Flavor of the Week
Summary: Lily Evans has everything that any girl at Hogwarts could ever want. She had great friends, the best grades in her year, an extraordinary beauty that attracted many, including James Potter. Her life was pretty sweet, even she would admit. But life just couldn't get better when Alexander Whitney asks her out. Little does she know, she is just his 'Flavor of the Week'. Can James help open her eyes?
Author's Note: I just wanted to thank the people who reviewed: Diana and taniita, you guys are the best. I wanted to say sorry for the huge delay. Life's just so busy. I finally had the night off and spent it seeing the fourth movie with a friend. Anyways, I'm kinda excited for this chapter…I like it. So Read 'n Review.
Disclaimer: You know the deal. I did not create Harry Potter or any of its characters. Now that that's over with...
Chapter Six: Hogsmeade
Remus took out his wand and tapped hump of the humpbacked, one-eyed witch. "Dissendium!" The witch slowly moved away, revealing the familiar, dark passageway. "After you, Prongs."
The two boys disappeared into the hollow tunnel. The familiar journey was silent except for the echo of their footsteps. They lifted the latch door and climbed out into the Honeydukes' cellar. As inconspicuously as possible, James and Remus entered the main part of the store from the back door without being seen, which was a rather easy task as the store was swarming with students. After purchasing a few Hopper Poppers and Coconut Cremes, they left the store for the fresh outdoors, the door ringing behind them.
For the middle of October, it was unusually warm. It felt good to be outside. With his bag of candy in hand, the perfectly content James strolled down the main street of Hogsmeade, occasionally stopping to look into the store windows. He waited while Remus went into Durvish and Banges to look at an article posted on the door of the building. Completely immersed in his reading, he was caught by surprise when someone bumped into him. A girl had run into him and had fallen to the ground, taking her many bags with her.
"I'm so sorry. I'm such a klutz," the girl mumbled, dusting off her pants. James noticed she had a slight lisp, but, being the gentleman that he is, he didn't say anything. The girl stood up. She wasn't particularly attractive. . .at all. She had limp, brown hair that hung to her shoulders. She was stout...short and a little on the chubbier side.
"Seems you got a lot of shopping done," laughed James. The girl just smiled showing a toothy grin and stood there nodding. "I'm James." She nodded, the smile still plastered on her face. James extended his arm for a handshake. "And you are?"
"Oh, Diana Saunders." She took his hand lightly.
"I was just reading this article. Then I have got to go," James said politely, pointing at the article. "I promised myself I'd do some shopping. But it was nice meeting you."
"You too," she smiled. James began reading where he left off, but couldn't get much further than the next sentence. He had the strangest feeling that someone was watching him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Diana staring at him...smiling. He put on a grin and turned around. "You're still here? What's wrong?" he was trying to sound nice, but was afraid it sounded annoyed instead.
"Nothing. I just wanted to say it was nice meeting you. And that I hope we meet again, but I have to go," she spoke slowly, pausing in between every other word, but that grin never left her face.
'That's what she waited so long to say! I thought we had said that before!' thought James wondering if she was acting like this on purpose, but somehow he also thought that this was just the way she was. "Okay, bye, Diana!" he waved good-bye, and she left.
James wanted so badly to finish the article on the door but was again interrupted when Remus walked out with Mr. Banges. "I thought I had told that good-for-nothing troublemaker to stay away from here and to never post this rubbish ever again!" Mr. Banges ripped the article from the door, crumpling it as he walked away. He muttered, "Dark Lord! Ha! Never heard anything so ludicrous!"
James and Remus continued down the streets, when Remus stopped. "Damn," he said, looking in his bag of purchases from the bookstore. "This isn't the book I wanted. I have to go back."
James looked at him, "Do you want me to come along?"
"Nah, it's okay. It might take me some time. You go ahead to the Quidditch shop. I'll meet you at The Three Broomsticks."
"Alright, see you, mate!" The two walked off in different directions. James knew that Remus wasn't too fond of going to the Quidditch Shop and would go to the bookstore over it any day; but like the good friend that he is, he always went for the sake of James and Sirius.
Quidditch was James's passion. His philosophy was that there were only two important things in life: love and Quidditch. James would eat, sleep, and breathe Quidditch if he could. For weeks now, he had been dying to see the new broomstick model: The Twister 2001. Traveling at unprecedented speeds, the Twister was said to be the best of the best, the crème de la crème. Sure, James had his reliable Twister 2000, but this state-of-the-art broom would only increase his already incredible game even more. He had hinted, subtly of course, to his parents about the broom and was looking forward to acting surprised when he found it under the Christmas tree.
James pushed through the crowd of awed students to catch a glimpse of the broom on display in the window. To him, it was a piece of art. When he finally tore his eyes away from the Twister, James wandered the aisles of the Quidditch shop. A half an hour later, he remembered that he was supposed to meet Remus at Zonko's. He walked out of the store, a little reluctantly, and headed towards the corner shop.
He was almost there when he heard, "James! James! Wait for me". James stopped and waited until a panting Sirius caught up to him. "How goes it, mate? So you decided to come?" Sirius asked trying to recover his breath.
"Yeah. What are you doing here? Where's Holly?"
Sirius was rummaging through the bag of Quidditch paraphernalia that James had brought on an impulse. "Who?"
"Holly? Your date?" reminded James.
"Oh...yeah...her. Um...I dunno. Well, guess..." Sirius began, but was stopped.
"Sorry, but, er. . .shouldn't you be with her? She is your date."
Sirius seemed to ponder over the thought for a few seconds before he said, "Nah." He waved his hand nonchalantly.
"Shouldn't you be looking for her?" James said concernedly.
"Why? I know where she is."
"Then where is she?"
"She's at the corner table of Madame Puddifoot's waiting for me to come out of the loo," he said.
"And why would she think you were in the loo?" James said trying to get an answer from his friend.
"Because that's where I told her I was going!" Sirius answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"And why would you tell her that?"
"Hey! I'm not the criminal here! You would've done the same thing had you been in my position. We were talking, and I simply asked if she liked animals, specifically dogs. Then she got all weepy and broke into tears about her poor little dog, ChooChoo."
"And you left her there! All alone and upset?" Sirius nodded sheepishly. "Can't you be the least bit sympathetic, Sirius? You're the reason she started crying."
"It wasn't me! It was the stupid dog! And, besides, you know I can't deal with crying girls," Sirius defended himself. James looked at him. "Oh, don't give me that look. I'll go back and fetch her as soon as we're done."
"Done what?"
"Our business," and with that Sirius grabbed James's arm and began towards the corner shops.
"So, um, where exactly are you taking me?" James asked, being pulled down the street.
"I'm taking you to the Three Broomsticks, so we can plan a course of action over a few butterbeers."
"Course of action? For what? And let go of my hand! People are staring!" James twisted his wrist to try and free himself from Sirius's hold. They stopped in the middle of the crowded street. Sure enough, several pairs of eyes were watching them suspiciously.
"So what, Jamsie-poo!" he yelled loud enough for the people to hear. "I can't take it anymore! We can't hide our relationship any longer! We should just come clean!" Sirius was triumphant. This made the bystanders watch even more intently.
James scowled at his friend, "Stop it! Get off of me!" He hit Sirius's hand away.
"Come along, darling! We don't want to make a scene!" sang Sirius as he put his arm around James's shoulders and guided down the street.
Once they were away from the crowd, James yelled, "What was that all about!"
"Oh, I was just having some fun, James! Did you see their faces! That was so. . ."
"Regardless, we're too old for those immature jokes."
"What? Just last week, you would have thought that was funny. What's wrong with you?" Sirius looked at his friend with concern.
James ignored his statement and said, "C'mon. If we don't get to the Three Broomsticks soon, all the tables will be taken. I am supposed to meet Moony. Maybe he is already there."
"Fine. Let's go" Sirius walked away.
James tried to ease the awkwardness that had just past. He said, "What was it that we were going to talk about again, Sirius? Sirius?" Nobody answered so James turned around to see his friend several paces behind him staring at something in the display window.
Sirius's face was pressed against the window. "I have to get me one of these things!" he said.
Displayed in the window of Zonko's was a sign that said, "Have you ever wanted to be in two places at once? Now you can! You can program this incredible device to look exactly you! Acting as a life-like hologram, it can store phrases too, serving as an ideal mean to get out of undesired situations! Get yourself one today!" Next to the sign was a man waving them inside the store, more specifically, Eli Tours, the world-famous Quidditch Chaser.
"Look at it, James! It looks just like Eli Tours, but there's no way in hell he'd be here in Hogsmeade! It's amazing! C'mon!" Once again, James found himself being dragged by the arm into the store. "I can use it to get out of History of Magic classes. Professor Bohren wouldn't even notice! After all, History of Magic is quite an undesired situation to be in." James couldn't agree more. They walked through the aisles of the store, gathering more and more stuff. "I have to have this!", "And this!", "Oh, this is neat. I'll get that too!"
"Well, if it isn't my most profitable customers! How are you, guys?" smiled the man at the counter. He was young, not much older than James. In fact, he resembled James a lot.
"Well, if it isn't Mr. Zonko himself!" smiled Sirius.
"Hey, Dan," James waved to the man. Daniel Bridges was James's cousin and incidently the co-founder of Zonko's Joke Shop. It was from Danny that James earned his rebellious streak and learned most of the spells that he used to trick teachers or to pull pranks on the Slytherins. James and the rest of the Marauders were, in fact, the inspiration for many of the products that Zonko's offered. And in return for their insight, the Marauders received a special discount off of Zonko's merchandise.
Sirius dumped all of his stuff onto the counter. There were a few stink bombs, two bags of jellybeans that turned your skin different colors, a leaking quill, four pieces of parchment (two that soak up ink, one that hides the ink, and another that looked normal, but probably wasn't), a fake wand, a bottle of an unknown potion, and a rubber chicken. "That's it?" James shrugged at his cousin's statement. "In any case, it seems that you will be busy for awhile."
"Oh, and don't forget one of those nifty hologram things in the window, please." And, finally, with four bags full of supplies and a significantly lighter bag on money, the two boys left.
"Gosh, Sirius, could've just bought the whole store with all you got," groaned James as he carried two of the bags, both weighing twenty pounds, or so he thought.
"Hey, not a bad idea. We do have that nice discount. So, where to next?"
"The Three Broomsticks."
"Oh, good idea. All this shopping has made me thirsty."
Before another word could be spoken, a shrill voice could be heard yelling Sirius's name. It was an attractive, busty, blond-haired girl, running towards them. Sirius handed James all of the bags.
"Sirius! Sirius!" the girl, supposedly Holly, stopped in front of them and tried to straighten herself up, fixing her hair and adjusting her short skirt to show even more leg than it was before. "Where did you go, darling?" she cooed.
"Oh, well. . ." Sirius started. "You're heart-wrenching story about your little ChooChoo really got to me. Right here." He patted his chest. "I needed to compose myself before returning to you. I didn't want you to see me in pieces."
"Aww, you're so sensitive," Holly gave him a peck on the cheek.
"Yeah, I needed a breath of fresh air, so I came out here, where I saw James. I was so distraught. Wasn't I, mate?" Sirius stressed the word 'mate' as he eyed James expectantly.
James, who had been trying to collect all the bags that Sirius had thrown at him, stood up and looked from Sirius to Holly, "Oh. . .er. . .yeah, he was very distraught." James watched as Holly stroked Sirius's hair. "Well, I guess I'd better be going. I have got to meet Remus at the Three Broomsticks,"
James said. But when he saw the pleading look that Sirius was giving him, he added hesitantly,
"Er…would you care to join us?"
"That would be wonderful!" squealed Holly, who was anxious at the thought of having lunch with all of the Marauders. "If it's not too much of an intrusion," she added, but not without giving James a sly wink.
"No, it's. . .er. . .no problem."
Sirius opened the door for her, "After you, my dear."
Holly giggled, twirling a strand of hair around her finger, "Why, thank you!"
Sirius went to follow Holly into the Three Broomsticks, but James grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back into the street. "You need to get rid of her. There's no chance in hell I'm sitting with her the rest of the day." Sirius gave a nod of comprehension. They walked in, and the door closed with a little tinkle of bells.
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Peter quietly closed the door behind him at quarter until seven. He slipped past many students unnoticed. Every so often, he stopped to check if anyone was following. Glancing at the piece of parchment in his hand periodically, he soon found the room he was looking for. He paused hesitantly before the door in front of him opened. Peter cautiously entered the dark room. "Peter Pettigrew," whispered a harsh, hissing voice only loud enough for him to barely hear. "Ssso glad you could make it. Have a ssseat."
Okay, that's it! Don't' forget to review! Oh, yeah! Here's a few question for you guys: Did you like the 4th movie or the fourth book better? Did you like the third movie or the fourth?