Ok the start of the last chapter was a dream James was having, that's why
it was so strange! I think some people missed that and so probably didn't
understand the last chapter. Sorry for the confusion.
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Chapter 13 : Girls Talk!
When Lily woke the next morning she found herself in her own bed, with a very bad headache, and no recollection of how she had got there. She sat up in her bed, and immediately felt as though there was a weight tied round her forehead, dragging her head down into the bed again. She tried to shake it off, clambered out of her bed, and made her way to her wardrobe. She dressed slowly, taking great care not to knock or move her head too suddenly. Even twisting it slightly made her feel very dizzy.
She considered taking herself off to the hospital wing, and missing her first class of the day. That was until she realised that her first class was Defence against the Dark Arts. She couldn't afford to miss any of those classes, as at NEWT level it was very difficult. She didn't have Caitlin to copy up from either, and she didn't like asking Alice – the only other girl in her class, because she had really bad handwriting. She could have asked James she supposed, but she thought it was better to suffer her headache, that have to suffer his taunting when she asked him for a favour.
'No,' she thought. 'It's better I get up and go to class.'
She managed to slump her way out into the private common room, only to find herself confronted by a very startled James Potter.
"Jeez Evans, you scared me!" Lily laughed, she could feel her headache lifting already.
"I scared you?!" she asked incredulously, she laughed again.
"Yea well, I wasn't expecting you to be..." He paused. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine," Lily said defensively. 'What does he know?' she thought, panicking.
"That's good. See you later," he replied briskly, and turned to walk out of the room.
"Potter wait! Why wouldn't I be..." James slammed the lion cub portrait behind him as he left, leaving Lily with a thousand worried thoughts running through her head.
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After she managed to force down her breakfast, alone in the Great Hall – she couldn't find Caitlin anywhere, she trundled off to her first class. When she arrived she found that most of the class where already there. She took her usual seat on the far left of the very backbench, and saw the Severus Snape had taken his usual seat directly in front of her. He turned to face her as soon as she sat down, to start his usual torrent of abuse.
"You know Mudblood, I'm starting to see why you kept up this subject, even though you're so pathetic at it." Lily seethed with rage, her eyes narrowing, it was her worse subject yes, but that just meant she only got 253% instead of her usual 314%. She was hardly pathetic at it. Severus seeing that he had got a reaction from her, continued. "If anyone ever needed protection from the Dark Arts, it would be a silly little girl like you." Lily felt her anger get the better of her.
"Get lost, you slimy git!" she hissed at him. She saw a smirk flicker across his face for a moment, and then surprisingly she saw it fade into a worried expression, as his eyes gazed upon the doorway into the classroom. She followed his gaze and saw immediately what was worrying him so much, James and Remus had just entered the room. When she turned round again, she saw that Severus was now facing his own bench. She knew he wouldn't bother her again in this class, James always sat beside her in this class, and everyone knew Severus was petrified of James.
James had taken advantage of the fact that Lily no longer had her friends with her in this class – Alice was always with Frank at the front bench, from the very first day in 6th year. He had magically carved his name into the stool beside hers to prevent anyone else from sitting there, and spent most of his time trying to put his arms round her to 'comfort' her, whenever they were learning about anything particularly evil. This behaviour infuriated her, but one thing he was useful for was keeping Severus off her back.
Expecting James to take his usual seat beside her, Lily decided to take advantage of the situation herself. He couldn't get away from her now, so he would have to answer her questions. Maybe he knew something about her headache, which was now coming back with a vengeance.
Well James did take his usual seat, but he didn't sit down on it until he'd dragged the stool across to the far right of the bench. Remus must have noticed the bewildered look on Lily's face, because he gave her a very worried look and then sat down beside James. They both started talking in very hurried whispers, while Lily looked on. She was saved any further embarrassment by the class starting.
Professor Gobbin started to teach them about Lethifolds and Lily furiously scribbled down notes on the subject. She must have been making quite a noise because she managed to attract Severus' unwanted attention again. When he turned round to see what she was doing, she saw an evil smile grow across his thin face. He could barely contain his glee at the fact that James was not beside her to protect her.
"On your own Mudblood?" he whispered. Lily glanced round to Remus and James. They were only sitting a few feet away from her, but they were still immersed in their conversation and hadn't noticed what Severus was doing.
"Maybe," she replied, she couldn't think of a better come back.
"Looks like Potter's more interested in the half-breed, than the Mudblood today. Hurts doesn't it?" As he spoke Lily almost had the feeling he could see inside her head. Knowing this was ridiculous, she tried to think of something to throw him off his current track of abuse. She glanced round at Remus and James again; she noticed that James had now put his hand on Remus' shoulder.
"So what? I don't need him to protect me from pathetic scum like you! And what do you mean 'half-breed' anyway?" Severus raised his eyebrow in mock amazement.
"So... Little miss know-it-all, seems to not know the most important things?" He left Lily hanging for an explanation, turned back to his bench, and starting writing on a scrap bit of parchment. Lily knew it was his intention to try and wind her up, so she made a conscious effort not to let him, and put his last comment out of her head.
She was just starting to concentrate on the lesson again, when the classroom door slowly opening behind her distracted her. Professor Gobbin, a particularly old wizard, didn't notice Sirius Black quickly slip round it, and into the classroom – he was more than 20 minutes late.
Sirius was about to sit down in his usual spot when he noticed James in it. He gave both Remus and James a pitiful look and took the only remaining spot at the bench, beside Lily.
"Evans," he nodded, giving a forced smile.
Lily nodded back in acknowledgement, and turned back to the Professor Gobbin's lecture. She knew there would be no further conversation between her and Sirius. Although he had been going out with her best friend, on and off, for over a year, they had never really seen eye to eye. She saw him as a troublemaker, a bit arrogant, and she thought he was probably a bad influence on James. In return she thought he probably saw her as too much of a goody-two-shoes for his liking.
15 minutes later, Lily noticed Severus put the scrap piece of parchment he had been writing on, on the edge of his desk. He folded it over, wrote something on the top, and tapped it three times with his wand. Lily watched it with growing fear as it floated off his desk and onto hers. On the top of the folded note, written in an untidy scrawl was the word 'Mudblood'.
Lily was just gaining the courage to reach out and grab the note to read it, when another hand beat her to it. Sirius opened it and read it quickly, his face expressionless. After he had finished, he crumpled it up, and stuffed it roughly into his pocket. He gave a loud sigh, took out his wand, and sent a bolt of electricity from the end of it straight to Severus' backside.
Severus jumped 3 feet into the air and gave a loud yelp of pain, clutching his backside. He turned round ready to give Lily hell for what she had done, but turned to face Sirius, twirling his wand with his fingertips, and giving him a huge grin. He hadn't noticed Sirius had come into the room, and Lily was sure he wouldn't have sent the note if he had known. Professor Gobbin still didn't notice anything, which Lily didn't exactly find reassuring. This man was meant to be an expert in Defence against the Dark Arts, and didn't even notice hexes being thrown about in his own classroom.
The lesson finished soon after that, and as the class all hurried out Lily stopped Sirius to thank him.
"Sirius... thanks... for sorting that out." Sirius waved his hand as if to say no thanks was needed.
"Don't worry 'bout it. Although is little Lily Evans finally agreeing to the use of magic on fellow students?" he laughed.
"Only in extreme circumstances," she replied semi-sternly. She noticed that James and Remus were both watching them with very puzzled faces. They had obviously missed Severus' gymnastic display.
"I'll tell you later," Sirius whispered to them, obviously noticing their expressions as well. "See you Evans." Lily watched all three boys walk down the corridor, until they disappeared round the corner, and then she started in the opposite direction to get to her next class – Arithmancy.
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It was lunchtime before she caught up with Caitlin. She was sitting with Alice and Avril in the Great Hall, discussing their Arithmancy homework, when Caitlin came blazing into the room. Her curly, blonde hair looked even bouncy than usual, and she had the fire in her eyes she only got when she was mad. She brushed straight by the Marauders who were sitting up the table a bit and walked straight to Lily.
"Uh... hello?" Lily said nervously as Caitlin slammed down on the bench beside her.
"Hiya!" Caitlin said cheerily. She had a big smile on her face, but Lily noticed that her cheeriness had not spread to her eyes.
"Cait what's wrong?" Lily said putting her hand on Caitlin's. Alice got up to leave them to it, sensing that this was probably a private thing – she had to drag Avril with her. After they had moved over to Frank and his mates, Caitlin let her happy premise drop.
"Sirius and I broke up," she said flatly.
"Oh," Lily tried to sound more concerned than she really was. Caitlin and Sirius broke up all the time, so it had kind of lost its edge. "When?"
"This morning, at breakfast."
"Is that why he was late to class?" Lily said, trying to sound sympathetic.
"Well yes and no," Caitlin said starting to fidget with her hands a bit.
"What do you mean?" Lily asked, not really sure if she wanted to know the answer.
"Well he was late because he had to go to the hospital wing."
"Caitlin... Why would Sirius have to go to the hospital wing?"
"Because I hexed him...you-know-where," Caitlin whispered, and tried to suppress a small giggle.
"Caitlin why did you do that?" Lily said sternly, not finding it amusing at all.
"Because he was trying to tell me what to do," Caitlin said huffily. She didn't like Lily telling her off. "AND he always puts his friends before me!"
"Are you sure he wasn't trying to gentle steer you in the right direction?" Caitlin had a bit of an explosive temper, and counted someone asking her to pass the salt as 'telling her what to do'.
"No his exact words were 'Caitlin I forbid you to tell Lily'. Can you believe he actually used the word 'forbid'?" Lily didn't answer. She wanted more than anything – except maybe James Potter – to know what Caitlin couldn't tell her. But she knew from experience, that secrets between Sirius and Caitlin were usually kept that way. She pushed her food around her plate for a moment, and then looked up to see Caitlin looking at her expectantly.
"Oh yea... 'Forbid'..." She couldn't hold it in anymore. "Caitlin... what can't you tell me?"
"Thank God, I thought you weren't going to ask me there!" Caitlin looked excited at the prospect of spilling the beans, and then became pensive, thinking of a way to tell Lily what had happened. "Uh... you actually might not want to hear this..." Something inside Lily suddenly clicked.
"Is this something to do with the headache I had this morning?" she said quickly.
"Yes!" Caitlin yelled, she had obviously found a way of explaining it to her. "You see someone gave you a Lovers' Draft yesterday, made your eyes all rose-tinted, and I took you up to Madam Pompfrey, who gave you some potion which gave you the headache."
"Why wouldn't Sirius want you to tell me that?" Lily asked bewildered.
"Well it's not really the Draft he didn't want you to know about, it's what you did under the Draft. And when I say Sirius didn't want you to know, really I mean James."
"Oh no! What did I do?" Lily could already feel her cheeks going red with embarrassment. "And what do you mean James? Oh God what did I do to James?"
"Well you just kind of got real friendly with him on his seat and then..."
"Oh my God! I kissed James?!" Lily shrieked, peeking at Caitlin through her fingers.
"Remus," Caitlin said soothingly, placing her hand on Lily's shoulder.
Lily gave a strangled type of scream that sounded like she had just been punched hard in the stomach.
"I kissed Remus?!" she whispered. Amid all her confusion, another question kept sticking out in her mind. "Why wouldn't James want me to know that?"
"Well it's not really that, that James didn't want you to know either. You see Remus kissed you back." Lily gave the strangled scream again. "And James completely flipped out." Lily suddenly sat bolt right again.
"Really?" Caitlin nodded slowly, with a real smile on her face this time.
"Uh huh, like threw you across the room, and went to hit Remus, Sirius had to hold him back and all."
"Oh my God!" Lily gasped, at the fact James had nearly hit his best friend.
"I know," Caitlin squealed completely reading Lily's cry wrong. "James likes you!"
"Caitlin I kissed his best friend!" Lily said despairingly of her.
"I know but you were under a spell, it doesn't count," she said plainly. "It's how he reacted that mattered!"
"HE ALMOST HIT HIS BEST FRIEND! I don't care if that means he likes me, I don't want to go out with someone who's so violent!" Caitlin looked a bit guilty for a moment.
"Uh well, he might not have gone that far, I might have exaggerated that a bit..."
"How much did you exaggerate?" Lily asked sternly.
"Uh well, Sirius didn't have to hold him back, I just thought that sounded good. And he didn't throw you across the room, he sort of roughly sat you on a sofa. And he didn't try to hit Remus, just spoke to him sternly about taking advantage of you. He didn't like it though! That bit was true!"
"Are you telling me the truth? Because you better not be trying to get me to go out with some closet serial killer!"
"Scout's honour," Caitlin said, looking very apologetic.
"Cait you were never a scout!"
"Yea well you know what I mean," Caitlin said offhandedly. "So...?"
Lily gave a girly squeal.
"James likes me!"
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They had spent the rest of their classes that day, with the rest of the Gryffindor 7th year girls, discussing the best way to get James to ask Lily out. Lily couldn't ask him, it had been decided, because the girls were all romantics, so now they were trying to plan how best to trick him into it. Scarlet had come up with loads of ideas, that wouldn't be used by anyone over the age of 11. When she had been told this however, she had taken great pleasure in reminding them that she had always said kissing his best friend was a good idea. It had also been decided there after, that the 'Remus incident' would never be mentioned again. No one however could come up with a good enough plan, and it didn't help that Avril kept questioning that maybe it was Remus James was really interested in.
Lily had been full of girly excitement when she walked back to her room that night, only to find an owl waiting there for her. She untied the letter from around its leg and watched it fly out of her bedroom window. Lily unrolled the letter and began to read it, it was from her sister Petunia.
Dear Lily,
I have the solemn job of writing to you with bad news. Dad did not feel up to writing this letter. Mum has taken a turn for the worse. The cancer has spread through her body, and the doctors say there is nothing more they can do for her. Dad and I have decided that the best place for her now is at home, so we are collecting her from the hospital on Sunday.
We've also decided that when you come home at Christmas, that it would be good for Dad to come and stay with Vernon and I for a few days, so you could spend some time with Mum. I also think this is a good idea as it will give Dad a break, he has not been well lately himself.
I am very sorry.
Petunia
Lily could see that the letter was tearstained even before she started to cry. Even though they didn't get on very well, it was times like these she was reminded that she and Petunia were still sisters.
It took her over an hour to think of what to write back. When she finally did finish her letter, it was past midnight, but she decided to go to the Owlery and send it straight away.
As she walked along the corridors, with a candle as her only light, she found herself seeing good reason for the 10 o'clock curfew. Hogwarts was not nice by night. In fact it was downright terrifying. Everywhere she went Lily was sure she could hear whisperings and creaks. Everything looked so different in the night, and after twenty minutes she was sure she was lost. She was just about to retrace her steps when a sudden gust of wind blew her candle out. Finding herself immersed in the darkness, she felt an urge to cower against the wall behind a suit of armour. Someone else was there, she could feel it. After a while her eyes got used to the darkness, and she could make shapes and shadows. She couldn't see anybody, but she could hear footsteps, and that drape definitely just moved!
'Lily wise up, you're tired and your mind is playing tricks with you. That's all!'
Or was it? Adding to the footsteps she could now make out heavy breathing, panting almost. She felt herself freeze with fear. Whatever it was, was getting closer.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," came a whisper.
'No,' Lily thought. 'Your mind didn't just make that up!' The voice sounded like it was barely a few feet away from her, but still she saw no body to accompany it. Deciding it was now or never, Lily found the courage to make a run for it. As soon as she tried to make a dash however, she ran straight into some 'solid' thin air. She watched in horror, as a body materialised out of nowhere, an ornate cloak lying as its feet.
"Uh, would you believe me if I said I was patrolling?" said James Potter.
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countessmel: I'm sorry you're disappointed but I write for myself, and I like the way it's going. I'm sorry you didn't but I respect your decision to stop reading.
BurningIce22: Em I think you kind of missed the fact that the first half of the chapter was all a dream. None of it really happened. Only the bit after James woke up was real.
luvsirius: I know it was a bit strange but dreams are strange. Thanks for reviewing like... every time I post! :D
Oliverwoodschic: You'll find out in the next chapter I promise.
kaleidoscope0-0eyes: Yea I was hoping to catch a few people out with that dream sequence. Make them think I'd lost the plot slightly! At least I know it worked on you!
leanne: Its all right the 6th form is used to your random laughing anyway! As long as you don't put where I live on the Internet I won't mind!
LilyFlower1001: I never even thought of that. It would be kool but it's a bit sinister for my story... at the moment anyway.
Jessie: Ok I think I just found my biggest fan. I'll try to keep them coming but it's a bit hard with my exams. Did you read the other story as well? Cause nobody ever reads the other one.
stephanie: Well done with the whole "Clicking to get to the next chapter" thing. And no "being new at this" doesn't count as an excuse for your stupidity. You have used a computer before right?
sapphire-gurl11: Thank you! If you think my story needs more reviews then TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!
Crazayladay: You'll find out next chapter. So you'll just have to keep reading! :D
Lisa: Lol I wouldn't go so far as to say it's better than all the rest of the Lily/Marauders stories, but hell yea I do rock! Joke!
tougy: You can't be too mad at Moony! He's only human after all.
NaleyScott23: Look I updated! Please don't hurt me! You'll find out next chapter and I know he's a bad boy but you have to forgive him, cause its Remus!
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Chapter 13 : Girls Talk!
When Lily woke the next morning she found herself in her own bed, with a very bad headache, and no recollection of how she had got there. She sat up in her bed, and immediately felt as though there was a weight tied round her forehead, dragging her head down into the bed again. She tried to shake it off, clambered out of her bed, and made her way to her wardrobe. She dressed slowly, taking great care not to knock or move her head too suddenly. Even twisting it slightly made her feel very dizzy.
She considered taking herself off to the hospital wing, and missing her first class of the day. That was until she realised that her first class was Defence against the Dark Arts. She couldn't afford to miss any of those classes, as at NEWT level it was very difficult. She didn't have Caitlin to copy up from either, and she didn't like asking Alice – the only other girl in her class, because she had really bad handwriting. She could have asked James she supposed, but she thought it was better to suffer her headache, that have to suffer his taunting when she asked him for a favour.
'No,' she thought. 'It's better I get up and go to class.'
She managed to slump her way out into the private common room, only to find herself confronted by a very startled James Potter.
"Jeez Evans, you scared me!" Lily laughed, she could feel her headache lifting already.
"I scared you?!" she asked incredulously, she laughed again.
"Yea well, I wasn't expecting you to be..." He paused. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine," Lily said defensively. 'What does he know?' she thought, panicking.
"That's good. See you later," he replied briskly, and turned to walk out of the room.
"Potter wait! Why wouldn't I be..." James slammed the lion cub portrait behind him as he left, leaving Lily with a thousand worried thoughts running through her head.
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After she managed to force down her breakfast, alone in the Great Hall – she couldn't find Caitlin anywhere, she trundled off to her first class. When she arrived she found that most of the class where already there. She took her usual seat on the far left of the very backbench, and saw the Severus Snape had taken his usual seat directly in front of her. He turned to face her as soon as she sat down, to start his usual torrent of abuse.
"You know Mudblood, I'm starting to see why you kept up this subject, even though you're so pathetic at it." Lily seethed with rage, her eyes narrowing, it was her worse subject yes, but that just meant she only got 253% instead of her usual 314%. She was hardly pathetic at it. Severus seeing that he had got a reaction from her, continued. "If anyone ever needed protection from the Dark Arts, it would be a silly little girl like you." Lily felt her anger get the better of her.
"Get lost, you slimy git!" she hissed at him. She saw a smirk flicker across his face for a moment, and then surprisingly she saw it fade into a worried expression, as his eyes gazed upon the doorway into the classroom. She followed his gaze and saw immediately what was worrying him so much, James and Remus had just entered the room. When she turned round again, she saw that Severus was now facing his own bench. She knew he wouldn't bother her again in this class, James always sat beside her in this class, and everyone knew Severus was petrified of James.
James had taken advantage of the fact that Lily no longer had her friends with her in this class – Alice was always with Frank at the front bench, from the very first day in 6th year. He had magically carved his name into the stool beside hers to prevent anyone else from sitting there, and spent most of his time trying to put his arms round her to 'comfort' her, whenever they were learning about anything particularly evil. This behaviour infuriated her, but one thing he was useful for was keeping Severus off her back.
Expecting James to take his usual seat beside her, Lily decided to take advantage of the situation herself. He couldn't get away from her now, so he would have to answer her questions. Maybe he knew something about her headache, which was now coming back with a vengeance.
Well James did take his usual seat, but he didn't sit down on it until he'd dragged the stool across to the far right of the bench. Remus must have noticed the bewildered look on Lily's face, because he gave her a very worried look and then sat down beside James. They both started talking in very hurried whispers, while Lily looked on. She was saved any further embarrassment by the class starting.
Professor Gobbin started to teach them about Lethifolds and Lily furiously scribbled down notes on the subject. She must have been making quite a noise because she managed to attract Severus' unwanted attention again. When he turned round to see what she was doing, she saw an evil smile grow across his thin face. He could barely contain his glee at the fact that James was not beside her to protect her.
"On your own Mudblood?" he whispered. Lily glanced round to Remus and James. They were only sitting a few feet away from her, but they were still immersed in their conversation and hadn't noticed what Severus was doing.
"Maybe," she replied, she couldn't think of a better come back.
"Looks like Potter's more interested in the half-breed, than the Mudblood today. Hurts doesn't it?" As he spoke Lily almost had the feeling he could see inside her head. Knowing this was ridiculous, she tried to think of something to throw him off his current track of abuse. She glanced round at Remus and James again; she noticed that James had now put his hand on Remus' shoulder.
"So what? I don't need him to protect me from pathetic scum like you! And what do you mean 'half-breed' anyway?" Severus raised his eyebrow in mock amazement.
"So... Little miss know-it-all, seems to not know the most important things?" He left Lily hanging for an explanation, turned back to his bench, and starting writing on a scrap bit of parchment. Lily knew it was his intention to try and wind her up, so she made a conscious effort not to let him, and put his last comment out of her head.
She was just starting to concentrate on the lesson again, when the classroom door slowly opening behind her distracted her. Professor Gobbin, a particularly old wizard, didn't notice Sirius Black quickly slip round it, and into the classroom – he was more than 20 minutes late.
Sirius was about to sit down in his usual spot when he noticed James in it. He gave both Remus and James a pitiful look and took the only remaining spot at the bench, beside Lily.
"Evans," he nodded, giving a forced smile.
Lily nodded back in acknowledgement, and turned back to the Professor Gobbin's lecture. She knew there would be no further conversation between her and Sirius. Although he had been going out with her best friend, on and off, for over a year, they had never really seen eye to eye. She saw him as a troublemaker, a bit arrogant, and she thought he was probably a bad influence on James. In return she thought he probably saw her as too much of a goody-two-shoes for his liking.
15 minutes later, Lily noticed Severus put the scrap piece of parchment he had been writing on, on the edge of his desk. He folded it over, wrote something on the top, and tapped it three times with his wand. Lily watched it with growing fear as it floated off his desk and onto hers. On the top of the folded note, written in an untidy scrawl was the word 'Mudblood'.
Lily was just gaining the courage to reach out and grab the note to read it, when another hand beat her to it. Sirius opened it and read it quickly, his face expressionless. After he had finished, he crumpled it up, and stuffed it roughly into his pocket. He gave a loud sigh, took out his wand, and sent a bolt of electricity from the end of it straight to Severus' backside.
Severus jumped 3 feet into the air and gave a loud yelp of pain, clutching his backside. He turned round ready to give Lily hell for what she had done, but turned to face Sirius, twirling his wand with his fingertips, and giving him a huge grin. He hadn't noticed Sirius had come into the room, and Lily was sure he wouldn't have sent the note if he had known. Professor Gobbin still didn't notice anything, which Lily didn't exactly find reassuring. This man was meant to be an expert in Defence against the Dark Arts, and didn't even notice hexes being thrown about in his own classroom.
The lesson finished soon after that, and as the class all hurried out Lily stopped Sirius to thank him.
"Sirius... thanks... for sorting that out." Sirius waved his hand as if to say no thanks was needed.
"Don't worry 'bout it. Although is little Lily Evans finally agreeing to the use of magic on fellow students?" he laughed.
"Only in extreme circumstances," she replied semi-sternly. She noticed that James and Remus were both watching them with very puzzled faces. They had obviously missed Severus' gymnastic display.
"I'll tell you later," Sirius whispered to them, obviously noticing their expressions as well. "See you Evans." Lily watched all three boys walk down the corridor, until they disappeared round the corner, and then she started in the opposite direction to get to her next class – Arithmancy.
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It was lunchtime before she caught up with Caitlin. She was sitting with Alice and Avril in the Great Hall, discussing their Arithmancy homework, when Caitlin came blazing into the room. Her curly, blonde hair looked even bouncy than usual, and she had the fire in her eyes she only got when she was mad. She brushed straight by the Marauders who were sitting up the table a bit and walked straight to Lily.
"Uh... hello?" Lily said nervously as Caitlin slammed down on the bench beside her.
"Hiya!" Caitlin said cheerily. She had a big smile on her face, but Lily noticed that her cheeriness had not spread to her eyes.
"Cait what's wrong?" Lily said putting her hand on Caitlin's. Alice got up to leave them to it, sensing that this was probably a private thing – she had to drag Avril with her. After they had moved over to Frank and his mates, Caitlin let her happy premise drop.
"Sirius and I broke up," she said flatly.
"Oh," Lily tried to sound more concerned than she really was. Caitlin and Sirius broke up all the time, so it had kind of lost its edge. "When?"
"This morning, at breakfast."
"Is that why he was late to class?" Lily said, trying to sound sympathetic.
"Well yes and no," Caitlin said starting to fidget with her hands a bit.
"What do you mean?" Lily asked, not really sure if she wanted to know the answer.
"Well he was late because he had to go to the hospital wing."
"Caitlin... Why would Sirius have to go to the hospital wing?"
"Because I hexed him...you-know-where," Caitlin whispered, and tried to suppress a small giggle.
"Caitlin why did you do that?" Lily said sternly, not finding it amusing at all.
"Because he was trying to tell me what to do," Caitlin said huffily. She didn't like Lily telling her off. "AND he always puts his friends before me!"
"Are you sure he wasn't trying to gentle steer you in the right direction?" Caitlin had a bit of an explosive temper, and counted someone asking her to pass the salt as 'telling her what to do'.
"No his exact words were 'Caitlin I forbid you to tell Lily'. Can you believe he actually used the word 'forbid'?" Lily didn't answer. She wanted more than anything – except maybe James Potter – to know what Caitlin couldn't tell her. But she knew from experience, that secrets between Sirius and Caitlin were usually kept that way. She pushed her food around her plate for a moment, and then looked up to see Caitlin looking at her expectantly.
"Oh yea... 'Forbid'..." She couldn't hold it in anymore. "Caitlin... what can't you tell me?"
"Thank God, I thought you weren't going to ask me there!" Caitlin looked excited at the prospect of spilling the beans, and then became pensive, thinking of a way to tell Lily what had happened. "Uh... you actually might not want to hear this..." Something inside Lily suddenly clicked.
"Is this something to do with the headache I had this morning?" she said quickly.
"Yes!" Caitlin yelled, she had obviously found a way of explaining it to her. "You see someone gave you a Lovers' Draft yesterday, made your eyes all rose-tinted, and I took you up to Madam Pompfrey, who gave you some potion which gave you the headache."
"Why wouldn't Sirius want you to tell me that?" Lily asked bewildered.
"Well it's not really the Draft he didn't want you to know about, it's what you did under the Draft. And when I say Sirius didn't want you to know, really I mean James."
"Oh no! What did I do?" Lily could already feel her cheeks going red with embarrassment. "And what do you mean James? Oh God what did I do to James?"
"Well you just kind of got real friendly with him on his seat and then..."
"Oh my God! I kissed James?!" Lily shrieked, peeking at Caitlin through her fingers.
"Remus," Caitlin said soothingly, placing her hand on Lily's shoulder.
Lily gave a strangled type of scream that sounded like she had just been punched hard in the stomach.
"I kissed Remus?!" she whispered. Amid all her confusion, another question kept sticking out in her mind. "Why wouldn't James want me to know that?"
"Well it's not really that, that James didn't want you to know either. You see Remus kissed you back." Lily gave the strangled scream again. "And James completely flipped out." Lily suddenly sat bolt right again.
"Really?" Caitlin nodded slowly, with a real smile on her face this time.
"Uh huh, like threw you across the room, and went to hit Remus, Sirius had to hold him back and all."
"Oh my God!" Lily gasped, at the fact James had nearly hit his best friend.
"I know," Caitlin squealed completely reading Lily's cry wrong. "James likes you!"
"Caitlin I kissed his best friend!" Lily said despairingly of her.
"I know but you were under a spell, it doesn't count," she said plainly. "It's how he reacted that mattered!"
"HE ALMOST HIT HIS BEST FRIEND! I don't care if that means he likes me, I don't want to go out with someone who's so violent!" Caitlin looked a bit guilty for a moment.
"Uh well, he might not have gone that far, I might have exaggerated that a bit..."
"How much did you exaggerate?" Lily asked sternly.
"Uh well, Sirius didn't have to hold him back, I just thought that sounded good. And he didn't throw you across the room, he sort of roughly sat you on a sofa. And he didn't try to hit Remus, just spoke to him sternly about taking advantage of you. He didn't like it though! That bit was true!"
"Are you telling me the truth? Because you better not be trying to get me to go out with some closet serial killer!"
"Scout's honour," Caitlin said, looking very apologetic.
"Cait you were never a scout!"
"Yea well you know what I mean," Caitlin said offhandedly. "So...?"
Lily gave a girly squeal.
"James likes me!"
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They had spent the rest of their classes that day, with the rest of the Gryffindor 7th year girls, discussing the best way to get James to ask Lily out. Lily couldn't ask him, it had been decided, because the girls were all romantics, so now they were trying to plan how best to trick him into it. Scarlet had come up with loads of ideas, that wouldn't be used by anyone over the age of 11. When she had been told this however, she had taken great pleasure in reminding them that she had always said kissing his best friend was a good idea. It had also been decided there after, that the 'Remus incident' would never be mentioned again. No one however could come up with a good enough plan, and it didn't help that Avril kept questioning that maybe it was Remus James was really interested in.
Lily had been full of girly excitement when she walked back to her room that night, only to find an owl waiting there for her. She untied the letter from around its leg and watched it fly out of her bedroom window. Lily unrolled the letter and began to read it, it was from her sister Petunia.
Dear Lily,
I have the solemn job of writing to you with bad news. Dad did not feel up to writing this letter. Mum has taken a turn for the worse. The cancer has spread through her body, and the doctors say there is nothing more they can do for her. Dad and I have decided that the best place for her now is at home, so we are collecting her from the hospital on Sunday.
We've also decided that when you come home at Christmas, that it would be good for Dad to come and stay with Vernon and I for a few days, so you could spend some time with Mum. I also think this is a good idea as it will give Dad a break, he has not been well lately himself.
I am very sorry.
Petunia
Lily could see that the letter was tearstained even before she started to cry. Even though they didn't get on very well, it was times like these she was reminded that she and Petunia were still sisters.
It took her over an hour to think of what to write back. When she finally did finish her letter, it was past midnight, but she decided to go to the Owlery and send it straight away.
As she walked along the corridors, with a candle as her only light, she found herself seeing good reason for the 10 o'clock curfew. Hogwarts was not nice by night. In fact it was downright terrifying. Everywhere she went Lily was sure she could hear whisperings and creaks. Everything looked so different in the night, and after twenty minutes she was sure she was lost. She was just about to retrace her steps when a sudden gust of wind blew her candle out. Finding herself immersed in the darkness, she felt an urge to cower against the wall behind a suit of armour. Someone else was there, she could feel it. After a while her eyes got used to the darkness, and she could make shapes and shadows. She couldn't see anybody, but she could hear footsteps, and that drape definitely just moved!
'Lily wise up, you're tired and your mind is playing tricks with you. That's all!'
Or was it? Adding to the footsteps she could now make out heavy breathing, panting almost. She felt herself freeze with fear. Whatever it was, was getting closer.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," came a whisper.
'No,' Lily thought. 'Your mind didn't just make that up!' The voice sounded like it was barely a few feet away from her, but still she saw no body to accompany it. Deciding it was now or never, Lily found the courage to make a run for it. As soon as she tried to make a dash however, she ran straight into some 'solid' thin air. She watched in horror, as a body materialised out of nowhere, an ornate cloak lying as its feet.
"Uh, would you believe me if I said I was patrolling?" said James Potter.
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countessmel: I'm sorry you're disappointed but I write for myself, and I like the way it's going. I'm sorry you didn't but I respect your decision to stop reading.
BurningIce22: Em I think you kind of missed the fact that the first half of the chapter was all a dream. None of it really happened. Only the bit after James woke up was real.
luvsirius: I know it was a bit strange but dreams are strange. Thanks for reviewing like... every time I post! :D
Oliverwoodschic: You'll find out in the next chapter I promise.
kaleidoscope0-0eyes: Yea I was hoping to catch a few people out with that dream sequence. Make them think I'd lost the plot slightly! At least I know it worked on you!
leanne: Its all right the 6th form is used to your random laughing anyway! As long as you don't put where I live on the Internet I won't mind!
LilyFlower1001: I never even thought of that. It would be kool but it's a bit sinister for my story... at the moment anyway.
Jessie: Ok I think I just found my biggest fan. I'll try to keep them coming but it's a bit hard with my exams. Did you read the other story as well? Cause nobody ever reads the other one.
stephanie: Well done with the whole "Clicking to get to the next chapter" thing. And no "being new at this" doesn't count as an excuse for your stupidity. You have used a computer before right?
sapphire-gurl11: Thank you! If you think my story needs more reviews then TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!
Crazayladay: You'll find out next chapter. So you'll just have to keep reading! :D
Lisa: Lol I wouldn't go so far as to say it's better than all the rest of the Lily/Marauders stories, but hell yea I do rock! Joke!
tougy: You can't be too mad at Moony! He's only human after all.
NaleyScott23: Look I updated! Please don't hurt me! You'll find out next chapter and I know he's a bad boy but you have to forgive him, cause its Remus!