Mélange
Usual Disclaimer
Author's Note:
Very first comment --Happy Holidays! I hope the fact that I tried match one reviewer's hopeful deadline meant I had to upload the unbetaed version first (beta on vacation: Have fun!). Please excuse mistakes... They will get fixed.
That last chapter obviously caused some justifications for discussion. First, I probably should address Lily's blindness. Some of you have said that you expected Lily would be more depressed and sad about her blindness. I created a Lily that was more of inner strength than anything. If she has the will, she can achieve whatever she wants. The fact that the healers said she still had a chance of seeing, Lily was confident that the slight chance will come through. Besides, if the healers pronounce her blind, she can't exactly have a temper tantrum to change her state. As for the logistics of a person suddenly becoming blind, I am not blind so I sort of had to guess the feeling . . . I wrote based on experience of being blind-folded. Well, when I was blindfolded, I didn't lose my sense of equilibrium..
Second, I got this extremely long review from someone who was very brave and kind in acknowledging, well, 13 elements of the story s/he had problems with. I am sure a great number of other readers may be interested, but since the content is large, just stop by my livejournal to see my response.
Oh, and a plethora of thanks and thank-yous for Just Call Me Lee (now known as: Mago) for translating the story into Spanish. It feels so strange reading what I wrote in a different language.
Lastly, thanks to everyone for supporting my decision for a college-applications-hiatus in many different forms. Now, here's the chapter fourteen!
Chapter Fourteen
It didn't take long for Lily to get used to her lack of sight. After spending five years at Hogwarts, the grounds weren't too much of a mystery. When it came to communicating, she knew the people around her well enough to guess their reactions towards situations and to infer the facial expressions from the inflection of the voice. The propelling force of happiness was the good news pertaining to her blindness: the healers were positive her eyesight will be returned as long as she continues using the salves.
Lily spent most of her time with her parents and revealed to them much of Hogwarts magic, an experience muggles rarely ever come across. Considering she never officially gave her parents anything for the holidays, the tour around Hogwarts was giving enough. As her parents wandered around Hogwarts with Lily by their side, it was one of the few times the youngest daughter got to spend with her parental units. No Petunia, no relatives, just two parents and their little girl walking in a real magical world.
"You have such wonderful ghosts and those little short beings to serve you a healthy meal!" Lily's mother cried happily when they left the premise of the school. "It's almost like a Utopia of sorts here."
"I'm quite glad we sent you here," her father chimed in.
Lily merely smiled and shrugged. It was good to see her parents finally end their bout of worrying. With the dark wizard attack, they were rather reluctant to allow her to return to the magical realm. Her frantic mother nearly mauled the old headmaster and Professor McGonagall when she was briefed on the actual threat of dark magic. Being two very forthright beings, the leaders of the school basically told her parents there was a lunatic trying to eradicate the world of non-magical beings. As expected, her mother had a panic attack and her dad most likely had his constipated goldfish look as an outlet for shock. Apparently the tour around the school did wonders for her parents' confidence in the school's safety.
"With the headmaster's promise that you will be safe," her mother continued, "I feel much better about you staying at a school with such great protection for its students. Particularly that Sir Nicholas. He seemed quite adamant about keeping the Gryffindor safe."
Lily could imagine her father's sour expression when her mother mentioned the dead knight. All that chivalry seemed like a form of flirtation to her father, and he wasn't happy about some pasty ghost holding his wife's undying attention about most probably exaggerated accounts of combating evil and just vileness in general.
"Anyhow, I suppose we ought to get back and help your sister with her upcoming wedding," her mother continued awkwardly. It was always difficult for parents to act as though they had to choose between their children. Lily smiled with understanding and acceptance. It was completely pointless to be dissatisfied with her parents pertaining to familial arrangements. Petunia didn't get along with her, they didn't get to choose their family like every child in the world – why bother getting angry about the unpreventable?
"Bye Mum and Dad!" she answered with a grin and a small wave. "Remember to follow the directions so magic doesn't mess around with muggle laws of physics. If the directions are vague, please ask. I don't want to find my parents disfigured or something because of language." Her parents probably blanched. The playful part of Lily giggled inwardly at the typical response of non-magical folk. "Anyhow, please tell Petunia I wish her complete happiness and luck for her wedding! If she needs any extra help, I'm volunteering."
Lily could feel rays of disapproval shinning from her parents.
"Now Lily, what did I tell you about egging Petunia on?"
She pouted and defended herself halfheartedly, "I merely offered help, not to taunt her. Someone in the magic can use magic to make life easier, why not take advantage of that?"
Before her father could give her one last lecture about how to deal with her sister, Lily's mother shooed him into the Hogwarts Express. "We'll see you during Easter?" Lily nodded. "Good. And if this comforts you at all, Petunia will be living with Vernon by then."
Her mother knew her too well. The past times away from Hogwarts was always saved by her mother's matter-of-fact approach to life. Certain things shouldn't be fixed nor can it be fixed. It was pointless trying to force friendship on Lily and Petunia; sibling rivalry created to large a canyon between the sisters.
Lily bid her parents farewell. Once the train departed, the deafening silence compared to the noising sounds of a moving train flared the little spark on loneliness that came along with the loss of sight. Panic started to engulf her. When her parents were at Hogwarts, they guided her along but now that they were gone, who will be her eyes?
Amidst panicky thoughts of being trapped on the train station waiting for people to notice her absence, Lily vaguely remembered James Potter came with to bid farewell to her parents. Where was he? Like an echo in her mind, she heard James Potter walking behind her to guide her back to Hogwarts.
As the sayings lectured and the scientific research confirmed, the other senses became stronger when one sense is lost. Since James Potter was always around her – to lead, to support, to take care of her – she developed a high sensitivity to his presence. She could recognize his footfalls, sometimes even the how his hands feel against hers . . .
But Lily shut all those thoughts away from her mind. Hand-to-hand starts to get too intimate and her blind state is her vulnerable state. Strange things that she might regret may happen. Though still, thank the gods James Potter had accompanied her instead of leaving her to fend on her own in a place not quite as familiar as Hogwarts.
"So, back to Hogwarts?" Lily turned towards the source of the footsteps.
"Yes, and I believe the other delegates will be at Hogwarts soon too," James replied. "We might need to get back before Sirius does something to welcome them." Lily laughed at her imagined image of a Marauder welcoming ceremony with confetti, dungbombs, and buckets of lukewarm water. For some strange reason, Sirius wondered the possibilities of the bed-wetting prank working when people weren't asleep. Lily shook her head. In her week of confinement in the hospital wing (to heal, as the healers compulsively argued whenever she wanted to get out), the Marauders usually kept her company when her parents had to be away. She learned conversation with the pranksters tended to be of strange and freakish nature.
James led Lily to the carriage with companionable silence. She cursed her heightened senses due to her loss of sight. In fact, she nearly regretted making the promise to be more observant. The very James Potter smell wafted through her nose in their small carriage. The fact that he sat next to her with his arms around her shoulders (to steady her, perhaps) meant she was surrounded by his intoxicating scent.
Intoxicating . . . Lily flinched inwardly. When did she use the diction of those Fabio romance novels her aunt was so fond of? When did her life suddenly alter to parallel fairy tale clichés? She was a girl. She was a rather girly girl. The strange situation she was currently in taunted the romantic and idealistic side of her. Her being the damsel in distress and James Potter as the knight in shining armor – it was too perfect a storyline, so perfect that she should stop her mind from wishful thinking.
The carriage jumped to a halt. Lily silently thanked the disturbance as she could use that as an excuse to distance herself from the protection half-embrace of the Gryffindor prefect.
"Eeps! Guess we're here!" she exclaimed with forced delight. Turning to get out of her ride, her blindness caught up with her. She ran into one of the walls.
"Here, I'll lead you lest you get more bruises," James cooed with humor as his hand grabbed her shoulder and guided her off, warning of steps, rocks, and unevenness in the road. "We wouldn't want to give the healers more reasons to be overprotective and admonishing, would we?"
Or thankful of the jump because it meant he kept even closer? the sly voice of Great-Aunt Lydia wracked her mental balance. Lily felt her cheeks warm up.
"Thanks," she murmured as he led her to bed at the hospital wing. Once again, they were silent, and Lily made sure her mind wasn't about to wander.
The moment they stepped into the halls of the hospital wing, the clucking healers rushed over and started their constant lecture. She was out in the cold for too long. She shouldn't be out and about so much. She should be resting. Once in awhile, a healer would lecture for James to keep his friends in line. By the time Lily got to her bed, she was tired enough of the lectures to take the nap suggested by the healers.
"Now Miss Evans, do you need a sleeping potion to help you sleep?" one of the healers suggested. Lily shook her head. Sleeping potions were like muggle sleeping pills; they made her drowsy and she needed to be lucid to welcome the other delegates.
"I'll be fine," Lily replied, sinking into the best to get in a more comfortable position.
"You need at least three hours of shut-eye to allow the healing process," the same healer prodded without any hints of submission. "You're getting more salves and potions for your eyes. It's is mandatory that you relax your eyes for at least three hours." Lily sighed. She wasn't even able to see; of course she was resting her eyes!
"You may not be able to see but your brain is still ending signals to your eyes." She didn't know enough of science to even argue with the healer further but she knew when it was a lost cause. The tone of voice only got more persistent the more she refused. Before she could even finish nodding, a goblet was shoved into her hands.
Maybe she would argue a later bedtime after the "at least three hours" nap.
.o.0.o.
The effects of the sleeping potion was annoying Lily. She was so tired yet so excited about really meeting the delegates. In the past week, she hadn't even seen or heard about Mei and Feng. It was as though she was completely cut off from the real world.
Screaky, screaky.
She lazily swatted at the air around her. Why was her bed bouncing? If she could get a few more moments of sleep, she could probably sleep off the effects of the potion.
Screaky, screaky.
The bed continued to bounce. What was annoying was the fact that it happened sporadically. Just as she was dosing off again, the bed would bounce. Lily half rose from her bed and swung her arm in the general direction in which she felt the bed bounce.
"Geez Lily!" a voice sounding like Sirius with a broken nose complained. "You didn't have to hit me."
"Hey, if you did that to me, I would have broken your nose," James's protective voice reprimanded. "Lily, you need to get dressed. The delegates are here. We should be with them in five minutes."
The news got Lily moving. She threw off the covers and jumped off the bed with both James and Sirius holding her arms to make sure she wasn't about to fall.
"Clothes. Need clothes," Lily muttered. "Can't see, need clothes. Um, would any of you be a gentleman and get me clothes without making too much of a fuss?" She was then sat on the bed the sound of drawers opening reached her ears.
"Go away Sirius!" James chided his friend again. "This isn't the chance to well, do Sirius stuff!" Lily almost died of embarrassment. Then again, what was she supposed to do? Someone had to get her clothing. Oh dear, James and Sirius will be seeing my undergarments and my wardrobe . . . but undergarments, oh dear.
Some more shuffling and then the drawer closed. At least there weren't any lewd comments about female undergarments. Thank goodness Sirius and James grew up in an environment that cultivated chivalric gentleman even though those two pranked like the best of the street lurkers.
"There, this will be nice!" James announced, shoving the articles of clothing into her open hands. "Right Sirius?"
"Yes, it's white and light blue," the other boy grunted. "Honestly James, you took out a summer dress! You would think having all those sisters would have given you some fashion sense, but nooo, all that female influence is wasted on you!" Lily felt someone, probably Sirius, taking the clothing out of her hands.
"What are you doing?" James questioned, sounding almost afraid. "Lily isn't a dress up doll so don't even think about practicing transfigurations with her clothes! Athena is still angry about the fact that her doll's clothing now resembles those skimpy American fashions."
"Oh you dimwit," Sirius shooed his surrogate brother like a granny teasing her grandson. "What about this? The dress is velvet, dark red, and very regal looking. This is a rather formal event, right?"
"Velvet? I don't have a red velvet dress," Lily muttered to herself.
"I think Antonia gave it to you," Sirius replied flippantly. "Now change. We are already late!" She heard the curtains roll against the metal bar poked around her bed to ensure her privacy. "Change, Lily," Sirius commanded. As she obeyed, she heard another round of James and Sirius banter.
"What do you mean 'we'?" James questioned. "You aren't invited."
"Oh? I am so invited!" The boys continued to a round of immature am-not-are-too exchanges.
"This kind of persistence is only going to scare Mei, Siri," James warned. "Besides, you shouldn't play flavor-of-the-month with her. One, it's not good for diplomacy, and two, I rather like her and don't want to see her hurt. And don't forget Feng, that's three."
It sounded like she was about to eavesdrop on some private conversation. Lily shifted in her robes and flung the curtains back. "Ready to go?"
"Yes milady!" Sirius explained and took her left arm while James took the right.
"You aren't coming Sirius," James pressured.
"Am too."
"I'm not going to argue with you. Go keep Remus and Peter company or something."
"Did you forget Jamie-boy?" Sirius replied like he was talking to a small child. "They went back to get their trunks for the next term."
"Then go read, or annoy the healers."
"I am so coming. Besides, Lily needs me to protect her from you." Lily raised her eyebrow in doubt. She wasn't about to get involved in the argument between two friends.
"It's delegates only. You shouldn't even be at Hogwarts right now," James said as though he was reiterating the fact for the umpteenth time.
"I know for a fact that you are a boy and I know what boys your age always think about," Sirius lectured, ignoring his friend. He then patted Lily's hand, "He wants to get in your pants, my dear."
"Sirius!" James exploded. "I am not kidding!" Then there was a tug-of-war with Lily as the rope.
"Um, guys?" Lily commented. She was starting to get completely disoriented and nauseous. "Please stop tugging. I don't even know where I am anymore." The motion stopped. "Thanks."
"See?" Sirius continued, "I'm going to go help Lily since you are obvious incapable of doing so." Lily felt James tense from her right. Then the light of compromise shinned on the two.
"Mr. Black, if you are so insistent on helping Miss Evans, help us with brewing the potion," the head healer requested. "She needs more salves and ointments." Lily felt Sirius's head hit her shoulder. Oh yes, that little incident with the Marauders trying to brew something. Sirius had been so stubborn in saying he was the one that knew potions and the rest were crazily horrible at it.
"Good bye and good luck Sirius!" James finished their argument triumphantly and dragged Lily to wherever they were supposed to meet the other delegates.
"Thank you!" she yelled as the doors of the hospital wing shut.
By the time they reached wherever – if her memories were correct, they were at the Great Hall – they were bombarded by Potter daughters.
"What took you so long?" Aleia demanded. It sounded as though she had been the designated sister to explain the Potter heir's tardiness. "You know how hard it was to keep Antonia from making snarky comments about you two?"
Lily felt James shrug, "We are here without Sirius. Aren't you at least a little happier about that?" Aleia was silent. Lily wondered what had she missed while she was confined at the hospital wing.
"Well come on, they are waiting." Before Lily could even nod, she was shoved, along with James, into a loud a room full of chatter, laughter, and people. "Just mingle! You hear? Mingle!"
"Right mingle," Lily murmured quietly. "Who am I to mingle with? I'm not even sure where people are!" Apparently anxiety was taking a toll on her sanity. First she was attacked by lunatic supporters of pureblood radicalism from which she was blinded. Now that her eyesight was deemed recoverable, she was thrown in another nerve-wracking situation involving diplomacy with a bunch of teenagers from other countries. She didn't have her eyes back yet!
"Just come with me," James said into her ear. "I'll be your eyes and we'll go to the nice-looking delegates."
Nice-looking as in nice personality or nicely dress? Lily's mind retorted. Frantic thoughts flew in and out of her preoccupation. She was surely going to sound dim in the night's conversations. It was night, wasn't it?
"Lily!" the familiar happy voice of Mei dammed worrying thoughts. She did have another friend at the welcoming gala-party-thing. "It's so good to see you again! Come on, I'll take you to see some of the other delegates."
"Hang on a minute!" James interrupted. "Wait for me!" As much as Lily appreciated James's protectiveness, it was going too far when he had to be with her everywhere. Honestly, what would happen if she needed to use the bathroom? Then again, he did see my undergarments, her mind mused.
"James, it's fine. I'm sure you need to build alliances as well," Lily replied.
"But please save me from Lisa Pomben," he pleaded. "Goodness, I can't believe she's here. Why did Beauxbaton choose her as their representative?"
"Lisa's French?" Lily blinked, although no one would be able to see her eye movement with the gauze wrapped around her head.
"She's half French. Her mother is French," James replied. "Well, her mother is sort of French. French citizen because she was born there but her father's an immigrant and her mother's English."
"Why does nationality matter anyhow?" Mei questioned. She took advantage of James's moment of distraction and pulled Lily out of the grasp of the boy. "Anyhow, I think he likes you."
Lily snorted. "Sure he likes me. We're only friends." Mei clicked her tongue in disapproval.
"Lily, obviously you can't see his expression, but he dotes on you like crazy. Besides, all the Potter girls have said that James's actions towards you are novel when it comes to interaction with girls."
"Novel because I'm probably his first friend that is a girl," Lily rebutted. "Anyhow, other delegates, where are they? I hear them but there are too many languages around for me to understand what's going on."
"Now you know how I feel." Mei guided Lily to a group of students speaking heavily accented English. "Hello everyone, this is Lily Evans. She is the representative from Hogwarts."
"Oh yes, the girl that was attacked at the New Years Ball," a boy acknowledged. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you." Lily smiled uncertainly with each person that followed in greeting. Was it ridiculous that she wanted to curtsy? The formality of the situation was absurd. It felt like the boys would kiss the back of girls' hand like the good old Edwardian or Victorian times.
"So . . ." Lily started as the conversation died. What were they supposed to discuss again?
Well, I hope this chapter is satisfactory . . . with the long wait and all. Actually, I hope the colleges for whom I put off writing will like what I wrote about myself for them (did that even make sense) so they would be willing to offer me admission and some more money for college. Anyhow, off to thanking people!
PhiloNysh: My, you are certainly a great doctor for my bruised ego. If only my English teacher would take a few comments from you… just kidding. Thanks very much. Reading the review has certainly helped with writers' block for stories and for academic work. You have no idea how many times I've question the flow of the story. Was the dialogue too jumpy? Were the actions even natural? Anyhow, this review sort of quelled a bit of the uncertainty. Happy Holidays! Hope you don't mind me taking an occasional visit for you livejournal and blog – very wonderful comments by the way. And one last thing: hotmail is now sending me cialis ads… no longer Viagra and that other enhancement drug. Darned free e-mail services.
ydole3343: Wow, you reviewed pretty much every chapter. I'm very flattered! As for your fears of public speaking, I think it will eventually go away. I used to be extremely shy, like wanting to stay in the shadows forever shy. Then I got interested in politics and realized being shy in social affairs is just oxymoronic. Maybe join some club like Model United Nations. It did wonders for my speech skills. I got to one or two conferences a year and debate with people I will never ever see again. The anonymity of MUN is probably best for getting out of being shy . . . then again, I am very biased on that.
lizziee: You really think she would be popular once she gets "found out"? I mean, even with Sirius and Peter's attempt to sell her beauty and brains at the prefect sale, no one really bothered with her too much. We'll just see though . . .
moony128: Wow, you stopped your bio report for this story! Am speechless . . . though I do really like biology, so yeah. Anyhow the fact that it's a bio report just really made a big difference. Hopefully you still did well on that report? I would hate to be the cause of unsatisfactory school work. P
kiayea: Recommended by a friend? Who's the friend? S/he gets loads of homemade fudge, a slice of Italian Cream cake, and peppermint ice cream.
Hannie-Annie: Oh Hannah . . . you are just too cute and nice and all that nursery rhyme stuff of what girls are. Sugar and spice? Not too sure. But anyhow, are you glad that it's more like two months instead of three to four months?
Tinyclay: Aren't ya glad you're getting this update for Christmas? Certain methods of coercion do work.
Meenyrocks: Thanks for the corrections. I've got this really bad habit of not remembering to reload the beta-ed versions of chapters . . . I'll do that as soon as I get my files sorted out. Darned computers. As for the meaning for Mélange, it's just a hodgepodge, a miscellaneous collection. Well, isn't what this story is kind of like? In fact, I think life is like that . . .
TamPhuoc: You got your fast updates dear. About two weeks after the review though I don't know how long you waited to review.
General Thanks to these people for inspiring reviews: just dont tell my mum, Sophianwin, CurlsofSerenity, Anochera, californiagurl, Just Call me Lee, chaye710, Angel's Luv, beyonce-85, Oliverwoodschic, Hermione Granger63, glaz, harrysgal8, PruePotter, Flame Of Desire, xxxMs.Mexxx
One last thing:
I suppose this is good news, but I have put off any extracurricular writing except Melange. Dang it, I am going to finish the story by the time I graduate. How many years has this been posted? Two? Yes, definitely need to get a move on it.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter, thanks again!
omniFAIRYous