Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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Chapter Seventeen

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"Woah. . ."

"That's big. . ."

"Er, that's. . . "

"Oh, shut up!"

". . .Woah. . ."

". . .That's huge. . ."

". . .that's, er, quite. . .large. . ."

"Will you three pipe down?" James asked irritably, ducking behind one of the large couches sitting around in the common room. A couple of seventh years walked by.

"They're gone, James."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm not blind; they're are most definitely gone." Remus replied dryly. James seemed to relaxed some behind the couch and stood up straight. The four began walking again. James kept touching the tip of his nose for some reason though. . .

Sirius snickered. "Oh, come on, James. I doubt anyone will crack up laughing when they see your. . .uh," A big smirk crossed his face as he stared at James' nose. Peter would have done likewise if he wasn't already laughing a few feet away. "Your, uh, minor spot there- ha, ha, ha-"

"Shut UP, Sirius! Peter, you imbecile, shut up too! It's not funny!"

Peter snorted in between laughs,"No, it's not funny, it's hilarious!" And he continued laughing.

Remus remained standing calmly by James' side. . .yet, there was an undeniable twitch of lips. He was trying so hard not to laugh!

James opened his mouth to tell Sirius and Peter off again, but stopped and quickly hid behind the couch again, hearing someone coming down the girls staircase.

A few seconds passed at the sound of people walking through the portrait hole.

"You're safe, James. No one will see your. . .ah, pimple." Remus chose his words carefully as he watched James advance on Sirius and Peter with his wand at the ready, other hand holding his nose.

"Yeah, James, no one's going to see your abnormally large pimple!" Sirius and Peter were backing away as James gave a infuriating grunt. Yes, he grunted. How nice.

Just as James opened his mouth to send a spell flying to his ex best friends, the portrait hole opened and James, once more, ducked behind the couch.

He was a bit startled when Alice's head popped up over the top of the couch. He jumped back in surprise, completely forgetting about hiding his abnormally large pimple- nose.

"Hi, James."

James blinked up at her for a moment before shaking his head and remembering his pimple situation. His hand flew to his nose. "Hey, Alice."

"Why are you hiding behind the couch?"

"I'm not hiding!"

"Oh. . .Well, why are you covering your nose like that then?"

"I'm not covering my nose!"

"Oh. . .it sure seems like it." Alice watched James curiously for a moment.

James shifted his lanky body on the carpeted floor just as Sirius decided to join the conversation. "James has this pimple the size of a bludger- and hey! It looks like a bludger too!" He was thrown a glare as Remus and Peter sat down on either side of Alice on the couch. They looked over the back of the couch also.

"Oh, will you shut up, Black!" James exclaimed loudly, uncovering his nose to finger his wand.

"Where's the fun in that?" Sirius asked in amusement.

"The fun is where you don't get sent to St. Mungos, that's the fun!"

Alice's eyebrows rose as she stared at James'. . .nice sized pimple. "Wow, James, that really is a pimple- in a good way, of course."

"How can a pimple be good?" Peter asked. Remus nudged him in the stomach.

A horrible thought crossed James' mind. Alice was here. . .what if Lily was here too? Those two and Emma were adjoined at the hip- well, not really because that would be kind of strange- but anyways, they were close. His hand flew immediately back to the pimple. He stood up and sat down in an overly tall-backed chair, facing away from the portrait hole and staircases. His eyes scanned the area and didn't find any red hair.

Sirius stared thoughtfully at James' hand-covered nose. "I think I'm going to name it Big Boy. Or how about BB? That's a good name. BB Potter." He stopped to snort along with Peter. Alice had coincidently turned her head towards a nearby window and her shoulders were shaking. . .hmmm. "BB's looking good today, what's his secret?"

James ignored Sirius. He thanked Merlin they didn't have class today. Tomorrow night was Halloween. Speaking of Halloween. . .

Sirius laughed and plopped down next to Alice as well. "Hey, James, you don't even need a costume or mask for the Halloween party tomorrow night- you have BB!" And, he was gone in the wonderful world of laughter.

James gripped his wand harder.

"Oh, come on now, James. It's not that bad. . .is it, Remus?" Alice asked.

Remus looked a bit startled at being put in the spotlight. "What-? Oh. . .Oh, yeah. Sure. . ."

"Peter?" Alice continued.

Peter was also lost in the wonderful world of laughter.

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"Mr. Potter, you might want to use both hands to pull the mushrooms from the ground. I think you will find it much easier that way."

James didn't move his hand from his spot over BB- er, his nose. A snicker was heard from Sirius and Peter's direction. James threw a handful of dirt at the two. "Oh, that's alright, Professor Desgrees. This is working. . .just. . .argh. . .fine. . .get of the ground you stupid mushroom!" James added with a hiss at the "stupid" mushroom before him. Actually, those particular mushrooms the sixth year Gryffindors were picking today, out by the edge of the Dark Forest, had quite a high intelligience.

Professor Desgrees only watched James in half bewilderment as he began forcefully pulling at the intelligent mushroom.

It was November first. BB- ah, the stupid pimple (and the pimple was actually stupid, it didn't have a high intelligence or anything) was still right at the tip of James' nose. Sirius was quite right in his describing BB as looking like a bludger. It did look similar. Perhaps a bit bigger. . .

The point was (since when was there a point?) James was miserable. Other then the fact three people had already mistaken his ol' "cover the nose and pimple with hand" trick by thinking he was picking his nose, eating and drinking was even worse. Every time he took a drink from a goblet or bottle of butterbeer, he had to do this complicated hand movement to get his hand out of the way, without uncovering BB.

Even worse, Sirius had become quite comfortable with calling James' pimple BB and annoyingly, James had found himself accidently call his own pimple BB as well.

The only good part about the pimple so far (there really couldn't be a good outcome with a pimple, but whatever.) was that Lily hadn't seen it. James had been avoiding her. Of course, other then the fact that it was quite strange for everyone seeing as how James Potter was always following Lily Evans around- avoiding Lily was quite hard.

They lived in the same tower, shared the same common room (try hiding BB and not look like you're picking your bogies in there!), shared the same classes (Every. Single. Day.), ate at the same table, and another gazillion and one things.

The Halloween party went by with flying colors- James stayed in his dorm listening to the WWN (Wizard Wireless Network) and boring himself to death. He almost decided to forget about BB and just go down to the party- it was a Halloween party, the lighting would be kind of dark to help get that "spooky" Halloween atmosphere going. No one would be able to see BB in the dark.

But, alas, he didn't.

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Lily Evans was having a GREAT day. Or actually, she had been having a TERRIFIC few weeks.

First of all, James Potter hadn't asked her out at all. Thank Merlin. He still talked with her constantly though. . .Oh well. Anyways, other then that, James Potter had also been avoiding her, it seemed, this past week for some reason. Lily didn't know why, she didn't care. Although, she had heard rumors of James picking his nose a few times, and felt a bit disturbed by those, but concluded that they were nothing but rumors.

Anyways, she was having a GREAT day today because, first of all, she had gotten an "O" on her transfiguration AND potions essay. Yes. And, she had been elected as the head of the charms club. How cool was that? AND, she hadn't seen James all day (other then in class, but that didn't really count. . .). Wonderful.

She walked into the Gryffindor common room, humming to herself, bookbag over her shoulder. Lily had just gotten back from the library. Alice had been with her but she stopped to talk with Frank Longbottom. Frank was a fairly nice fellow. A sixth year Hufflepuff. Anyways, Alice stayed behind.

Lily continued humming as she crossed the common room. She was almost to the girls staircase when she heard a bit of shifting over her off-key humming. She turned to see an empty common room and James Potter.

And- Merlin! He was picking his nose!

"Potter, just what do you think you're doing?" She demanded in disgust.

James looked startled at her outburst. He sat up on the couch he was sitting on."I'm. . .er. . .there was this foul smell! And. . .And it was just really foul, Evans. So foul, that I had to cover my nose." His hand remained over BB.

". . .Oh." Lily replied slowly. She stared at James' hand with scrunched eyebrows with a thoughtful expression before shaking her head. "Right. . ." She blew out a breath. James Potter was so weird.

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Lily hummed (once again) off-key (once again) as she and Emma and Alice made their way to herbology the next day.

Alice and Emma shared a look.

"Lily, are you okay?"

Lily continued humming. "Oh, sure. Why?"

"Because you're humming."

"So?"

"So. . .people don't usually hum."

"So?"

"So. . .people don't hum. At all."

"And?"

"And. . .-"

"And would you stop acting so damn happy?" Emma cut in for Alice.

Lily's humming stopped and she raised an eyebrow at Emma. "Cranky much?"

"Just a tad."

Lily only shrugged and continued her humming. "I've had a really good few weeks. No James Potter asking me out. No James Potter stalking me. No James Potter. Period."

"I don't know, Lily. . .you know what they say, Absence makes the heart grow faster."

"It's absence makes the heart grow fonder, Emma!"

"Oh, whatever. You know what I mean."

Lily laughed between a particular off-key humming section. "Me, miss James Potter? That'll be the day."

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"Potter, what is it?"

"That's BB, Evans."

"I wasn't talking to you, Black."

"Yeah, she wasn't talking to you, Sirius." Sirius wasn't really on James' good side these days.

"Don't butt in, Potter."

"Yeah, don't butt in James."

"Shut up, Sirius."

"Shut up, Black."

"Geez, . .so moody. . .you too bloody belong together being so moody. You could have moody babies too. Wouldn't that be a joy to the world. . .shutting up now."

. . ."So. . ." Lily started, staring at James' hand covered nose as they stood around a cauldron, working on their current potions assignment. Lily's TERRIFIC few weeks had been ruined once potions started after she was partnered with not only James, but Sirius as well. ". . .what's behind your nose, Potter?"

James over-absentmindly ran a hand (his other hand not covering his nose) through his hair. "What are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about, Potter." Lily rolled her eyes and began stirring the potion twenty-six times.

James gave an uneasily laugh. He pointed at his hand covering BB. "Oh, this?"

"Yes."

"It's nothing."

"It looks a lot like something."

"Well. . .it's not." James picked up a jar of dried beetles. "I wonder what kind of beetles these are. What do you think they are, Sirius?"

Sirius held up his hands,"Hey, don't try and get me to change the subject for you. You're on your own."

James scowled.

Lily gave a laugh. If James didn't have a bludger-sized pimple on the tip of his nose, he'd almost be happy about Lily Evans giving a laugh because of him. "Come on, what are you hiding?"

"Nothing."

Lily stirred almost absentmindly. "If it was nothing, you'd tell me what you were hiding."

"If it was nothing, I wouldn't have anything to tell you what I'm hiding and therefore, it would be nothing."

Sirius nodded wisely. "He has a point, Evans."

Lily ignored him. "Fine. Don't' show me. I don't care about whatever the nothing is you don't want to show me."

James rolled his eyes. "Now you're trying to use that reverse psychology on me. Let me tell you Lily Evans, it won't work."

"Oh, I know it won't work. It won't work at all. I never even wanted to see what you were- oh, what you weren't hiding. Sorry."

James just shook his head and examined a jar of frog eyes. "Not working what so ever."

"It won't work, I know. . ." Lily continued stirring the cauldron while humming to herself (though everyone within three feet could hear her. James and Sirius chose not to tell her she sounded a bit like a hag- they didn't want their head bitten off).

A few seconds went by. . .

"I really don't want to know what you're not hiding, Potter."

"Why don't you continue stirring the potion, lovely."

"Why don't you not tell me what you're hiding."

"Why don't you stir the potion before it explodes because of overstirring."

"Why don't you not tell me what to do and what you're not hiding."

"Why don't you stop telling me what to do and stop trying to use that stupid reverse psychology crap on me."

"Why don't you-"

"Why don't you two stop doing this "why don't you" stuff before our potion-"

BOOM!

. . .". . .blows up."

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"Alright Mr Potter, your arm's all fixed up. You can go back to class now."

James hurridly walked out of the hospital wing, leaving a snickering Lily behind.

After the misfortunate potion, Sirius, James, Lily, and a few others had to visit the hospital wing for minor burns and scratches. Of course, during the explosion, James was too distracted to cover his nose and Lily caught quite a few lovely views of BB.

She hadn't stopped laughing since then.

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. . .But, oh, she wasn't laughing the next morning.

"Hey, look Remus! Evans has got a BG! Ha, ha, ha."

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Author's Note: If anyone hadn't guessed, "BG" as Sirius just mentioned above, stands for, "Big Girl". LoL. I recently had a stubborn pimple and got the idea for this chapter from it. Thankfully, it wasn't anything near as horrible as James'. LoL. The chapter is dedicated to anyone out there who has had a BG or BB.

Hope you liked this chapter and I also hope I can update some of my other stories this weekend. –crosses fingers-

Toodles,

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