Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all affiliated enterprises belong to J.K Rowling, and not to me.
Love is a Funny Thing, Chapter 19
Lily's heart gave a great, fearsome jolt, and for a second it seemed like she, herself might be sick.
(For giants and only humans exceptionally talented at holding their alcohol)...that sounded bad, didn't it? WAS Amanda exceptionally talented at holding her alcohol? I wouldn't know…and all the evidence indicates otherwise…she's small, she's a girl, she…did she have any food while she was drinking? Did she have any other alcohol… did she drink it all by herself…did…
Peter and James were trying to pull Amanda off the floor and onto her feet (now bare, as her spiky black heeled shoes had been removed), which wasn't by any means a simple task.
"I laaaaaaaak the flawwwwwrrr!" she was protesting rather loudly.
Lily pressed an admonishing finger to her lips to indicate that Amanda should be silent, but in her drunken state, Amanda took no heed at all.
"Whhhhhaaaa do we haff to bee kwye?" a rather loud Amanda asked, pouting her ruby-lipsticked mouth.
"Amanda," Lily began in an urgent whisper, green eyes burning, "listen to me. I know you're kind of—well, really drunk, but, you HAVE to listen to this and take it very, very seriously. You have to be quiet otherwise we're going to be caught. If we get caught, we will be in trouble, and a lot of it."
"Whhhhyyyyy?" Amanda asked, though in a slightly lower voice than she'd been using previously.
"Because students aren't allowed to be wandering outside their dormitories this late." Lily answered, as, with a big heave, finally James was able to drag Amanda up to her feet.
Amanda promptly nearly toppled over. James quickly put an arm around her shoulders, and Lily did likewise on the opposite side.
Lily's heart was hammering, now with the fear of what would become of Amanda, and also of the possible consequences that Amanda's loud, carrying tones would bring.
The invisibility cloak was impossible to use now. Amanda's unpredictable movements could not be covered, and four nearly full-grown wizards and witches couldn't be concealed by a cloak meant for one. It was with growing trepidation by James, Lily and Peter set out towards the Hospital Wing.
Lily was in possession of the Marauder's Map, and was leading the other three through the labyrinth of hallways. A few times, sharp turns and shortcuts were needed to avoid wandering teachers and Filch. Each time they did this, Lily's blood seemed to flow extra-quickly to her heart. In fact, her heart seemed to be swelling with fear every time they heard a creak of a stair or a particularly violent lash of lighting, every time Amanda said something in a drunken, loud and uncaring fashion.
In short, every other moment, her heart leapt to her throat.
"Oh!" Lily gasped, remembering something out of the blue.
Peter had started from Lily's sudden comment, and had jumped. He now looked rather embarrassed, as Lily pointed to the hula hoop–like belt around her waist, and whispered, "Invenio!"
James nodded as the pink belt sparkled neon-like and slightly heated up. Lily, not wanting to attract attention from Mrs. Norris—or worse, Peeves or a teacher—hastily covered the luminous belt with her black, thick cloak. The ring of pink light was instantly hidden.
"Ooooh, spaaarrrkk—" Amanda began in a slurred voice.
James promptly brought a hand up against her mouth to silence her loud, slurred words. Apparently this was quite the wrong decision to make—Amanda began to violently protest, and made to shove his hand off her mouth.
Her muffled shrieks of protest were growing louder, as James and Amanda fought. James was attempting to steady her, but Amanda was kicking and her high-pitched shrieks escaped even James's hand. She seemed to be going crazy and wild—her ice-blue eyes caught on a wide, panicked, rather mad look, like a mouse cornered against a wall—
What had wrought this sudden change in Amanda?
Amanda's shrieks and screams were progressively growing louder and wilder now—she seemed to have totally transformed into some kind of mad, crazy animal—Peter had let go of her other side and was attempting, mostly in vain, to help James.
Amanda grew wilder and seemed to be writhing, hitting and kicking the two boys in a scared sort of manner, and still attempted to scream. She looked frightened and presently Lily stopped in her tracks in horror to watch—
Amanda grew so violent that James's hand had uncovered her mouth, letting loose a loud, wild, frightened animal-like scream, louder than Lily had ever heard coming from a human mouth, loud enough to wake everybody from the castle, Lily was sure—her heart pounded loudly and she was frightened—what was Amanda doing, just a second ago she'd been normally drunk, now she was—
James and Peter were trying to pin her against a wall and to clamp a hand over her mouth. Amanda was still protesting with all her might. Lily rushed over—James had almost gotten a hand over her ruby-lipsticked mouth when Amanda, with a wild, hungry look in her eyes, lashed out and—
Lily saw a large gash appear on James's hand by those nails, and ruby rivers of blood spilling through the air, as a large flash of lighting illuminated the scene—Lily gasped and rushed towards James—
James looked dumbstruck and was staring at his gushing hand. Lily started at Amanda, attempted to calm her down, though her heart pounded crazily.
Amanda's wide, wide, blue eyes, were wild and not her own. Her pupils seemed like they had been dilated. Her hair looked mussed up and she harbored the violent, defensive look of an attacked animal. Lily moved to put a reassuring hand on the shoulder of the girl she'd been best friends with for six years—she faintly heard James shouting, "No!" in the background, faintly saw the lightning flash and heard the thunder and the rain, as she reached towards this girl who was not herself—
Lily saw perfectly manicured, small hands reach forward, like the claws of some animal and felt a gash, long and stinging, across her throat, and, in daze, saw warm, red blood, utterly whole and real, trickling down her neck.
In a moment of total, mind-numbing shock, Lily swiped a finger across her neck and saw the soaking ruby blood that came with it—
Amanda collapsed on the floor like a rag doll, just as sudden and as startling as when she'd slashed her best friend's neck.
Hazel Halloway was acting in a very atypical manner than her usual calm, rather shy and quiet personality suggested.
She was not drinking any form of alcohol (as her friend had—though Hazel didn't know it yet--done), taking any sort of illegal, mind-defecting drug, pulling any prank (unlike the Marauders did, on a fairly regular schedule), or maiming Ms. Norris, Filch's odd kitten with hauntingly yellow eyes (though she knew more than a handful of people who would be more than happy to do so).
No, Hazel was currently immersed in a very in-depth snogging session with Remus Lupin, on a large, albeit ripped and worn scarlet armchair. The armchair was broken and torn, and so, as such, resided in the far corner of the Gryffindor common room, usually unused and forgotten about.
Normally, it wouldn't have been such a big deal for Hazel to be snogging him—after all, he was her official boyfriend, much as others (such as her meddling mother) wished otherwise.
However, the fact that it was much after curfew (about two in the morning), very much against her mother's wishes, while one of her best friends was missing, kind of changed things.
Still, Hazel couldn't say that she wanted to stop any time soon. This ripped armchair was the seat of heaven, pure, indescribable heaven. Remus was a very good kisser.
Hazel sat atop Remus's lap and was turned around as they snogged. His strong arms wrapped around her waist, giving her pleasant shivers and making the tiny, fine hairs on the nape of her neck stand on end, as though shocked by some invisible force.
His whole body seemed to radiate pleasant warmth, and spread to her. Hazel did not think about Amanda's situation, or her mother, or anything—all she could think about was the movement of their lips, some sort of beautiful, indescribable feeling.
Her heart pounded along to his, and the two beatings, as if on drums, became symmetrical and melded. Their chests were pressed close and Hazel could feel his heartbeat, steady and pounding and so reassuring, right against her.
Hazel leaned in, onto this boy that she loved so much, and caught his lips with hers again. His lips were so soft, and they were gentle, not rushing her, making her legs turn to jelly. It was a good thing she was sitting. Remus slid his tongue inside her mouth gently, and stars shot past her vision, even though the common room was pitch black.
There was no space between them; she was pressed flat to him as they snogged. Presently, Hazel trailed her mouth down his jawbone, kissing him softly, with none of the previous pressure they'd been so delightfully snogging with. Her soft lips met his slightly scratchy jawbone with tenderness and Remus elicited a soft sigh.
He again returned his lips to her mouth.
After a few minutes of snogging, Remus gently, in glow of the dying firelight, removed his lips from Hazel's and cupped her face in his hands.
Hazel looked inquiringly at him, and he smiled gently at her.
"You are the most beautiful girl in the world." he whispered.
A sweeping emotion, nameless though not faceless, caught Hazel and swelled up inside her stomach. It was a sort of wonderful, powerful feeling, and she didn't know quite what to make of it.
All she knew that this boy, this face glinting in this firelight, the sandpapery cheeks and soft smile and kind words and gentle countenance and … this boy was more beautiful, more wonderful that the most brilliant butterfly, than the largest sparkling diamond, than infinite amounts of money.
This boy before her was truly beautiful.
Lily, James and Peter entered the Gryffindor common room, perhaps more tired—inside and out—than they had ever been previously.
The common room was dark and the fire had gone completely out—it was nearing four in the morning. It was a welcoming sight to the three, though. They were officially 'home free', or at least very close.
It was a near miracle that they hadn't gotten caught.
Lily felt so weighed down—emotionally, really—that she was surprised she could function properly. It almost felt like some other being was controlling her movements, as if she was some sort of mechanical doll.
Four figures leaped to their feet in the center of the common room and rushed towards the other three. All seemed to have an expression of worry on their faces.
Sirius reached them first and began to speak, but James promptly shushed him.
"Quiet." He said in an uncharacteristically serious tone. "Can't be overheard."
He pointed to the couches that the other four had been resting on.
Lily sat next to James, and slipped her hand in his.
"What the hell happened?" Sirius questioned quietly, leaning forward in secrecy.
James sighed, and told them the whole story. The four who had not heard it all looked completely shocked.
Remus let out a low whistle when James was done. "Amanda, drunk? Pretty weird, specially the whole collapsing part."
"That's the thing, though." Lily said, and her voice sounded strange aloud—it shook. James concernedly put a protective arm around her slender shoulders. "She collapsed. I mean, Madam Pomfrey even said she didn't know what had happened."
Hazel looked as if she were about to cry. She was sitting partially on Remus, who had his arms around her waist. He tightened them slightly.
"When I carried her to the Hospital Wing she felt totally limp." James added.
"She have a pulse? Did you check?" asked Sirius.
"Yeah." James answered. "She did, but…"
"I mean, of course she's still…you know…" Peter said uncomfortably, unwilling to voice the word.
"Yeah." Said Michelle. "Still, though…"
"I want to know who she got that drink from, personally." Sirius said. "That stuff's hard to get."
"How would you know?" Michelle said, turning to ask him.
Sirius merely smiled. "I don't drink that stuff, too bitter. My parents get it from some shop on Knockturn Alley." He explained.
Michelle nodded.
"Is she going to be alright?" Lily wondered aloud, into the cold black night.
Nobody dared answer.
The curtains on Amanda's bed stayed drawn for the rest of the week. The seven continued to visit frequently until Madam Pomfrey became rather annoyed at the group.
"Honestly, I'll let you know when Amanda is fit to see visitors—one at a time, it will be, mind you!" Madam Pomfrey said while shooing them out for the fifth time that day. "It's a waste to keep coming back day after day. Miss Allsbury is recovering and you mustn't disturb the process!"
And with that, she shut the door in their faces and bustled off.
Monday morning dawned in the Great Hall like no other.
Lily, Michelle and Hazel entered the Great Hall, eager to eat breakfast—Michelle rather missed her cinnamon oat porridge, as well.
However, the trio was rather surprised when a loud roar of giggling, shouting and chattering reached their ears. They looked at one another, then across the Hall, attempting to figure out the source of the disturbance. Had a second year spilled a bowl of porridge all over Professor Dumbledore again?
"What is it?" Hazel asked, voicing all their thoughts.
"No idea." Lily said, green eyes scanning the room.
The disturbance, however, soon became evident, as James hurried up to the girls, an overly exuberant smile (one that, in fact, rather worried Lily) on his delighted face. Lily looked rather suspicious of this abundance of cheer this early on a Monday morning.
"What?" Lily asked sharply.
"What, she asks?" said James happily. "Why so accusatory and suspicious, Lily?"
"I've got reason to, haven't I?" Lily asked, eyes narrowing.
"Well—yes—but that's not the point, the point is your attitude towards the matter, and—"
Hazel and Michelle giggled at the interaction between the two.
"Oh, fine, just tell me what you've done, then," Lily said, forgoing her suspicious manner.
James proudly strode in front of the girls, leading them past the staff table, past the perfectly normal, red Gryffindor, blue Ravenclaw, yellow Hufflepuff, pink Slytherin, staff ta—
Wait. When had Slytherin been pink?
For, indeed, this morning it was. Each Slytherin student was outfitted in the loudest, boldest, most obnoxious shade of pink humanly possible. And it wasn't just the color, either—the students wore lavish, flower-decorated pink tutus with matching adorned slippers.
They all bore the same sullen, detached countenance as usual, though, while sipping from their (pink) goblets, sitting on the benches (also pink), or messing with their (pink) hair.
The three other houses were in complete and total uproar. They laughed and pointed and catcalled across the Great Hall, but Slytherin stared defiantly back, oblivious to the cause of the laughter.
"James—did you—" Michelle began, eyes wide with laughter.
"Yes, and Remus decorated the lovely costumes—your boyfriend may yet have a future in fashion." James said jokingly to Hazel, who only blushed.
"I like the fact that they think they're all dressed normal, but to anyone else it looks like they're wearing a tutu." Lily said, now looking rather interested in the pandemonium that was occurring. "Which spell did you use?"
But they were cut off by Sirius and Peter rushing towards them.
"How do you like it?" inquired Sirius.
The three girls grinned.
"There's more to come, though." Said Peter.
Presently a spoon hurtled over the group (thrown from a Ravenclaw table) over to the pink Slytherin group. "Pink your color, is it, MacNair?" a voice shouted.
The Slytherin glared angrily at the offending spoon-thrower.
"What the hell are you talking about?" MacNair shouted.
Sirius positively beamed.
"Look at all the Slytherin-hating and violence and ruckus we've inspired!" he said happily, spreading his arms out and looking happily at all the pandemonium that he and his three friends had instigated. "Don't you just love it?"
And, with that, Sirius hurried off to congratulate the Ravenclaw spoon-thrower.
Lily tried to mask her enjoyment of the scene with disapproval but found that it was nearly impossible. What made it so funny was that the Slytherins had no idea that they were actually dressed as ballerinas with a bad sense of style—they didn't know the reason behind all the catcalls, shouting, laughter (and the thrown spoons, among other things).
Lily, Michelle and Hazel made their way to the Gryffindor table, where most of the students stood, laughing and pointing at certain student's appearance in their tutus.
"Well," Lily began as she took a bite of her toast, a slight smile on her face, "well…it's certainly good use of the spell…I wonder which they used, Oblitesc or Acculto?
"Lily," Michelle began, a pained look on her face, "no talk on spellwork…or homework…"
"or classwork…or teachers…" Hazel added.
"or anything that has to do in the slightest way with learning…"
"…this early in the morning." Hazel finished.
"It was just a question, you kn—" Lily began, but was cut off by—
Snape and about five other Slytherins stood on their (now pink) table…Lily could barely see what was happening, as it seemed every student in the Great Hall had shot up to their feet with a great roar of laughter…students were craning their necks over the sea of hysterically laughing, pointing students, eager to see what was happening on the Slytherin table.
Practically the whole Hall (excepting the Slytherins) had surged up in their seats to see, and Lily's vision was totally obscured.
"This has got to be what Peter was talking about." Hazel said, standing on her tip toes. "I still can't see!" she added, rather annoyed. Her height usually gave her an extra advantage in situations like these.
Michelle and Lily, of course, were considerably shorter than Hazel, and had no hopes of peering over the crowd.
"C'mon, let's go to the front!" Michelle suggested, and led Hazel and Lily through the sea of the three laughing, shouting houses.
After several minutes of being bumped and pushed and having their eardrums nearly punctured by the loud, exuberant crowd, Lily, Hazel and Michelle reached the front of the crowd, where James, Peter, Remus and Sirius stood with looks of utmost pride on their faces.
Lily and her friends looked up to the bright pink Slytherin table and saw, right before their astonished eyes—
Snape doing ballet with a few other tutu-clad Slytherins, right on the pink table! Snape seemed to be leading the procession.
Now Lily could see what the fuss was all about.
Snape's thin frame, in the bright pink tutu and slippers, look odd and he seemed to be wearing lipstick and blush. Currently he was pirouetting to slow music, feet pointed in perfect form, hands serenely clasped above his head in a trademark ballerina position.
Presently Snape began leaping about, pointed toes in front of him, and he knocked a goblet of pumpkin juice over onto a fellow pink Slytherin. Snape skipped gracefully around the table amid the uproar, occasionally executing ballet moves with perfect grace.
The four boys seemed to be having a fit.
After doing another graceful pirouette, the five other Slytherins lifted Snape up, his arms outstretched over his head, his toes pointed backwards.
A roar went up in the crowd, students clapping and laughing louder than ever.
Snape smiled, gracefully acknowledging all this attention, and resumed leaping around the table, with the expression utmost gaiety on his face.
Finally the performance was over, and Snape curtsied cheerily—to thunderous applause.
After Lily and James were done laughing (admittedly, this took nearly a half hour), and James had just brushed the last laughter-induced tear from his eye, Lily spoke up.
"You know, James, I'd like to see you in one of those pink tutus."
James raised his eyebrows. "Ooooooooh, Lily, are we being suggestive here?"
Lily grinned. "Maybe." She said, winking.
Sirius, hearing the conversation, butted in with a, "I think we are being suggestive."
"We, Sirius?" said Lily.
"Yes, WE." Sirius said, fluttering his eyelashes and draping an arm around James's shoulder.
James shrugged Sirius's hand off his shoulder, with a rather disgusted look on his face.
"Fine." Said Sirius, pouting slightly. "If you're going to be like that—PROFESSOR MCGONAGALL!" Sirius cried at the top of his lungs, attracting stares from many a student, as well as Professor Mcgonagall.
"What, Black?" she asked rather testily.
"SUGGESTIVITY ALERT RIGHT OVER HERE! INNAPROPRIATE DISPLAYS OF SUGGESTIVITY OVER HERE THAT MUST BE STOPPED RIGHT NOW! I REPEAT, IMPORTANT SUGGESTIVITY ALERT!"
It then became apparent that friends were not, it turned out, above transfiguring the other's hair, in full view of the whole Great Hall, into a mass of purple be-ribboned strands that flashed red and blue, wailed (like a Muggle siren) and shouted, in an alarmingly loud voice, "diaperish tendencies alert!" every few seconds.
A/N: Teeehheee. That last paragraph I kind of liked. Overall I thought the chapter was…hmmm. I don't really know. I guess it's for you to say? shrugs
Also, I'm sorry for making you guys wait so long for the chapter. I had this v. annoying writer's block and I'd written the first scene and couldn't get past it.
I am soooo sad. This story is ending very soon. There'll be 1-3 chapters left but…wow, I've been working on it for SO long, it'll be weird not to be. Hmmm. Oh, and you can check out my story—The Best Man. It's from Sirius's point of view and I personally think it's not too bad. Ah whatever.
Onto reviews: I would appreciate it—SO much—if you reviewed, please…ANYTHING AT ALL you want to say—comments, criticisms, rambles, suggestions, just…whatevers, PLEASE review. They help me soooooooo much, and they encourage me to continue writing quicker (hint hint)…so if you want a chapter soon…evil grin
Ok: my reviewers, you guys are amazing. Thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu….
HarryluvsMoaningMyrtle: Yeah, sorry about the whole cliffhanger thing…I tend to do that at times. I'm sorry I didn't update sooner…
Vanessa-Black and Zabini: I'm glad you liked the chapter!
Nix707: Sorry about the whole not-updating thing. Wait. Oooooh gosh it's been like 74 days. Which is like…over ten weeks. So sorry.
JadeGreen14: Yeah, I know what you mean about British swearwords not seeming like swearwords. Like, 'bloody hell'…whatever, doesn't really sound swearword-ish!
Ur#1fan: You know, when I saw your username I was like cracking up for an hour. I have a number one fan? (I know, I know, you probably write that for everyone but still.) Yaaaaaaay! Anyway, glad you liked the previous chapter.
Sunsun18: Awww, thanks for all your lovely compliments!
Lady Knight 1512: Yes, Lily does have a rather bad imagination. Kinda like mine…teehee. I'm sad I'm finishing too. Ah well.
Zepplin Girl
Steelo: Hmmm, as I said before, around 1-3…although you never know…
Rebel Rose: Omg I love the queen's wave thing. Me and my friends watched the Princess Diaries movie (which kinda means 'the Sarah Diaries'…which means you…hahaha ok anyway…) and we copied the princess wave for ages. So funny. Teeheee I like the whole 'Hurricane Miriam' idea. I sound very fearsome! Glad you liked the previous chapter though!
Crazy turtle: Ah, you'll most likely see more about Hazel's letter/mother issue. Sorry about the previous chapter's cliffie, as well.
Caliegh: No, Lily was wearing a t-shirt, sweatpants and a cloak on top…but whatever! Sorry about the typos and inconsistencies, I've got no beta! Anyway glad you liked the previous chapter.
Shadowydreamer
JeNnIfEr88: Thanks!
WhiteCamellia: Sorry it's kinda been awhile since I updated. Glad you like the story though.
Moony's number 1: I'm glad you like my OCs (and the other characters). See, I try to make them….realistic, I guess. Sorry I've taken so long to update again, but I'm glad you like the story!
He
Mizlovegood: I'm very sorry about the inconsistencies with canon. See the thing is I started this when I was barely thirteen (now I'm fourteen)…barely paying attention to canon and so on and so forth. But it's my story and I wish it was in line with canon but it's not. Sorry about that. Ooooh, I have raw talent? gapes Do I really?
Chipitatitatita: Thanks for the compliments!
Jeweled Rose (2): I'm glad that you like it, and my OCs as well! I try to spend a lot of time on them. And I'm sooooo sorry about the typos and inconsistencies in the beginning, but I was barely thirteen when I began this and as such didn't really pay attention to things…ah well. Glad you liked ch. 18!