Disclaimer: Harry Potter property of J.K. Rowlings. Plot and additional characters mine…yada yada…
A.N. Ick..I feel as if this was a really bad chapter. Can't quite seem to get back into the swing of things. But I thought it might work if I just wrote the chapter, rather than delaying it for ages trying to get it right. Went over it so many times. Grr…hopefully you think it's alright. I went through my chapters and realised that I had way too many people with names starting with 'L' so I went back and changed Lisa's name to Anabelle, this being the blond hair blue eyed stuck up Slytherin. I've edited the chapters that involve them(1,2, and 3) so it should be all ok now. Sorry if the names get confusing. Even I got confused. P
Actually, here's a list of students I'm mentioned. Hopefully it helps. meaning either I haven't come up with their last name or it is irrelevant.
Gryffindor:
1st yrs
James Potter-hazel eyes, messy black hair, glasses
Sirius Black-dark gray eyes, black hair
Remus Lupin-blue eyes, sandy brown hair
Peter Pettigrew-watery blue eyes, dirty blonde hair
Lily Evans-green eyes, red hair
Natalie Beuford-intense light blue eyes, smokey brown hair, pale skin
Linda -brown eyes, light brown hair
Li Hwa -black eyes, black hair
3rd yr
Valerie Tse-dark brown eyes, untidy long black hair, glasses
Ravenclaw:
1st yrs
Talia -chocolate eyes, black wavy hair
Josh -gray-blue eyes, long light brown hair
Hufflepuff:
1st yrs
Joanna -blue eyes, 'not quite' strawberry-blonde hair
Slytherin:
1st yrs
Anabelle -pale icy blue eyes, straight blond hair
Chapter 7:-That time of the year
Lily was as busy as a first year could be, what with learning (losing) her way around the school, doing (dreaming) assignments, and appreciating (avoiding) the pranks played by James, Sirius, Remus and a shy boy called Peter that they had picked up somewhere along the way. Occasionally she would spend time chatting with Talia, Joanna or Josh, mostly when they were studying in the library or if she decided to sit with them during meals. However, what occupied most of her time were the cautious explorations, first of the forbidden forest, in the hopes that she might find the unicorns again, and later as the searches proved futile, her explorations of the castle itself. She intended to eventually draw a map of all the areas she explored at the end of her seven years here, complete with any secret passages she might happen to find. That was the plan of course, but whether it came into fruition was a different matter…
Before she knew it though, that time of the year had come again.
"ARRRGGGHHH! I can't do this! There's just too much information…that I don't understand…and therefore can't learn! I can't…can't…ARRRGHHH!" Taking a deep breath, Lily decided that ranting probably wouldn't help her understand the fundamentals of transfiguration (although it certainly did a lot for her stress levels). "Okay, just breathe. In…out…Okay. Now I can stop talking to myself." Shaking her head to clear it, Lily was glad that the other girls in her dorm had decided to take one of their many breaks from studying to take a walk, and therefore could not witness her momentary lapse from sanity.
Not that I'm that sane normally…but still…
Transfiguration was the last exam before the holidays, but it was also Lily's weakest subject. And my brain is dead from all the other studying and information I've stuffed in. Why couldn't the last exam be charms or arithmancy or something? Something easy? Or that I'm good at? Deciding that she too needed a break just to clear her mind, Lily made her way down to the common room.
"Well, look who decided to show up."
You have got to be kidding me…
"Freckles! I was just wondering if we had to go up to check if you were still alive or if you'd studied yourself to death. It happens you know."
I can't deal with this right now
"Why James, it seems to me that our Lily-flower is ignoring us! Oh, the horror! "
Just ignore it. You know they're doing this just to annoy you. Don't pay attention, don't react, and they'll give up. Like Dad said.
Except it didn't seem to work in this case. The Marauders (as they called themselves after hearing Professor McGonogall complaining about them "marauding all over the place") had discovered that Lily, besides an initial shriek of shock and perhaps a glare, did not react to their pranks on her the way the other girls did, which was basically a lot of entertaining jumping, shrieking, crying and vows of revenge which never got carried out. Naturally, Sirius and James at least, had taken up the challenge of provoking a more satisfactory response from her, and thus tried every possible way they could of teasing and annoying Lily, anticipating a most pleasurable explosion when she finally cracked. Deliberately calling her names that made fun of her appearance, like carrot-top and freckles, or of her name, like petal or flower, was one of the first things they started doing. Sometimes they would also trip her when she was carrying a lot of books, or imitate her mannerisms, exaggerating them to make the people around them laugh.
All of this was added on to the other pranks that they played on her or the other girls as a group. Being such an obvious target of the most popular boys in school certainly didn't help in Lily's social life at all, and she found herself employing all her skills at stealthily hiding and avoiding the boys to prevent another embarrassing episode. While her Dad's theory of bullies might have worked in other cases, it appeared that James and Sirius were too stubborn to give up on getting a reaction out of Lily. This was especially so after they discovered her penchant for blushing, giving rise to other nicknames relating to tomatoes or cherries. Lily bore all of this stoically despite her sensitive nature, and as the year went by, eventually the boys did get a bit bored of such unresponsive prey and their initial fervor died down to a more bearable teasing.
It was nonetheless, still very annoying.
"Why Sirius, I do believe you're right! However shall we dement this situation?"
In the ensuing silence, even some of the students sitting at the tables studying looked up at James in shock. James just blinked owlishly back at them, wondering why no one was responding. In the end it was Remus, who with a long-suffering tone said,
"I do believe, James, that the word you were looking for was amend, not …dement. That means something else entirely."
Sirius meanwhile, was laughing so hard that he ended up rolling on the floor gasping for breath.
"Dement……this situation! Dement!…Situ…AHAHAHAHA!"
Scowling at what he felt was an over-reaction by his best friend, James defensively said "Well that's what I meant. I purposely said it wrong to…to make everyone laugh. You know, so people wouldn't be so stressed."
Shaking his head wryly, Remus said, "If you say so."
"I do say so!" James said, looking around for a way to get the attention off him. Unfortunately for him, Lily had already taken advantage of the distraction to escape from the common room. All he saw was a flash of red disappear behind the portrait.
Dement indeed. Stupid boys! Lily ranted as she strode down the corridor. Muttering to herself, she blindly swung around the corner, only to jerk back in surprise at the scream.
Ooh..my neck…
Looking up she saw Linda, hand fluttering dramatically over her heart as if someone had tried to kill her rather than just nearly bump into her.
"Can't you watch where you're going? Honestly! Couldn't you see, or was your hair just too blinding?" Exchanging a look with her friend, they both burst into giggles.
Mumbling an apology, Lily swept past them, anxious to get away before she strangled everyone of them and hung them off the astronomy tower.
"Lily the loser!" They called after her, bursting into laughter again before going back to the common room.
Imitation robots with air in their heads! Stupid bimbotic…bimbos! ARGH! Reining in the fraying edges of her temper, she headed towards the library, hoping to find Talia or Josh there. Linda and her sidekick had taken to picking on Lily, attempting to emulate Anabelle and her friends in Slytherin. Since finding people more of her "caliber and class" in Slytherin, Anabelle had discarded Linda like an old doll, her blue eyes cooling with disdain now whenever she saw Linda. Linda, refusing to accept defeat, had tried to start her own group, copying Anabelle in the hopes of being accepted into their elite group.
As if she would pay any attention to Linda now she was in "lowly Gryffindor". At least the other girls in the dorm aren't too bad. Lily thought as she walked slowly into the library.
But those girls still held the titles dorm-mates, rather than friends, as Lily didn't feel they were her type. In the end, Lily still mostly hung around her friends from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Finding them in one of the tables in a corner, she sat down with a huff and placed her head in her arms on the table.
"Trouble with the Terrible Two again?" Josh asked, eyes not moving from the notes in front of him.
Not bothering to lift her head up, Lily heaved a sigh, before replying, "And before them, the Marauders. Well, just James and Sirius really. Peter just sat there staring at the fire, and Remus looked like he was trying not to get involved, as always. I don't get why he hangs around with those idiots. He seems nicer than that. I suppose someone's got to keep them from going too far."
A noncommittal "Mmhmm.." from Josh resulted in another sigh from Lily. Looking up from her work, Talia said, "Shouldn't you be studying? Transfiguration isn't really your best subject is it? Bring your stuff here and we can study together."
With one last sigh, Lily stood up and went to get her things and the rest of the day was spent slaving away at the books.
"I'm doomed…doomed, I tell you! DOOMED!" Lily moaned and draped herself across Talia, who laughed and pushed her away.
"Don't be silly, Lily. Hey that rhymes! Anyway, I'm sure you'll do fine." Josh said as he neatly stepped back to avoid Lily as she careened towards the wall.
"All those questions! No answers! Blank! I'm doomed!" Lily wailed again as she crashed in to the wall, slumping onto the ground.
"Well," the soft voice of Joanna intruded her spiel, "at least it's over."
Lily's head jerked up, eyes wide in realisation.
Over…
"YES! FREEDOM!" Lily shouted as she danced down the corridor out of the classroom, ignoring the bemused looks on Professor McGonogall and the other students faces. It occurred to them that perhaps the stress of the exams had knocked a few marbles loose in Lily's head. Having already witnessed Lily's craziness many times, Talia, Joanna and Josh just smiled and walked beside their friend as she continued prancing and twirling all the way to the Great Hall for dinner.
"See you in a few months, guys!" Josh waved as he walked off with his parents. Joanna and Talia also left a while later, after a few hugs and promises to write. This left Lily standing by herself in the train station, and after a minute of looking around, she resigned herself to going to a corner to wait for her parents.
While she was excited to be going home for a longer period of time, she also felt sad leaving what had been her home for the past year. At least, it's only for a few months, she thought, brightening a little.
"Lily!"
Lily looked up just in time to see a flash of red and blue, before finding herself enveloped in a familiar warmth, the sweet scent of her mother's perfume washing over her.
"I've missed you so much!" Her mother cried, not relaxing her embrace. Lifting her head as much as she could, Lily saw Petunia standing slightly away from them, scowling slightly.
Well, at least she came…
Next she looked to her father; a slight smile which gentled his features was the only sign that he was glad to see his daughter. But it was enough. Whatever quarrels or fights she knew she would get into with her parents and sister when she got back didn't matter in this moment.
All she knew was that it was good to be home.
