The sound of smashing glass was all around me. My legs kicked and my arms did windmill impressions and my arse was bracing itself for a very crunchy landing indeed…when, somehow, it all seemed to stop for a moment. Something was cradling my body tightly, but it was also moving… And then I was falling again…and my whole body gave a violent jolt as I made impact with the ground.
It came to me at that moment that my eyes were scrunched up so tightly that my face was all pulled out of proportion, like putty. The second thing that registered was that my cheekbone was hurting like hell, and when I say hell, I mean the fiery pits of Hades kind of thing. I whimpered very softly, and clung to the only solid thing I could find in my dark, pain exploding world.
"Evans! Are you alright?"
I very slowly opened my eyes. Potter's blurred face peered at me, looking panic stricken…and kind of wonky. Hmm. Strange.
"I've just had a crystal bowling ball smash into my face, Potter," I found the energy to snarl at him, "But apart from that, I'm just hunky-dory, thanks for asking."
His face was very close for some reason…actually, now I came to think about it, it seemed I was actually looking down at him…
"Hey, I've just had you land on top of me, but do you hear me complaining?" He gave a wheezy kind of chuckle. "Hey, Evans, did it hurt when you fell from heaven? No, but it sure as hell hurt me!"
"Hilarious, Potter," I muttered into his chest. He was actually quite comfortable to lie on top of…and his arms were wrapped around my back, doing quite nicely as a duvet…
"WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON HERE?"
That was when I looked up and saw Trelawney standing over us, a horrified look on her face.
And that was when I blacked out.
0o0
Never before had I woken up to such sheer pain. I mean, honestly, my whole face felt like it was about to fall off, it hurt that bad.
Suddenly, something freezing cold made contact with my cheek, and I shrieked in pain, sitting up so fast that my head cracked into something very hard. Pretty soon there were two voices yelling in all their pained glory.
"Miss Evans, pull yourself together!"
Ah, now I knew where I was. There was only one voice in the world that could make my name sound like a filthy swear word. "Madam Pomfrey?" I whispered hoarsely, easing open my eyes. One of them felt oddly swollen and heavy. "What's happening?"
Pomfrey was nursing her head with a bright yellow cloth which reminded me unpleasantly of my duster. Flinging me a look which must have invented the phrase 'if looks could kill' she soaked it in a bowl of chilled blue liquid, and pursed her lips.
"I was hoping you would tell me that, Miss Evans. According to Professor Trelawney, you broke her favourite crystal ball when kissing Mr Potter - "
"WHAT?" I yelled, and my cheek gave searing throb, making me wince and clamp my hand over it, which made me scream even more. "You're joking, right?" I managed to get out, once my cheek had returned to some degree of pain under 'excruciating.'
Pomfrey looked most offended. "I do not joke, Miss Evans," she said severely, "But let us discuss it after I have seen to your cheek." She pressed the icy cloth to my burning cheek again, and I forced myself to stay silent. Inside, my mind was going crazy with thoughts. I could not have been kissing Potter. Nuh-uh. Not in a month of Plutonian Sundays. An image of a crystal ball connecting agonisingly with my face swam into my memory, fast followed with Potter saying "Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?" And that was when Trelawney came along…
Oh my God.
I had been lying on top of Potter.
And she…
She must have thought that we were…
Sweet. Holy. Moley.
"Madam Pomfrey!" I gasped, jerking my head around, "Me and Potter are NOT lovers!"
Ok…and I did not just say that…
Pomfrey raised an eyebrow. "I never said you were."
"No, I mean, we weren't making out! We're just good friends!" As the eyebrow rose even higher, I smacked my palm to my forehead, and promptly yelled in pain. "I mean, no! We're NOT good friends! In fact, I hate him, and he hates me! We're arch enemies!"
Pomfrey remained looking unconvinced. And no wonder, seeing as I was sounding guilty as anything. "Mr Potter also denied being 'romantically' involved with you." She allowed a small sneer to quirk her lips, which looked totally stupid and made me want to burst out laughing. "His story was that you had been foolishly climbing some shelves, when a crystal ball rolled off the shelf and made impact with your face. At this point, you lost your balance and fell backwards off the shelves. According to Mr Potter, he then caught you in his arms, before falling over himself due to your weight unbalancing him."
I nodded furiously. "That's right! That's absolutely - "
I paused. She had said Potter had caught me in his arms. And that, that couldn't't be true. I had fallen on top of him. Hadn't I?
Pomfrey was speaking again, and with a massive effort I pulled myself back to Planet Here And Now and made myself listen. "…need to hold this sponge to your cheek for ten minutes before I heal the bone. Then I want you to go straight to bed." She handed me the sopping wet, cold sponge, and turned away, walking to someone standing at the other end of the Wing. Slapping the sponge obediently on my face, I followed her with my eyes, then focused on the person she was now talking quietly to. My stomach gave a jolt of surprise.
Moony.
He was standing there, his slightly wavy, long-ish, honey brown hair flopping into his eyes, making him push it out of the way with one hand. His other hand, however, was held by the wrist by Pomfrey, who was inspecting it closely.
"Nothing too serious," I just heard her say in a low voice, "But I'll put something on it anyway, just in case." She let his hand drop, and turned to a large medical cabinet on her left. As he waited, Moony's eyes roved around the room, and finally landed on me.
Bleargh. That felt weird.
It was odd. The second his eyes made contact with mine, my stomach gave a funny kind of leap, like I was walking down the stairs and thought I was at the bottom, when there was really one more to go. He inclined his head slightly, and a small smile tugged at his lips. I sat there, blinking like a friggin' fish, then smirked somewhat breathlessly back.
Oh God. Now he was frowning. Probably because I looked like a leering vampire lusting for his blood.
Bum. And now he was walking over, leaving Pomfrey to rummage around in her cupboard. "Hi," he said simply, sitting down on my bed with a groan of bedsprings.
"Hiya!" I almost shouted back, then giggled randomly. Oh God. My face was going red. Quick - quick, think of ice, freezing cold ice, in a fridge…no, better yet, stick that cloth on your face again. Hastily, I slapped the cloth on my boiling cheek-bone, missed, and whipped myself in the eye.
Classic, Lily. Just classic.
"Did you mean to do that?" asked Moony, his lips quivering as he looked at me now rubbing frantically at my eye and blushing worse than ever.
"Of - of course!" I stuttered, trying to grin through my tears of immense pain, "Nothing like a good cloth in the eye to wake you up!" I did it again, feebly, to demonstrate. His lips trembled worse than ever.
"Might try that some time," he said gravely. "I came over to ask why you're here?"
"Oh! I - er - got smashed in the face with a bowling ball. I mean, crystal ball." I giggled again. Just like that. For no reason whatsoever. "It wasn't very fun!"
It wasn't very fun. Oh my Lord, what the hell was I turning in to? Katy?
He frowned again, and my blush deepened. "How did a crystal ball come to be hitting you in the face?"
"Ah, well, you see, I was climbing up a load of shelves with two balls stuffed up my jumper - er, that sounds wrong, but oh well, and, one rolled off a shelf and…and hit me on the cheek-bone." I trailed off lamely. He was still frowning.
"Did this happen when you were with James?"
I stared at him for a moment, before finally remembering that Potter's first name is 'James.' "Oh - yeah. I blacked out, so I don't remember much, but apparently he caught me when I fell off the shelves."
"Did he now?" For some reason, Moony was looking highly amused. I grinned stupidly back, though I'm sure the amused look wasn't for me.
"Yeah, he did. Stupid git."
Alright, I'm not sure how that one slipped out. Moony laughed slightly. "You know he probably saved your life when he caught you?"
"Great, I owe my life to Potter. My nightmare has been realised." My voice was dry, but inwardly I was delighted to have made Moony laugh. He raised an amused eyebrow at me.
"Is he really that terrible to you?"
"Yes, he really is."
"But he did catch you when you fell - isn't that an old clichéd saying?"
I shuddered. "Do you really have to say it like that?"
"Mr Lupin!" Pomfrey was walking over, a jar of some orange paste or cream in her hand. "Let me apply some of this to your finger, then you're free to go."
I glanced down as Moony lifted up his hand, and extended the right forefinger. I winced slightly, for on the tip of it was a raw, shiny looking burn.
"Did you burn that on the fire?" I asked, watching as Pomfrey started dabbing bits of cream onto it.
Both of them paused, for a split second. Then Pomfrey carried on with the cream, her lips slightly more pressed together. Moony turned his head and smiled at me.
"Yeah. You might say that."
Sadly, he went about five minutes later, leaving me to sit there with a freezing sponge on my face, wondering about the mysteries of life. And the main mysteries were: 1) How had I managed to unintentionally wriggle my way out of detention, 2) Why that cost me my cheek bone when people like Potter did it virtually without pain, and 3) Why was it that I had developed a crush on Moony Lupin over five minutes when I wasn't even sure of his real name…
0o0o0o0
Well, I bet none of you expected THAT, now did ya?
Currently, I am trying very hard not to jump up and down with happiness - oh the hell with it, I'll jump anyway. (Jumps and squeals) Ok, I'm done now.
What am I so happy about...well...for starters, you lot gave meTWENTY-EIGHT REVIEWS for my last chapter. I mean, bleaugh? Twenty EIGHT? This has broken the record, guys...!(Squeal)
For seconds...many, many new people have been reviewing.Which also makes me happy. And thirdly - some of those reviews that you gave me last time made me almost kiss the screen in happiness. Seriously. Because they were SO NICE! And helpful, and inspiring and stuff. Quite a few of them made my day, in fact. You should all be very proud. (Tosses roses)
So...once again, tell me what you liked, didn't like, what you think will happen etc. Love you ALL!
Peace out xxx