CHAPTER 10 Price tags advertise your pride
The next morning dawned clear and sunny, mist rising off the ground as rays of light passed over the luscious green grass. Tiny droplets of dew produced equally tiny rainbows. James Potter was beginning to wake up when he felt a warm body lying next to him. Shocked he turned towards the body but one glimpse of her red hair and a smile came to his face.
Lily was once again in his bed. Groggily she murmered 'morning' and slid her arms around his bare chest as he kissed her lightly. She groaned quietly as her head pounded from the alcohol consumed the previous night.
Gently James kissed her lips as he ran his fingertips along the ridges of her back and down her legs. The red head returned the kisses warmly. James sat up slowly and drew the hangings of the four poster bed around them for a little privacy.
She slid underneath him as he returned, one hand cupping his face. Carefully she removed her shirt off enjoying the feeling of James touching her body while he kissed her neck.
The curtains were wrenched open and a huge smiling Sirius Black beamed down at them until he realised that they were half naked. It was hard to tell who was more embarrassed, Sirius or Lily, as the latter bolted up and drew the covers around her chest.
The sudden movement made her feel extremely ill. Grabbing James' shirt she hurriedly put in on and raced for the bathroom.
James scowled at Sirius not impressed that he had interrupted them.
Sirus however had completely forgotten his embarrassment and was laughing heartily.
"You…should…have…seen…the…looks…on…your…faces" he said between laughs.
Lily had returned still looking quite green but quite oblivious to the fact that the other members of the dormitory were now awake. She was clad only in James shirt and her underwear, until James hurriedly brought her a blanket. He wasn't prepared to share Lily with anyone.
The grey eyes scanned the room and he leaped up as he found what he was looking for.
"Here this will help with the headache" Sirius said as he threw Lily a small bottle from the Apothecary.
Lily didn't need to be told twice and she drank the entire potion with one gulp. Immediately the pain in her head began to lesson and her eyes adjusted to the sun light.
"Ah Hogsmeade today. I've been hanging out for some Honeydukes chocolate".
The mention of the trip to Hogsmeade brought a horrible realisation to the red head. She was supposed to be going with a certain someone who had kissed her yesterday, she had promptly forgotten all of this after making up (and out) with James.
Sirius noticed the frown on her face and worried look in her eyes.
'Don't worry' he whispered 'he's still in the hospital wing with enlarged eyebrows, too embarrassed to come down apparently'.
The red head felt a little relieved but she knew she couldn't avoid him forever, especially as she had kissed James in front of the entire common room and was now in his dormitory. She would face the music soon enough, but until then she was going to enjoy her Saturday.
Still feeling a little guilty the red head decided not to go to Hogsmeade, instead she resolved herself to finding her broom and practising for Quidditch. In all honestly she was quite surprised James had let her back on the team. Promising herself she would not let James down she changed into her new Quidditch robes and strode down to the pitch, but found it already occupied with a group of Ravenclaws.
Stranded with her own thoughts for a few minutes, she hesitated not knowing what to do. She was sharply reawakened when the quaffle soared towards her. Jumping on her broom she reverse passed it back to a girl with short black hair, who immediately grinned.
"Well, well, well" the girl said "the famous Lily Evans is playing quidditch again. We only won against Gryffindor because you were absent".
The old Lily would have smiled politely, but she had been through too much now to worry about everyones feelings all the time. Enjoying her new feelings of confidence she said in a mock pompous voice:
"Well as long as you don't expect to win the cup, we'll get along just fine".
This made the others laugh. The small group spent the remained of the morning playing three-a-side Quidditch. They could teach the red head new tricks, some of them looked like they had been born on a broom.
The red head smiled and joked loudly with them enjoying being back on a broom and getting back into shape.
Walking with them towards the changing room she pulled off her Quidditch robes and she heard someone gasp. Her cuts and bruises were still healing and she had some rather obvious scars.
The girl with the short black hair and eyes like a hawk simply told the others to leave the red head alone.
"Those are marks of the Crustacious curse" said the girl once her other friends had left. Before Lily could ask how she knew the girl had taken her own shirt off revealing her own scars.
"They never quite heal, although I recommend murtlap essence".
Lily smiled, this girl had obviously been through hell. She held out her hand,
"Lily Evans"
"Alice Carter".
They acknowledged each other with a curt nod realising they would trade stories and secrets later.
"Say" said Lily on a whim "normally in the evenings I practise duelling. Do you want to come?
Flashing her huge smile she said:
"I thought you'd never ask. I knew you and Sirius Black were up to something, always in the library. My friends thought perhaps you were fooling around, but it never quite sat with me".
Linking arms the two began to walk to the castle, furiously arguing about whether the Tornado's would win the cup this year or not. Lily liked this young woman, she had a personality, interests, she was honest at any cost and was not afraid to be outspoken.
Most importantly she hated the dark arts and was determined to fight them. The girl had a talent for making Lily laugh, for some reason everything she said was very funny, most of it was honest observations that many people didn't make.
That evening Lily and Sirius were sitting in the room of requirement practising non-verbal stunning. Mid way through Sirius' first attempt the door swung open and Alice immediately shot a non-verbal stun at Lily.
Recovering she thought 'not bad', she'll definitely be an asset. Sirius shone Alice a winning smile that would melt most of the hearts in Hogwarts, but Alice seemed to be oblivious to his charms or perhaps they simply bounced right off her. She smiled simply and turned to Lily, wand raised with a smile or her face, but before she could try and disarm Alice the door opened again and in walked James.
"You didn't really think you could leave me behind did you"? he said in a tone of mock offence and immediately began duelling with Sirius.
Alice and James already knew each other from Quidditch so an introduction would be pointless. The four of them practised hard, Alice was much better than she was, but she had got a few good shots in.
The only other career Lily had taken any interest in was healing, so she mended the other three's cuts and bruises, using both her talent in charms and in potions.
The black haired girl watched the three at every opportunity. They were very interesting people and her own friends were too mindless sometimes; it would be good to have somewhere to go to escape the dreariness. She watched James and Lily and smiled, obviously there was something between them, the way they glanced at each other when they touched or how careful James was around her.
Sirius on the other hand was an entirely different matter, she thought. He was definitely handsome but in his eyes were mysteries, the kind that would only be revealed over time. Although he was good to look at, there would be nothing between them. There was no chemistry and she couldn't be bothered trying to hex all the other girls who wanted him.
Thinking for a moment more she decided these petty girls could never have him, perhaps he would use one or two of them, but his heart wasn't in it. He didn't look at them the way James looked at Lily.
Putting the cushions and books away the group was about to leave the Room of Requirement when a tall boy ran in panting. He apparently didn't realise anybody was in here.
Coughing politely the young man whipped around, grabbing his wand from inside his robes. The young man ran his hands through his hair nervously; obviously he was trying to get away from someone.
Lily recognised this young man by his face, he was in Gryffindor also, but not in her year. He had the appearance of the strong silent type, but his reflexes were quick.
He grinned and apologised, explaining he couldn't afford to have a detention and he had seen Mrs Norris in the corridor. Apparently he didn't even know the room was here. He glanced over the four of them, pausing on Alice, taking in every inch of her. She remained as she always did with one eyebrow arched in anticipation.
Quietly he opened the door and peered outside and without warning he was gone.
"Well that was unexpected" Sirius said, but he noticed when Alice blushed. It was only for a moment, but he had seen it. 'More interesting developments' he thought to himself as they headed back to the common room.
A/N: Not one of my best chapters! So sorry.
LBuccalo: I don't know how you continually find wonderful things to say about my writing! I got really sick of Sirius being an absolute prat, or a sex god; it's just been done so many times. Thank you again and again for your reviews, they mean the world to me.
Rayolis: I'm so touched you liked the previous chapters, however you may not like this one, even I think it's a bit dodgy! Thank you for your kind words.
Madsdagirl: I'm glad you noticed that I tried to make my characters have flaws! Every time I read a Lily and James story, Lily was gorgeous and James was hot and rich and almost nothing seemed to go wrong! A tad unrealistic and very boring when they seem so perfect, it drove me crazy. Normal people can't be like that! Thank you again for all your reviews
Dreamlikecheese: I like to update quickly, I have most of my ideas already down and some of the chapters already written so its fairly easy to update! Your reviews always make me smile! Thank you thank you.