Disclaimer: I own nuttin!
A/N: Sorry for the looooonge delay guys, and THAAAAAAAANX for all you're WONDERFUL reviews! As for your Qz, Sirius' Sweetie Harry and Ron were scared cause they're afraid of the Marauders finding out their secret since Ddore forbid them to let that happen…ping*pong Ariadne is gonna become somewhat important later and I'm gonna put in some more of their dueling in soon (glad u like 'em ^_^), as for the Harry/Ariadne thing , it's gonna be more twisted than you think with another person tangled in (any guesses who???)…a lot of you guys are wondering about Lily's crush/Herm's lie, well Sirius and James know so do the rest of the Marauders, it's bound to come out later on ^_~…YAY! HProx recognized Dorcas Meadows! There is more to the Meadows than we think, and it's gonna shock Sirius big time! Hope y'all like this chappie!!!
Hermione sighed and looked up from her large textbook, sure she liked studying, but thanks to Lily the two girls had ended up spending the whole day doing nothing but studying. I should've hung out with Ron and Harry, she thought frowning across the table at a certain redhead, but expression quickly changed when her eyes fell on the other girl's concentrating face. The truth was something about Lily had unnerved her this morning and it wasn't just that fact that the girl was sitting in the crowded Three Broomstick with only her pjs on, her dark red hair curtained around her in messy natural waves.
Hermione had woken up early to find Lily sitting there on her bed, surrounded by a 100 books, and she had thought she was bad! Yet it only got weirder as Hermione managed to read a few of the titles, like 'Interpret the Word of Dreams' and 'Ways to magically understand things stored in ID'. Feeling as though she had needed to keep a watch on her, Hermione had pulled on her favorite sweatshirt and carried a whole lot of the books for Lily to Hogsmead, promising to help her in whatever she was searching for if only they got out to the village. The girl hadn't exactly told Hermione what the heck it was that was so important, but agreed to camp out at the Three Broomsticks if Hermione quit nagging her.
Lily just sat there, speed-reading through book after book, and now half passed 2pm she had rarely looked up, let alone got out of her seat. Sighing again Hermione put aside the book she was on, deciding that it was much too dull and picked up another one, however before she could flip it open, she felt a hand touch her shoulder lightly, and nearly jumped out of her seat.
"Hey Hermione," she turned around to see Remus' smiling face, and felt her face grow warm.
"Hey!"
"Sup Lily?" Remus looked at her bedtime get up in surprise, and gave Hermione a questioning look.
"Where are the rest of the Marauders?" Hermione asked a few seconds after the silence following Lily's ignorance and obviousness to Remus' arrival.
"Sirius is up to something so he's meeting up with us later, James, Peter, Harry and Ron are ogling the Quidditch supple store…after about an hour in that store, I told them I'd get some drinks and wait for 'em here," Remus explained as he sat down on the chair beside her.
"You don't like Quidditch?" Hermione asked in shock, she couldn't believe it possible for any wizard to not be totally obsessed with the sport!
"I do, a lot! But looking at things I can probably never afford gets a bit depressing after a while," despite what he had just said, Remus grinned at Hermione, "there are much better things I can do with my time."
"Yeah…" she said lamely going bright red, she realized she couldn't keep his gaze anymore, and stared down at her 3rd Butterbeer bottle as though it was the most interesting thing in the world.
"Oh god, think I'm turnin' into Sirius!" Remus said suddenly, making Hermione look up, and felt rather relieved to see he was blushing as well, "I meant talking to someone who's brain capacity is larger than a 8 years-olds' is much nicer!"
"Why thank you, I've never heard such an amazing complement before," Hermione laughed along with him, noting to herself that she liked the sound of his. She was about to say something else when Lily suddenly stood up, snapping her book shut.
"When did you get here?" Lily looked at Remus in surprise for just a second before her gaze fell over the books. Whipping out her wand, she shrinked them and quickly piled them in her knapsack, and with a quick goodbye she left the other two alone.
"What's up with her?" Remus asked, but smiled lightly at Hermione's shrug, "which reminds me…what's up with you?"
* * *
Bellatrix watched the two pretty Slytherin 4th years in envy, she hated the way they clung on to Rabastan, but even more their fake loud giggling as he obviously felt them up under the table. Stupid little Sluts, they're probably so loose they can't even feel his finger's there, she thought cruelly sending a death-glare in their direction, though it went completely unnoticed.
"Are you listening Bella?" Asked an irritated voice, snapping Bella back to her own conversation.
"What do you think," she snapped back at her older sister who looked sickeningly pretty at the moment, colorful blond curls falling into her large shapely dark eyes.
"Just make sure you get you're butt home next weekend!" She said coldly, Narcissia hated nothing more than being ignored and since having always been the middle child that happened far too often. That's probably why she married Malfoy anyway, Bellatrix thought smirking to herself, she could never imagine staying in the same room alone with him for more than 5 minutes, let alone sleep with him!
"And why the bloody hell should I?" Bella watched Narcissia frown, it was obvious from her expression that the she didn't have a clue and that it bugged her a great deal not to do so.
"She is having the whole Black and Malfoy family over and a bunch of others as well, she said we're going to be visited by a very powerful wizard…if you don't show little sis, she'll have your head for it!" Narcissia now took a small sip from her drink, a very elegant sip, so much so it revolted Bella.
"You're so proper aren't you," Bella said glaring at her prefect nails, it disgusted her how stupid some witches really were. Too busy charming her hair and nails, Narcissia probably wasn't even nearly as magically strong as Bellatrix was even though she was 6 years older.
"You better learn to be too, unless you want dad to cut you out of the family the way he did to Andromeda…" Bella hardly took notice of the dangerous glint in her sister's eyes, she had always known that Narcissia had hated their older sister, even before she disgraced herself with that mudblood fool.
"I remember a time when mom and dad liked her even more than you," Bella laughed out enjoying the unnerved look on the blond's face. The sad part of it was that it was actually true. Bella had been very young back then, but she could still remember how much her dad had liked Andromeda, always commenting on her brilliance and how she had become head girl…and Narcissia was always pushed to the side even though she had gone to Slytherin (their family's favored choice) and Andromeda to Ravenclaw.
"I think I've just had enough of this little conversation, the horrible colors you've used on you're face are enough to make me puke! I think I'll go home, my husband is getting home soon anyway…and by the way; please brush you're hair before the party next week. Mom would freak when she sees how horribly WILD you look, not too different from a disgusting fury animal…and take a shower while you're at it. Wearing make-up when you don't know how is never a good choice." With one last dirty look, Narcissia quickly got up leaving a few large gold coins on the table.
Bella didn't bother to snap anything back before getting up from the table herself, she would deal with Narcissia's envy another way, smirking she taught of how pathetic the girl was fighting for her parents' love and pride…by being the poster girl for a pureblood witch. Some people truly were stupid, Bella knew she would rather die than listen to anybody herself, it was beyond pathetic and embarrassing for anyone to have any kind of power over you…without a warning her head snapped to her right where the loud fake giggling could be heard. A horrible wave of jealousy and anger consumed Bella, so much that she felt her hands curl into fists. Feeling her nails cut into her flesh, Bella growled softly and quickly stormed out of the Three Broomsticks, pushing the door open with all her might.
Still bumping into people as she passed, Bella hardly spared them an apology and kept her anger heated pace…until she heard her name called by a somewhat rough voice. Bella whipped around to find herself within inches of Rodolphus Lestrange who had an odd expression on his face. Trying not to breath in his enchanting spicy scent, she stared at him coldly, telling him through her eyes to leave her alone.
"My brother screwing with a bunch of whores again?" He asked his eyes still uncomfortably on Bella, who had no desire to show what he had said was accurate.
"And why would I care?" she tried desperately to sound casual but there was something about Rodolphus' eyes that gave her the horrible impression that they could read right through her. Most people with brown eyes looked sickeningly warm…Rodolphus however couldn't look any colder!
"He will never love you," Rodolphus said simply, as though he had no clue he had just driven a sword right into Bella's heart…yet the way his eyes shown told her he knew EXACTLY how she felt.
"I don't…go fuck yourself Lestrange!" She said suddenly, tasting bitter hate at the tip of her tongue. She had turned around and was about to get as far away from him as she possibly could, but something in his voice as he called her again stopped her and she slowly faced him once again.
"Wake up Bella, can't you see the immense power he has over you? Aren't you ashamed as you should be? If you really want him than do what you must to have him…don't let anyone effect you in such a way!" The unnerving sureness had left his eyes, they now looked over-bright and Bella wasn't sure how to read them.
"Why do you care?" She asked him slowly, still not sure what the sudden emotion charge in Rodolphus' usual steely tone had meant. An odd expression passed his face so fast Bella hadn't managed to recognize it, before he opened his mouth his face hinting a smug sneer.
"I need someone to help me test something out and might as well let a Black do the honors!" He said with a slight mock bow, just enough to show that he knew of the Black's claims to being royalty. A large smirk slit across Bella's face, half cause she enjoyed trying out new things, and half imagining the look on her lame cousin's face if he had seen Lestrange bow like that.
"Fine, tell me what the bloody hell you're up to…I'll tell you then if I'm interested or not!" Bella had to bite her lips to stop herself from grinning from ear to ear; she could tell by the excited look on Rodolphus' face he had something really good to show her!
* * *
"Too bad! I like the raspberry scented bubbles…you should just be glad that I'm not reporting you and Remus for giving you the password of the PREFECT bathroom!" Lily snapped. Her bad mood had taken down hill the second she walked into the bathroom to find none other than Sirius Black ready to take away the private reading time she had dreamed of having in the bubble pool.
"If you were gonna report, then how come you never did both me and James last year?" he asked laughing before he dived back into the pool.
Lily decided not to answer, she wasn't so sure she even had the energy to. It had been days since Lily had slept well…not since her little nap by Harry's bedside. Lily shivered despite herself, it was taking her longer than she had originally thought to get over the horrifying images out of her head. Trying not to look any more worn out than she actually was, Lily pulled off her towel and slipped into the warm water quickly.
Tightening her halter bikini strings Lily grabbed one of the large books on the side and flipped it open on the floor marbles. Her eyes fell across the page she had left off, then flipped forward a few pages till she found a title that caught her attention. In her excitement of finding the amazing page Lily had become totally oblivious to the fact that Sirius was also in the pool with her, and jumped when she heard his deep voice inches away from her ears.
"'Seeing Another's Dreams," he said his voice drowned in confusion, "what are you planning? You gonna get into Prongsi's dreams and curs him if it's erotic things about you?"
"Since you're too thick to notice, this might just be news to you Black, but my whole world doesn't revolve around gits like you!" She snapped, giving him a light push she looked up "please just leave me alone right now!"
"Don't think your body is sayin' the same thing!" Sirius exclaimed looking at something on his chest, horrified Lily realized her hand was still resting on his chest…his smooth, muscley, tanned chest!
"Uh…" Lily quickly pulled her hand away, no longer looking the boy in the eyes as her face was now slightly flushed, while Sirius just laughed one of his hands messing up her hair.
"You know what you're problem is Evans? You take things too seriously, just lighten up once in a while!" he was still laughing and this time he took Lily's arm as he dived deep into the water.
"Fuck off Black, I'm NOT in the mood!" Lily said coughing out bubbles she had swallowed by accident, and pushed her way through the water back to her books.
"Why do you hate me Evans," Sirius asked a few minutes later, as though wondering if he should ask or not.
"Cause you act like you're the coolest person in the world," she said aware of the fact that she wouldn't be getting too much reading done in presence of a Marauder, "you and Potter walk around as if you own the world…you know how pathetic that makes you look?"
"Most of Hogwarts think we're anything but pathetic, they treat us like gods!"
"I'm not most of Hogwarts then," Lily's voice was sincere since they first started talking, her eyes caught Sirius' for a second…an almost amused expression passed through them.
"You know what Evans? I was wrong, you do chill out a lot…but never around us, I mean the Marauders," Sirius peered at her his eyes soft yet searching.
"Is that what you think," Lily gave him a small smile but offered nothing more.
"Yeah…I think you like James Lily, a lot!" as he said this, Sirius was pleased to see her face grow at least 3 shades redder.
"I don't—"
"And don't try to deny it, the look on you're face was all I needed," Sirius said with a slight grin looking at Lily whose eyes were locked with his, searching his face, as though wondering if she could really trust him, "he obviously is mad about you, why is it that you reject him over and over again?"
"I…Sirius, the James Potter I like is a fantasy," Lily began wrapping her arms around herself, as though afraid Sirius would attack her at her vulnerable state, "he doesn't exist! It's a boy with James' face, his brilliance…but not his ego! It's a boy of all the sweet things he had said and done these past years, every little thing like picking up that first year's books, or the time he explain how he felt about love in class and why love potions should never be made legal! It's like a dream boy out of a James Potter scrap book…it has some of him, but not everything!"
"You noticed ALL those things?" Sirius asked staring at her in aw, and Lily gave him a sad smile.
"I'm just a hopeless romantic," she sighed staring at the bubbly water and suddenly she looked right up at Sirius, "I gotta learn to live in the real world…find a fun faulted guy, not one half out of my dreams and half out of my nightmares!"
"I can tell a girl in need when I see one," Sirius mockingly puckered up his lips swimming to Lily, who gave him a playful glare and threw a large handful of bubbles in his face.
Laughing Sirius stuck her head into the thick bubbly surface and tried to jump on her back for in water piggyback ride. Lily though who was rather soapy slipped from right under him and clutched her tummy laughing as Sirius lost his balance. Like Lily had expected he was over exaggerating it as if he was falling to his death by flying his arms all over the place, a horrified look on his face, and his left leg stuck right out. Weird part was that his showmanship wasn't bugging Lily at all, not the way it usually did, in fact she thought it was actually very funny and oddly creative!
"You're going to pay Evans!" Sirius waved a threatening finger at her as he swam towards her, his eyes sparkling the way James usually did before he did something he was forbidden to do so…
Lily didn't even have time to react as Sirius once again grabbed on to her arm, though this time it wasn't just a duck underwater. To her surprise, this time Sirius had Lily do the underwater flip with him, causing a large amount of disgustingly soapy water to enter Lily's mouth and nose. Gagging Lily took some time to shake the heavy water out her hair a little when Sirius finally let go of her, but didn't take too long before her hands were placed on his head pushing his face underwater. Sirius was too strong for her though; he suddenly grabbed her small waist and pulled her down with him.
It took Lily a few seconds to realize their half-naked bodies were nearly rubbing against each other, something that took her breath away instantly. Lily watched Sirius' handsome face, wanting to kiss him more and more every second, but realized he didn't make a single move at her. Lily couldn't take it anymore, his pouty lips looked too prefect, too delicious…
"No!" Sirius suddenly said, letting go of her and swam away.
"What?" Lily felt her voice break, she suddenly wanted to cry yet she was sure she had embarrassed herself enough already.
"I like you Lily, you're really pretty…but obviously madly in love with my best friend!" Sirius' gaze felt almost like x-ray projectors on her face.
"No I don't, I thought I already explained—"
"It doesn't matter," Sirius said quietly his searching gaze still there, "James is closer to me than a brother, he was the only person I can truly trust with anything my whole life…I'll never do anything to jeopardize our friendship!"
"Sirius…" Lily laughed softly, "I'm sure James wont stop being your friend over his silly little crush!"
"You just don't get it do you?" Sirius' volume had suddenly risen a bit though he now looked a bit sad, "he really cares about you…I think he loves you, but you're just too hardheaded to see that! I know James would never do anything with the girl I'll fall in love with not even if it was this tempting or more…maybe you're not close to anyone like me and James are…"
"You've gotta be kidding me," Lily said watching his light smile as he swam back to her side and kissed her forehead gently.
"See ya around wonder witch," and with that Sirius climbed out of the pool and wrapped a forest green towel around his waist.
Watching Sirius leave the bathroom, Lily got lost in her thoughts, Sirius' words flashing in her head. Sirius was known to do any girl anywhere, no matter what…what the hell happed to Hogwarts' famous player? He said James loves me, Lily thought feeling goose bumps on her arms and looked down to see all the bubbles were gone.
Walking out and pulling her own towel around her, Lily was still lost in thought. She couldn't possibly believe that the arrogant James Potter could actually love anyone but himself…yet his relationship with Sirius was so…deep. Lily felt a stab of jealousy at the boys, she knew she'd die to have someone so close…like her fantasy James, the one who was both caring, smart and funny…yet the way Sirius had talked about him, the real James Potter seemed exactly the same way.
A/N: Sorry for the looooonge delay guys, and THAAAAAAAANX for all you're WONDERFUL reviews! As for your Qz, Sirius' Sweetie Harry and Ron were scared cause they're afraid of the Marauders finding out their secret since Ddore forbid them to let that happen…ping*pong Ariadne is gonna become somewhat important later and I'm gonna put in some more of their dueling in soon (glad u like 'em ^_^), as for the Harry/Ariadne thing , it's gonna be more twisted than you think with another person tangled in (any guesses who???)…a lot of you guys are wondering about Lily's crush/Herm's lie, well Sirius and James know so do the rest of the Marauders, it's bound to come out later on ^_~…YAY! HProx recognized Dorcas Meadows! There is more to the Meadows than we think, and it's gonna shock Sirius big time! Hope y'all like this chappie!!!
Hermione sighed and looked up from her large textbook, sure she liked studying, but thanks to Lily the two girls had ended up spending the whole day doing nothing but studying. I should've hung out with Ron and Harry, she thought frowning across the table at a certain redhead, but expression quickly changed when her eyes fell on the other girl's concentrating face. The truth was something about Lily had unnerved her this morning and it wasn't just that fact that the girl was sitting in the crowded Three Broomstick with only her pjs on, her dark red hair curtained around her in messy natural waves.
Hermione had woken up early to find Lily sitting there on her bed, surrounded by a 100 books, and she had thought she was bad! Yet it only got weirder as Hermione managed to read a few of the titles, like 'Interpret the Word of Dreams' and 'Ways to magically understand things stored in ID'. Feeling as though she had needed to keep a watch on her, Hermione had pulled on her favorite sweatshirt and carried a whole lot of the books for Lily to Hogsmead, promising to help her in whatever she was searching for if only they got out to the village. The girl hadn't exactly told Hermione what the heck it was that was so important, but agreed to camp out at the Three Broomsticks if Hermione quit nagging her.
Lily just sat there, speed-reading through book after book, and now half passed 2pm she had rarely looked up, let alone got out of her seat. Sighing again Hermione put aside the book she was on, deciding that it was much too dull and picked up another one, however before she could flip it open, she felt a hand touch her shoulder lightly, and nearly jumped out of her seat.
"Hey Hermione," she turned around to see Remus' smiling face, and felt her face grow warm.
"Hey!"
"Sup Lily?" Remus looked at her bedtime get up in surprise, and gave Hermione a questioning look.
"Where are the rest of the Marauders?" Hermione asked a few seconds after the silence following Lily's ignorance and obviousness to Remus' arrival.
"Sirius is up to something so he's meeting up with us later, James, Peter, Harry and Ron are ogling the Quidditch supple store…after about an hour in that store, I told them I'd get some drinks and wait for 'em here," Remus explained as he sat down on the chair beside her.
"You don't like Quidditch?" Hermione asked in shock, she couldn't believe it possible for any wizard to not be totally obsessed with the sport!
"I do, a lot! But looking at things I can probably never afford gets a bit depressing after a while," despite what he had just said, Remus grinned at Hermione, "there are much better things I can do with my time."
"Yeah…" she said lamely going bright red, she realized she couldn't keep his gaze anymore, and stared down at her 3rd Butterbeer bottle as though it was the most interesting thing in the world.
"Oh god, think I'm turnin' into Sirius!" Remus said suddenly, making Hermione look up, and felt rather relieved to see he was blushing as well, "I meant talking to someone who's brain capacity is larger than a 8 years-olds' is much nicer!"
"Why thank you, I've never heard such an amazing complement before," Hermione laughed along with him, noting to herself that she liked the sound of his. She was about to say something else when Lily suddenly stood up, snapping her book shut.
"When did you get here?" Lily looked at Remus in surprise for just a second before her gaze fell over the books. Whipping out her wand, she shrinked them and quickly piled them in her knapsack, and with a quick goodbye she left the other two alone.
"What's up with her?" Remus asked, but smiled lightly at Hermione's shrug, "which reminds me…what's up with you?"
* * *
Bellatrix watched the two pretty Slytherin 4th years in envy, she hated the way they clung on to Rabastan, but even more their fake loud giggling as he obviously felt them up under the table. Stupid little Sluts, they're probably so loose they can't even feel his finger's there, she thought cruelly sending a death-glare in their direction, though it went completely unnoticed.
"Are you listening Bella?" Asked an irritated voice, snapping Bella back to her own conversation.
"What do you think," she snapped back at her older sister who looked sickeningly pretty at the moment, colorful blond curls falling into her large shapely dark eyes.
"Just make sure you get you're butt home next weekend!" She said coldly, Narcissia hated nothing more than being ignored and since having always been the middle child that happened far too often. That's probably why she married Malfoy anyway, Bellatrix thought smirking to herself, she could never imagine staying in the same room alone with him for more than 5 minutes, let alone sleep with him!
"And why the bloody hell should I?" Bella watched Narcissia frown, it was obvious from her expression that the she didn't have a clue and that it bugged her a great deal not to do so.
"She is having the whole Black and Malfoy family over and a bunch of others as well, she said we're going to be visited by a very powerful wizard…if you don't show little sis, she'll have your head for it!" Narcissia now took a small sip from her drink, a very elegant sip, so much so it revolted Bella.
"You're so proper aren't you," Bella said glaring at her prefect nails, it disgusted her how stupid some witches really were. Too busy charming her hair and nails, Narcissia probably wasn't even nearly as magically strong as Bellatrix was even though she was 6 years older.
"You better learn to be too, unless you want dad to cut you out of the family the way he did to Andromeda…" Bella hardly took notice of the dangerous glint in her sister's eyes, she had always known that Narcissia had hated their older sister, even before she disgraced herself with that mudblood fool.
"I remember a time when mom and dad liked her even more than you," Bella laughed out enjoying the unnerved look on the blond's face. The sad part of it was that it was actually true. Bella had been very young back then, but she could still remember how much her dad had liked Andromeda, always commenting on her brilliance and how she had become head girl…and Narcissia was always pushed to the side even though she had gone to Slytherin (their family's favored choice) and Andromeda to Ravenclaw.
"I think I've just had enough of this little conversation, the horrible colors you've used on you're face are enough to make me puke! I think I'll go home, my husband is getting home soon anyway…and by the way; please brush you're hair before the party next week. Mom would freak when she sees how horribly WILD you look, not too different from a disgusting fury animal…and take a shower while you're at it. Wearing make-up when you don't know how is never a good choice." With one last dirty look, Narcissia quickly got up leaving a few large gold coins on the table.
Bella didn't bother to snap anything back before getting up from the table herself, she would deal with Narcissia's envy another way, smirking she taught of how pathetic the girl was fighting for her parents' love and pride…by being the poster girl for a pureblood witch. Some people truly were stupid, Bella knew she would rather die than listen to anybody herself, it was beyond pathetic and embarrassing for anyone to have any kind of power over you…without a warning her head snapped to her right where the loud fake giggling could be heard. A horrible wave of jealousy and anger consumed Bella, so much that she felt her hands curl into fists. Feeling her nails cut into her flesh, Bella growled softly and quickly stormed out of the Three Broomsticks, pushing the door open with all her might.
Still bumping into people as she passed, Bella hardly spared them an apology and kept her anger heated pace…until she heard her name called by a somewhat rough voice. Bella whipped around to find herself within inches of Rodolphus Lestrange who had an odd expression on his face. Trying not to breath in his enchanting spicy scent, she stared at him coldly, telling him through her eyes to leave her alone.
"My brother screwing with a bunch of whores again?" He asked his eyes still uncomfortably on Bella, who had no desire to show what he had said was accurate.
"And why would I care?" she tried desperately to sound casual but there was something about Rodolphus' eyes that gave her the horrible impression that they could read right through her. Most people with brown eyes looked sickeningly warm…Rodolphus however couldn't look any colder!
"He will never love you," Rodolphus said simply, as though he had no clue he had just driven a sword right into Bella's heart…yet the way his eyes shown told her he knew EXACTLY how she felt.
"I don't…go fuck yourself Lestrange!" She said suddenly, tasting bitter hate at the tip of her tongue. She had turned around and was about to get as far away from him as she possibly could, but something in his voice as he called her again stopped her and she slowly faced him once again.
"Wake up Bella, can't you see the immense power he has over you? Aren't you ashamed as you should be? If you really want him than do what you must to have him…don't let anyone effect you in such a way!" The unnerving sureness had left his eyes, they now looked over-bright and Bella wasn't sure how to read them.
"Why do you care?" She asked him slowly, still not sure what the sudden emotion charge in Rodolphus' usual steely tone had meant. An odd expression passed his face so fast Bella hadn't managed to recognize it, before he opened his mouth his face hinting a smug sneer.
"I need someone to help me test something out and might as well let a Black do the honors!" He said with a slight mock bow, just enough to show that he knew of the Black's claims to being royalty. A large smirk slit across Bella's face, half cause she enjoyed trying out new things, and half imagining the look on her lame cousin's face if he had seen Lestrange bow like that.
"Fine, tell me what the bloody hell you're up to…I'll tell you then if I'm interested or not!" Bella had to bite her lips to stop herself from grinning from ear to ear; she could tell by the excited look on Rodolphus' face he had something really good to show her!
* * *
"Too bad! I like the raspberry scented bubbles…you should just be glad that I'm not reporting you and Remus for giving you the password of the PREFECT bathroom!" Lily snapped. Her bad mood had taken down hill the second she walked into the bathroom to find none other than Sirius Black ready to take away the private reading time she had dreamed of having in the bubble pool.
"If you were gonna report, then how come you never did both me and James last year?" he asked laughing before he dived back into the pool.
Lily decided not to answer, she wasn't so sure she even had the energy to. It had been days since Lily had slept well…not since her little nap by Harry's bedside. Lily shivered despite herself, it was taking her longer than she had originally thought to get over the horrifying images out of her head. Trying not to look any more worn out than she actually was, Lily pulled off her towel and slipped into the warm water quickly.
Tightening her halter bikini strings Lily grabbed one of the large books on the side and flipped it open on the floor marbles. Her eyes fell across the page she had left off, then flipped forward a few pages till she found a title that caught her attention. In her excitement of finding the amazing page Lily had become totally oblivious to the fact that Sirius was also in the pool with her, and jumped when she heard his deep voice inches away from her ears.
"'Seeing Another's Dreams," he said his voice drowned in confusion, "what are you planning? You gonna get into Prongsi's dreams and curs him if it's erotic things about you?"
"Since you're too thick to notice, this might just be news to you Black, but my whole world doesn't revolve around gits like you!" She snapped, giving him a light push she looked up "please just leave me alone right now!"
"Don't think your body is sayin' the same thing!" Sirius exclaimed looking at something on his chest, horrified Lily realized her hand was still resting on his chest…his smooth, muscley, tanned chest!
"Uh…" Lily quickly pulled her hand away, no longer looking the boy in the eyes as her face was now slightly flushed, while Sirius just laughed one of his hands messing up her hair.
"You know what you're problem is Evans? You take things too seriously, just lighten up once in a while!" he was still laughing and this time he took Lily's arm as he dived deep into the water.
"Fuck off Black, I'm NOT in the mood!" Lily said coughing out bubbles she had swallowed by accident, and pushed her way through the water back to her books.
"Why do you hate me Evans," Sirius asked a few minutes later, as though wondering if he should ask or not.
"Cause you act like you're the coolest person in the world," she said aware of the fact that she wouldn't be getting too much reading done in presence of a Marauder, "you and Potter walk around as if you own the world…you know how pathetic that makes you look?"
"Most of Hogwarts think we're anything but pathetic, they treat us like gods!"
"I'm not most of Hogwarts then," Lily's voice was sincere since they first started talking, her eyes caught Sirius' for a second…an almost amused expression passed through them.
"You know what Evans? I was wrong, you do chill out a lot…but never around us, I mean the Marauders," Sirius peered at her his eyes soft yet searching.
"Is that what you think," Lily gave him a small smile but offered nothing more.
"Yeah…I think you like James Lily, a lot!" as he said this, Sirius was pleased to see her face grow at least 3 shades redder.
"I don't—"
"And don't try to deny it, the look on you're face was all I needed," Sirius said with a slight grin looking at Lily whose eyes were locked with his, searching his face, as though wondering if she could really trust him, "he obviously is mad about you, why is it that you reject him over and over again?"
"I…Sirius, the James Potter I like is a fantasy," Lily began wrapping her arms around herself, as though afraid Sirius would attack her at her vulnerable state, "he doesn't exist! It's a boy with James' face, his brilliance…but not his ego! It's a boy of all the sweet things he had said and done these past years, every little thing like picking up that first year's books, or the time he explain how he felt about love in class and why love potions should never be made legal! It's like a dream boy out of a James Potter scrap book…it has some of him, but not everything!"
"You noticed ALL those things?" Sirius asked staring at her in aw, and Lily gave him a sad smile.
"I'm just a hopeless romantic," she sighed staring at the bubbly water and suddenly she looked right up at Sirius, "I gotta learn to live in the real world…find a fun faulted guy, not one half out of my dreams and half out of my nightmares!"
"I can tell a girl in need when I see one," Sirius mockingly puckered up his lips swimming to Lily, who gave him a playful glare and threw a large handful of bubbles in his face.
Laughing Sirius stuck her head into the thick bubbly surface and tried to jump on her back for in water piggyback ride. Lily though who was rather soapy slipped from right under him and clutched her tummy laughing as Sirius lost his balance. Like Lily had expected he was over exaggerating it as if he was falling to his death by flying his arms all over the place, a horrified look on his face, and his left leg stuck right out. Weird part was that his showmanship wasn't bugging Lily at all, not the way it usually did, in fact she thought it was actually very funny and oddly creative!
"You're going to pay Evans!" Sirius waved a threatening finger at her as he swam towards her, his eyes sparkling the way James usually did before he did something he was forbidden to do so…
Lily didn't even have time to react as Sirius once again grabbed on to her arm, though this time it wasn't just a duck underwater. To her surprise, this time Sirius had Lily do the underwater flip with him, causing a large amount of disgustingly soapy water to enter Lily's mouth and nose. Gagging Lily took some time to shake the heavy water out her hair a little when Sirius finally let go of her, but didn't take too long before her hands were placed on his head pushing his face underwater. Sirius was too strong for her though; he suddenly grabbed her small waist and pulled her down with him.
It took Lily a few seconds to realize their half-naked bodies were nearly rubbing against each other, something that took her breath away instantly. Lily watched Sirius' handsome face, wanting to kiss him more and more every second, but realized he didn't make a single move at her. Lily couldn't take it anymore, his pouty lips looked too prefect, too delicious…
"No!" Sirius suddenly said, letting go of her and swam away.
"What?" Lily felt her voice break, she suddenly wanted to cry yet she was sure she had embarrassed herself enough already.
"I like you Lily, you're really pretty…but obviously madly in love with my best friend!" Sirius' gaze felt almost like x-ray projectors on her face.
"No I don't, I thought I already explained—"
"It doesn't matter," Sirius said quietly his searching gaze still there, "James is closer to me than a brother, he was the only person I can truly trust with anything my whole life…I'll never do anything to jeopardize our friendship!"
"Sirius…" Lily laughed softly, "I'm sure James wont stop being your friend over his silly little crush!"
"You just don't get it do you?" Sirius' volume had suddenly risen a bit though he now looked a bit sad, "he really cares about you…I think he loves you, but you're just too hardheaded to see that! I know James would never do anything with the girl I'll fall in love with not even if it was this tempting or more…maybe you're not close to anyone like me and James are…"
"You've gotta be kidding me," Lily said watching his light smile as he swam back to her side and kissed her forehead gently.
"See ya around wonder witch," and with that Sirius climbed out of the pool and wrapped a forest green towel around his waist.
Watching Sirius leave the bathroom, Lily got lost in her thoughts, Sirius' words flashing in her head. Sirius was known to do any girl anywhere, no matter what…what the hell happed to Hogwarts' famous player? He said James loves me, Lily thought feeling goose bumps on her arms and looked down to see all the bubbles were gone.
Walking out and pulling her own towel around her, Lily was still lost in thought. She couldn't possibly believe that the arrogant James Potter could actually love anyone but himself…yet his relationship with Sirius was so…deep. Lily felt a stab of jealousy at the boys, she knew she'd die to have someone so close…like her fantasy James, the one who was both caring, smart and funny…yet the way Sirius had talked about him, the real James Potter seemed exactly the same way.