Wow…reviewers, thank you so much! I've gotten so many reviews!
Also, thanks to my wonderful betas, Kate (thescarlettsecret) and Kelly. You rule!
So here's Chapter 9. Enjoy!
-Elise-
Chapter 9: Detention
"Prongs, your potion!" At the sound of Sirius' voice, James jerked out of his reverie and glanced at his potion which was bubbling furiously and emitting a foul aroma much like that of old eggs. He wrinkled his nose and glanced quickly at the directions on the board.
"Now, Mr. Potter, where did you go wrong?" James looked up at Professor Slughorn who was bearing down on him, his mouth twisted into a grimace.
"Er… I don't know, professor."
"Evanesco!" James' potion disappeared on the spot.
"Thanks…" he murmured.
Professor Slughorn bent down and murmured,
"I think, Mr. Potter, it would be better to focus on class than pretty girls," Professor Slughorn murmured bending down. James felt his heart leap into his throat and his face began to turn beet red.
"Yes, Professor." With a quick nod and a dashing smile, Slughorn straightened up and returned to the front of the room.
"Students!" he yelled. "Pack up and bring me a sample of your potion. After that, you may leave!" James glanced behind him where Severus was dipping a vial into his potion and carefully corking it.
"Good job, Severus," Lily said, coming up to him. "Your potion looks very well done." James stared incredulously at Lily whose face had just turned a light shade of pink.
"Thanks," he muttered quickly, glancing down. Lily met James' eyes and, before she turned away with her sample, he could've sworn he saw an electric sparkle in her eyes. As Snape began to move down the aisle to turn in his sample, James "stumbled" over his cauldron and smashed into him, knocking the vial to the floor.
"Sorry about that, Snivellus," he said, offering a hand to help him up. With a snarl and a flourish of his robes, Snape jumped to his feet and bore down on James.
"You filthy little-"
"Snape! Potter! There will be no fighting in my classroom!" Slughorn yelled. His face as red as the Gryffindor banner, Snape returned to his desk and packed away his ingredients, trembling with indignation. He glared fiercely at James before stalking out of the classroom, his greasy hair fanning out behind him like a dirty peacock.
"Now, wasn't that too bad?" James asked, turning to Sirius who looked up at him, smirking.
"Yes, it certainly is a pity." James looked across the room to Lily who shook her head sadly and then proceeded to walk out of the classroom, the electric glint no longer there; James' heart fell.
"You're not going to get to her by harassing Snape," Lupin said, coming up to stand beside James.
"I know," James said through clenched teeth.
"Then why do you do it?"
"It's a hobby," James sighed, flinging his book bag over his shoulder.
"Well, it's going to have to end if you're going to get her to go out with you," Lupin admonished, as the Marauders darted out into the hall towards their next class, Transfiguration.
"Why do you have to be so wise, Moony?" Sirius demanded.
"It's my job to keep you in line."
"Indeed." James looked up and felt his heart fall into his stomach.
"Erm, hi, Lily," he said awkwardly, his hand automatically going up to his head. Sirius grabbed it from behind and pulled it back down; Lily laughed and James couldn't help but smile.
"Just wanted to remind you that we have to patrol the corridors tonight."
"Oh yeah, thanks." Once again, he could've sworn he saw a fire dancing in her eyes.
"You're welcome." Before James could open his mouth again, she had run away to catch up with Olivia and Alice. He wanted to call after her, and continue their conversation (it had been going so well!) but honestly, Mr. Popular Potter had no idea what to say.
"Good job, James!" Lupin said, and the Marauders applauded him.
"You actually seemed decent!" Peter crowed.
"You didn't act stupid!" Sirius said; James raised his eyebrows.
"You acted like yourself," Lupin replied, smiling.
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"Today, we shall begin Transfiguring animals into other animals." Murmurs ran throughout the classroom and Lily sat up a little straighter.
"Finally, something interesting," she heard Brandon mutter from behind her. Professor McGonagall turned her steely gaze on him at once.
"Is there something you'd like to say, Mr. Parkinson?"
"No," Brandon replied, slouching down in his chair; Lily could feel his eyes boring into the back of her head. He'd been in a very foul mood ever since she'd broken up with him, and he kept trying to impress her to try and get her to "go steady" with him again; Lily didn't know much about her dates in the future, but she knew Brandon wouldn't be one of them.
"Now, please pair up, and follow the instructions in your book on page 67," Professor McGonagall ordered. Lily turned to Olivia and soon, they both found themselves transfiguring their animals into various other ones: toads, badgers, ants, butterflies; anything they wanted.
"This is so easy," Brandon said, and Lily turned around to look at his owl which had the legs of a toad, wings of a bird, and the horn of a unicorn.
"Easy, Mr. Parkinson?" Professor McGonagall said, bearing down on him. "I daresay Miss Evans here could help you some more."
"We're not going out anymore, professor," Lily replied immediately, and a little thankfully, for she wanted to set things straight.
"Oh really?" Lily thought McGonagall smiled, but she must've been mistaken, because she blinked and once again, McGonagall was glaring at Peter who had managed to give his rat boils.
"S-sorry Professor," he stuttered, "I don't know what I did!"
"It's quite alright, Pettigrew," she replied, restoring his rat to normal. Peter gaped at her back as she walked away.
"I daresay she was just nice to you, Wormtail," Sirius murmured and Lupin laughed from behind him. Lily glanced at James, who was sitting next to Lupin, and admired the way his hair flipped casually in front of his eyes, and the way he bit his lip when he was concentrating. Her eyes traveled down his body to his well muscled shoulders and large hands. Were they soft? Or callused, like most Quidditch players' hands were?
"Lily dearest, you're staring," Olivia said in a fake-dreamy voice next to Lily. Lily turned around immediately, caught Olivia's eye, and they both burst out laughing.
"Concentrating quite hard, aren't you, Prongs?" Sirius asked, turning around. For James had just been watching Lily laugh. How cute she looked when she laughed, he thought. Heck, how cute she always looked...
"James!" Sirius yelled, punching James in the shoulder.
Now Lily was transfiguring her monarch butterfly into a spunky calico cat. It was roughly the same color as her hair. Oh, how James wanted to run his fingers through that long, thick, red hair….
"JAMES!" This time, Sirius had to resort to sticking his finger in James' ear before he got a reaction.
"Huh?" was James' well-pursued response.
"Black; get to work!" McGonagall yelled. James' lips formed the incantation and a moment later, his owl had turned into a beautiful chocolate cat.
"Oooo, nice jobeven though you haven't been paying attention all afternoon!" Sirius said.
"Black!" McGonagall yelled again, swooping down on him; he cringed.
"Sorry," he murmured quickly.
"Very nice job, Potter," she said curtly, before hurrying off to defend Frank Longbottom who's owl had sprouted five inch claws.
"Now, change it back, Prongs," Sirius said to James.
"Is that a challenge?" James asked; Lily basked in the sound of his voice. It was just right: not too deep, and rich and warm…like chocolate! Lily! she scolded herself. Comparing James to chocolate! What has gotten into you!
"Yes." James laughed and turned his attention back to his owl turned cat. He bit his lip and his hazel eyes stared hard at the cat.
"Come on, you can do it! Think! Think!" Sirius said softly.
"Shut up!" James said, laughing; Sirius grinned wolfishly.
A frog croaked in the back of the classroom and Lily turned slightly to see Severus staring hard at James, his eyes boring into him. She leaned out into the aisle a bit and saw the black tip of his wand pointing out from beneath his robes.
"No!" Lily cried, jumping to her feet. "EXPELLIARMUS!" Snape flew out of his desk and hit the classroom wall and crumpled into a heap of dirty black robes on the classroom floor; his wand landed next to Lily's feet. Her eyes widened in horror as she realized what she had just done. Now not am I only comparing him to chocolate, she thought, but I'm turning into him!
"What is going on!" Professor McGonagall roared, storming over. Snape leapt to his feet, fire dancing in his cold grey eyes; Lily felt her knees grow weak.
"I'm so sorry, Professor! I didn't mean to, really I didn't! He was going to hex James-"
"I was not!"
"Was too, and you know it! Don't think I didn't see your wand, and your disgusting grey eyes staring him down like he was an animal in a zoo-"
"Lily, that is enough!" Professor McGonagall cried, her nostrils flaring; Lily could feel everyone's eyes on her. Snape glared icily at her, fixing his robes and massaging his arm. "As much as I hate to do this, Miss Evans, meet me tonight at 8:00; it's only fair." Lily ducked her head quickly, as she could already feel the tears coming up her throat.
"Yes, Professor, I know."
"Well, then, back to work!" No one moved. "Now!" Everyone abruptly turned back to their animals and began talking in low voices and murmurs, no doubt about what had just happened. Lily sat down slowly, and turned to look dumbly at Olivia, who only smiled encouragingly.
"It's really not that bad, Lily," she whispered. "McGonagall likes you."
"But, Olivia, it's detention!" Lily whispered heatedly, tears burning in her eyes.
"It's going to be ok, Lily," Olivia whispered sympathetically.
"The whole school will be talking about it!"
"Just ignore them!"
"It's going to ruin my reputation!"
"Oh Lily, stop it! A lot of people will think it's funny, hon. Don't worry at all. If they tease you about it, I'll take care of them."
"But what about my parents!"
"They'll understand," Olivia soothed. "They know you can't be perfect at everything. At least it's not expulsion, it's only detention; and you did it for a good reason." Lily laughed one of those laugh-sobs.
"Oh Olivia…you're the best!" This time it was Olivia's turn to laugh.
"I know."
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"Do you think she'll take it?" James asked, fingering the two way mirror.
"I'm sure she'll appreciate it," Lupin replied. "I daresay she's a bit freaked out."
"We could give her a few pointers," Sirius added.
"But she might not take it," Lupin finished, "because she won't want to break the rules more than she already has."
"Oh well, it'll be worth a try!" Peter said.
"And, let me do the talking," James added quickly; Sirius frowned.
"Why?"
"Well, because-"
"Because he likes her, smart one. Duh!" Lupin replied.
"Wait. Did I-Could-Be-A-Professor Lupin just say Duh? I think I might go into shock!" Sirius yelled as he feinted faint.
"We can't say anything?" Peter asked.
"Well, you can say "hi" but just let me explain the mirror," James answered.
"I still don't see-" Peter started.
"Come on, Wormatil, you're not that slow, are you?" Sirius demanded, waking up from his "faint".
"Shut up!" James hissed. "Here she comes!" James whirled around and his heart fluttered as he saw Lily descending the stairs from the girl's dormitory. Her hair was done up in a loose bun, with stray hairs that framed her face and she had on regular muggle clothes: a pair of jeans with a plain light pink T-shirt and a cream colored sweater shrug; she was gorgeous, to sum it up, James thought.
"Hello, Lily," he said, stepping forward to greet her.
"Hello," she replied, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Um, well, first off, nice job in class today." She smiled and laughed nervously.
"Oh well, I suppose you would know what it's like." James grinned.
"They're really not that bad," he assured her. "Especially with McGonagall. She usually makes you write lines."
"Your hand cramps, but it isn't too bad," Sirius said; Lily giggled.
"Well then, I can't wait!"
"It's even better when you can talk to your friends," James added, "with this." He showed her the mirror. "It's a two way mirror. You have one, and I have the other, and we can well, er, talk." Lily smiled.
"Oh James, that's very kind of you," she said, "but I don't want to get in more trouble."
"You were right, Moony! You said she wouldn't take it!" Peter crowed.
"Well, that's alright then," James said, pocketing the mirror, disappointed inside but know that that would be her response.
"Thanks for the offer though," Lily answered hurriedly, not wanting to hurt his feelings.
"Oh, no problem. Now, have fun!" Lily laughed for the last time as she made her way over to the portrait hole.
"They're really not bad at all, Lily," James said, following her. "After awhile, they become kind of a routine."
"Only for you James. But not for me."
"Well, that's good." She turned to face him.
"Well, um, good luck on all the homework," she said.
"Yeah…" Before he could blink again, her lips were on his cheek, and then he was standing alone in front of the portrait hole, with the Marauders laughing deliriously behind him.
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Her face burning, Lily scampered out of the portrait hole. She straightened her robes and looked behind her; thank God he hadn't followed her. She took a deep breath and smiled, her heart dancing with the stars she could glimpse beyond the castle windows; he really wasn't that bad, he really wasn't.
And with a small giggle, Lily Evans flounced off to detention.
A/N: Hope you liked it! You know the drill, I won't update until I hit 50!
-Elise-