Disclaimer: Sploogal and Garden Gnome do not own Harry Potter.
Chapter 42
"The feast tonight is to honour a very much loved student who is among us once again." Dumbledore looked down the Hufflepuff table at Helga. "I would like to thank Mr James Potter for guiding Miss Prewitt on her road to recovery."
The hall broke out in whispers.
***
"Sirius, who are you going to the ball with?" purred Alison, fluttering her eyelashes at him.
"I'm going with -"
"Me." Smiled Lily, sidling up to him.
"Oh. I should have guessed. After all, sluts like you do go for any single man within a radius of ten kilometres!" Alison huffed before turning to see James blocking her path, his wand out and pointed straight at her.
"What did you just say?" he asked in a deadly voice.
"She, um," Alison stuttered.
"Me and my friends have a different idea of who's a slut around here. Lily doesn't throw herself onto guys who obviously don't want her. She's going to the ball with her friend, not someone who can't stand to be around her."
Alison opened and closed her mouth a few times looking like a fish out of water, then turned and left in a hurry.
The anger in James' eyes faded and he turned to head up to his dorm, but Lily shot her arm out.
"James, can I talk to you in private?" she asked.
"Um, sure." he said uncertainly.
Sirius and Helga beat a hasty retreat and James and Lily turned to each other.
"Thankyou for standing up for me." Lily said. "You were right you know."
"About what?" asked James, collapsing into an armchair.
"That Sirius and I are going as friends. He really wanted to go with Helga, and I wanted to go with you, but you and Helga seemed so close."
James pulled her onto his lap.
"We are close. She's my friend, after all. But she's no more than that, I swear." he explained. "I'm sorry I've been ignoring you a bit, but when both Rion and Helga lost their memories the same way, I just felt like there had to be something I could do about it."
"Why didn't she send the letter to Sirius though?" Lily asked, confused.
"Her brother told her how he hates the way some girls pretend to be 'damsels in distress' in order to get a boyfriend. You know she likes Sirius. I guess she didn't want him to think she's weak." James grinned. "I'm glad Sirius beat Snape to asking you. I couldn't stand it if you were going with him!"
Lily pulled a face. "Can he even dance?"
"I don't know about normal dancing, but he was pretty good at ballet, wasn't he?" James said cheekily.
A/N More reviews please! The next few chapters may be up tonight or tomorrow, or they may be up next week. I'm not really sure. I'll type them as quickly as I can, but they're not very legible. To see what I mean by that, replace the word 'dot' with an actual dot and remove the spaces in the following address. (ff.net won't upload the address properly)
http:// sploogal (dot) tripod (dot) com / ftlop_draft_page (dot) jpg
If you can make out what it says, think of it as a sneak preview at an upcoming chapter. If we don't get lots of juicy reviews for that particular chapter, we'll be mortally offended. Really. That's our best chapter, we think. I think you guys are going to hate us for writing it though. *evil laugh*
Chapter 42
"The feast tonight is to honour a very much loved student who is among us once again." Dumbledore looked down the Hufflepuff table at Helga. "I would like to thank Mr James Potter for guiding Miss Prewitt on her road to recovery."
The hall broke out in whispers.
***
"Sirius, who are you going to the ball with?" purred Alison, fluttering her eyelashes at him.
"I'm going with -"
"Me." Smiled Lily, sidling up to him.
"Oh. I should have guessed. After all, sluts like you do go for any single man within a radius of ten kilometres!" Alison huffed before turning to see James blocking her path, his wand out and pointed straight at her.
"What did you just say?" he asked in a deadly voice.
"She, um," Alison stuttered.
"Me and my friends have a different idea of who's a slut around here. Lily doesn't throw herself onto guys who obviously don't want her. She's going to the ball with her friend, not someone who can't stand to be around her."
Alison opened and closed her mouth a few times looking like a fish out of water, then turned and left in a hurry.
The anger in James' eyes faded and he turned to head up to his dorm, but Lily shot her arm out.
"James, can I talk to you in private?" she asked.
"Um, sure." he said uncertainly.
Sirius and Helga beat a hasty retreat and James and Lily turned to each other.
"Thankyou for standing up for me." Lily said. "You were right you know."
"About what?" asked James, collapsing into an armchair.
"That Sirius and I are going as friends. He really wanted to go with Helga, and I wanted to go with you, but you and Helga seemed so close."
James pulled her onto his lap.
"We are close. She's my friend, after all. But she's no more than that, I swear." he explained. "I'm sorry I've been ignoring you a bit, but when both Rion and Helga lost their memories the same way, I just felt like there had to be something I could do about it."
"Why didn't she send the letter to Sirius though?" Lily asked, confused.
"Her brother told her how he hates the way some girls pretend to be 'damsels in distress' in order to get a boyfriend. You know she likes Sirius. I guess she didn't want him to think she's weak." James grinned. "I'm glad Sirius beat Snape to asking you. I couldn't stand it if you were going with him!"
Lily pulled a face. "Can he even dance?"
"I don't know about normal dancing, but he was pretty good at ballet, wasn't he?" James said cheekily.
A/N More reviews please! The next few chapters may be up tonight or tomorrow, or they may be up next week. I'm not really sure. I'll type them as quickly as I can, but they're not very legible. To see what I mean by that, replace the word 'dot' with an actual dot and remove the spaces in the following address. (ff.net won't upload the address properly)
http:// sploogal (dot) tripod (dot) com / ftlop_draft_page (dot) jpg
If you can make out what it says, think of it as a sneak preview at an upcoming chapter. If we don't get lots of juicy reviews for that particular chapter, we'll be mortally offended. Really. That's our best chapter, we think. I think you guys are going to hate us for writing it though. *evil laugh*