A/N: Ah, hello, my little pamplemooses... my apologies for not updating sooner, but I've been a bit hectic lately. Schooling started up again today and everything after a peaceful summer break... (no, I'm not bitter about going back at all...) anyway, please enjoy!
In the morning, Lily woke up, once again, with the same feeling of foreboding that had been haunting her for the past day. She sat up in her bed and rubbed her eyes, the events of last night coming back to her as she tried to wake herself up.
"Poor Sirius," She murmured to herself sleepily as she pushed the covers aside to get out of bed. "It really wasn't meant to be all that malicious or anything. And he did go a little insane over it… but then again, I am trying to justify myself to myself, so I can't really comment on insanity. Or lackthereof. But not in my case. Yes." She stretched and shook the thoughts from her mind. Lily stood in the middle of the dorm for a moment, deep in thought, before snapping out of her reverie and looking for some fresh clothes. Finding a clean bra, shirt and denim skirt to wear, she slipped them on and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth. However, when she got there, the door was firmly shut.
"What? Nobody gets in there earlier than I do… it's gotta be about six in the morning!" Lily said to herself, before knocking on the door and raising her voice. "Are you going to be long in there?"
Alice White's voice floated through the door. "Sorry Lily, but I've got a breakfast date with Frank. Won't be a second."
Lily smiled. Alice and Frank had been together for a few months, after a very painful courting period not unlike Lily's own experience with James. Suddenly, there was a loud bang from the other side of the door, and a second later a scream sounded.
"Alice? Alice, are you alright?"
"It's my hair!" Alice said through the door, whimpering. "I was trying to curl it with that hair potion Gloria gave me, but I burnt it!"
"It's okay, Alice, calm down!" Lily began, but she was interrupted by Alice's hysterical sobbing.
"Okay? OKAY? It is not okay! My hair is all gone, Lily, GONE! FREAKIN' GONE!"
"Alice, really, calm down, it's going to be just fine—"
"It's not going to be fine, I've got a date, and I like my hair, you know, it's got this nice wave to it and it's quite thick and and I can do anything with it. Oh, I'm sorry," Alice said, sobbing. "Could do anything with it. Past-effing-tense, Lily, PAST-EFFING-TENSE."
"Okay, Alice, it's…" Lily trailed off. Alice was sobbing again. "I'll just… I'll use the bathroom later, it's okay."
Lily shook her head as she walked back to the dormitory. Lily and Sirius apparently weren't the only two in Hogwarts going a little insane. She dropped off her toothbrush and did a quick charm to freshen her breath and whiten her teeth. It wouldn't last her past breakfast, but hopefully the bathroom would be Alice-free by then. Lily made her way down into the Common Room, where James was seated. Apart from the two of them, the Common Room was completely empty.
"Hey, Lils, how did you—" But he didn't finish his sentence. As soon as he got a good look at Lily, he started laughing. Lily looked at him worriedly.
"What?" She asked him.
"Oh, Lily, you've, uh, you've got a thing on your forehead."
"I've got a what on my forehead?"
"A… a thing."
"James," Lily began, her hands rising to her cheeks, too fearful to touch her forehead. "Are you saying I have a penis on my forehead?"
"What? No. There's a word written there." James laughed as Lily sighed in relief.
"What word?"
"It looks like it's burnt into your skin."
"James. What word?"
James grimaced before replying. "Slut," he told her quietly, and she glared at him.
"What did you just call me?" Lily shouted, her eyes popping.
"No, no, that's the word that's written on your forehead."
Lily paused. "Are you telling me that I have the word slut written on my forehead?"
"Maybe."
"Oh my God."
"Or, as Sirius would say, Om-guh," James joked. Lily glared scathingly at him.
"Don't you start that again," Lily said as James dragged his hands through his hair, pulling his fringe back. "or I'll have to-- what the hell is that?"
"Hmm? What do you mean?" James asked, dropping his hands. Lily shook her head.
"Pull your fringe back again," She told him, and watched as he obliged. Once his hair was cleared off his face, Lily looked at him again, and instantly saw something written on his forehead, much in the same fashion as she had imagined the word 'slut' was written on hers. "James, there's something there. You're forehead says, 'man…'" Lily grinned. "It says 'manwhore'."
"It what?" James said, and scrambled to get up from his chair to rush up the stairs to the boys dormitory and look at his forehead in the mirror. Lily followed him as he ran into the bathroom and pulled back his fringe hastily. "What are you talking about, Lily? It says 'erohwnam', not 'manwh…'" James stopped for a second. "I'm look at my reflection, aren't I?" Lily nodded. "So the word would be backwards, wouldn't it?" Lily nodded again. "Let's just forget I said that."
"With pleasure. But we have more to worry about than where you were the day your parents were explaining about how mirrors work." Lily swallowed. "Let's just try to get these off."
James nodded, and the two of them rushed forward to the sink. Lily grabbed a scouring sponge by the side of the sink and rinsed it with warm water before scrubbing at her forehead, where the word tuls was staring back at her every time she looked into the mirror. James was pointing his wand at his forehead, yelling 'SCOURGIFY' with increasing volume. Neither method at removing the offending words was working particularly well.
"Well now that we've succeeded in making the words even redder," Lily said after a while, "what do we do?"
"Madame Hartridge?"
"No way, James, no. I'm not going to walk through Hogwarts having been literally branded a slut."
"Well, maybe I can…" James stopped and turned to the other direction, apparently deep in thought. "I guess now's as good a time as any."
"James, what are you talking about?"
"I have something to tell you," James said after a moment's pause. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before but it's not really something I want going around school."
Lily stopped and stared at James. She had never seen him so solemn. "What is it?"
"I have an Invisibility Cloak. It was a gift from my Grandfather, he was a big-shot in the Ministry. It's kind of… old. Said to have been tailored about a thousand years ago. But, you know, that's probably just trade-hype. Anyway, we could use it to get to the Hospital Wing without being seen."
"You have a what? From where? Made when? Use it for who-now?"
"Invisibility cloak. Grandfather. Thousand years ago. Getting to the Hospital Wing. I just told you."
"Right," Lily nodded, dumbstruck. She hadn't been expecting that. Suddenly she was filled with curiosity. "Can I… can I see it?"
"Well I guess you're going to have to, if you're going to use it," James said. Lily shook her head.
"Amazing," she told him. "Well, let's have a look then?"
"You stay here," James told her, gesturing to the bathroom, "and I'll be back in a second."
He wasn't gone for a minute before he came rushing back through the bathroom door, brandishing a huge piece of material in his hands.
"It used to be bigger," James told her as he let it unravel from the bundle in his arms, "but every now and again it has to be tailored. Visibility fades back along the edges."
"It's amazing, James," Lily sighed. "Wow."
"So, ready to go to Madame Hartridge?" James asked, and Lily nodded in agreement, getting to her feet. She stepped further towards James, and he smiled gently down at her. He had at least six inches on her height.
"James," Lily began, a strange look crossing her face, "Don't you think it's a bit strange that Sirius declares war against us, and we wake up with derogatory words on our foreheads?"
"You don't think Sirius did this?"
"Wouldn't put it past him. Wouldn't put it past you."
"Oh come on. That was just the one time."
Lily narrowed her eyes. "I still haven't been able to wash off all that magic marker."
"So, if Sirius did this, then he really was serious about it."
"Isn't Sirius usually serious? And by the way, well done on the oh-so-subtle change of subject. Very masterful."
"Oh dear God, another Sirius/serious pun. Never be a stand-up."
"I'll try. Subject-changer," Lily pointed accusatorily. James shrugged. "We're assuming that Sirius did this. Which he probably did. He's really waging a war against us, James, and I don't know about you, but I say it's time we get this started. Let's show him what it is to be humiliated. This is child's play. This is little-league. It's time to show him where the big kids hang out."
"Well," James said, after a moment. "I'm dating a bad-ass. Who knew?"
"Shut up."
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Seriously, shut up."
"Gotcha. Zipping it as we speak."
"Shut up, James."
"Yeah, okay, geez, I'll—"
"SHUT UP!"
A/N: You liked it? You hated it? Please let me know:D Until next time, pamplemooses... (pamplemoosi??)...