A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews you guys and we are really sorry that this took longer than we had anticipated. Now with the end of the school year coming up and finals on the way we probably will not be posting till the beginning of the summer. But don't worry, once the summer starts we hope to post more frequently.
Please enjoy the eighth chapter of Moments Lost in Time
O.o.O.o.O
Chapter 8: Snaps!
How was it possible that she had James Potter, who, by the way, was still acting like she had murdered a hundred children in front of him, and the rest of his friends in ALL of her classes? The staff just lived for this didn't they?
Lily stomped down the hallways, a permanent scowl on her face. She had just been to the Owlery to write to her parents about her first day of classes. No doubt her mother would spend a good few days laughing over Lily's plight. Why couldn't she have a mom who sympathized and sent her barrels of food items made of chocolate? And her mother just didn't understand! She thought their 'little spats' were 'cute' resembling somebody pulling her hair in the second grade because they liked her. It wasn't 'cute' in the second grade and it sure as hell wasn't 'cute' now.
Who did Potter think he was anyway? He walked around with a decidedly superior air as if he was doing the entire castle a favor by just being there. And what had happened in the Great Hall this morning with their annual start-of-term prank? Honestly the Marauders treated it like it was practically a tradition. Well guess what? Waking up in the middle of the night to creep down and check if Santa Claus had arrived yet, since you were four was a tradition. Having an annual family reunion at a different person's house each year was a tradition. Going out on rainy days to find the elusive pot of gold at the end of a rainbow could be tradition. But pulling juvenile pranks that targeted a certain part of the school for the endless amusement of the prankers was definitely NOT a tradition. Admittedly the prank had made her laugh for a while but in the end, it was just another attempt to boost the already sky-high egos of the Marauders.
Stomping towards the Gryffindor Common Room, she grumbled incoherently under her breath, barking the password to the Fat Lady, having worked up quite a temper. It truly wasn't fair that the marauders got away with everything. Sure they had received detention, but did their punishment really fit the crime? All those pranks, in five long years, had never merited more than one week of detention, which was only when all of the pumpkins in the Great Hall had exploded. She felt that this was grossly unfair, and decided that when James was back to being her lovesick puppy (as she felt he should be) she would give him a piece of her mind.
She entered the common room, fully prepared to ward of a cacophony of apologies and a never-ending array of 'Will you go out with me?'s. She was surprised when, upon entering the common room, she was hit with, not a large number of apologies, but with a cold, condescending smirk, which shocked her, though she would never have admitted it. Matching his glare, she looked around for Sierra and Carina, who were laughing with Sirius and Peter, who were sitting with Remus and James, who were playing chess. This meant that Sierra and Carina were seated in the nearby vicinity of James Potter, who was, now, smirking at her unnoticed, obviously making fun of her own moral dilemma. Making up her mind, she headed resolutely towards her 'friends' and pulled out her homework.
"Hey," said Lily, plopping herself down at their table and laying out her notes and books. Not only had the teachers decided to lecture them about NEWTS in ALL of their classes, they had also decided that a few dozen homework assignments were not out of the question because, after all, they had a full two years to go before they took the dreaded examinations. And God knew how soon seven hundred and thirty days would fly by!
Still grumbling profusely, Lily started her homework only to be interrupted by Carina and Sierra's peals of laughter. Sirius was sitting beside them probably cracking jokes, and Lily could almost see Peter struggling to memorize them all so he could impress the ladies. James and Remus were still involved in their chess game, although James was glancing around the common room idly while Remus planned out his move. His eyes met hers for just a moment, but that moment was enough to display his deep disgust. Lily averted her eyes quickly. She didn't have time for a guilt trip at the moment.
"Don't you guys have homework?" she asked, turning to her best friends.
Before they could reply, James spoke up. "Here to suck the fun out of everything again, Evans?"
"Now James..." started Sierra, coming to her friend's defense, "there's no need to be mean. She was just asking a question."
"Excuse me?" asked Lily coldly, ignoring Sierra's words for the moment. "Did you just call me a fun-sucker?"
"No," replied James evenly. "'Fun-sucker' isn't a word, and I try to converse with people in English rather than making up words to supplement my vocabulary."
"So I presume 'cahplooey' is in the English dictionary now days?"
"Obviously," replied James, turning back to his game.
Lily's blood began to boil. James, noticing her furious expression smirked once more. "What's wrong Evans? No snappy retort that accuses people of things they quite obviously didn't do? Aren't you going pull out your pocket dictionary and prove me wrong?"
"No, because I don't need a dictionary to prove you wrong."
"Oh I'm sorry," replied James, in tones of mock apology, "I didn't know you'd memorized it."
Carina, Sierra, Peter, and Sirius had stopped talking a while ago and were intently regarding their friends. At James's latest remark, they couldn't help crack a smile. This did absolutely nothing to placate Lily.
"Think this is funny, do you?" she snapped at them.
"Well quite obviously they do, otherwise they wouldn't be smiling." James rolled his eyes as if Lily's stupidity was too much to bear.
Remus looked up as well, chess game long forgotten. This was rapidly getting out of hand and if it continued much longer, Lily would witness a side of James she had never seen before.
"Ooh, snaps for James!" cried Peter, snapping his chubby fingers to indicate that James had made a particularly scathing remark.
Lily turned and leveled an icy glare at him causing him to stop his ridiculous snapping at once. Then she turned back to James.
"Clever Potter, truly clever," Lily spat his name out as if it were the vilest poison. "How long did it take you to come up with that one?"
"As long as it takes you to do easy homework."
"Ooh, snaps for James … again!" James glared at Peter; he didn't appreciate attention being brought to his less than stellar remark. As long as it took for her to do easy homework? Not his brightest moment there.
"Oh, oh!" Lily brought her hand to her lips, "Master James isn't happy with his lowly minion."
"He's not my 'minion'."
"Amazing! 'He's not my minion', true genius, how do you come up with it? Or, should I say, who do you pay to come up with it?"
"He's not my minion," James repeated with some difficulty, glaring at the redhead.
"You know what, James?" Now she began pacing, bringing the attention of all in the common room to herself. "Why don't you just name your little posse 'James and the Teletubbies'?" Carina and Sierra snickered. "I mean, isn't the 'Marauders' a bit too… equal for you? God knows how we detest equality!"
"Well, why don't you just name your own little group 'Lily and Flowers'?"
Peter stood up in excitement. "Flower Power: spreading joy and peace throughout the universe before bedtime!"
"Wow, you even got your minions to do party tricks!" Lily quipped, smirking.
James glared at Peter; he was rapidly losing the upper hand. If you had asked Lily, she would have claimed that James never had the upper hand in the first place - that she was just allowing him to warm up. James looked to Remus and Sirius for help, but both backed away, pulling Peter with them. Some friends they turned out to be.
"Enjoy them do you, Lils?" he drawled, covering his irritation with cold indifference. "I would ask what you thought of our prank, but then, on second thought, I have better things to do than listen to your obnoxious voice."
"Like what? Washing and finger-combing your hair?"
"Yup! You should try it sometime," advised James, casting a derisive and pointed look at Lily's flaming locks.
Lily's face burst into a riot of color. "You know what Potter? I actually will tell you what I thought of your pathetic little 'prank'-"
"-and I would love to hear your rant if I cared-"
"It was quite possibly the most pathetically juvenile prank I have ever witnessed in my entire life, and I have seen a LOT of them during my time here. I mean red and gold robes that compliment yourself and the rest of your posse? Original."
James didn't even bother to contradict her, mouth falling open in shock. That was quite possibly the funniest prank they had ever pulled. His mouth snapped shut and he gritted his teeth, as a muscle in his jaw began to twitch. An abrupt silence had fallen over the common room.
"And then, lo and behold, they have to ask you out so you can painfully reject them and lord it over them for years to come. What else is new? Contrary to popular belief Potter, the universe most definitely does not revolve around you and the sooner you accept this fact, the better off we'll all be." After this parting shot, Lily turned and began to make her way to the winding staircase that led to the girl's dorms.
"There she goes, running from the fights she starts…as always." James gave her an infuriating look, blatantly daring her to come back. "Where are you off to Evans? Hiding under your bed reading doesn't really help the cowardly image…"
Lily swiveled sharply, her face paler that usual. "Excuse me?" she asked; although Lily's voice was barely louder that a whisper, everybody heard the steeliness behind it. "This coming from a person who mercilessly hexes people half his size for his own amusement is slightly hypocritical, don't you think? When are you going to fight someone your own size Potter? Or are you too afraid?"
"Don't push it Evans," replied James, his words laced with fury. Nobody called James Potter a coward. Nobody.
Everybody stared at the pair dumbfounded. There stood Lily Evans, gloriously red hair framing her face as she leveled emerald eyes that were as icy as her demeanor at the equally furious boy who had practically worshipped the ground she had walked on days before. The muscle in James's jaw twitched continuously, as he visibly fought for control.
It was bit unrealistic. Several days ago he had been head over heels in love with this girl, or what he had perceived as love, and now all he felt was pure, unadulterated hatred. Life was a very funny thing. People had always said there was a thin line between love and hate and James was finding out how true they were. Love and hate were two volatile emotions and James was being pushed to a dangerous edge.
"Why? Afraid your fragile ego can't take it?"
James quirked an eyebrow, mildly surprised. "Is Prefect Lily Evans looking to start something? Have you checked your Holy Book of Rules yet? Or, have you memorized that as well?"
"You know Potter, the more you talk, the more I'm convinced that second years are all you can take on."
James growled softly. "I don't duel with girls, Evans."
"Don't, or can't?"
A collective 'oooooh' rose from the bystanders as they all stared at James for his reply. Sirius and Peter sniggered, although they looked slightly worried, mirroring Remus's expression. Sierra and Carina however couldn't wait for the fireworks to begin – they knew that Lily was more than capable of handling herself.
"Quite obviously 'don't'," replied James, showing no emotion, on the outside at least. "After all, wouldn't want to hurt you…besides, tickle charms really aren't my style. And I don't know how to conjure blinding 'fairy dust' either so…" He trailed off smirking at her. If there was going to be fight, he sure as hell wasn't going to be the one to start it. Now retaliating on the other hand…well, it was matter of self-defense.
Lily snarled in response to his remark that clearly indicated that all she could do were tickling charms and conjure fairy dust, and whipped out her wand. "Tarantallegra!" she cried, as a jet of light shot from her wand.
"Protego!" James cried in response, erecting a shield so strong that Lily's spell ricocheted off of it and hit an unsuspecting second year. The poor boy tap danced his way out of the portrait hole, wondering why he even got up in the morning. His surprised expression was the last thing James saw before the boy vanished from sight.
"Tap dancing Evans? Should I be scared? Next, you'll put me in a tutu. I'm positively shaking in my shoes now."
Sirius, milking this moment for all it was worth, cast the Sonorus charm on himself, causing his voice to become magically magnified. Then he jumped up on top of a coffee table conveniently situated in the center of the common room and drew everybody's attention to himself immediately. "Welcome to the…Sirius Show! I'm your host for this evening Sirius Black!" The entire common room shot him disbelieving looks wondering if he had finally lost it. Sierra on the other hand could see immensely satisfying and embarrassing moments coming out of this and leaped up on the table as well. The two sixth years exchanged glances before Sirius announced, "And this is my co-host Sierra Carlyle!"
"Today's episode of the Sirius Show-" he was interrupted by a pointed 'ahem' from his co-host causing him to mutter- "and Sierra Show - but that's not the point…the point is that Lily and James are going at it like crazed bunnies in the heat and we all know how this will end!" He winked heartily at the assembled crowd and waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
Lily and James were standing at the edge of the crowd, that had assembled around Sirius and Sierra, gazing at their friends, dumbfounded. They exchanged repulsed looks with each other before simultaneously pointed their wands at the pair.
"Langlock!" they cried, surprisingly in unison. Sirius was two busy being blinded by his over-energetic eyebrows to notice this. Sierra on the other hand cast a shield charm and deflected her friends' spells grinning cheekily back.
"Sirius you might want attention to the people who are going at it like 'crazed bunnies'," remarked Sierra dryly.
Carina, Remus, and Peter grinned at their friends and settled back on the couches. No year had started off quite like this before.
"So," Sirius turned to motion towards Lily and James, "there stands Lames Evans and Jily Potter – I'm using different names so nobody knows it's them, saves embarrassment you see – who were madly in love with each other several days before but are now hexing each other within an inch of their lives. Hmm," Sirius stroked his chin in a contemplative manner, "craziness or kinky foreplay?"
James's mouth twitched suspiciously and he heard a muffled snort from 'Jily'. He almost grinned at her – almost.
Lily was taken aback when the light went out in James's eyes as he turned to regard her. Their eyes met for a fraction of a second before hardening once more. Silently they moved back into their dueling positions, daring each other to fire the first spell. A silence fell over the common room once more interrupted only by Sierra's delighted tones. "And they're at it again! Gather 'round folks! This is the best edition of the Sierra Show yet!"
Everybody ignored Sirius's cry of protest. "It's the Sirius Show!"
Lily grinned manically before sending a shrinking spell in James's direction. The tilt of her wand caused him to blank momentarily as he glanced down. He masked his sigh of relief by a short laugh that he hoped sounded nonchalant. He failed miserably, considering Lily's delighted look, as the spell missed its mark by a fraction of an inch, hitting a pile of books and causing them to shrink dramatically.
James covered his moment of weakness with amused expression. "You need to work on your aim Evans," he informed her coolly.
"On the contrary Potter, if I had chosen to aim better you would be in a decidedly … different position right now." Her gaze lingered pointedly on a specific part of his anatomy before traveling up the length of his body to his face. She shot him an icy glare that irritated him to no length.
"Ooh…" came Sirius gleeful voice, "Lilykins has issued a threat that challenges James's manliness. How will he respond?"
James glared at his supposed best friend and shot of a spell of his own. He was done playing around. Lily Evans was going to regret the day she ever crossed James Potter. His theatrical thoughts were somewhat derailed when Lily cast a shield charm of her own without batting an eye.
James's spell had seemed to open a flood-gate of multicolored light. They shot hexes and jinxes at each other almost effortlessly as if they were just playing at it. And in a way, they were. They didn't exactly want to hurt each other, just show they could if the time and place warranted it.
Lily was quite confused. Where was the puppy love sickness? Why did he persist with his…attitude? For God's sake, she HAD apologized. But no…Potter just couldn't accept the fact that she made mistakes…just not very many. Beating Potter at his own immature game had not been on the agenda, how much ever fun she was having doing it.
They shot spells at each other determinedly, not the least bit surprised if they all didn't make their mark. They both knew who they were dealing with…but they were both fooling themselves if they thought it wasn't frustrating how evenly matched they were. Spells rebounded off objects and hit random parts of the common room so that, by the time they actually started trying to best each other, charmed cushions were flying overhead and the younger Gryffindors had taken refuge behind multi-colored furniture.
For the next twenty minutes the only voices heard were Lily and James muttered spells and Sierra and Sirius as they persisted in giving the entire common room a play-by-play account of the action.
"James has finally decided to come out of the closet and dyed his hair to match!" cried Sirius as Lily turned James's mop of hair into a flaming fuchsia mohawk.
"Ok, he hasn't come out of the closet considering Lily's wet t-shirt," amended Sierra as a dripping Lily glared daggers at an innocently whistling James, as her clinging, lacy red camisole was put on display through her drenched white shirt.
"Looks like her Flowery Highness is thoroughly pissed off now…" James stood in his boxers defiantly, trying vainly to cover himself, while birds pecked at every available piece of flesh.
Sirius snickered and turned to Sierra whispering, "Definitely kinky foreplay…" She nodded in amusement, dark blue eyes crinkled with humor.
"Lily what have you done to your hair? Well, it matches your eyes at least…" commented Sirius, trying to backtrack if Lily's furious eyes were anything to go by. James had turned Lily's hair from auburn to neon green.
In retaliation, Lily cast a tickling charm and enjoyed a few moments of satisfaction as James wheezed for breath between his highly feminine giggles. "Find something funny Jamesie-poo?" asked Sierra sweetly, side-stepping her friend who was now rolling on the floor laughing in a demented fashion.
"Densaugio!"
"Impedimenta!"
"Furnunculus!"
"Rictusempra!"
"Locomotor Mortis!"
"ENOUGH!"
James and Lily jerked in shock and turned to face a fuming McGonagall. Sudden silence descended over the common room and heads popped out from behind furniture, marveling in the silence. Sirius and Sierra looked like all their birthdays had come at once gazing first at James's and Lily's shocked, and now sheepish, faces, and McGonagall's spectacularly red one. The tension settled slowly over the room and feathers from blasted cushions drifted lazily to the ground, as the fire crackled and popped merrily. As usual, Sirius decided to break the silence.
"Come to join the party, Minnie? Lovely costume you have there," he remarked, his critical eyes roving over her tartan nightgown and robe.
"Do you really keep your hair up even when you're sleeping?" asked Sierra curiously. She recoiled sharply when the transfiguration professor glared at her. "Uh, right…never mind then…"
"It is close to eleven o'clock and I want to know what is going on." McGonagall's words were said with some difficulty as she gazed at the wrecked common room. Why couldn't she be head of Ravenclaw? All she would have to do then is to break up study parties. But no, instead she had to deal with the biggest troublemakers in the castle.
"I would have thought that was quite obvious! James and Lily are trying to kill each other of course. Knew it would happen someday…" The professor glared at Sierra again before turning to face James and Lily. James, to his credit, was glaring back defiantly, while Lily looked like she wanted to disappear of the face of the earth.
"Well, you see professor, Evans and I are trying to resolve our irreconcilable differences," said James calmly.
"And hexing each other is the way to do that?" The teacher's eyes narrowed alarmingly causing Lily to back away slightly. James however, was unfazed.
"Obviously."
Lily quickly stepped forward again, hoping to rationally explain the situation rather than inflame it further. "Well you see Professor, things just…got out of control." McGonagall's eyes flicked from the broken coffee table to the couches which had stuffing sticking out of it.
"A little out of control? It looks like wild jungle animals have been stampeding through here rather than two, rational sixteen year olds who claim to be sorting out their 'differences', Ms. Evans."
"Since when has Potter been a rational sixteen year old?" asked Lily, turning to glare at James as if this was all his fault and she had been forced to pick up her wand and hex him.
"Excuse me?" asked James in disbelieving tones. Last he'd heard she had been the one to start this whole thing.
"Do you have something conducive to say, Mr. Potter?" asked McGonagall.
James bypassed the professor and turned to Lily, his eyes brimming with anger once more. "I'm the irrational one? You're the one who started it!"
"Real mature James. 'She started it!' - we're not on the bloody playground anymore," snapped Lily.
"If we were, you'd be running off crying to your mommy by now," sneered James, enraged beyond belief. Lily Evans was the most infuriating, most irrational female in the entire castle! Why had he ever liked her? Oh yea, something to do with those cursed eyes and flaming hair. How deceiving appearances were turning out to be.
"Are you implying that I'm weak Potter?"
"I don't know, am I?"
Lily looked him over, and smirked slightly. "I'm sorry, you obviously don't know. I'll try to not to use big boy words like 'implying' anymore, ok?"
Was she patronizing him? "Are you saying I'm stupid, Evans?"
"I don't know, am I?" she countered, quite pleased with herself.
"I don't know, are you?" returned James, in what he hoped was suave manner.
Lily looked at him in exasperation. "Potter, the village called. They want their idiot back."
"Ooh, snaps for Lily!" Carina and Remus cried in unison like a demented chorus, grinning as James turned to glower at them.
James turned back to Lily, feeling that he actually was quite smart this time. "See, Evans this where you fail: logic. See, if it was muggle village why would they want a wizard idiot? And if it was a magical village, would they really know how to work a fellytone? And, in either case, why would they really want their idiot back?"
"He may look like an idiot and talk like an idiot, but don't let that fool you. He really is an idiot. James Potter, everybody, isn't he amazing?" cried Lily, making a sweeping motion towards a bewildered James. He had a feeling this wasn't working out the way he had originally planned.
Professor McGonagall had been staring in disbelief as her most promising sixth years traded insults like an old married couple. What had caused James Potter and Lily Evans to get on each other nerves so much that they had resorted to hexing each other? And now they were carrying on like she was invisible!
James sneered. "Think you're so bloody smart, don't you Evans?"
"Uh, yea," said Lily, nodding along. "That's the first smart thing you've said today."
"Evans, brains aren't everything. In fact, in your case, they're nothing."
"In your case," returned Lily, "they're non-existent."
"Ooh, snaps for Lily!" cried James, mocking the redhead and her less-than-spectacular comeback. "'In your case, they're non-existent' – how do you come up with it?"
"Are you mocking me, Potter?" asked Lily, outraged that he was throwing her own words back at her. Her hand lingered over her wand as if waiting for an invisible signal.
"I don't know, am I?" asked James once again, knowing this would push her over the edge, and enjoying it immensely. And there was the signal.
With a low snarl, she whipped out her wand and cried, "Densaugio!"
"Protego!" cried James once more, bringing his own wand up to deflect her spell. "Rictusempra!"
Lily blocked his spell…and they were off.
"Ooh, it's starting again!" cried Sirius, joyfully. "What an emotional rollercoaster this night as been. With the ups and the downs, and ups again…"
"You know folks, this is getting a little tedious…why don't they just accept their undying love for each other?" asked Sierra, before jumping aside as both her friends shot spells in her direction. "You know guys, not feeling the love here!"
Both James and Lily rolled their eyes at her before focusing on each other once more.
"SILENCE!" McGonagall yelled. This had no effect whatsoever as Lily and James continued on, ignoring her bellow.
"Incarcerous!" said McGonagall, whipping out her own wand now. Ropes snapped out and circled the dueling duo, before tightening painfully and causing them to smack against each other. They went down with a painful grunt, and McGonagall gave a satisfied smile. Not the best way to break up a fight, but situation had warranted it.
"Let's just skip to the relevant parts, shall we?" she asked, circling the glowering pair. Everybody stood stock still, hanging on to her every word. "You both will serve detention together, starting tomorrow, every night for two weeks -"
"-Two weeks?" cried Lily in alarm. "These hooligans," she motioned in the general direction of the common room, "didn't even get two weeks of detention when they blew up every pumpkin in the Great Hall last year! They could have blinded somebody, Professor!"
"Can't stand two whole weeks of detention? Not gonna crack on us are you?"
Lily retaliated by pinching James's arm … hard. She wasn't particularly proud of the childish move, but with ropes binding them together, there wasn't much else to do.
James gasped. "Did you see that Professor?" he tried to wave his arm to display the prominent mark. "She almost took my arm off!"
"Stop exaggerating, you big baby," snapped Lily, impatiently.
"She should be locked up, Professor, she's obviously dangerous!"
"That's it!" Both James and Lily fell silent once more, gazing a bit fearfully at their teacher's expression. "I don't know why you both are acting like this, and nor do I want to. All I want is for you to stop immediately, before I have to take more drastic measures." She glared at both of them, drilling her eyes into them to get the message across. "If the both of you don't go up to bed this instant you will both be very, very sorry. Am I understood?" She swept her angry eyes over both of them once more, daring them to contradict her.
"Um…Professor?" came Lily's timid voice, hardly believing what she was doing.
"Yes, Ms. Evans?" snapped the tired Professor a little more harshly then she should have. But they were disturbing her well-earned sleep for God's sake!
"How are we supposed to go to sleep with these ropes binding us together?"
McGonagall let loose a world weary sigh before setting them free and telling everybody to return to their dorm rooms immediately. The duel might have been over, but the fight between Lily and James had only just begun.
O.o.O.o.O
A/N: Not sure if this was our best chapter, but it serves the purpose. Please review!
Au revoir!
Caeruleus Libellus