A/N: We beg you to forgive us for our ridiculously late updating, and stand behind the feeble defense of a load of homework.
In any case, we're posting it now, and don't we deserve something for our efforts? We'd like to reach fifty reviews by this next chapter, so…
Here's the sixth chapter of Moments Lost in Time
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.
Chapter 6: "James to the Rescue!"
The sun shone through the red brocade curtains, throwing long spears of light across the dorm room floor. However, since no one had opened their eyes yet, the golden display was somewhat pointless. The night, for Lily, at least, had been increasingly restless, as she was haunted by her mistake. She may have hated Potter, but she did have a conscience, after all. So, come morning, she planned to apologize with all due humility (as much as she could muster) and hope her pride was not damaged too much.
For Carina and Sierra, the night had been relatively peaceful; both had fallen asleep at once, having had no guilt to keep them awake. Both were to wake up within an hour or so, and run furiously through the room, as socks were thrust upon hands and shoes were to be found deep underneath beds. Although Lily knew if she didn't get up soon she would find herself late for her class - on the first day of school too - she couldn't get up for fear of knowing what she had to do.
Now many might wonder why Lily was making such a big fuss about apologizing. But if you wondered why, then you obviously didn't know Lily Evans well. One part of Lily, the prideful part, didn't want to concede the fact that she had made such a gross misjudgment and now had to apologize to Potter. Heavens knew how he would rub it in. There were certain parts of Lily that were so like James that many people noticed, yet chose not to comment for fear of setting off the hellish spitfire that was concealed under Lily's smiling exterior. The other part of Lily, the one who had a moral compass that pointed rigidly north, knew that she was the one who had made the folly, and therefore, she would have to be the one to take the steps to correct it - starting off with a heartfelt apology. But nobody had said it had to be so goddamn hard!
Having wasted enough time, and stalled enough to make her friends wonder if she was dead, Lily sighed heavily before making her way out of bed. As she walked, she dreaded the cocky look Potter would no doubt don upon her apology, and, dragging her feet, set the shower pressure to high.
James, too, had had a restless night - a night punctuated by heavy thought; thought of how exactly he had wasted so much time on one girl. He was also haunted by thoughts that he had never thought he would have, such as, what were Lily's attributes, her strengths, her weaknesses? Thus far, his never-ending love had been based entirely upon red hair and green eyes that sparkled when she was mad. It had not been based whatsoever upon Lily's mind, or her character, the fact being that James claimed that he had more than enough on his own...why would he need a female Remus around anyways?
Sirius had not had much of a 'night' at all, since he had been the one pulling their start of the year prank, which would be spoken of for years to come (not really, but Sirius liked to think that way). Remus, having been the brains behind the plot, had been forced to go along, while Peter tagged behind them, stumbling to keep up in the nightgown he had neglected to change out of. The three had planned to leave James out of the prank altogether, due to his new and somewhat foreign state of mind. James had been adamant, however, that even if the others might have been able to pull it off without him, it was mainly he who did the delicate, finely tuned magic. Sirius did the big stuff; James did the little, crucial details; Peter kept watch and was sent out as live bait, and Remus was the overseer. It was how things had always been done.
Because of this, James had gotten exactly three hours of the aforementioned restless sleep, before he was forced to awaken, and as a result of this, was grumpier than he otherwise might have been.
The events of this particular morning were, perhaps molded by James's reluctance to smile. Perhaps they were molded by the annoyingly cheery sunshine that persisted in shining throughout the great hall. Perhaps they were molded by the large bird that dropped a large package addressed to James into his porridge, splattering it over everyone in the near vicinity. No matter the reason, the morning did in fact happen, and it proved to be a pivotal point in the already turbulent relationship of a certain Mister Potter, and a someday to-be-Potter, Miss Evans.
By the time Lily had made her way down to the Gryffindor common room, freshly showered and with her slightly damp red hair pulled back into a high ponytail, she had formulated a plan of sorts. She, flanked by Carina and Sierra for protection and courage, would make her way up to James, quickly apologize, and move as fast as possible out of the portrait hole so she could find a seat as far away as possible from where the Marauders were known to sit in the Great Hall.
Well, if anyone had even paid the slightest bit of attention in their years at Hogwarts, they would know that no encounter between Lily and James EVER went according to plan.
Now, Lily was sitting aimlessly in one of the couches, nervously biting her lips, and in the process, chewing off her carefully applied lip-gloss, waiting for the Marauders to make their entrance. Even Lily, however much she would refuse to accept it, knew that the Marauders always made an entrance - ALWAYS.
She sat there for another ten minutes, before deciding to interrupt her best friends' conversation about the Quidditch teams who was probably going to win the championship this year (who cared about Quidditch anyway? Lily couldn't help but wonder. It involved people flying around on broomsticks chasing balls. Half the sluts in the castle did that anyway - without the broomstick...). Lily winced at her crude line of thought and tried to take deep, cleansing breaths so that she would be in a somewhat calm state of mind when she encountered Potter.
"What's taking him so long?" Lily grumbled loudly, "I want to apologize!" Now the whole common room looked up. Lily rarely apologized; she had far too much pride to apologize. Why would she if she was barely ever wrong? A cricket chirping silence pervaded the room, as the one and only Sirius Black stepped off of the staircase, and into the common room. Following him came Peter, Remus, and, finally, James.
Lily cringed in expectation as James eyes slowly swept over the common room; they rested on her for one moment. In that moment however, Lily felt her breath hitch for reasons she couldn't quite fathom. Lily had seen James in many moods, but the cold anger he seemed to exude today was a first – a first that gave Lily good reason to be terrified.
James's eyes were cold and hard, devoid of any emotion, and his jaw tightened as he caught sight of Lily. Lily, in that one moment, forgot she was ever going to apologize, and stared, unnerved that James could look like that - look at her like that. As she watched, James smirked cruelly, before turning to Sirius and whispering something. Sirius promptly started laughing, and the four evacuated the room, Lily's apology having gone on forgotten.
Carina, unnerved by James's unusually cold countenance, poked Lily hard in the ribs, and hissed, "You were supposed to apologize!" Lily started, and, with Carina and Sierra tailing her, ran to catch up.
"Potter! James! Hold on!" Lily walked to up to them, and said to James, "Potter, I need to talk to you."
"Do my ears deceive me? Does Lily Evans, The Lily Evans, actually feel the need to consort with the lowly predator of helpless second years?" James gasped in mock shock.
Lily winced. "Actually, that is, incidentally, what I wanted to talk to you about."
"Re-ally? I thought maybe you wanted to talk about the weather, a friendly chat between two people the best of friends," James said sarcastically.
Lily glared at him. "Do you remember last night?" she questioned, half hoping he would say 'no' so that she could say 'never mind then' and leave.
"Which part, Evans, which part? The part where you wrongfully accused me, the part where you yelled at me before and after wrongly accusing me, or the part where you stalked off after wrongfully accusing and yelling at me? You have to be specific."
"That thing… yea, that one…" Lily replied, willing herself to stay calm in the face of her smirking adversary.
"What thing?" James boomed, unrelenting. "You have to be specific - avoids confusion and misunderstandings you see." The last bit was uttered contemptuously as he gave Lily pointed looks. James didn't quite know how Lily had found out the truth, and by this point, didn't care in the slightest.
By now, Lily had had enough of his cumbersome attitude. She clenched her teeth tightly, determined to get through this apology so that she could move on, put this whole episode behind her, and eat her breakfast in peace.
"That one." she repeated, refusing to give in to his asinine antics. "I just wanted to say that I was sorry-"
"What was that Evans?" asked James in mock horror, holding one hand up to his ear as if he was hard of hearing. "Mind repeating that? Didn't quite hear you..."
Lily snarled. "I said sorry," she repeated with great difficulty.
"Ok." James shrugged and began making his way down the hall.
Lily, floored at his immediate response, hurried after him. After she had made such a damn effort to apologize, she needed a proper acceptance for compensation. Was that unreasonable, or too much to ask? Lily certainly didn't think so.
"What do you mean 'ok'?" she demanded, having finally caught up to him.
"Just what I said," replied James, "o…k…". He stretched the word out as if she was a person who had been dropped one too many times on the head as a child.
"But-but-"
"Yes...?"
"You..." Lily floundered for sufficient words to express the fountain of outrage that was boiling within her.
"You know Lils," remarked James conversationally, his voice loosing none of its coldness, "when communicating, you should really try for clarity. You'll find that it makes this go by a lot faster, and easier, too."
Lily flushed, temper taking over. "Clarity?" she all but screamed. He didn't even flinch. "Maybe, if you really treasured clarity that much, you would have been clearer about what had happened with Cock Boy - I mean Johnny - last night rather than jumping around like a stark, raving mad lunatic!" Lily, who was on a bit of roll now, couldn't seem to stop. "I got separated and then, magically, out of nowhere, Slytherins appeared and attacked the poor boy. I"- here she puffed out her chest - "the brilliantly amazing James Potter jumped valiantly in front of him and saved the goddamn world! James to the rescue," Lily shrieked, one hand thrust before her as she ran around her friends, looking very much like a person escaped from the loony bin.
Carina and Sierra, as well as the rest of the Marauders, watched her in amazed shock. Surely this was a hallucination brought on by lack of breakfast; surely Prefect Lily Evans wasn't running circles around them at astonishing speeds shrieking "James to the rescue"? What had the world come to?
James seemed to be the only one unperturbed. "Well, since I did rescue Johnny I appreciate the sentiment. Now you might want to check back into the mental ward before the nurse comes looking for you." And with that parting shot, James strode off down the hall, bringing Lily's deranged yelling to an abrupt stop, leaving her to wonder how her 'apology' had gone so horribly wrong.
Sirius looked at her with an emotion that bordered on sympathy for a moment, before following his friend. Remus and Peter did likewise, however, as he was passing, Lily saw in Remus's eyes something almost as deterring as what she had seen in James's: worry. Peter, in direct contrast to this, simply yawned and proclaimed to everyone in the vicinity that his 'stomach would surely fall out' if he didn't get his 'brekkie' soon.
Lily looked at her friends. "What just happened?"
Carina looked at her wordlessly, as did Sierra; neither had ever seen James in such a mood as the puzzling one he was in at the moment. They stared after the quartet, flabbergasted at James's sudden change of behavior; both knew James quite well, and although they knew James could be insensitive, and immature at times, (it came with being a staunch member of the male species), this was just downright cruel. James had never treated Lily this way. He may have treated the occasional Slytherin like that, but for him to turn on Lily like this was previously unheard off.
However, as Carina looked at Lily helplessly, a more worrying thought came to her mind. "Lily, what, exactly, was that just there?"
Lily looked at her, perplexed, "What?"
Sierra came up behind her, and pumping her fist enthusiastically, ran in a circle, crying "James to the rescue!" in theatrical whispers.
I did not just do that. Lily was in denial; could she have done this? Looking at Carina, Lily's fears were confirmed as she nodded. Lily's heart sank. Not only had she failed to properly apologize and elicit a proper acceptance speech, she had also lost it, running and yelling 'James to the rescue'. This was it. Lily had made up her mind. Lily Audrey Evans was never ever going to apologize again. Obviously nothing good came of this 'apologizing' business.
Lily looked to Sierra and declared, "I shall never, ever, apologize again. Ever."
"Now, there's no need to do that..." Carina began.
"Just try not to put down the person your apologizing to," Sierra finished helpfully. Then she was off with the 'James to rescue routine'. Mirth sparkled in her dark blue eyes as she set off, her dark blond hair flying behind her.
Carina's lips quivered, threatening to let loose all of her pent up laughter.
"It's not funny!" Lily whined
"On the contrary, I think it is extremely funny...swinging down illicit substances in the dead of the night lately?" questioned Carina, greenish-gray eyes sparkling in an amusing manner. "Haven't seen you lose it this badly, since the end of the OWLS last year." Carina smirked as she recalled the amusing memory, "You were carted out on a stretcher screaming at the top of your lungs: 'I wanna fix my mistake! I haven't finished yet you losers!'"
Lily winced at the memory. "I was under a lot of stress at the time!"
"Obviously." Sierra came up behind her, and began her theatrical whispers once more, "Guys! I haven't finished yet, let me gooo baaaaaaack!! I think question two hundred and thirty-four, part b, on my Transfiguration exam, isn't correct!"
Carina picked it up. "And what did you get? A hundred on each exam," Carina looked at her friend in mock disgust.
"No," replied Lily sullenly. "It was a 98.98456 in Transfiguration...man, I hate that subject, I can't do it RIGHT!"
"Wow, a 98-point-blah-di-blah...now the world will truly end," quipped Sierra in mock horror.
"But, you see, my thought process is, that if it was rounded up, it would be a 99, which, rounded up, even further is, in fact, a 100…see, it all works out. And it stops me from feeling like such a total failure – I mean a 98?"
Sierra gasped. "Oh god, what will happen now? How will she go on as a functioning member of society? Carina, Lily has received a 98! Soon she'll be running around the castle like a ninja,"-she gasped, eyes bulging-"pranking people!"
"Don't they have a special rehab centers for the nerdily insane that can't stand the sight of their own failure?"
By now, the girls had reached the Great Hall and Lily was feeling much better. "But...I'm not a failure, am I guys?" she cried, fake tears welling up in her superbly green eyes.
"Breakfast time!" caroled Carina. "Now I can have my 'brekkie' to prevent the 'falling out of my stomach'."
Carina and Sierra promptly dissolved into fits of laughter, as Lily sobered up immediately. "HE'S in there! Oh no, oh no, oh no, no, no, no, no..."
"Grab a paper bag, stat! The patient is hyperventilating..."
"NOT FUNNY!"
Carina looked at her, "Wrong, darling, it's hilarious. It's all switched! Lily likes James, but he seems to want nothing to do with her. What's next?" she rubbed her hands gleefully. "An illegitimate twin? Who's married to Sirius's gay lover? I always suspected there was something wrong with that kid..."
"I don't like James! I never did, and I never will! Ever! Never ever! Ever never!" Lily cried, longing to get her point across, once and for all. By now, all three had taken their seats at the table and began reaching for the mounds of food laid out in a tantalizing array on the table.
"As long as we're being emphatic about it," commented James, as he reached for a bagel.
"You wish I was gay, don't you babe?" added Sirius. "Then your dreams won't be plagued by me all day...and all night," he whispered in her ear before immediately drawing back as Carina turned swiftly to retaliate in the form of great bodily harm.
Lily fell quiet after James's comment, not wanting to make a scene. It was then that she noticed the - decorations, shall we say? - that the Slytherins were sporting.
James, following her line of vision, smirked. "Noticed have you? Glad to have our handiwork appreciated."
"You call this 'handiwork'? And why haven't the teachers noticed yet?" exclaimed Lily, temper immediately flaring.
"Because, darling," he replied coldly, the previously affectionate term holding no such affection, "the supreme skills of us marauders are unsurpassed by all, and therefore we have put a timer upon the Slytherin table. Nobody will notice a thing until...5...4...3...2...1."
Cries broke out at the Slytherin table as many jumped up in horror, upending plates and filled-to-the-brim goblets. Snape's voice rose above all, "Why are we wearing such a disgusting color combination? Red and gold! I do NOT think Sirius is hot!" He shrieked, turning around to see the back of the ghastly robe. "I DON'T!" He punctuated this message with a series of childish and out of character, stomps. "DON'T! I DO NOT!"
"Don't worry, hon, you're not the only one who thinks I'm hot, and, with looks like these, who could blame you?" As if on cue, girls swooned left and right, falling onto each others shoulders at Sirius's wicked grin. Carina mimed puking at Sirius's words, as Sierra reached up to pull her fellow Beater down.
"Stop being a retard! I know it's hard, I know you are mentally unstable, but, with me, you'll always get an O for effort."
Sirius looked at her, "Uh huh, no." He stood up once more beside James, and smirked in the general direction of the Slytherin table.
If one followed his gaze, one would happen upon a scarlet and gold blur. The entire Slytherin table was wearing red and gold striped robes. Many of the aforesaid robes had stripes that moved in a swirly pattern, making them look like, moving, panicking barbershop poles. If one looked closer, one could read undying declarations of love for the Marauders embroidered on each robe - declarations that were, as Sirius had termed them, 'catchy'. Snape's in particular proclaimed, 'Sirius "Norse God" Black is THE hottest, most hot-hot creature to ever walk past me in his ever increasing, all encompassing, all consuming, expanding, irresistible hotness sigh'. Swirly asterisks gave a nice touch as they surrounded the word 'sigh'.
Sirius turned to Carina and winked. "Want one babe?" he asked motioning to Snape, who was now jumping up in down as if this would dislodge the 'catchy phrase'. "They're free...for you that is. Wear it and think of me," he sighed dramatically and bent over in fake swoon before abruptly straightening, "not that you don't already.."
"Black, I would rather rip off all my clothes and run around this Hall screaming war cries, clutching a tomahawk, then wear THAT!"
"Ooh," Sirius smirked, "can I watch?"
"ARGH!"
The teachers rushed out from behind the staff table resembling a well trained SWAT team. McGonagall's eyes immediately zoomed towards the Marauders who were now doubled over in laughter. Peter was wheezing for air, sounding very much like a beached whale. Peter didn't seem to be the only one laughing. As soon as the apparition had appeared, breakfast had been abandoned as everyone turned their attention the Slytherin table. Lucius, sporting a particularly garish robe proclaiming, 'I am warm for Peter's luscious form', was wearing a look of utter repulsion on his face as he tried to get rid of the robe. All his attempts seemed to be backfiring, as the robe, not keen on being discarded, had taken to choking him. Needless to say, his rapidly turning red face complimented his attire nicely.
Professor McGonagall, shrewd witch that she is, made a beeline for the Gryffindor table. "Now boys, I know we'll have a nice chat about the prank in detention, but would you mind telling me how to get rid of it, at ONCE." Although her tone had started out as being conversational, it was rapidly shifting to a 'do-not-mess-with-me-or-else' tone that everyone in the castle knew and loved.
James gasped. "Minnie, I always thought you were a stickler for fairness. You don't even know we did it, how can you assign detention? Innocent until proven guilty and all that…shame, shame," he finished before cramming his mouth with an orange peel. He immediately spit it out, tried to grin nonchalantly, as if he made it a practice to consume orange peels on a daily basis, before stuffing the actual fruit in his mouth.
Remus piped up. "You know Professor; he is right about the innocent against proven guilty bit. What evidence do you have to support your, frankly, unreasonable conclusion?"
"What evidence do you have Minnie?" Sirius reiterated. "Although the robes compliment us, it doesn't necessarily have to be our work. In fact, every girl in this castle is smitten by us, how do you know it wasn't one of them?"
"Not every girl," Carina piped up.
"You love me," replied Sirius, "You just have to take the time to adjust, babe, you'll find it becomes quite easy after a while."
"Do NOT call me babe! The name is Carina! Say it with me…Ca-ri-na!"
"Whatever babe," said Sirius, waving an airy hand in dismissal.
Lily nudged Sierra, motioning towards the bickering pair. She framed them with her fingers before outlining a heart. Sierra, catching on, tilted her head to one side, squinting her eyes as she contemplated the arguing couple. She could tell that Sirius was enjoying bantering with Carina immensely, and that Carina's eyes were bright and her face flushed a rosy red, as she argued with him. She could also see that her best friend was near laughter a couple of times, but managed to restrain it, a slight twitching of her lips giving any hint of humor away.
Sierra turned back to Lily, and as they looked at each other, they realized that Carina was never going to hear the end of it now. Both the girls turned back to regard the pair in time to see Carina swat Sirius on the shoulder and yell, "I am going to KILL you SIRIUS ARTEMIS BLACK!"
Sirius winced at the middle name but managed to reply, "As long as there is some satisfying form of torture beforehand, I'm good."
Carina narrowed her eyes.
Oh well, the mirage had been entertaining while it had lasted. Carina and Sirus just liked annoying the heck out of each other – they both knew how to push each other's buttons and excelled at doing it.
Professor McGonagall, quite like Lily is some ways, did not take well to being ignored. She was a stern witch that required the utmost respect of all her students all the time. She was becoming increasing angry as the Marauders continued a conversation around her.
"Mr. Potter, try to chew before you swallow, since I don't seem inclined to perform the Heimlich maneuver on you anytime soon. Mr. Black, show respect for your classmates by calling them by their given name, and Ms.Favreaux, try to refrain from death threats at breakfast - it really isn't a pleasant way to start the morning. Now, we shall ask an impartial member of the audience for their opinion on the matter," concluded the Professor, turning promptly towards Lily.
"Ms. Evans, do you think, given the spectacle surrounding us that the Marauders might in fact be behind this whole episode?"
Before Lily could reply, James butted in. "Why are you asking her? Ms. Evans has been known to jump to conclusions and dismiss the opinions of others if they do not match up with her pre-conceived notions."
Lily opened her mouth to retaliate, slightly hurt by his words. She had apologized…or tried to at least. Didn't effort count for anything anymore?
"There is no need to interrupt me or Ms. Evans so rudely, Mr. Potter," reprimanded McGonagall sternly. "Now Ms. Evans, do you believe the Marauders are behind this?"
"Well James, with his sterling record, couldn't possibly be behind this could he?" replied Lily sardonically. "I mean, he's quite well known around the castle for his heroic effort and good deeds…why would anyone suspect him?"
"I see," said Professor McGonagall, her sharp eyes moving from Lily to James, and back again. The friction between the two seemed abnormally high, and anyone could feel the tension between them. "Well detention it is," she announced, making a move to leave.
"But Lily said we didn't do it!" Peter cried, angered over the perceived injustice towards him.
McGonagall just gave him a Look. "Oh…so when she said James didn't do it, she actually meant he did…I get it now." Peter nodded to himself, and sat back down, basking in the glow of his brilliance at having finally caught on.
"Just one more thing," added McGonagall, turning back to face the Marauders. "How exactly are we supposed to fix this mess?"
Sirius and James, never daunted by their ever increasing number of detentions, grinned widely. The best part was still to come.
Sirus stood once more, his hands placed at his hips. "Well Minnie-"
"I thought I've told you on a countless number of occasions NOT to call me that, Mr. Black."
Sirus plowed on. "It is time for the Marauder's Crash Course on Dating 101. We will take you through the crucial steps to make sure that we make your dating experience as stellar as ours, not that you can compare to us, but we like give our participants hope." Sirius winked cheesily. Needless to say, McGonagall was not amused.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Carina inquired.
"First is the daunting task of asking someone out, then the breathless wait to hear their reply, and finally, the crushing fall of rejection as it hits someone smack in the face, causing them to sink down into a bottomless pit of misery and despair." Sirius even managed to leak a tear or two in order to enhance his presentation.
"So let's get started today!" ended Sirus, extending a thumbs-up, as Remus, James, and Peter, grinned widely in anticipation behind him.
Sierra smiled as well. She had a feeling that this was going to be an amusing experience for all. Over on the other side of the room, Snape shrieked one more, "I DON'T!"
Sirius turned slowly to Snape. "Let's begin with that one."
O.o.O.o.O.o.O
A/N: Ooh! Our first cliffy! We hope you liked this chapter, since we had quite a bit of fun writing it. Please review!