Editing...
Disclaimer: Harry Potter & co. will never in my whole entire life belong to me. What a sad fact that is, though, 'cause that would be really cool!
A/N: Hi, guys! Oh my gosh, I am SO sorry. I never thought I'd be one of those authors that waits like half a year to update! But alas, I have become one. SO sorry! I've been majorly busy--so much homework (yes, darling little school has begun once again), projects, and social life does take up some time too! So I just wanted to explain why I have not been able to update in quite some time. I've said I'd never give up this story...it might take a while, but it'll get done (probably and eventually.)
Ok, enough of that…on with the story!
Love is a Funny Thing, Chapter 6
Freezing. Little pings of icy sharpness emitting all over her...and ...oh! What was that noise? It sounded like somebody speaking into a bucket, all echoey and not quite real.
Lily Evans struggled with the normally simple task of opening her eyes, looking dazedly around her in search of clues pertaining to where in the world she might be at the moment. She noticed pressed white sheets covering her on a small hard bed... and WHAT was she wearing? It was a hospital gown. She squinted her eyes in puzzlement, trying to figure out the reason she might be in the hospital wing...
Before Lily was allowed the privelege of further contemplation of her admittedly strangesituation, she heard the voice again, this time sounding a bit clearer and more real.
"Lily? Lihhh-leeeeeeee?" Are you awa--oh! Lily, I'm so glad that you finally woke up!" A concerned Hazel said, her tall frame leaning over Lily in concern. "Are you okay? We were all so worried when you fell in the lake, and you've been unconscious for quite some time--I mean, Madam Pomfrey said it was a natural effect, but..." she trailed off for want of something else to say.
Oh. So that was how I got here, Lily thought, remembering. It was the lake--and falling in, ice--and -- oh goodness, then there was Potter to make the situation ever more difficult--
She lay her head down with a slight groan rembering all this, and proceeded to ask Hazel about the events of the morning. "Oh gosh, Haze...what--I mean, what happened, you know, after I...fell...in?" she questioned cautiously, not wanting to remember the experience that had landed her in the hospital wing.
Hazel stared down at Lily with a type of motherly concern that only a best friend could muster. "Well, erm... I suppose you know the beginning. Well, everybody saw your fall into the lake--me and Michelle and Amanda were so afraid, as well as everyone else--the ice cracked and broke, mostly, and you started to fall in, James too. Well, James tried to rescue you, even though he was in the water himself, but he couldn't because the ice was all over the top of the lake, you know how it magically reseals itself and all--it was awful. Anyway, Sirius was the quickest to recover his senses, and he called Dumbledore--he came in running, I'd never seen him do that..." Hazel paused for a bit in her recount of the events as Lily sighed.
"Go on..." Lily said miserably.
"So, really quickly he did some really quick magic--rebroke the ice--then he did some sort of warming charm---oh, it was horrible, Lily. You two were all soaked and unconcious...anyway, he brought you to the hospital wing...well, obviously...and, well, that was--what happened." Hazel finished rather lamely.
"Oh. My. Goodness." This seemed to sum up Lily's feelings pretty well. She again pushed her face into the pillow, icy shocks still sent all over her body. Suddenly she remembered that James, too, should be in the hospital wing if Hazel's version of the events was true.
She quickly stole a glance to the bed to the right of her, and saw it was drawn with dark red velvet curtains, so she couldsteal not a glimpse of its inhabitor. To her left was a cleanly made empty bed, so he must be in the bed to her right. But why was his bed curtained? She didn't have the hangings...and she'd been in the lake as well.
She forced herself to question Hazel about this. "Haze...where's James?"
Hazel nodded to the curtained bed. "It's because he got a worse case of frostbite, because, you know, he was trying to, erm, save you."
Oh, this was just dandy. Now, on top of feeling as if thousands of ice-cold electric shocks were emitting throughout her body, she had to feel bad about James as well? It was all too much for her fragile nerves to bear.
She and Hazel chatted away, and the reasons that Michelle and Amanda were not beside her became apparent. According to a strict and quite firm Madam Pomfrey, "ONE visitor is QUITE enough for somebody in that poor girl's fragile recovery to deal with, and that is my last word on the matter." Speaking of whom, Madam Pomfrey herself quickly came into veew, peering (she looked quite like an owl who'd swallowed a lemon,Lily mused) concernedly over to Lily. She bustled over with a jar of smoking red liquid in her hand, a small vial right beside it.
"Miss Evans! That is quite good that you've awoken. Now, you just have to swallow a few mouthfuls of this Fire-up Frostbite-Fighting medicine and you'll be good as new, but of coure you will have to remain here and rest for quite a few days." she announcing, pouring a little of the visibly steaming, tomato-red liquid in the little vial, where it seemed to simmer for a moment. Hazel could hear her muttering under her breath to herself--"Goodness, children these days. Getting themselves frosbitten in the lake in December! Goodness me." She handed the now-smoking vial to Lily, saying "It's best really to swallow it all in one gulp, to get the full benefit of its effects." Lily eyed the potion dubiously, as it was now spewing a sizeable about of dark grey steamy smoke that wandered the hospital wing's air lazily. She braced herself and gulped down the potion, slightly choking and spluttering.
"Eurgh!" Lily exclaimed, an odd and rather pained expression decorating her normally pleasant features. "It's disgusting, and--OOH--HOOOTTTT!"
This remark was deemed correct, Hazel noted, by the abundant amount of steam pouring from Lily's ears, making it look as if Lily were really on fire.
"Well, what did you expect?" Madam Pomfrey said primly, pursing her lips. "Now, I want you not to MOVE from that bed or your little visitor, which I was very lenient and kind in letting stay, will exit right out that door." She pointed to the exit.
Lily assured herthat she would comply, and Madam Pomfrey went hurrying off to check on James's state.
In the following days, Lilybecame heartily sick of the stuffy, gloomy hospital wing, where steamy potion was unwillingly poured down her throat a mandatory six times in a day. She then was understandably glad, on the fourth morning of what seemed to be a month-long stay, she was permitted to go. Mind you, with about a whole manual's worth of instructions to "take it easy" and "get plently of rest" from Madam Pomfrey. Yes, Lily was glad to see her friends, have a good time in the common room, and even to attend her various classes.
The one thing that bothered her, though, was James's abscence. The hangings on his bed in the hospital wing remained drawn, and nobody was allowed to visit, according to Madam Pomfrey's strict instructions. True, James wasn't precisely Lily's favorite person in the whole world, but even so, he'd gotten sick trying to rescue her. She figured she might as well, for kindness sake and everything, visit him when it was permitted.
The statement absence makes the heart fonder seemed to be truer and truer by the day, Lily mused. Her Transfiguration class seemed strangely empty when she looked at James's vacant seat. It was just so quiet without the second part of the Sirius-James duo. They were the class clowns, the ones that really livened up everything. Strange it was, that studious Lily would miss the diversions of perhaps James and his crew making something explode in the middle of class (after all , it took away from valuable learning time!), but it seemed that she did.
Sirius was also looking rather forlorn without his favorite partner in crime. It seemed he busied himself further by aquiring girl after girl to snog, perhaps the average was one a day or so. He went through them like hotcakes, and what surprised Lily the most was that the girls never declined or refused him, regardless of his notorious player reputation.
The others, too, seemed to have different methods of dealing with James's absence. Remus busied him in studying unnecessarily for tests when he really knew the material like the back of his hand. This actually reminded Lily much like her obsessivestudying habits. However, Lily didn't think she looked as pale, or as gray and tired when SHE was cramming for an exam. Remus, for the past few days, had worn a tired, sickly bedraggled sort of expression, ceasing to go away at any time of the day.
Lily was beginning to get rather worried about Remus, actually. They were friends by nature--both sharing the same studious personality, although it was easy to see that Remus's temper was a bit calmer than Lily's. Lily had never considered Remus on the same level as Amanda, Michelle and Hazel in terms of best friends, but he was her friend nonetheless.
Which was why she became more concerned than ever when he started to look sicker and sadder than ever, and he definitely had gotten thinner. She however suspended these concerns because an important Transfiguration test was coming up, and therefore blocking out anything else of importance from her busied brain. Which made things a little more difficult than they could have otherwise have been...
A bright, sunny afternoon found Lily, Amanda, Michelle and Hazel outside like most of the Hogwarts students. The weather was still icy-cold, but there was no snow now and the grass was finally visible. Some groups situated themselves under the welcome shade of the tree, others warmed themselves in the glaring sunlight. Still others lay on their stomachs by the lake, skipping smooth flat pebbles across the shining surface and other such antics.
The Maurauders sat themselves up against a large willow tree, for once not causing trouble or snogging girls. This seemed to be a first to Lily. In fact, they were all facing each other in a sort of deadly serious huddle; heads leaned rather secretively in. They were whispering in hushed serious tones and the girls, who were sitting a little farther away, couldn't catch a word of their conversation. Lily had just leaned out to eavesdrop when she heard the girls ranting on--once again.
"And, so Mum wants me to continue my gymnastic lessons, you know, when I get home in the summer, but how can I practice? I mean, it's not like Professor McGonagall can coach me while I'm here!" Michelle was saying.
The girls all broke into giggles as they visualized stiff and prim professor McGonagall in a purple leotard that Michelle wore while she was doing gymnastics, teaching Michelle how to perfect herback flips and the like.
" Why don't you ask Dumbledore, while you're at it? I'm sure he's a very good er-boy gymnast! Hahahahaha!" Amanda suggested, breaking off into loud giggles that caused other nearby groups of students to stare. Amanda, carefree and not-caring-what-anybody-thought type of girl that she was, simply grinned cheerily at the starers and promptly began her giggles once again.
"Yes--can you imagine him doing a back walkover?" Hazel commented hysterically through tears that formed because of too much laughter. "His beard--all flipping and floating in the air--" she cried, falling further to the already-close ground while she continued to laugh rather violently.
The girls amused themselves in conversation for a while longer, hysterically suggested other unlikely professors that could coach Michelle. A girl would offer a new teacher up and they would all burst into a fresh bout of laughter. In fact, they were so wrapped up in their lighthearted conversation that they hardly noticed the slowly waning sun and how most of the student population had already trudged back indoors. Only a few sparse groups of students freckled the expansive grounds.
Lily, Hazel, Michelle and Amanda had just gotten up when they saw a rather odd sight. It was difficult to see, because it was becoming the beginning of dusk and darkness was starting to set in, slowly but surely. Lily spied about three blobs--she couldn't tell who they were, or even what gender--jogging across the lawn, a ways to the right of them. It looked like they were heading for the rather large willow tree, but in the uncertain light Lily didn't know for sure.
"Hey--guys--" Lily said briefly, pointing a shaky finger towards the three blobs running across the ground. "--look--"
"Who d'you supposed it is?" Michelle wondered out loud, squinting her jet-black eyes at the moving figures. "I can't see who it is, can you guys?"
"No--but there's only one way to find out!" Amanda replied cheerfully, and began bounding towards the running people, her blonde hair shining like moonbeams in the dusk.
Lily, Michelle and Hazel all looked at each other and on-cue sighed. It was years of practice, and they began running after Amanda. Amanda was the type of girl who always tried to find things out immediately and right then. She had never been one for subtlety, sadly. Lily noted this point with regret as she chased after her friend, her hair probably all over place and cheeks most definately flushed bright red. She stopped for a bit to catch her breath. Michelle was about level with Amanda, Hazel a little behind them both, Lily as usual bringing up the rear.
Suddenly, in the air that seemed to be hovering between day and night--life and death-- Lily saw Amanda and Michelle abruptly stop. The willow--which seemed to be the whomping willow!--was flailing its branches wildly and powerfully, attempting to hit anybody within a radius of it. Lily ran a bit closer to catch up with her three friends. The tree then froze--every leaf, which had just a second ago been wildly smacking at everything in its reach, now froze completely. Right at this moment, it looked as if the figures were silently but hurriedly slipping into a space in the trunk.
Amanda promptly began running again, heading straight for the hole which the figures just a second ago had dissappeared into. Did she wait for her friends? No. Did she ever think for just a minute? Of course not. This was typical Amanda behavior. In fact, "Throw caution to the winds" was practically the phrase she lived by, day and night.
As Lily neared the willow, muttering furious swearwords under her breath all the while, she heard a sound that made her blood freeze and turn to ice in her veins. It was a piercing bloodthirsty scream, almost not even human. And it was coming from the Whomping Willow.
A/N: Sorry if you're all disappointed with this chapter. I just wanted to make sure to get it out ASAP…because I feel really bad that I've haven't updated since forever and a half. Well, if you have any comments, questions, suggestions or etc….REVIEW! Or, review anyways and motivate me, make me really happy, and make me write quicker! All in the little blue button down there!
Anyway. Here's to my lovely reviewers!
Almost-Home : Hi! Congrats on becoming an author ! Yes, I do want to be an author when I grow up… do you? Thanks for the compliments!
californiagurl: Thanks! I kind of thought of her middle name as a Lay-ah…not quite sure why. Which is your name?
watervolleyhp: Thanks a lot! I'm glad you liked the chapter.
DobbyGrl: Thank you…I hope this chapter is good!(and if it's not…sorry!)
Jane: Yes, I am writing more, as you can see!
Black Slytherin Girl: I'm glad you liked most of the chapter. But sorry, I do have the right to put clichés in my story…I mean, not everyone has to like everything! I'll try to make it with not so many clichés, but some may still slip in unnoticed. They're just so much fun to write…