Okay, sixth chapter. Let's have some fun with Marlene and Mary, shall we? Good.
Good lord people! I doubt I could own Harry Potter even in an alternative universe.
Acquiring the Power of Accusation
"Padfoot?" James asked tentatively. They were still under the lemon tree by the lake and Remus had disappeared somewhere.
"Yes Prongs?" Sirius calmly asked, flipping a page from the book he was reading.
"Have you been well?" James slowly asked.
Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Since when did you get so mushy?" he asked.
James shrugged, "Not that it matters, but you've been talking in your sleep lot more than usual."
"What've I been saying?" asked Sirius curiously.
"Well - you say 'golden' and 'yellow' a lot - although you mumble it so much that I barely make it out properly. Then - you once said 'who is she?' and fell into bed. You also said 'Why're you afraid?' and stuff like that."
Sirius didn't remember any dreams related to any of that. Sirius had realized over the course of years that when he spoke in his sleep he could rarely ever remember the dreams his words corresponded with. But that didn't make it any less frustrating - since he wondered if he had actually said anything or if people were making it up.
"I didn't know you watched me sleep prongsie - how romantic." Sirius said with a grin.
"I have nothing better to do, Paddy - you snore as well." James said in a long suffering voice.
"I do that when people are watching me sleep, making goo goo eyes at my naked torso." Sirius said flatly.
"How would you know I was making goo goo eyes at your naked torso?" James asked.
"Why would I snore?"
"Why would you talk in your sleep?"
James' voice was almost accusing.
Sirius shut the book he was reading, giving it up as a bad job and gave a long hard look at James. "I don't really remember those nights Prongs." he said finally.
James raised his eyebrows before nodding once. He left soon after and Sirius paced the common room fire muttering to himself.
It wasn't completely true that he didn't remember any of those nights. He didn't remember those particular dreams but there were other dreams that he did remember.
And the ones he did remember had June Leto plastered all over. It was just the day before Halloween and they couldn't afford any distractions now, not when everything was hanging on a balance. But how on earth was he supposed to stop June Leto from plaguing his dreams?
She regularly appeared with her odd face and her odd stammer, her strange silence and her strange genius, her observation and her eyes. Her eyes. Her eyes were a constant enigma, something that somehow no one noticed yet were important enough for Sirius Black to have dreams on. And why didn't other people notice her eyes? They had some significance that Sirius couldn't quite place, something that needed to be explained and at the same time was completely inexplicable.
And she arrived in strange clothes and strange ways: as a queen who would banish him to the under-lands or as a beggar, who would cower away from him. And she was always dressed in yellow. Yellow and golden to match her eyes and hair, making it seem so strongly sunny.
Sirius gripped his hair in frustration. June Leto was more trouble than she was worth.
"Hey Evans!" James yelled, gallivanting across the school grounds.
Lily Evans looked up from the book she was reading under the self same lemon tree where Remus, James and Sirius had spent the morning. It was the afternoon before Halloween incidentaly, and June Leto had disappeared somewhere Lily couldn't find her.
"What is it Potter?" she asked.
"Sirius just said something I would like to ask you about." James said collapsing down beside her. Lily leaned sideways to as he fell down on the grass.
"Such a graceful creature you are Potter," Lily said wryly, wrinkling her nose.
"Don't test me Evans. I can dance better than you." James said challengingly.
"You can not." Lily said derisively, "I'll have you know, I have been dancing since the tender age of six."
"Well, my good mother has been training me to dance since the absolutely delicate age of four." James dismissed.
"Alright Potter," Lily said in a I-bet-you're-going-to-regret-everything-now voice, "I challenge you to a dance face off. We dance together on the next Hogsmede trip."
"Very well, Evans. After the Halloween fiasco is over, and the before Christmas trip is scheduled. Incidentaly, I think the three broomsticks was about to hold a dance night."
"Are the terms and conditions of this deal agreed upon?" asked Lily, flicking her wand so that a quill began to swivel across a piece of parchment quickly.
"Agreed." James said, and gave the newly formed contract a quick glance before signing it at the bottom.
"Agreed." Lily said with a grin and flourished her own signature on it.
"We need a witness," James pointed out.
"A good eye for law, eh?" asked Lily as she added a bit for the witness to sign on, "I'll ask Marlene or Mary to do it for me. Here - a copy of the contract."
"Good." James said cheerfully.
"Anyway, what were you coming here for?" asked Lily.
"I wanted to ask you what a movie was?" James said.
"A movie - where did this come up from?" Lily asked.
"We were just talking about what he would say if he liked a girl, and he quoted some toast from something called a movie of all things. What was the name? Ah, yes. Casmlanga." James finished.
"Casamlanga? You mean Casablanca." Lily said.
"That's what I said, Evans." James said testily.
"Well, he must be talking about the toast 'Here's to looking at you, kid,'" Lily added.
"That's the one!" James said triumphantly.
"That's pretty romantic - I didn't expect it from Black of all people. That's the penultimate romantic toast, you know. Something that is reserved for someone you love so dearly, you would be ready to let them go." Lily said thoughtfully.
"Well, Sirius is a doe eyed teenage girl then, Evans." James said flatly, "But what's a movie?"
Lily gave it a moment's thought before saying, "Why don't you come around Christmas and I'll show you."
"That's incredibly suggestive, Evans," James said, waggling his eyebrows.
"And we're back to the arrogance, aren't we?" Lily asked dryly. "I was foolish to think it would last."
"Jokes aside, Evans, that was a nice offer, and I think I'll be able to make it," James said sincerely.
They were quiet for a moment.
"Dancing together, spending Christmas together - people might almost think we're friends," James said jokingly.
"We are, I suppose." Lily said honestly.
"What do you mean, Evans?"
"We're friends Potter. As long as you don't become all devil-may-care again," Lily said testily.
"Evans, you make me incredibly happy, you know that?" James said earnestly.
"I should think so Potter - specially considering the number of rejections you have gone through because of me." Lily said dryly.
"All worth it, Evans," James said with a wink.
"Oye! Mary!" Lily called, jumping up and down haphazardly.
The girls dormitory was a nice and cool place with plenty of sunlight and rainbows - if you manage to ignore the mess girls made.
"About time, Evans!" Marlene called, striding towards her carrying tonnes of fabric swathed across her arms, "Tell this witch to leave us alone!" she said, pointing at Dorcas in dire accusation.
"It's hardly that big of a deal Marlene," Mary said reasonably.
"'Hardly'?" Marlene sputtered in rage, "'Hardly'? Cleaning out the girls dormitories is not a task to be undertaken lightly, Mary McDonald. You might as well try to poke a dragon in the eye."
Mary rolled her eyes.
"I think we need to clean it," Dorcas said mildly "After all, this is the first free weekend we have had in ages - might as well make it productive."
"Why must we make it productive? Why can't we just lounge about the castle like normal people?" Marlene whined.
"Marlene, this place is a mess, really," Lily said fairly, "Come on, I'll help."
Marlene pouted as Lily dragged her to the cupboards. She began rummaging the cupboard and taking everything out. After another fifteen minutes of protest, Marlene also joined in and began to empty her cupboards out.
"Dear lord, how old is that?" Lily asked, holding a blue dress at an arms length away from her. "How long has that been lounging at the bottom?" she mused.
"Give it here, Lily," Dorcas said and snatched it from Lily's arms. She quickly threw it into a pile of rubbish clothes near the foot of her bed. "We'll donate it," she said simply.
"Ah, the shoes we dared Mary to wear," Marlene said with a reminiscent eye, pulling out a towering pair of black stilletos. "What was the bet about?" she asked Lily.
"Will she kiss Danny Carter or will he kiss her," Lily said with a smile, squeezing Mary's shoulder.
"You lost, didn't you, you shy little baby?" Marlene asked laughingly.
"That was not funny!" Mary exclaimed, "I had to wear the stupid things on our date! The poor fellow had to support me because I wasn't allowed to take the shoes off!"
And so it went on, taking out piles and piles of clothes and exclaiming over them. Some scarves found homes with certain tops that would look good with them, some necklaces were thrown away in contempt, some boots found their places at the bottoms of the cupboards and some dresses were deemed to be not from the archaic era, and folded and placed.
It was funny to see that Lily Evans' cupboard had stored of books in it, while Marlene had clothing which she would definitely never wear. Mary on the other hand, had keepsakes and figurines which all four of them had forgotten, and Dorcas had endless muggle music records.
"I think I would wear that for the Hogsmede dance night," Lily said with a smile, as she viewed a pretty yellow dress with a pretty white pattern.
"Already planning, are we?" Marlene asked suggestively, "Have a date for that, do you?"
"Not really," Lily said, picking out other things that might go with the dress, "Potter decided that he had to challenge my dancing skills, is all."
"You're going with Potter?" asked Mary, too shocked for words.
"I'm not going out with him, Mary, he just asked for one dance to prove that he can dance better than me. Is he going to regret it," Lily said happily.
"Well. Who would have thought it?" asked Marlene.
"We're friends Marlene, no need to accuse me of under age crimes already," Lily said.
"Keep saying that Lily," Dorcas said with a grin.
"You say the same thing about Benjamin Fenwick don't you?" Marlene accused Dorcas.
"Hardly the same thing," Dorcas dismissed.
"Actually - I had some gossip on the matter." Lily said cheerfully.
"What folly, Lily Evans!" Marlene exclaimed, "Why fall to the levels of the pitiful peasant?"
"Shut up Marlene -" Lily said, "Dorcas - Potter told me he caught Julia Tryst kissing Fenwick."
"What?" Dorcas asked, looking a bit numb.
"Really? I thought they were going out tomorrow?" Mary said conversationally.
"What?" Dorcas whirled around quickly.
"Yeah, I heard that one too," Marlene said, folding some clothes and putting them on a pile.
"What?" Dorcas asked, a little disoriented.
"Apparently Benjamin Fenwick has been keeping thing from you," Lily summarised.
"He won't get away with this!" Dorcas said at once, "I'm going to follow him in Hogsmede if I have to."
"It might have to come down to that," Mary said thoughtfully, "But you can't follow him - he'll know something is up."
"Mary's right!" Dorcas declared, her eyes twinkling madly, "I can't do it, so she will!"
"What?" Mary asked.
"She's right, McDonald!" Marlene cried gleefully, "You have to do it!"
"No! I had other -" Mary began, but everyone turned to look at her.
"You had other what may I ask?" Marlene asked sweetly.
Mary gulped. "Nothing." she said, disappointing Marlene greatly, "I'll do it Dorcas."
"Wonderful!" Dorcas said, clapping Mary on the shoulder, "I want hourly reports."
"I'm going to leave you batty old women alone," Lily said shaking her head, "I have somethings to tend to."
Lily sashayed out of the dormitory and Mary slapped her hand to her forehead, "You idiots!" she said angrily, "I had planned to follow Lily into seeing whatever it was that she was doing with the maurauders."
"There, there, McDonald." Marlene said cheekily.
"You've already said you'd follow Benjamin, Mary!" Dorcas said pleadingly.
"As usual, Marlene McKinnon comes to save the day," Marlene exclaimed and jumped on her head, powering her fist in front of her, "I shall go forth and follow good Lily Evans to her destination."
Dorcas jumped on her own bed. "And I shall coordinate you both!" she cried.
"And I shall contemplate how I got stuck with weirdos like you whilst I follow Fenwick," Mary said dryly.
There. Done. Please wait for a week for the next extremely complicated chapter 'Haunting on All Hallows.' It's going to be more difficult than anything I have ever written.
So have fun waiting for a week.
*The power of the writer*