Ch.20
Unexpected
A/N: the last chapter! Enjoy.
We should be together but we're not
I play it off but I'm dreaming of you
I try to say goodbye and I choke
I try to walk away and I stumble
Though I try to hide it, it's clear
My world crumbles when you are not there
I may seem alright
And smile when you leave
But my smiles are just a front
This I can not deny
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Recap:
Harmony, who noticed nothing, smiled at him and took a sip of her tea.
James watched her expectantly.
Harmony frowned and her eyes grew wide. "No…" she said softly.
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Harmony glanced suspiciously down at her drink. "What did you put in there?" she asked in a low voice.
"What do you think?" James replied coldly.
"You know the truth don't you?" Harmony said, her eyes narrowing.
"Of course. We all do," James gestured to Madeline and Marcie, who were sitting by the fire.
Harmony was quiet. "I don't have much time…" she said softly.
"Damn right you don't," James retorted. "And you deserve it. For all the horrible things you've done."
Harmony sighed but said nothing.
"I want to know one thing though. If you're not Harmony, who are you?" Marcie asked.
"My name's Clarissa. Just Clarissa. Faeries don't have surnames. My full name is Clarissa of the Enchanted Woods," Harmony, or Clarissa to be correct, replied. She was still talking in that soft voice.
"Why? Why did you have to be such an evil bitch?" Madeline spat out angrily.
"For my family," Clarissa replied, a hint of sadness in her dark blue eyes. "They all died in the War. My mother's last wish was for me to continue the faeries generation. Their worst nightmare was for it to die out. That's all I ever wanted to do, honest. I never meant any harm."
"Of course you didn't," Madeline said sarcastically. "I'm guessing that no harm means killing innocent people."
"Death is nothing to be afraid of. Death is not a bad thing," Clarissa stated firmly. "It's a way of life. Death means nothing to us faeries. In our eyes, death and life have no difference. We believe in the afterlife."
Madeline opened her mouth and shut it again, clearly having nothing to say about this.
"But to us, life is more important than death," Marcie protested, trying to make Clarissa understand. "Life's a wonderful thing. And when you killed off Charity and Ava…"
"I regret it," Clarissa said hoarsely, "but I was only fulfilling my family's wishes."
"Why can you just find a guy like any normal girl?" Marcie asked gently, feeling a little but sorry for the faerie.
Clarissa laughed humorlessly. "Do you think anyone will want to 'mate' with a creature like me?" she said bitterly. "You've read those books. You know what the Wizarding world calls us. Faeries are grotesque monsters. That's all I am. A monster."
Everyone fell silent at her sudden proclamation.
Clarissa gasped and clutched at her chest. The potion was clearly taking effect. Clarissa wheezed and coughed as if someone was squeezing her hard.
"I guess it's working," A voice said. Everyone looked around and saw Lily, on the staircase. She had a satisfied expression on her face. "Revenge sure is sweet," she said in a cold voice that was different from her own.
"Lily," Clarissa managed to gasp out. "I'm sorry."
"The hell you are," Lily snapped. "You ruined everything!"
"There's something you have to know…" Clarissa breathed. "Charity didn't die of childbirth…"
Lily stared at her in surprise. "What are you talking about?" she said uncertainly.
"She overdosed on sleeping pills. She told me she was pregnant but I knew she was lying… Charity has been addicted for a long time. She knew she was going to overdoes so she planned to tell everyone she was pregnant. Her last wish was to make Madame Promfrey believe she died of childbirth so…I Confunded the nurse like Charity wanted…" Clarissa eyes were closing. "Lily…"
Lily was so stunned she couldn't even answer Clarissa.
"Charity lied…about James….she only wanted to hurt him…because he was the only one who wouldn't sleep with her…you need to understand…Charity was the evil one…not James…" Clarissa was breathing hard. "Don't forget me…or any of the faeries…I'm truly sorry bout everything…" with these last words, Clarissa slumped against the floor.
No one knew what to do. They were still absorbing the unbelievable news they had just heard.
"Look!" Marcie pointed to Harmony's body.
A pale figure was rising from the unconscious body. It was Clarissa. She was tiny, about three feet, and she had a light blue tinge to her skin. Her black hair hung down to her wings, which were shimmering and attached at her shoulder blades. Her enchanting blue eyes swept over them all. With one final wave, and a smile, she vanished. Nothing was left except for the millions of shining faeries dust she left behind. The dust sprinkled themselves over Harmony's body.
As soon as the dust touched her body, Harmony stirred. She opened her eyes and slowly got up. With Clarissa gone from her body, Harmony looked different. Her hair turned blonde and her eyes were no longer a deep blue, but a light gray. Her face also changed. It was no longer cold and calculating but instead it was warm and friendly.
"Where…am I?" Harmony looked around in complete confusion. Her eyes landed on people in front of her. "Who are you? Am I dreaming?"
At first, no one knew what to do. Then Madeline suggested they take the girl to the Hospital Wing.
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"I'm glad you told me all of this Miss Evans," Dumbledore looked down at them over his half-moon glasses. "I must say, you and Mr. Potter here have been through quite a lot."
James looked over at Lily but she refused to acknowledge his presence.
"Well, you two will be pleased to know that Miss McKinnon has been cared for and she will be ready to return to Venezuela in a couple of days. Miss Mercedez has made a full recovery at St. Mungos. I daresy Miss de Velaquez will be most happy to reunite with her friends. She also wanted to thank you two for helping," Dumbledore informed them with a smile on his face.
"Professor?" Lily asked timidly.
"Yes, Miss Evans?"
"We won't…be punished for making the illegal potion will we?" Lily asked nervously.
"Goodness no! In fact, I believe I should award you two a hundred points each for ridding the school of an evil spirit. And Miss Grant and Miss Williams should be awarded too I suppose…" Dumbledore beamed down at the pair of them. "I believe that since you two were so intent on your adventures, I will have to excuse you from end-of-the-year finals."
"YES!" James jumped out of his seat, unable to contain his happiness. "Thanks man!"
He patted Dumbledore on the shoulder.
"Potter! That's no way to behave in front of the headmaster," Lily glared at him.
James looked abashed but Dumbledore waved a hand airily. "No worries…no worries," he chuckled. "Ah…the joy of being young…"
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Lily stormed out of Dumbledore's office. She had no idea why she was so angry, but still. The important thing was that she was angry. And an angry Lily Evans does not bode well for others.
"EVANS!" James bellowed as he ran up to her. "Hey…"
"Hey is for horses, you dimwit," she snarled at him and continued walking very fast.
"Why are you still mad at me? Harmo- I mean, Clarissa explained everything. I told you I was innocent," James grinned at her.
Lily was still fuming, but a corner of her heart was wondering was she mad for no apparent reason? She told that part of her heart to shove it.
"Yes but I'm still very irked about the whole bet thing. I've never really forgiven you for that," Lily argued. See? She told her heart. I have a reason for being mad!
"I called it off," James said proudly.
"I mean, what sort of prat would make such an insanely stupid bet without considering-" Lily paused. "What?"
"Yeah…I called off the bet with Sirius. I still have to pay him a hundred galleons, but it's worth it," James repeated.
"I suppose you called it off after our row in the classroom the other day?" Lily snorted. "That doesn't make me fell any better, Potter."
"No actually, I called it off a few months ago. After you rejected me for the first time," James admitted sheepishly.
"Then why didn't you say so the other day?" Lily said, frowning.
"I tried…but you wouldn't listen," James replied, an odd look on his face. "Look Lily, my feelings for you are real. Honest. I'm not lying. And you have to admit, you can't stay away from me either." He grinned cockily.
Lily was feeling rather confused. She had entered this argument, hating every inch of James but now…she was feeling a little bit elated. Wasn't this what she always wanted? Now that is was happening, she was refusing to accept it. Her brain wisely told her that James was player and will dump her in a few months, tops. Her heart told her that her brain was stupid and that James might be feeling something real for the first time. Her brain argued back that since it was a brain…it couldn't possibly be stupid. Her heart told her brain that if the brain wasn't so far away from the heart, it will smack the life out of the brain.
Screw the brain. Lily was going to follow her heart. Her brain moaned in agony and told her not to go over to the evil side but her heart punched her brain –even though that was anatomically impossible.
"Okay," Lily smiled.
"What?" James looked bewildered. He hadn't expected Lily to succumb so soon.
"Okay, fine. I'm sorry that I was so unreasonable," Lily apologized, still smiling. Her heart was cheering her on. "And I might…like you…too…" she said in a really quiet voice but James heard her anyway. Her heart was bursting with happiness while her brain sulked in its corner.
"Really? You really mean that?" James grinned like an idiot and couldn't look away from Lily.
"Of course I mean it, you dimwit. And if you're going to ask me to say that again, you've got another think-" Lily was cut off when James suddenly pressed his lips on top of hers. Lily didn't protest and wrapped her arms around him. His lips were so soft…and it was a perfect Disney fairytale type of ending.
Well. That was rather unexpected didn't you think?
Yeah right.
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A/N: IT'S OVER! DONE! FINISHED! FINITO BURRITO!
:sniffs: I had so much fun working on this! It's been seriously a whole year. This is the first time I actually finished a story-with the exception of one-shots. I'm very proud of myself.
I hope you like this chapter and I hope I cleared everything up a bit. Haha isn't it funny how Charity turned out to be evil and Harmony, or Clarissa I should say, turned out to be a decent person after all?
And gosh… did you enjoy the conflict with Lily's brain and her heart? I LOVED writing that…it cracked me up and I hope it did for you too.
Well. It's over. So please, please, please. Leave a review:) although I have nothing to bribe you with. REVIEW!
If you want to read another L/J fic-that much better written that this one- please take the tome to read my new fic : The Choice.
I'LL MISS YOU ALL!
And I hope to see your reviews… ;)
p.s. if you have any unanswered questions about anything in this story please feel free to ask!
XOXO
Cynthia