lily paused as she noticed Professor Caliban enter. As his friends also noticed, Remus was quickly assaulted by wide grins and mischievous looks.
"Well! Professor!" Sirius greeted enthusiastically, his hands thrown up in mock-surprise. "What ARE you doing here?"
"Good afternoon," Caliban bowed her scarlet-haired head, her long braid dangling perilously towards the floor. "I couldn't just let my precious students just ROT in here, even though it would save a lot of you from the wrath of your History tests.." she shrugged gently.
"Hear, hear," James toasted a bottle of butterbeer high in the air.
"I hope you are all enjoying your lunch?" Professor asked, a glint in her eye.
"Of course!" one student replied loudly. Murmurs of agreement followed.
"Yes, of course.. except for those of you who can hardly eat," Caliban added, crossing over to Remus's bed. "Off! All of you!" she shooed off the extraneous occupants of the bed and sat down at his side. Remus was secretly grateful for the extra legroom. His legs were sore and cramped from having his friends sit on and around them.
Lily watched with wide eyes, the near-empty bottle of butterbeer frozen at her lips, as Caliban was unwrapping Remus's facial bandages. It didn't take her long to reveal the mummy that was Remus. His face and neck were completely covered in burns, except that they were already a light pink from rapidly healing. Pomfrey's ointment was already replacing the areas of missing flesh on his face. It wasn't pretty to look at, but it was surely an improvement from this morning.
"Eat first, then I'll give you fresh bandages," Caliban ordered, gathering up the used bandages. She disposed of them with a wave of her wand, as Remus hurriedly wolfed down three sandwiches in less than half a minute. "Remus, slow down! You're making me sick." Professor Caliban rolled her eyes as she helped herself to a sip of butterbeer.
"Yes, ma'am," Remus replied promptly, staring down at his empty hands.
"Call me ma'am again, and you will die an agonizing death."
Remus chose not to answer this time, instead deciding on a cauldron cake and some pumpkin juice. He didn't want the warming sensation of butterbeer inside; his whole body seemed feverish already and his cheeks felt unusually hot. Besides, the warmth from third degree burns was enough to last until December.
Lily watched Sirius, James, and Peter snickering maliciously from behind Caliban's back. Remus was avoiding eye contact with any of them. His forehead was collecting beads of sweat and his hands were slightly trembling as he gulped down cup after cup of pumpkin juice. The poor boy looked so.. abused. Lily could tell; Petunia often subjected her to that kind of treatment, except that Petunia's actions held more hate than laughter.
"All done? Alright, let's put some ointment back on.." Caliban began, squeezing out ointment onto her thin hands. As she began carefully spreading it on Remus's face, she spoke without pausing from the application. "Gentlemen, if you continue your snickering, I'll see to it that you each get two weeks of detention with Mr. Filch," she smiled, her eyes flicking to Remus's for a moment.
The boys quickly turned their attentions to more interesting topics, such as the weather, which they discussed with great interest.. much, much farther away from the beds.
Where was Madam Pomfrey, anyway? Shouldn't SHE be the ones taking care of injuries? Maybe she was off at a meeting with the headmaster or something.. Dismissing this thought, Lily continued to drink her butterbeer, trying to keep her eyes off her Professor. It was harder than she thought.
Creidwy Caliban was a strange sort of person. She was vicious and fierce one moment, and the next she was serene and caring. It was unbelievable.. But Lily had evidence right in front of her: the tender way Caliban put bandages on Remus's face, taking care not to apply too much pressure that it caused pain to his burns; the kind way she smiled when near him, different from the superficial smiles she often wore to hide her thoughts.
Caliban MUST have schizophrenia.
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Lily awoke early one cold November Saturday, and pulled on a heavy red sweater and Gryffindor scarf along with her robes, as her roommates also awoke and dressed for the cold. It was a Hogsmeade weekend, and as much as Lily wanted to stay indoors, she couldn't. She needed more information about Dark Spells and Incantations for her DA essay, and couldn't look up that information in the warm, cozy library. Those types of books were restricted. Therefore, today would be a perfect day to explore the bookstores in Hogsmeade for specifics on the topic.
"Celina, would you like to go into Hogsmeade with me today?" Lily asked hopefully.
"Actually, I'm supposed to go with Sirius. Said he had something he wanted to show me," Celina replied, digging around in her trunk for a pair of gloves. "You should come with us! I wouldn't want to leave you all alone.."
"Oh, no. It's alright--"Lily began. She didn't want to intrude on the two; it would be horribly awkward.
"Bugger! Where is it? Er.. No, come with us. Remus and Peter are coming, too," Celina added, reading Lily's expression clearly. "And.. of course, James."
Lily stepped around the smug smile on her friend's face. "Well, I wanted to go to the bookstore.. a place like that would be bore for people like Sirius and James, wouldn't it?" Of course it would. Less-intelligent folk such as those two avoided places like bookstores at all costs. It might damage their reputation; or worse, they might actually READ something. The horror.
"They'll just have to put up with it, then. Who knows, maybe they'll find more additions to their 'Miss Dragon's Dinner Party' Collection?" Celina laughed, referring to a popular series of children's books.
Lily smiled back. So she wouldn't be alone today, and she could finally start that tedious essay.
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So much for starting that tedious essay.
Celina and Lily had forced the boys to go to the bookstore first thing upon arriving in Hogsmeade, and, grumbling, they had obeyed.
Everyone had split up, and Lily pored through every book that looked as if it would contain some decent information.
She found nothing.
And the looks she received from the sales clerk weren't very nice either. Apparently, books on Dark subjects had been banned recently, and Lily was going to have a close eye on her from now on.
Looking frustrated, Lily rejoined the group, her lips pursed in irritation.
"YOU look cheerful," James grinned.
Lily ignored him. "They don't have ANYTHING on Dark magic at all!" she told Celina.
"And.. what would you be wanting books like that for?" Sirius asked distrustfully.
Lily rolled her eyes. That's exactly what the sales clerk had asked her. "For that stupid essay for Deckard's class!"
"Wow, you're actually DOING that essay?" James asked in amazement.
"You know, James, most people actually do care about their grades," Remus said, putting a hand on James's shoulder.
"What would you know about grades, Moony?" Sirius interrupted. "You merely show up to Potions, and Caliban gives you an 'O'!"
James shook his head. "I really don't like that Deckard guy.. Have you noticed that no matter how hard he tries, he still can't get rid of his ugliness?" he pointed out, changing the subject.
"One to scare the first years right to the hospital wing, he is!" Peter remarked.
Lily couldn't help but laugh along. It was true, every word of it! One day his nose was roughly the size of a watermelon, and the next day his ears looked like as if he had stolen them off an elephant! [Did I use that phrase already?? Hmm..]
"Hey! Look!" Sirius exclaimed, his attention drawn to a display of books nearby. "Books on werewolves!"
As they were shuffling through the pages of it, laughing as they quoted pieces of the book to each other like Star Trek nerds reading lame fanfiction [lmao.. :-D], James inched closer to Lily.
"So.. what kind of books were you looking for?"
"You know, The Aspects of Dark Magic, Sorcerers and Shadows, those types of things.." Lily recalled from her memory. "They don't have them here at all, and if I don't get those books, I won't be able to finish my essay!"
James raised his eyebrows. "Why don't you make up a load of.. stuff," he corrected his crude language just in time, "and act like you know what you're talking about? I do it all the time, and I get by just fine."
"Well, I'm NOT you. I can't cheat like that. It's a horrible thing to do, and you shouldn't be doing that either," Lily admonished.
"Yes, Mother," James sighed, rolling his eyes. "So what now? You fail the essay on inaccessible information that Deckard PLOTTED for us all to fail anyway!"
Lily stared down at the ground. So. Her first failing grade. Her first FAILING grade. In anything! She had never failed any assignment before! Not even gym class, and Lily was about as physically coordinated in sports as a potato. What would she tell her parents now? And what torment would Petunia plan for her now when she received the headline news?
The world was a cruel place.
"I guess you're right.. he would never give me access to the restricted section of the library anyway.."
James's deep brown eyes lit up.
"Restricted section?"
"Well, yeah," Lily began, "The only place where I could get those books now is in the library at school, but they're all restricted and I need permission--"
James held up a hand to silence her. "Say no more, Evans."
"What.. why?"
"You're looking at the right man for the job," James said self-importantly, messing up his hair in his signature fashion. Catching Lily's unimpressed look, he continued.
"I can get you into the Restricted Section, easy. Are you free tonight?"
Lily's heart nearly skipped a beat.
"Yes," she answered without thinking. "Wait.. are you..? What does a date have to do with my homework?!" she hissed.
"Everything," James said after a long pause. Lily did not like that enchanting smile on his face. Ohhh, no. Not one bit. "You. Me. A black, starry night.. An invisibility cloak in the darkness of the Restricted Section of the library. Catch my drift?" he whispered in her ear.
Oh. THAT drift. For a second there..
"B-but.." Lily stammered, her face still flushed from about 10 seconds before. "That's going to be breaking about--"
"27 school rules, I know," James said, speaking with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a man who went blind from looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it, and now goes around schools speaking about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it. [ROFL!!! See this: http: www. lothlorien. net/ kimber/Humor/analogies. html.. I got this list once in an email, and rang it up on a web search for YOUR benefit.. hehehe]
ANYWAYS..
"But always remember this: 'You're only in trouble if you get caught,'" James said, quoting Aladdin, which is entirely impossible due to the fact that Aladdin came out in theaters about 20 years after this fiction, but the author doesn't really care anyway.
Lily pulled on her hair nervously. Fail, or break rules.. fail.. break rules..
"James! I'm a PREFECT," she reminded him, perturbed. "I can't get caught sneaking out--"
"Exactly. Get CAUGHT. Which you won't, due to my fail-safe resources."
Lily sighed.
She had better prepare herself.
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DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNN!!
This chapter is specially short for suspense.
I think.
On the next episode: James. Lily. And a dark, starry night.
biiiiig grin
REVIEW! I need suggestions for suspenseful things to happen when they go to the library.. No kissing plots, though! I don't need any for the next chapter... x]
PS- I think I could squeeze in chapter 8 before I leave for vacation on Monday night.. No guarantees, though. Sorry. TT You can still email me though; its always here: gamegurl {at} teenagedirtbag {dot} com.
Have a nice day!
Much love,
3 Bob-chan
