Ahh.. four months since I updated. Well, I'm glad I got inspiration over Winter Break. So here's the 11 pages of my labor, just for you!
WOAH! 95 reviews? That's almost 100!! Well, we'll see who gets number 100, eh?
No review responses today.. I have homework to do.. XD
So, without further delay:
The Not-So-Secret Life of Lily Evans
Chapter 10: Competitions
-------------------
The release of the quaffle was last, and the chasers pounced upon it like hungry cats. Lily didn't know many of the players on the teams, but the familiar faces of the Gryffindor team looked confident, just as the Slytherin team. A Slytherin chaser managed to get his hands on the Quaffle, but was soon hit by a Bludger, and he was nearly knocked off his broom. As a result, the Quaffle was snatched up by an eager Gryffindor Chaser. Lily cheered loudly with the rest of her house.
Meanwhile, James was prancing about the Slytherin goal on his broomstick, making faces at the Keeper let's call him John!.
"Why, Johnny! You're looking particularly nasty today," James commented jovially, pulling his mouth open wide and sticking his tongue out.
"Keep that up, Potter. Hopefully your face will stay like that," John sneered.
"No, I don't think I could ever manage to look as hideous as your mother, no matter how hard I tried," James replied, shaking his head in a self-pitying manner.
"Why, you---" John lunged forward in order to wring James by his neck, but as soon as James pulled away, John was stopped by the laughter and cheers of the Gryffindors. The Quaffle had been shot into the goals while he was completely distracted by James.
"That's ten points for Gryffindor as Julia Williams shoots past the distracted Keeper of the Slytherin team!" Olivia announced animatedly. "Thank you, James Potter!"
James eagerly accepted the applause from the crowd, while also dodging an angry John No-name. He finally shot upwards to begin Seeking.
----------------
"Lily," Celina called, her head peeking in from the dorm hallway, "You coming?"
"To what?" Lily asked, tearing her eyes away from her Charms book.
"You know, the usual Gryffindor Victory Party," Celina replied, turning her head slightly.
Realization formed in Lily's mind. Of course. There was always one of those every time their house team won a match. Usually it was louder when they defeated Slytherin, and today would be no exception. These Victory parties were thrown by none other than Sirius and James, who took winnings quite seriously, but money less seriously, and tossed around free butterbeers when their moods were especially elated.
"Alright, I'm coming," Lily said, marking her book. "I'll see you downstairs."
Celina smiled at her before going downstairs.
Lily stepped up to the dressing mirror for one quick look before heading downstairs as well. She brushed her hair quickly, set it up in a loose bun, and straightened her skirt, and then headed out the door.
She was greeted by laughter as her housemates roared at a joke she had missed. Probably about that Snape kid. It usually was. Quite a pity, if you ask Lily.
"Evans! I see you've decided to join us in our glorious celebration," Sirius called loudly, not bothering to make sure his Butterbeer didn't spill as he bowed ceremoniously.
Lily beamed back. "You'd think after winning so much, we'd get bored of it!"
Sirius laughed along with the rest of the partiers. "Does it look like we're bored, guys?" he asked the crowd, spreading his arms wide. They replied in the negative, with lots of cheers to emphasize their point.
James handed Lily a butterbeer as she sat down next to Celina on an already crowded couch. As she drank some of the warming drink, she noticed how happy everyone looked. Remus, especially, seemed to be enjoying himself, compared to a couple weeks ago. He was so unresponsive then, his face a sickly pale and his mind obviously focused on other matters. It was hard to tell that he was the same person.
It was as if tonight's good mood was contagious. And Lily couldn't disagree! She enjoyed herself immensely.
"So then the villager says, 'Bloody Hell!'," James said intensely, finishing up his most recent story, "'That's no werewolf! That's my wife!!'"
The students around the couch, able to hear his story over all the other noisemaking elsewhere in the room, all roared with laughter.
"Tell 'em about the garlic-lovin' vampire, Prongs!" Peter suggested loudly, nearly falling off his seat as Sirius attacked Remus with a pillow.
"Well, I can't if Sirius won't get his fat self off me!!" James scoffed, pushing Sirus roughly with his shoulder. Sirius was knocked over onto Lily's side of the couch, crushing Remus and Celina in one shot. Lily had expertly jumped off the side of the couch to avoid damage. She laughed triumphantly.
"You know, Sirius.." Remus breathed under the pressure, "You should try a diet sometime.."
"Kinda makes you pity poor Celina, eh?" James grinned at Remus.
Celina pushed an amused Sirius onto the ground. "Shutup, James, or..!"
"Oh? Or what?" James snapped back, mockingly. "You'll sick your cat on me?"
"NO! Or.. Er.." Celina thought for a moment. "Or you'll have to get your arse kicked in an arm-wrestling match!"
James raised his eyebrows. "Arm-wrestling?"
"Yeah! Arm-wrestling!" Celina repeated toughly.
"Alright. Let's go, right now!"
"Oh? So you agree to the conditions ?"
"Yes. To make the brawn even, you have to wrestle both me AND Lily." Celina crossed her arms. That girl was smart. Of course she would lose if she faced him alone.. Boys are naturally stronger than girls, especially at this age.. But WHY was she dragging Lily into this fight?
"Both? But that's--"
"What's the matter, Prongsey?? Afraid of getting beat on by a couple of GIRLS?" Sirius teased, poking James with the butt end of his empty butterbeer bottle.
James fluffed up his hair some. "N-no.. of course not! It's just that it's still 2 against--"
"Chicken! Chicken!" Peter jeered.
"Fine. Bring it on," James said, pulling up his sleeves.
"Come on, Lils," Celina said, clearing a nearby table.
"Okay," Lily agreed, pulling up her sleeves as well. This would be entertaining.
James sat down on one end of the small table, while Lily and Celina shared a seat on the other end.
"First things first: No one may use more than one hand," Celina began stating basic rules for the match as everyone else crowded around. "Second: It's best 2 out of 3. And third: Prepare to lose, Potter."
James merely smirked and held his right hand up for Celina to grab. Lily gripped her hand over Celina's, and waited.
"Ready.." Peter instructed. "Set.. GO!"
The mass of hands quivered in the air under pressure from both sides; James was hardly straining, though his face started to turn red a bit. He was intensely focused on winning, however.. his eyes stood focused on forcing his hand farther and farther..
"Come on, Lily!" Celina growled.
"I am!" Lily replied, pushing her hand towards their goal as far as she could. She had to beat James, no matter what..
Er..
THEY had to beat him. Right! She forgot about Celina for a moment..
BAM!
"Celina and Lily: 1. James: ZERO!" Peter announced.
"HAHAHAHA!" Celina laughed. "In your face!"
James narrowed his eyes, rubbing his pained hand. "Don't worry, there's still two more to go," he said coolly, although cranky at the fact that he lost that one. He extended his hand once more for Celina to take, which she did rather smugly.
"Ready.. GO!"
James pushed his hand down in a flash, taking advantage of the milliseconds before Celina and Lily even had a chance to start pushing their hands. This advantage cost them the match.
"Oooh.. looks like a tie!" Peter commentated.
"You cheater!" Lily protested. "You started too early!"
"I did not! You're just afraid of losing."
"So are you!"
"Actually, Lily, James is right," Remus interrupted, rolling his eyes as James immaturely stuck his tongue out at her. "Well, not about the losing part.. but, you two started just a tad too slow for his reflexes."
"Grr.." she fumed.
"We're down to the final battle.." Peter continued dramatically. "Who will win? Only time shall tell..
"Ready… set.. GO!"
As soon as the starting cue began, Celina screamed.
"OWW! My hand!!"
"What happened?"
"James squeezed it too hard, that's what! And something snapped under the pressure.."
"Sorry," James apologized sheepishly. "Guess I don't know my own strength.."
Celina narrowed her eyes at him, then turned to Lily. "I can't arm wrestle now! I think you're going to have to go on without me.."
"Drama Queen," Lily rolled her eyes.
"Lily!"
"Celina, there's no way I could---"
"Shh! Don't let HIM know that!"
Lily sighed. Now she was going to lose, and Celina's honor would be flushed down the drain, leaving Mr. Potter to gloat for the rest of the night.
And Lily would have to put up with it.
Unless…
"Hold on, I need to tie my shoe," Lily said quickly, ducking under the table. Before questions arose, she flipped out her wand and muttered a curse. ANY curse. Well, not ANY curse, but one to give her Herculean Strength! BWAHAHA! "Okay, ready!"
Lily smiled as she took Jame's hand in a firm grip. Wow. Were his hands always this warm? And did he use lotion or something, cause..? Wow. She stared breathlessly into Jame's shimmering hazel eyes. He looked smugly back at her. She grinned; he thought he was going to win?
"Ready to die, Potter? I mean.. er.. lose! Yeah.."
"Allow me to apologize in advance if I crush you with my masculine strength, little Lily," James ran a hand through his hair.
"There will be no more crushing tonight, Mr. Potter," came McGonagall's voice from the portrait-hole.
"Aw, crap.." Sirius muttered.
"It is one-twenty in the middle of the night, and tomorrow is a school day. I suggest you all go to sleep."
Moans and groans from the party-ers filled the room, and everyone else not important to the story here gathered their things to retreat to the dorms as McGonagall left.
Lily de-charmed herself when no one was looking.
"Too bad, Lils.. Guess you'll have to lose another day," James laughed.
"Whatever, James. Next time ANYONE makes a bet, make sure it doesn't involve strenuous physical exercise."
"Oh, but that sets an unfair advantage for Prongs and Padfoot.." Remus shook his head as he began climbing the dormitory stairs.
"Shutup, Moony," Sirius chucked a pillow towards him.
James crossed his arms. "Alright, I'll think of another.. 'competition' for us later, Evans. And we'll have to leave Celina out of it or she might break a nail."
"Yeah, you're lucky I can't break your face right now, Potter.." Celina muttered, nursing a pained hand. It wasn't serious; it would hurt a little in the morning, but that's all.
"Bedtime, Drama Queen," Lily informed her, dragging Celina up the stairs.
-------------------------------------------
The next day, the Gryffindors all felt the effects of last night's party. Deckard almost gave them all detention, but settled on taking 20 points away from Gryffindor in retaliation for them all falling asleep in his class. Savagely, Sirius stuck a piece of ABC Drooble's Best Blowing Gum on Deckard's abnormally large behind as the bell rang.
"Next up: Potions!" Sirius announced cheerfully as they all left for the dungeons together in a big group. "Remus's favorite class!"
Remus merely rubbed his forehead with his hands.
"Maybe if you tell her how nice she looks, Moony, she'll let us sleep in class!" Peter suggested.
Lily smiled. That WOULD be nice.. She could finish her dream about getting an OWL in every subject imaginable..
"Ah, I've got a splendid idea, Evans!!" James burst out. "Remember that match I almost won last night, but we never finished?"
"I remember it, but not quite like that.." Lily replied.
"Well, let's make a bet this time."
"I'm listening," Celina butt in.
"Excuse me, I wasn't talking to you," James said coldly, and shoved her into Sirius. He turned back to Lily, a smile playing on his lips.
"What kind of a bet?" Lily asked, now interested.
"Ohh.. Miss Evans? A potential gambler?" Sirius tutted.
"We'll make a bet on.. the number of times Caliban calls Remus 'dear' or any other form of such in one class period," James said. "Winner chooses their prize. And if no one wins, then.. well, Remus is a winner no matter what!"
"Prat," Remus muttered.
Lily thought for a moment. Would she regret this?
Okay, what are the chances of anyone winning this one? It wouldn't hurt to try..
Well, it would hurt Remus. But not enough to kill him.
Remus would have to live with it.
"I'm in." Lily decided just as they entered the dungeon classroom.
"Alright; ladies first. Pick a number."
"Ummm.. well, the class is only an hour long today, so.." Once every 20 minutes… that would calculate to..
"4." Lily stated, throwing in an extra.
"6." James declared.
"Crap." Remus blasphemized.
"Good morning, class!" Caliban greeted as the bell rang. "Although that's an oxymoron.. cause mornings are hardly ever good, are they?" She poked Peter, who had already fallen asleep before his cauldron. "Today, we will be making a Luminescence Potion, a potion that makes any object you pour it on to glow in the dark. The time period that it takes effect for depends on how well the potion is made. Usually anywhere from 1 day to 2 weeks."
And what good is this potion for? Lily thought. Maybe if you can't find your keys in a really big purse it could come in useful... Lily tried to keep her attention focused on Professor Caliban as she explained the procedure, and soon the class set about on making the potion.
Remus started off today's class a little shakier than usual. He messed up the first ingredient already, spilling half his bat's broth.
"Try to keep stuff INSIDE your cauldron, dear," Caliban sighed as she passed by.
That's one! Lily immediately turned to catch James's eye. James had a "10 minutes into class already" -amazed look on his face.
Keeping her ears as open as they would go, Lily double-tasked on listening and potion-brewing. Twice already, she and James whirled around at the mention of the word "dear", both false alarms; one was directed at someone else, and the other was from two students on the corner casually mentioning deer hunting.
Lily's potion was coming along quite well, though. It would flicker every now and then. Caliban noticed this.
"You're doing quite well, sweetie. 5 points to Gryffindor, even though I'm still a Slytherin at heart.." Caliban mused, gliding by after peering into Lily's cauldron.
Someone scoffed behind her. It was James. Lily knew, because she turned to look, and found him staring at her.
"Jealous?" she teased.
"Not as much as Moony." James grinned, his eyes twinkling.
Wow.. was it getting warm in here? Because the dungeons were usually stony cold.. Maybe something was wrong with her potion?
A belch erupted from Remus's potion.
" Make sure the moths aren't still alive, love!" Caliban exclaimed, thoroughly grossed out.
TWO! Ha. Lily's calculations were going well. She was sure to win. Although she hadn't quite decided on her prize yet..
Imagine, getting James Potter to do whatever you wanted..
Celina obviously had used her ESP powers again, and elbowed Lily just then. "Why are you blushing?" she asked curiously.
"What? I am not! It must be warmer in here today or something.."
"It's the same as it always is."
"Oh. Er.. I must be sick. Yes."
There was a small pause between them among the idle chatter of the classroom.
".. Have you decided on your prize?"
"Would you stop that?!" Lily hissed.
"Are you still asleep today, sweetie?" Professor Caliban tapped Remus on the head with a long fingernail.
"That's three.." James whispered.
"I can count, you know!" Lily replied.
Remus stifled a yawn. "Sorry, Professor.. It won't happen again.."
"Yeah. Right, dear." Caliban absently twirled a lock of hair around her delicate fingers.
Lily smiled, stirring her potion 30 times. Four. Now if Caliban ignored Remus for the remaining 20 minutes, Lily wins! Now, she should begin deciding on her prize.
She turned to catch James's eye again. He was pretending to concentrate on his potion, but was putting in too many mushrooms.
Well, James was rich, so maybe she could force him to buy her some of those nice peacock feather quills..
Quills? What was she thinking?! Surely there were more important things in the world that she needed?
"You know, James, I really like Honeydukes chocolate. Maybe a couple boxes of it would be a sufficient prize for me?"
Yes, chocolate. Mmm..
"Of all the things you could force me to do, buying chocolate is the best choice?" James raised an eyebrow.
"But I like chocolate.."
"I'll buy you ten boxes if you can think of something more interesting!!"
"Don't shout at me! I'm the one winning this bet, remember?"
James bit his lip hesitantly. "Yeah." He shrugged and returned to his cauldron.
Time went more slowly now. Lily anxiously awaited the end of the period. She didn't know why she wanted to win so badly.. But seeing the look on James's face after she had won would be really nice.
Class was almost over!! Caliban instructed the class to take a quill from her desk, coat it in their potions, and leave it in the darkened back room for grading, making sure they were clearly marked with the names of their owners.
Remus quietly swirled a quill into his potion, a lump forming in his throat. He was definitely going to fail this class. He could kiss his OWL goodbye. His potion was still flickering, whereas even Sirius's was emitting a soft radiance. As he withdrew the quill from his cauldron, it started smoking.
Then it caught fire.
Before anyone could panic fully, Caliban had her wand at the ready, and extinguished the fire with a flick of her wrist.
Straightening her hair, she sighed. "It'll be a miracle if you graduate without some sort of tragic accident happening to you, dear Remus."
Curses! That makes 5. Well, no one was going to win today.
Remus sadly began cleaning his work area, a frown firmly planted on his face.
"Oh, you can still pass the class, Remus," Caliban reassured him.
"I can?"
What? Oh no.. why wasn't Caliban going away?? The bell was going to ring in 30 seconds..
"There's always an A for Effort, love."
"AUGH!" Lily exclaimed, then clapped her hands over her mouth as other students stared.
The bell rang. Class was over.
"I win, Evans," James announced, standing up.
"Great. Now I get to do your homework for a month."
"Hardly." James grinned.
".. what?" Lily didn't like the looks of this..
"In two weeks, you will be going with me to Yule Ball."
NOW Lily was regretting taking the bet.
---------------
Phew! Super long for ya!
Sorry for not updating for a while. I really want to finish this story though, so I wont abandon it!!
YAY! HP 6: the Half-Blood Princecomes out in July!:D
Hope you liked this chapter. Review, please!
