BOTH ALIKE IN DIGNITY
By: geekinthepink
Rating: T
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing; everything you recognize belongs to either JK Rowling or William Shakespeare.
NOTE: I realized when I was looking my last chapter over that I forgot to put what the little asterisks meant.
Pump : Shakespearean slang for penis. Vile and disgusting term. Also means shoe.
Toy : Double entendre for penis.
Now that you know two Shakespearian terms for penis, it makes the whole situation that more awkward and weird.
Thank you all for the lovely reviews, I'm glad that you all don't think that I'm completely bonkers for trying to throw poor Lily and James into Shakespeare's greatest romantic tragedy.
Chapter Five: Act Two – Scenes Five And Six-ish
(Also known as "Where Everyone Goes a Little Mad")
Lily, as apposed to her dimension traveling companion, was too busy fretting to allow herself any time for things such as lunch. She had already swept through the Capulet home and found not even a dust coated volume of spells or potions that could help at all.
"I sent that woman out at nine o'clock." She complained to Juliet's bedroom that she had holed herself up in. "Oh, she is so slow! Now it's noon and she's still not back. She cannot possibly still be speaking with that git as his vocabulary is not large enough to last for three hours. Perhaps if the woman wasn't so large she would move faster!" She was getting impatient to know what James had found out, if anything. She was even sinking down to the level of calling Nurse names. She hated feeling so helpless and as though she had nothing to do. With no books or professors to lean back on for support, she was like a girl trying to gain her footing on a balance beam.
The Nurse chose that moment; the moment that Lily thought she would plummet off the metaphorical balance beam, to enter the room with Peter, the serving boy, still at her side.
"Finally!" Lily exclaimed, rushing to the woman. "What did he say? Did he find anything out?" Her questions were quick and rushed. "Please, Nurse, may just you and I speak?" She eyed the younger boy warily, fearing that perhaps he would spread the gossip of whatever things that Nurse could possibly have to tell her. Words like hexes and spells were the last thing that Lily needed to be questioned about right now.
Nurse dismissed Peter from their company and Lily took a moment to survey the older woman's face. She did not seem to be pleased at the news; but naturally, whatever James had to say wouldn't make sense to her.
"What is the news?" Lily pestered the poor woman impatiently.
"Leave me, child. I am tired. I have been bustling about all morning for you; give me a moment to rest. My bones ache." Her complaints did nothing to ease Lily's nerves. Despite the mirrored scene in the play, surely the news from James would be different than a marriage proposal and the uncertainty was making the jests of the Nurse unbearable.
"Please. What did he have to say?" The redhead pried politely, hoping to coax it out of the woman who had now taken it upon herself to flop down in one of the lovely embroidered chairs next to the window. It was eerie, this was the same window that just the night before she and James had slaughtered the famous "Balcony Scene".
"Can you not wait a moment? I am out of breath." And it was obvious now that the plump woman was working hard at catching her breath, something that surely hadn't been a necessity a moment before. She was a great tease, worse than any of Potter or his bum buddies. Yes, that's right, bum buddies. Who came up with the idea of the name "The Marauders" anyway? It was ridiculous and rather childish.
Using Juliet's original wit, Lily knew she had the perfect retort. "How can you be out of breath when you have enough breath to tell me that you are out of breath? Nurse, the news, please. It's very important and is a matter of life and death!" She knew that she appeared to be hysterical but the reality of her words were so shocking that she feared that she would begin to hyperventilate if she didn't find out soon.
"You have made a foolish choice." Nurse announced and Lily panicked even more so. Would they not be able to go home? Was going home what the older woman had alluded to as a foolish choice? What could they do now? Just when she was ready to track down James Potter and hex him into a bloody pulp for doing this to her, the Nurse opened her mouth again.
"Romeo? I'll admit, he is more handsome than any other man…" She didn't hear what the Nurse said next as she was too busy trying to control her gag reflexes. "…He's not the most polite man in the world…" Amen, sister. "… But he does care for you." Wait, rewind… What? "Do what you will, Juliet. Have you had lunch?"
"No, I have not." She admitted truthfully. "You have not told me what I wanted to know. What exactly did he say? Did he not give you any peculiar news? Any instructions? Anything?" Lily pleaded for more information.
"Oh, I ache so. My feet and my back sear with pain." Lily knew she was going to have to rub the woman's back and the idea of it was rather disturbing. Couldn't Shakespeare have written that Juliet had gotten her nurse a cool cloth or something? With an irritated sigh, she quickly rubbed her hand over the woman's large back.
"Please, Nurse. What did Romeo say?" She questioned once more.
"Your love said," Lily resisted the urge to vomit once more. "Like such an honorable, noble, courteous, selfless, handsome gentleman." The bile was pressing against Lily's throat and she was getting sick from the whole thing. Perhaps the information wasn't that important, she was sure she could just avoid James and not die and just stay in Shakespeare's time. "Oh! Where is your mother?"
Nurse was a cruel woman, and Lily couldn't take it anymore. She was going to have one of those fits, the fits that she normally saved for the Head Boy. "Who bloody cares where my mother is? What did Romeo say?" She snapped.
"You are impatient! You're being ridiculous Juliet, is this any way to retrieve information from your poor nurse? Is this any way to treat my aching body after the errands I have run for you? From now on, do these things yourself." Nurse was a drama queen.
"I am sorry. What did he say?" She tried the polite act once more.
"Can you make confession today?" Nurse asked, and though Lily hadn't asked for permission, the text said that Juliet could go, so with a nod, Lily agreed as well. "Then hurry and get over to Friar Lawrence. All of the details have been taken care of. You will find your love there, waiting for you." Such a detestable smirk coated the older woman's lips and Lily resisted the urge to sneer at the familiarity of it. And honestly, people needed to stop referring to James as her love or someone was going to find large pustules in painful places.
"Wish me luck." She murmured, hurrying out of the room and praying that James had found a way home.
----------------------------------------
James felt more uncomfortable now, in the few moments sitting with the Friar, than he had in his entire life. They sat upon a bench, waiting for Lily to arrive and James was tapping his feet impatiently. He was bent over at the waist, allowing his elbows to rest upon his knees so the tapping sent his entire body into jolts up and down. Friar Lawrence seemed to be annoyed by this action, but held his tongue. Every now and then he would do one of those annoying things where he cleared his voice and James would sigh.
"I do believe that the heavens will smile down upon this." Friar Lawrence said. James reiterated the fact to himself that this man was off his rocker. Why in Merlin's name would the heavens care if he and Lily returned to their own time period and dimension?
"Is everything set?" James questioned, making sure that nothing could go wrong.
"Yes, yes, of course." The man dismissed the question easily and they returned to the pattern of foot tapping, throat clearing and elaborate sighs. Finally, and with much relief, the door opened, and Lily walked in. James had never been more relieved to see her in his entire life that the same disgusting thoughts of how well this time period suited her returned.
"Hello, sir." Lily greeted Friar Lawrence, once she had made her way up to the two men.
"You cannot imagine how happy I am about this." James confessed. He was growing tired of the proper speech, odd lackeys and more importantly, the uncomfortable and un-masculine trousers.
"I think I can imagine it perfectly." Lily agreed, hardly noticing that it was probably the first and the last time that she would ever agree on something with James. Once they got back to school, she planned on denying that she ever worked in cooperation with him, let alone that she danced with him.
"Come with me and we'll do this quickly. I fear that I cannot leave you be until this is all said and done and you are united in marriage." The Friar's words shot through the air like glass and both Lily and James froze in their spots.
"Marriage?" Lily snapped out in yet another fit. "Is this what you arranged? Got sick of me telling you that I wouldn't date you so you decided 'Hey, why not take advantage of this and trick poor Lily into marriage?' That's ridiculously low, even for you." She turned on James, who had gone as pale as a ghost.
He shook his head feverishly. "No, I distinctly asked him if he could make a potion that would take us back to our time period." The denial of the action would surely fall on Lily's deaf ears; however, as he knew better than anyone that once she got on a rampage she wouldn't stop.
"He informed me that you two were running away together." Friar Lawrence interjected much to the dismay of the two teens. James was flabbergasted and Lily was thoroughly disgusted.
"I'm sure it just sounded that way," James jumped in quickly. "I said that you and I needed to get to 1977 as soon as possible." He informed her.
"Where does marriage come in to this equation, Potter?" She couldn't seem to stop snapping, nor could she seem to catch her breath. Panic coursed through her veins like venom that was slowly killing her off.
Dismayed at the fact that they were returning to the calls of their surnames, James sighed in frustration that sent his hands running through his hair in habit. Lily glared at him as she hated it when he did that. Actually, that's probably one of the reasons why he had never stopped, it was another thing that got on Lily's nerves. Also, it made him look handsomely windswept and that won over the ladies.
"I don't know!" he exclaimed. "Don't waste your time yelling at me about something that I have no idea about when this man," he rudely thrust his index finger at Friar Lawrence who was watching the pair with the utmost confusion. "Is the one that decided that I had asked for you and me to be married."
That seemed to do the trick as Lily rounded on the older, more filled out, man. "Who gave you the idea that I would ever want to be married to this complete git?" She questioned sharply. The poor man looked at the redheaded girl as though she might strike him down dead right there.
"You are a Capulet, my dear. And he is a Montague. By uniting the two of you in marriage, perhaps this horrible feud will come to an end and all will be well." He told her with a tone that admitted that he had put a lot of thought into all of this. "It sincerely seemed as though you two were in love, the way that he spoke of you was in a tone full of caring and concern."
Emerald eyes narrowed at the man and her breathing was coming out in puffs, a sure sign that her anger was bubbling viciously beneath the exterior. "I do not wish to be married to him," she admitted sternly. "Not now, not tomorrow, not ever." She clarified, in case there were any questions.
Once more, James's heart dropped to the depths of his stomach and he turned his gaze away from the fighting pair and gazed at the atrocious shoes shielding his feet. They really weren't that bad once you got used to them, the second he got home he knew he would avoid anything that ever looked like them, but for now, they were okay.
"I am sorry." Friar Lawrence told them both and James looked back at the man and nodded.
"The potion," James reminded him. "Is it even possible?" Now that he had managed to think clearly once more, the important questions were being delivered.
"Oh, I do not know." Friar Lawrence admitted easily and Lily was debating which hex to use on this man first. There were so many that could do justice, she'd have to ask Potter which ones were the most painful though. Looking over at the aforementioned classmate she was a little confused to see that his demeanor seemed to be a little subdued. It was unlike him to keep quiet but she supposed she had just spoken enough for the both of them.
"You don't know?" James continued with a disappointed sigh.
"Well, I suppose that I could try." He seemed to think that perhaps these two were a little of their own rockers, trying to travel to a time that did not yet exist. Actually, traveling to any time at all was peculiar. His knowledge of plants was used to create medications, and sometimes a poison or two. Though, he supposed, some witchcraft could be applied. That was what these two were trying to do, wasn't it? Witchcraft. Looking between the two, he debated the whole ordeal.
"We'd be willing to help you." Lily told him. "Perhaps we can come up with something using our knowledge from school and your knowledge of these plants."
Friar Lawrence brought his hand up to his chin and rubbed it as people often did when debating something like this. Perhaps, not this exactly, but something that was monumental and dangerous. He was not the stereotypical Catholic priest, but he knew better than to meddle in the ways of witchcraft. But these two appeared to know what they were talking about, and how bad could it possibly be?
There were bigger things at hand right now than meddling in a bit of witchcraft, what with the feud between the families of the boy and girl in front of him, as well as the plague. Perhaps the three of them working in this manner could change young Miss Capulet's mind about marriage to Romeo, thus bringing an end to the feud.
"Alright, but we must do so in secret." He said in a whisper. Lily quickly nodded and she could see that James was doing the same beside her.
"Sir, we have no time to waste." She told the friar and it was his turn to nod.
"Let us get started then." He said, hurrying about, examining his own collection of plants, trying to recall the properties of each and what could come from them.
It was nearly an hour later that the three had decided what would be the best selection of weeds, flowers and herbs to create a potion to return Lily and James home. Having found a few scraps of blank parchment and a beat up quill under the mess that was Friar Lawrence's desk, Lily and James were trying to recall everything they had learned in nearly seven years of potions classes that would make dimension traveling work. Wand work had been quickly tossed out of the realm of possibilities as it was too dangerous. With potions, they had the chance to reverse it as they would know where they went wrong, with wands there was too much guesswork.
"Are you absolutely sure that it was a bay leaf that finished that spell off?" Lily questioned James, hitting herself over the head for not remembering what sealed the potion that they had used for transportation. Sure they had transported themselves from one side of Hogsmeade to another, but if they blew it up a little, couldn't it work over dimensions?
"I'm positive. Bay leaves are used for protection as well as for locking in locations." James reminded her and Lily rewarded him with a nod. Yes, that much she remembered. She wrote "bay leaf" down on the list that she was keeping for the ingredients, while James searched through the little pile that they had going of herbs. He stopped abruptly and chuckled disdainfully.
"Why are you laughing like that?" she questioned with worry coating her voice like a thick paste.
"It's not here." He told her with a small hint of panic rising in his voice.
"James, we're only on borrowed time right now!" In the panic of the moment, the return to his first name went completely unnoticed. "I don't know how long we can keep this extended scene going along. We're not doing anything that Shakespeare has written so there's no guideline anymore." She told him in a whisper as she looked over at the Friar who was feverishly flipping through a thick volume on plants. He was trying desperately to find more plants that would be of use as Lily and James racked their memory.
"Who says that we can't just keep going on this way?" James met her whisper with one of his own, leaning in a little closer to where she was seated from him across a small table.
"Just because we're not following Shakespeare's writing anymore, doesn't mean that everyone else has stopped. We've pulled Friar Lawrence out of what was written by being here, but the Capulets and the Montagues haven't stopped anything." She reminded him, realizing that he had indeed moved closer, but she didn't pull back.
"Okay, just relax." He reached over and set his hand on top of hers in what he hoped was a comforting gesture and he was pleased to find that she didn't yank her hand away. Lily actually looked down at his hand on top of hers and was disgusted to find that, like the time they had danced together, her skin began to tingle. It was an irritatingly nice feeling and she hated herself for hoping that it wouldn't stop.
"Relax?" she questioned. "And how do you expect me to do that?" Her voice was low and faintly resembled a whisper but it seemed rude to speak any louder with James hovering so closely.
"We can go get or something, there has to be bay leaves around here somewhere. We already have to substitute things like cockroaches and other potions ingredients, so if worst comes to worst we can find a substitute for that too." He seemed so calm and relaxed over this whole thing and Lily didn't know whether or not she should admire him or hate him for it.
She took a deep breath and nodded, "Okay, yes, that's fine. We'll just look for some and then see if we can find a substitute if needed. There's just one problem with that plan, we still don't have anything worked out on paper so one of us is going to need to stay here." She told him.
"You are leaving?" Friar Lawrence questioned, presenting them both with a page in the book that he found some information.
"We need bay leaves and you don't seem to have any in your stocks." James informed the man.
"Hmm…" The older man mused thoughtfully. "Perchance there is some in the garden at the end of the street. I will go and fetch some so you may continue working on whatever it is that you need to get figured out. Additionally, you will find this plant to be most useful in your potion." He added, running his hand over the yellowed page of the book.
Lily smiled at him and nodded. "Thank you, we'll keep trying to figure this out." She watched as the Shakespearean creation left in the dead of night to retrieve the leaves for them. Once he had left the room and she heard the click of the door she pulled her gaze back to the book but a weight on her hand pulled her attention to that instead.
James's hand still rested on top of her own, even as he had now returned to the other books strewn about the table with their pages opened to random plants, some of which she had never heard of before. Following her gaze from his hand, up his cotton covered arm, she found herself looking at a James Potter that she had never really noticed before. He was leaning over the book with his cheek resting in his palm, looking like the picture perfect student. It was odd not to see him sending a note flying over to his friends or a laugh emitting from his lips.
Without a laugh to pass his lips, it appeared they became the unfortunate victim of his teeth as he bit at his lower lip in thought, trying to piece together this large puzzle of information. Every so often, he would take his chin out of his palm and run his hand through his hair, causing her to purse her lips into a thin line. He would alternate the hair-ruffling with taking his glasses off and rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand.
It was rather odd that he would never move his other hand from its resting place on top of hers through all of this. The thought pulled her gaze away from his now glass covered hazel eyes to his pale hand. While her hand still remained a stark white in contrast, his hand was lacking the tan that someone who enjoyed being outdoors would have. It wasn't that James didn't enjoy the outdoors; it just seemed that his skin refused to darken more than a few shades.
The veins and creases of his skin were bizarrely captivating and she found herself acting before thoughts could process in her head and she gently pulled her hand out from underneath his, but did not return it to the sides of the book where it had previously been. Instead, she took his hand and flipped it over so that it was palm up. The skin on that side was equally as pale but was littered with the lines that gave Divination some point. Bringing her other hand to trace every line with her index finger, she grew even more captivated with the details of his skin. She felt herself trace a small raised bump which she found to be a small scar near his thumb.
Looking up from his hand, she found that his gaze was held on her, curiosity apparent. She retracted her hands from his own as a blush made its way to her cheeks. He still didn't stop looking at her even when she picked up the book that Friar Lawrence had left for them.
"I'm sorry." She muttered, burying her attention within the pages, seeing the faded print, but not absorbing a word. It was very hard to pay attention to the properties of plants when you just realized that you were harboring a secret attraction to someone who you were supposed to despise.
James shook his head, even though Lily was refusing to meet his eyes. He reached across the table and pulled the book out of her grasp and she simply picked another one up before he chuckled lightly and pulled that one out of her grasp too. He was still oddly close to her and the pounding of her heart was becoming painful.
She knew that he was going to kiss her, he was moving himself closer to her and she leaned as far back in her chair as she could, grabbing another book as though she was going to use it as a shield against his kisses. "I'm sorry." She repeated.
He only nodded, not saying another word.