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Chappie 7

Last Day of Freedom

"Maggie, Maggie!" Lily sang as she jumped from her bed to Maggie's. "What are we going to do today? Hmm? Hmm?" She ran to the windows and pulled open the curtains; letting in a rush of bright light.

"Ugh! Lily!" Maggie mumbled as she pulled the blankets over her head. "It's too early! Go back to bed!"

"I can't go back to bed! I already tried that six times! It's time to get up!" Lily declared as she danced around the room.

"Lily!" Maggie groaned. "I just want to sleep! Let me sleep! It's the last day of freedom!"

"I don't know about you, but I'm starving. I already had my 'Last Day of Freedom' breakfast with Sirius and Jimmy, and if you don't get up soon you're going to miss your 'Last Day of Freedom' lunch." Lily waltzed over to Maggie's bed. "So get up!" she yelled as she yanked the covers off the bed.

Maggie curled up into a tight ball as her hand searched all around for a blanket; eyes shut tight. "Lily," she whined, "that's not nice! Give me my covers back!"

"Hmm," Lily considered, "Nope!" She conjured as bucket of ice cold water over Maggie's bed. Hearing the sloshing of the water, Maggie cracked open an eye.

"Ahh! Lily, no!" Maggie screamed as she put her head under the pillow. "Anything but that!"

"Maggie," Lily calmly explained, "you have two options. One, you can get out of bed right now and take a shower, or, two, you can stay in bed and I can dump this bucket of freezing cold water onto your head. Either way, I think you will soon be awake. And wet, but that's beside the point." She stood there, waiting. "Well?"

"Jeepers, Lily don't rush me!" Maggie paused. "Fine," she said as she got up.

Lily made a wave of her wand to get rid of the bucket but must have made a mistake because the bucket tipped, and the freezing cold water pored down on Maggie anyway. Maggie was soaked in an instant, and Lily couldn't help a smile cracking her face.

"Lily Evans!" Maggie screamed. "You wipe that smile off your face right now!" Maggie grinned dangerously and lunged at Lily. Lily dodged her and they were soon in an all out chase around the dormitory.

"What do you think's going on up there?" James asked Sirius in common room.

Shrieks echoed down the staircase and the thundering of feet could be heard between the intermittent splashes of water.

"I don't know. We just sent Lily up there to wake Mags up. What did she do?" Sirius pondered.

They heard a huge splash and then all was quiet.

"Well, whatever it was, it's over now," Sirius declared. He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a half eaten muffin. "Want some?" he asked.

"Wha-? Never mind. I don't even want to know."

"Truce?" Lily asked as she held out her hand to Maggie. By now, they were both completely soaked, as was half the dormitory. Lily suppressed a smile; they looked hilarious.

"Fine," Maggie feigned aloofness. "But you can never wake me with freezing cold water ever again." Maggie held out her hand to Lily and smiled.

"Deal," Lily agreed. They shook. "You go change or whatever; I'll dry out the place!"

Maggie grabbed a change of clothes and headed to the bathroom. Lily first preformed a drying spell on herself and then on the room. By the time she was done, Maggie had emerged from the bathroom.

"Let's go eat," she said.

"So when are you going to give me that tour of the castle you promised, Maggie?" Lily asked after they had had their fill of their 'Last Day of Freedom Lunch'.

"What? I never said that!" Maggie said.

"Said what?" Lily asked innocently.

"That I promised I would give you a tour of the castle," Maggie explained.

"Ha!" Lily laughed. "You just did!"

"Darn! Lily! I don't want to give a tour on such a nice day!"

"Nice day?" Lily questioned. She pointed to the window as a bolt of lightning flashed. The rain came down in buckets and the sky was pitch black.

"My, the first years are just going to love this," Maggie mumbled to herself. "Fine, Lily, I'll give you your tour."

"Woohoo! Thanks Maggie!"

Maggie stuck her head into the common room, "Hey, James, do you guys want to come on a tour of the castle with me and Lily?"

"Hmmm," James mumbled. He didn't look up.

"Don't mind him," Sirius said from the other side of James. "He is completely engrossed in this game of wizard's chess. I'm completely kicking his butt. He's not going to be moving anytime soon. Thanks anyway."

Maggie shook her head. 'Boys.'

"Are they coming?" Lily asked as Maggie closed the portrait.

"Nope. Sirius is in the process of kicking James' butt at wizards chess."

"Ha! I wish we could stick around to see that."

"Nope. You wanted this tour so I'm going to give it to you." Maggie headed off down the hall. "To transfiguration!"

"So, is there anything else you want to see?" Maggie asked as they returned to the Gryfindor common room.

"I don't think so. You showed me the whole castle!"

"Good." Maggie plopped herself down in a chair. Lily followed suit. "Lily, there's something I want to tell you about James."

Lily looked down. "You know, Maggie," she whispered, "I hope you don't think I'm like all those other girls you were talking about the other day. I don't go just throwing myself at the first boy I see. It's just, Jimmy and I were the best of friends when we were little, and when my family moved away, I was heartbroken." She grasped her locket. "Seeing him yesterday was the best thing that's happened to me in a long time." She looked away as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"Oh, Lily. Of course I would never think that! The way James acted the other day, well, I've never seen him so happy."

"Really?"

"Yes. It's just, he has a-"

"MAGGIE!" someone screamed from the portrait hole.

Maggie and Lily jumped. Maggie turned around and screamed back, "SHAY!" She jumped out of her chair and raced over to the new girl dressed in black robes standing in the common room. "And HARI! Lily," she said, "come here." Lily did as she was told.

"Lily," Maggie said, "this is Sharneesha Smith." She motioned to the girl, who waved. "And this," she said as she pointed to a boy standing next to her, "is Hari Ramajuan. Shay; Hari, this is Lily Evans."

Lily shook Shay's hand and then Hari's. Hari smiled widely, his emerald eyes sparkling. "Nice to meet you, Lily," he said.

"You, too." She smiled back.

"Maggie!" Shay interrupted. "The feast has started! McGonagall sent us up here to get you! We've gotta go!"

"The feast has started already?" Maggie questioned. She looked over at the clock on the mantle. "Oh , my gosh! It has! Come on, Lily, we've got to go change into our robes!" She grabbed Lily's arm and headed to the staircase.

Shay blocked her way. "Nu uh! McGonagall said to bring you down ASAP. She said to go as is."

"Shay," Maggie whined, "we can't go like this! We'll be laughed out of the school!"

"Tough." Shay smiled mischievously. "At least I'll get some peace and quiet this year!"

"Uh!" Maggie pushed Shay out of the portrait hole. "Let's go! Don't want to miss the food!"

Lily lingered a second and asked Hari, "Are they always like this?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yes!"

They sprinted through the halls, down the staircases, and around the corners, to reach the Great Hall in record time. Shay cracked the doors a smidge a listened.

". . . Zats, Zachariah!" A small boy moved to the front of the hall, and the sorting hat was placed on his head. A moment later it shouted, "RAVENCLAW!" and the boy rushed off to the table at the far side of the hall.

Shay closed the door. "Okay," she whispered to them, "the sorting is over, so we just have to wait until Dumbledore gives his speech and then we can go in undetected." She cracked the door again.

". . . the caretaker, Mr. Filch, would like me to mention that there has been several new rules added to the list; including, no muffins shall be taken out of the Great Hall, in accordance to the events of last year." Someone, presumably Sirius, gave a great whoop. "Ahem, well yes, you can see the new list, with all of its addendums and appendixes, now totaling, I might add, 579, posted outside of Mr. Filch's office. And with that, I say, lemons, limes, oranges! Let's eat!"

Shay opened up the door; they rushed in to take the only open seats left at Gryffindor table. Lily looked but was disappointed to find that James was sitting much farther down. He was sitting with Sirius and two other boys. On his left was a blonde girl who was talking to him and kept trying to put her hand over his. James kept pulling his away.

Lily decided to forget about it. She glanced at all the wondrous food and ate.

"Wow," Lily stated as she finished eating. "I can't believe what I've been missing all my life."

"Hogwarts has the best food in the world," Hari said as he leaned back from the table.

"I agree," Maggie said. "I could never. . ."

Lily's thoughts drifted out of the conversation and to James. She had kept getting glances from him the entire evening; she only wished she had got to sit next to him. She glanced down the table again, and was met by the steely stare of the blonde he had been sitting next to. James was smiling, saying something to her and pointing down at Lily; she got up. James frowned and put his hand on her arm to stop her, but she threw it off. Still glaring, she marched towards Lily.

"Just who do you think you are?" She growled.

"I . . .um. . . well . . . I'm, Lily Evans," Lily stammered. "Who are you?"

"Lisa," James interjected as he rushed up behind her. "What are you doing?"

She turned to James. "I was just about to tell her," she whirled around to face Lily. "You stay away from my Jamesie-poo."

"Jamesie-poo?" She laughed at James, he shrugged his shoulders. She returned her attention to Lisa. "But who gives you the right to tell me what to do? Jimmy is my best friend ever. I'm not going to stop being around just because you're telling me not to!"

"Oh, I see how it is," she stated icily. "You come in here, in normal clothes, thinking you're better than all of us! News flash! James is mine. And you can't do anything about it!"

"Jimmy is yours? How is that?" Lily stood up and crossed her arms.

"He's my boyfriend. So you better stay away, or I'll make you life a living hell here at Hogwarts."

"You're joking," Lily told her. Lisa glared back. She looked at James. "She's joking, right?" she asked, now unsure.

"Lily, I think we should stay away from each other," he said. Lisa stalked off, a haughty hitch in her step. "At least for now." He turned away.

"But Jimmy," she whispered as she reached out to touch his arm.

"Lily," he said. It hurt him to do this, it really did. "No one calls me Jimmy anymore. It's James."

Well, that's done. Pretty long, huh? I felt I had to make it up to you! Like it? Thanks to all reviewers!

Gotta love the marauders: Hope you liked this chappie as much as the others!

Dwntwndanbrwn: Don't fell bad! I know how band and choir directors can be! Mine is a dictator! Thanks for finding the time to review though!

Lady of the Rogue: Thanks! Did you like this one?

Following Padfoot's Pawprints: Oops! Winks I try! lol! Thanks for reviewing anyway! Hugs

Miracle Girls: I will! Thanks for reviewing!

AlannaDragon(anon.): Nifty! I'll have to read those! Thanks for reviewing!

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Please review! Gracias!