It was a great slap. My best yet, I have to say.
Black didn't seem to appreciate the art of slapping. On the contrary, he looked kinda shell-shocked, as though no-one had ever done that before. His buddy Potter (next up on the social scale) snorted with laughter.
"I'm sorry, was there something funny?" I ground out through clenched teeth. He straightened up and saluted me, the stupid berk.
"Sir, no, sir!" he barked, army-style. It didn't impress me. I mean, Petunia can do a better impression than that, for heavens sake. I tried staring him out for a moment, only he just cracked up and muttered something in Black's ear, who also proceeded to laugh like a constipated ostrich.
"What?" I snapped, because really, nothing winds me up more than people laughing at me when I don't know the cause of the joke, "What the hell are you laughing at?"
Ok, I didn't say hell. I said something much worse, which shows you how riled I was. Potter and Black mock-gasped.
"Meow, Evans, language!"
"Potter, quit dodging the blooming question!"
Or words to that effect.
Potter smirked some more, then leant down to my level. Hate to admit it, but he did have to bend down quite a bit. Not because I am small. Because he is a bloody bean-pole. He then proceeded to whisper confidentially, "Well, Evans, the thing is, from our position we can see quite a way down your blouse." As my eyes widened and my cheeks flooded with colour, he added with a wink, "And a very nice view it was too."
Potter was the next person to experience my skill at slapping. This time I did it so hard I had to shake my hand and blow on it to cease the sting, but that could only be half of what Potter was feeling.
His face. It was hilarious.
Marlene met up with me after I ran back upstairs to the safety of the girls dorms. "Lily! I can not believe you did that!" she cried, her voice very high pitched. For a moment I thought she was seriously angry at me. Then she threw her arms around me and almost knocked me over backwards with an extremely forceful hug.
"I'm so proud of you!" she choked out in this little, quavering voice, "I love you so much!"
Ok, right, let's hold it right there before you go raising any eyebrows. Marlene gets like this when she's emotional. She's often tells people she loves them, especially me. I once caught her telling a tree she loved it once.
Mind you, she was pretty drunk at the time.
"Marlene, don't…I was just angry, I…" Nope, no good. Marlene was now an official sobbing wreck.
Oh, and did I mention? She also cries a lot. At absolutely anything.
Well, at least no-one can ever accuse her of bottling herself up.
"Y-you was so b-b-brave!" she got out at last. I sighed and rubbed her back, deciding it was best just to agree with her.
"Yes, I know."
"Y-you really showed them!"
"Yes, I know."
"Lily?" she raised her head and looked at me. "I love you."
"Yes, Marlene. I love you too."
It was at that moment the door burst open, and our other three dorm mates burst in. The air was full of 'Omigod!'s and 'Ican'tbelieveyoudidthat!'s and 'You go, girl!'s.
Wow. Only three weeks into fifth year and already a mini-celebrity. Not bad.
Not bad at all.