Chapter edited and reposted – 13th July 2006
Again, not much changed here. Just a few lines where I've added more description.
Disclaimer: I don't own it! JKR does! Lucky her!
Reviews
Tai Greywing- Thanks Tai. In response to the review, the reason I have them all saying Voldemort, is cause he hasn't been around for long so people are not that scared yet. Besides, it's quicker to write Voldemort than You-know-who every time!
Ashley- Thanks for the review. Enjoy this chapter. LOL!
A/N: It's nice to see you, too see you…NICE! Sorry I'm slightly hyper. To all Dr Who fans… YAY! The return of our favourite upside down dustbins! Just to warn you, this is a veeeeerrrry long chapter but this is the longest they will get. Enjoy!
Chapter 3
"Why do birds, suddenly appear…"
Lily was woken at seven the next morning by Tash singing in the shower. She sighed and rolled over in bed. Through her curtains she could make out the faint outline of the other three beds in the room. Crystel appeared to be waking up. Unfortunately, Tash's singing had also succeeded in waking Jenny, who was leaping around the dormitory, completely hyper.
"First day of school! First day of school! First day of sch…" Lily reached over and threw a pillow at the offending person.
"Close to yoooooou!" Tash sang from the bathroom.
"Why didn't she just drop out of school and join a band?" Lily complained, hauling herself out of bed. Jenny continued to dance round the room still pyjama clad. Crystel was out of bed and dragging herself to the bathroom just as Tash emerged, already dressed.
"Good morning Gryffindor!"
"You're cheerful," Lily remarked.
"I went for a jog," Tash explained, pointing her wand at her hair and drying it into curls. "I've missed this place."
"Guess who asked me out last night," Jenny bounced around the dorm.
"We can't possibly imagine," Tash said sarcastically.
"Paul Sharpe," Jen said, ignoring the previous comment.
"I stand corrected," Tash amended.
"And?" Lily asked heading for the bathroom. "What did you say?"
"I said no thanks," Jen shrugged. "I told him that I liked someone else."
"Remus," everyone muttered together. Jenny blushed.
"Okay yes. I like Remus. There I admitted it. Happy?"
"Jen. Trust me," Lily said. "You didn't have to admit it. It was blatantly obvious."
"Bit like you and Potter then," Jenny was brave enough to say. Lily stuck her head back round the bathroom door.
"Are you kidding me? Okay he's been nice so far, but it's only day one and he'll probably be in trouble by first lesson."
"Ten Galleon's and you're on!" Tash smiled. "What is our first lesson anyway?" She rummaged around in her trunk throwing various objects over her shoulder (muggle clothing, defence books, invisibility cloak and broomstick).
"Not a clue," said Lily. "We get our timetables at breakfast remember."
"Oh yeah…" Tash said.
"Come on then!" Jen said brightly, standing beside the door.
"Jenny," Tash said. "You realise I hope that you are still in your pyjamas?"
She pointed at Jenny's clothing and Jenny went red realising that she had been about to bounce downstairs in her bright green pyjamas.
"And in any case," Tash continued. "Lily is still not dressed." She pointed at Lily who was pulling her jumper over her head. "And I still haven't done my make up!"
Five minutes later, they left the dorm and walked (or in the case of Jenny, ran) down to the great hall. They entered just as the post owls swooped in. Jenny's owl Paige dropped a letter from home in her cereal. A black owl deposited a copy of the daily prophet in front of Tash, almost upsetting the milk jug. Tash ripped it open and disappeared behind it as the four Marauders entered the hall. Typically, they made a beeline straight for the girls.
"Good morning gorgeous Gryffindor ladies!" Sirius plonked himself next to Tash, who surprisingly, did not acknowledge his appearance. Whereas normally she would have insulted him or hit him, she remained hidden behind her paper.
"Hey Lily," James greeted, sitting opposite her.
"Potter," Lily replied. She didn't feel as though they were on first name terms yet. But the small annoying voice in the back of her head said that she shouldn't be so mean.
"Hey Jenny," Remus sat down next to Jen, causing her to drop her fork on the floor.
"Hi Remus," she squeaked from under the table. Tash rolled her eyes and pulled her upright, keeping focused on the paper. Jenny reappeared, red in the face and complete with fork. She glanced quickly at Remus and both of them became very interested in their food all of a sudden.
"Anything?" Lily asked, gesturing at the paper as Tash folded it up.
"Nothing," Tash said, shaking her head. She had been checking the paper for any recent attacks.
"Don't forget," James said, grabbing the toast before Sirius could take it all. "We have…"
"Quidditch tryouts this evening," Tash said monotonously. "I do remember things James. I'm not completely hopeless."
"Sure you're not Tash," said Sirius, flashing her a grin. Tash rolled her eyes and turned to Jenny.
"Are you trying out or not Jen?" she asked.
"Umm," Jen shifted uncomfortably. "I still don't think I'm good enough."
"You'll be fine," Lily assured her.
"What about you Tiger Lily?" Sirius now turned his grin on Lily. James scowled and elbowed his friend in the stomach.
"You wouldn't catch me on a broom if you paid me!" Lily said. "So you can save your grins for Tash!"
Tash choked on her Cornflakes and Sirius grinned again as he thumped her on the back.
"That's okay Lils," he smiled. "They're all booked for her anyway."
"You're lucky you're cute Black," Tash said. "Or I'd hex your face into the next millennium!"
"Did you just call me cute?" Sirius asked hopefully.
"Anyway!" Jen tried to stop the conversation. "I really don't think I should try out."
"That on a broom!" came a malicious voice from behind them. "God the Gryffindor team must be desperate!"
Everyone span round to see Bellatrix Black hovering over their shoulders. Lily unconsciously tensed. She knew there was going to be a fight. She, Tash and Jen had endured six years of Bellatrix and the Slytherins, making them feel that they weren't good enough for Hogwarts. She knew exactly what to expect from this kind of encounter.
"What do you mean that!" Tash said, outraged. "Jenny's better that all the Slytherin team put together! Not that that's difficult though considering they've got you on the team Black!"
"Shut up Mudblood!" came another voice. Over Bellatrix's shoulder stood Snape, Rosier, Wilks, Avery and Rodolphus Lestranges.
"Oh look," Tash stood up, not the slightest bit intimidated. "It's the remedial Death Eater club!"
"Tash sit down!" Lily hissed. "James help!" She seized Tash round the waist to stop her from attacking Bellatrix.
Not wanting to start a fight with the Slytherins in front of the teachers, and more particularly in front of Lily, James grabbed Sirius, who looked also looked ready to attack.
"Shouldn't you all be at the Slytherin table?" he glared at them. Tash snarled at this lack of support, and Lily looked very surprised at James's restraint.
'What no fights with the Slytherins?' she thought to herself. 'Maybe Potter really has grown up!'
"What's going on?" said a voice that they all recognised.
"Nothing Professor," Lily replied automatically. Professor McGonagall was looking at the five Slytherins and she seemed to summarise what had happened.
"They all forgot their way to their table," Tash snarled. She received a glare from the teacher.
"Go back to the Slytherin table," she ordered them. The five Slytherins looked disappointed. Bellatrix glared at them before turning back to her table. Professor McGonagall swept back to the staff table.
"Thanks for your support guys!" Tash snapped. "One of these days I'm going to kill her!"
"Not if I get her first," Jenny scowled. Apparently she had taken the insult seriously. Remus smiled at her and her face cleared up immediately. Lily sighed and looked at James. He was ruffling his hair again. She rolled her eyes. He might have matured but he still had that annoying habit.
"I say we prank them," Sirius said. "To get back at them. Who's in?"
"As head girl I feel I have to object," Lily said.
"I'm in," Tash said automatically.
"Jenny?" asked Lily, hoping she was going to have an ally.
"No I can't be bothered," Jen said. Lily smiled. She was glad at least one of her friends was sensible. But Tash tended to hold a grudge.
"Prongs?" asked Sirius. "You in?" James nodded, despite the disapproving look he got from Lily.
Whilst they were engaged in prank ideas, Lily returned to her toast. On the other side of the table, Remus turned to Jenny.
"Um…Jen?"
"Yeah," Jenny went very red.
"Would you…like to…go to Hogsmeade with me?" Remus got this out very quickly, but Jenny understood. A rather funny grin crossed her face.
"I'd love to!" she said. Remus went red and grinned at her.
"Great."
The group of prankers turned around to listen. Sirius gave a loud cheer provoking a slap on the arm from Tash and a lot of curious stares from the rest of the table.
"What?" Sirius asked. "It's about bloody time!" Jenny flushed a very bright red.
"Leave them alone!" Lily said to Sirius. "Go find some poor girl to hit on."
"Okay," said Sirius cheerfully, turning to Tash and draping an arm over her shoulder. Tash's glare increased.
"I've said it before and I'll say it again. Remove your arm from my shoulder now!" she demanded threateningly, in much the same tone that she had the night before.
"I like your shoulder," Sirius said, his cute grin in place. "And Tiger Lily told me to!" Lily dropped her head on the table in exasperation.
"Well at least he listened to you," James muttered to her.
"And your eyes are pretty as well, defiantly your best feature," Sirius continued. Tash made to slap his hand, which was casually drifting to her face. She missed and hit her cheek instead. This provoked a round of laughter from the table and a lot of swearing from Tash.
"When you've both finished," Lily broke in. "We're supposed to be in double history of magic first lesson."
Everyone groaned.
"Other wise known as nap time," Peter put in. The four boys chuckled and Lily frowned at them.
"Are you serious?" Jenny asked.
"No I'm Sirius," said Sirius. Everyone groaned.
"Well I am!" Sirius said indignantly. "There's no one as Sirius as me!"
"When was the last time anyone, apart from you, made that joke Padfoot?" Remus said. "And yes Jenny they are serious. History of Magic is known as nap time."
"For once I'm going to agree with them," Tash said.
"I think it's interesting," Lily said.
"I have no idea how I managed to pass that at OWL level," James remarked.
"I didn't pass it at OWL," Tash said. "But Binns takes anyone into his class."
"Well we have five minutes to go and get our books," Lily stood up.
"And we can continue this conversation in the designated, 'nap time,'" Tash remarked. The four marauders immediately threw toast at her for stealing their sentence.
OOO
After two hours of History of Magic, all three girls were walking back to the Gryffindor tower to get their books. Whilst Lily had spent the whole lesson taking notes, Tash had fallen asleep within half an hour, and Jenny had spent the entire lesson passing notes to Remus, and was now talking about him non stop. This worked well as all Lily had to do was look interested and nod occasionally.
Unfortunately this rather cheerful conversation was brought to a halt when all three girls found their way up the fourth floor staircase blocked. Standing in their way, were Snape, Bellatrix and the rest of the Slytherin gang.
"Oh look," said Bellatix in a mock surprised voice. "It's the soon to be dead mudbloods." She scowled at all three of them. Lily and Jenny were forced to restrain Tash who had whipped her wand out and was starting up towards them.
"Well that must make you the soon-to-rot-in-Azkaban bitch then doesn't it Bellatrix?" Tash hissed. All six Slytherins drew their wands. Bellatrix threw Tash a look of pure hatred.
"He'll kill you," Bellatrix stepped forwards. "You and the rest of the mudbloods in this world. None of you will live to see the end of this year."
"You should know being right in his inner circle," Jenny joined in. "Tell me Bellatrix, does Voldemort pay you, or are you free labour?"
The Slytherins snarled at the mention of Voldemort's name and Bellatrix drew her wand.
"Causing trouble dear cousin?" came a very recognisable voice. Tash and Bellatrix groaned in unison as all four Marauders approached the very tense scene.
"Don't you guys have something else to do!" Lily asked furiously.
"That's the first thing on our to do list!" said Sirius flashing the cheeky smile. "Rescuing damsels in distress!"
"Shut up Black!" Tash complained. "We can handle Slytherins by ourselves!" All six opponents gave identical evil laughs.
"You handle us!" Snape asked incredulously. "Like we could ever be defeated by two mudbloods and a bunch of blood traitors."
"Arachnopharm!" Tash yelled. A jet of blue light shot out of her wand, hitting Bellatrix and ricocheting off into Snape. Both of them immediately began to throw up spiders. The rest of the Slytherins backed off in disgust.
"Come on!" Lily said, trying to drag her friends up the staircase. Both Tash and Jenny were still intent on causing as much damage as possible. Taking this as an incentive, Sirius and Remus grabbed Jenny and held her back. Jenny relaxed immediately, and the procession hurried up the stairs.
"Thanks for the help guys!" Tash snarled. "I thought that was a hobby of yours, hexing Slytherins?"
"You were managing fine on your own," Sirius said casually.
"Plus Prongs is head boy and we wouldn't want to do anything to get his badge taken away," Remus added.
"That was impressive magic Tash," James remarked.
"I don't need compliments Potter," Tash said. "Especially not from you!"
"You shouldn't provoke them Tash," said Lily in a calming voice. "It's just what they want."
"I'm not taking any crap from Slytherins this year," Tash said. "If they make another Mudblood remark I am going to get a hold of Bellatrix's head and…" she throttled the air in front of her.
"Feelings shared Tash," Jenny assured her.
The bell rang in the distance.
"We're late!" Lily exclaimed, and all three girls shot up the stairs to the common room, followed at a much more leisurely pace by the four Marauders.
OOO
"Romantic escapades for the Gryffindors?" Professor Ramton sneered at them, ten minutes later. Jenny had insisted on waiting for the boys (i.e Remus) once they had got their books. "Twenty points from Gryffindor. Sit down all of you."
Lily, Tash and Jenny sat in the third row from the front. Tash was scowling at Ramton. As head of the Slytherin house, Lily knew he was high on her hate list. The Marauders sat in front of them, only because it was their favourite class. Also because it was close to the girls.
James and Sirius leaned over to face them (with ease from years of long practise).
"Bellatrix and Snivillus got rid of the spiders," James nodded in the direction of the back rows. All three girls turned to look. Sure enough, Bellatrix and Snape had stopped throwing up spiders, and were shooting evil glares at all of them.
"Potter! Black!" Ramtons voice cut into the conversation. "Another ten points from Gryffindor. Save your conversation for outside." James and Sirius turned back round to their seats. Satisfied, Ramton continued.
"I have decided that the next few lessons will be dedicated to practise duelling. We will be holding a three round tournament, the first round being next Monday. The competitors will be drawn at random by me." Lily looked at her friends nervously. It was very likely that he would pair the Gryffindors against the Slytherins. Jenny was also looking slightly concerned, but Tash was looking as though her birthday had come early.
"There will be no restrictions to spell work," Ramton continued. "However I would advise you not to try anything fatal." Some of the Slytherins looked very disappointed at this.
"The first round will be next Monday. The second round will be held the week after and the third round the week after that. The rest of the weekly lessons will be dedicated to research," Ramton ploughed on. "I will not be setting any homework. I suggest you use the time to practise."
Both, the Slytherins, Tash and the Marauders were now looking as though the Christmas holidays had just been extended to six weeks. Everyone pulled out their books to start researching. Lily began reading the passage on binding spells. She glanced over at Jenny who was frowning over various healing spells that could be used in combat. She passed a note across the table.
"Nervous?"
Jenny gave a smile and passed another note back.
"At least it'll give us practise."
Tash peered over Lily's shoulder to read the note. She passed one to both of them.
"Jen. What you going to do if you're paired against Remus?"
Jenny paled. It seemed that the thought had not registered yet.
"I guess I'll have to fight him. Its what he'd want. He'll probably beat me though. He's the best in this class apart from Potter and Black."
Lily glanced over at the back of James's head. He was whispering to Sirius and not taking the slightest notice of his book. It was true, they were the best at Defence in the class. Lily knew having seen a variety of their spells used on Snape and the rest of the Slytherins. She gazed at James for another minute, before she realised what she was doing.
'For gods sake Lily,' she thought to herself. 'Stop staring and get back to your work.' Unfortunately for her, Tash had noticed.
"Why were you staring at Potter?" Tash hissed, doodling on a scrap piece of parchment.
"I wasn't," Lily whispered.
"Yes you were," Tash said. "You were gazing at him as though in another world." An evil grin suddenly appeared on her face. "In fact…you were gazing at him with a rather…dreamy expression…"
"Was not," Lily said, grabbing her book and continuing to read.
OOO
"You were!" Tash said furiously as they left the classroom. They were on their way to potions. Tash had continued the argument throughout the whole lesson. Jenny was looking between them, completely lost.
"What are you guys on about?" she asked. "Lily was what?"
"She was staring at James while we were passing notes in the lesson," Tash said, before Lily could say anything.
"WHAT!" Jenny cried, causing everybody in the corridor to stare at them. She dropped her voice. "James? As in…"
"As in James Potter," Tash provided. Lily glanced around to make sure that no one was listening.
"I was not okay!" Lily repeated for the hundredth time.
"So does this mean you like him?" asked Tash.
"Now Tasha," Jenny cautioned. "That might be asking a lot. A better question for Lils would be this." She drew her breath as though announcing the new Minister for Magic in a grand speech. "Lily. Do you now see that James isn't just an arrogant prat? Do you now think that maybe he's actually human?"
"Of course he's human!" Lily said. "And maybe he has grown up. But we've only been back at school for a day."
"So?" Jenny shrugged as they arrived at the dungeons.
"So," Lily continued. "He'll probably be back to normal in a few weeks."
"And if he's not?" Tash asked. "Then do you think you will like him?"
"FOR MERLINS SAKE!" Lily shouted. Everyone looked at them again, but Lily took no notice.
"I do not now," Lily said through gritted teeth, "or ever will like James Potter. Understand!"
Taken aback by her fierceness, Tash and Jenny nodded in unison.
"Okay we're sorry," Jenny said in a calming voice. The dungeon door swung open and everyone walked inside. Dumping their bags on their table, the three girls hurriedly set up their cauldrons.
"I defiantly would have given this up if Ramton was still teaching," Tash remarked.
"Yeah but then you wouldn't be able to become an Auror," Lily pointed out. Professor Ramton had been the previous potion teacher until the end of the girls fifth year when he had taken over as Defence teacher. Suffice to say that the new teacher, Professor Amie, was much nicer and even managed to make potions slightly fun.
As if on cue, the potions master hurried in, flicking his wand at the board causing the instructions to appear. Everyone gave an audible groan. They would be making the dreamless sleep potion.
"I know this isn't the nicest way to start the year," Amie said rising his eyebrows at the groan. "But you're wide awake right now so the fumes from the potion will not be as effective as they normally would if you were tired. If at any point in the lesson you feel sleepy, you're welcome to sit down for five minutes, as long as you let me know first. I know there are people in here who would be more likely to use that excuse to skive off." He glanced at the three Gryffindor boys (Peter was in Muggle Studies) and they all repressed smirks.
The potion was among the most difficult they had ever brewed. Within ten minutes, Lily had almost ruined her own three times, and she had had to stop Tash from adding the wrong amount of ingredients twice.
"That's too much Graphorn horn!" she hissed at Tash. Jenny looked up from her potion, which appeared to be going well. Usually all three girls were fairly good at potions, but Tash was being distracted by Bellatrix and the rest of the Slytherins, and Lily was being distracted by Tash.
"She's evil," Tash snarled. "I swear, if I'm fighting her in defence against the dark arts she's going to wish she'd never crossed me." She tipped the Graphorn horn in and her potion violently changed colour.
"Just ignore her," Lily said. "Just think about your potion." Lily glanced across the room, to see Bellatrix whispering to Rudolphus Lestrange. She looked away from the sickening couple and trained her eyes on James and the Marauders, all of whom appeared to be doing well. As she watched, Remus turned around quickly and passed a note to Jenny. She unfolded it and smiled before scribbling a response.
"What did he say?" Lily whispered.
"Asked me to study with him after dinner," Jenny said. "I said yes. You don't mind me ditching you both do you?"
"Merlin forbid we should stand in the way of young love," Lily teased. Jenny sighed and turned back to her cauldron.
"Lily, what the hell have I done!" Lily looked over to see Tash's cauldron issuing vast amounts of thick purple gas.
Tash was looking very panicky. She needed to pass this class to become an auror, and any mistakes could affect her grade.
"It's too thick," Lily said. "You put too much horn in. Try using this," she passed a bottle over to her friend. Tash seized it and poured it all in.
"Not all of it!" Lily cried as a loud bang sounded and the classroom filled with smoke.
"Evanesco!" shouted Professor Amie. He hurried over to Tash's cauldron as the smoke disappeared. Lily was feeling dizzy, having been right next to the source of the explosion. She sat down only to realise that Tash had passed out from the gas, and was currently lying on the floor.
"Great Merlin!" Jenny squeaked. "Tash!" Lily dropped to the floor beside her. Tash moaned as though waking from a heavy sleep, but the gas was still operating and she sank back to the floor.
"She's okay!" Sirius cried cheerfully, as the Marauders crowded around with the rest of the class. Professor Amie gave him a stern look.
"Could someone take her back to the dormitory? She needs to sleep it off." He looked expectantly at Jenny and Lily.
"I can't carry her, she's too heavy," Jenny said. Lily shook her head, knowing that she couldn't either.
"I'll do it!" Sirius chimed in. Tash gave a very audible groan, fighting to stay awake.
Professor Amie raised an eyebrow. Apparently he didn't trust Sirius, particularly in the girls dormitory.
"I won't touch her!" Sirius said apparently aware of what everyone was thinking.
"Alright Black," Amie stepped aside. Lily grabbed Sirius's arm.
"I swear," she hissed, "you lay a finger on her and we'll make sure you'll never see daylight again!" Jenny nodded vigorously in agreement. Sirius laughed at them and picked Tash up.
"Leave me alone…" Tash mumbled almost inaudibly.
"Sorry love, you're going back to bed," Sirius said, cradling her bridal style.
"Screw you," Tash yawned. "Wanna sleep…"
Sirius ignored her and swept out of the dungeon.
"If he so much as touches her we'll make your lives hell too," Jenny brandished a finger at James and Remus. Everyone turned back to their work.
"We shouldn't have let him take her," Lily muttered to Jen.
"Worried about Tash?" Jen asked.
"Not so much about Tash," Lily said. "I'm more worried about what she'll do to Sirius when she wakes up properly."
A/N: Have you found the 'submit review' button on this page yet? It's that little grey box down in the bottom left corner…there you go! Please leave me a nice review! I know I've used the 'arm' joke before in chapter 1, but I'm a sucker for cheesey jokes!
Next Chapter: Quidditch tryouts and Patrol.
May Stardust fall in your dreams!