A/N – So many reviews! Thanks sooo much!
Dedicated to oh so smexy, er… I love you too…
Disclaimer stuff, as you know.
How much longer is this going to last? grumbled Lily. Breakfast had swung around yet again, heralding the start of the third day of the general mayhem ensued by the bored mind of no other than James Potter.
Three seats down, Remus was glaring at everyone and everything. Especially Slytherin. Sirius backflipped onto the bench in front of him.
"Hi Mooooooony!" he grinned over, receiving only a sharper stare. James slouched down and slumped next to Lily.
"Hey, Evans, I… you know…" Lily raised an eyebrow. What?
"I HATE YOU, POTTER!" she screamed. She could always resort to that. Flouncing out, she bumped into Bethany, stopped, shook her head, and stumbled off towards the Common Room.
Bethany was wearing more eyeliner than everyone Remus' book group put together. She slouched next to Remus, who looked appreciatively at the eyeliner.
"Deep," he told her, and she nodded heavily.
"Totally," she replied. Sirius looked at Sophie, who shrugged. Remus and Bethany shared a knowing look.
"D'you have any more of those quills?" Sophie asked, jumping up and down in her seat. Beaming, Sirius passed her a handful. Her eyes shining, she began to suck on one, and so did he; they looked at each other and the tips brushed.
"Herbology!" yelled Sophie, and jumped up. No one on the Gryffindor table looked round, though some first years next to them edged away slowly. Sirius linked arms with her and they skipped out. James pushed himself up and slouched after them, Bethany and Remus slow in his stead.
"Gather round, gather round! Today, I need you to harvest kupfrapp roots for your Potions lesson later on. Now, you'll need your dragonskin gloves for the pus, so don't be stupid" – the Professor looked at James – "and forget to put them on. There's a plant for each of you, and keep the leaves – you'll do those next."
Grumbling, the two houses picked up a tray. Sophie had already pulled her kupfrapp out of the soil by the time Lily and Bethany sat down. Bethany stared morosely at the scalpel she had retrieved, looking like she wanted to cut herself more than the kupfrapp. Lily reached out to give her a sympathetic pat, stopped, and lowered her arm again.
"Professor?"
The Professor sighed deeply.
"What, Potter?"
"I, you know… these gloves were made from the slaughtered hide of the most magnificent beast, like, ever. It's against all my beliefs to use them," he told her. A few of his supporters nodded in agreement.
"Bad for the soul, you know,"
"Totally,"
The Professor sighed. Why her?
"You can choose not to wear gloves if you want, but on your own head be it," she turned to a Ravenclaw, leaving the conversation as soon as possible.
"Hey, Moony?" Remus looked mournfully. James hesitated.
"Just what happens when you get this stuff on you?" Remus sighed, and blinked heavily.
"Why do you care? The whole existence of man is damned before beginning, so what will a little kupfrapp sap do?"
James frowned. He's taking this a leeetle too serious, methinks. He did note, however, that Remus had his gloves on.
"I can't wear these, it's barbaric!" he yelled, peacefully, and threw them on the bench gently. Lily rolled her eyes, and tied her hair out of her face with a blue ribbon from her pocket, and returned to her kupfrapp.
"Hey, Lily?"
She sighed, and turned to Sophie, who stopped vibrating long enough to talk to her.
"What are you wearing in your hair?" she exclaimed. Lily frowned. Sophie liked this ribbon. In fact, Sophie had bought her this ribbon. Reaching up, she slowly undid her hair, and enjoyed the feel of it around her shoulders. Looking at the ribbon, she gasped.
The blue was gone, replaced by…
"POTTER!" she screeched. James looked up.
"Chill, Evans. What's up? Something disrupting your energy field?"
She screamed in anger, flung down the ribbon, and ran out. Sophie raised an eyebrow, and turned to Bethany.
"She must have finally realised the crushing wait of damnation looming over us all," was the only response she could get. Picking up the ribbon, she surveyed the pattern on it. The ribbon had a pleasant cream for a background, but the flowers stitched in were not as pleasant.
Turning it over, she looked at the emblem stitched into the back, sighed, and put up her hand. The Professor nodded without looking round, and Sophie skipped out, a sugar quill firmly lodged between her teeth.
FLOWER POWER!
000
"Hmmm…. Ahmmm…"
James sat precariously perched on the edge of an armchair. His followers gathered in a small circle beneath his feet, and he surveyed them all.
"Join with me… inner harmony…" they nodded in agreement and closed their eyes.
"Hehehe, that rhymes!" said a completely hyper Sirius from the chair next to him. Sophie giggled in agreement, and they linked arms, circuiting the room at an almost blurring speed. Lily was sitting as far away from James as possible, a sulky expression on her face as she tried to answer the question from her History of Magic essay; Was the stand at Jargaluff essential to the defeat of the Pylimoids and the victory of the resulting battle?
She sighed, and looked around for Bethany, who was better at this sort of thing. Not seeing her in the immediate 20 metres, she trudged round the Common Room, the dorms, and the corridor outside before giving up and heading for the library. Ignoring a steely glare from Madam Pince, she headed for the darkest part of the library and, sure enough, found the little circle huddled around a flickering candle.
"Hey, Beth, you done the History yet?"
Bethany looked up, her eyes dull.
"Reviewing the past only adds to the turmoil and pain of the present," she told her, in a flat voice. The others nodded in agreement.
"Deep,"
Putting up her hands, Lily slowly backed away.
"O-kay then… see you…"
The Common Room was hectic, and Sirius and Sophie were putting on an aerobics display in the centre when Lily returned. She slumped down next to her notes, sighed, picked them up, and went into the dorms to collect parchment, quills, and ink.
Sitting down by the fire, she composed a letter to her parents.
Hi Mum and Dad,
Sorry I haven't written, but it's been kind of hectic lately. I'm fine, and so are Sophie and Bethany.
She paused, and shook her head. They're better off not knowing.
School's hard but fun. I got a good result in my Potions essay again, and Professor Slughorn seemed pleased with me. Anyway, Sophie's calling so I have to go. If you write a reply, give it to Bethany's parents and they'll send it.
Love,
Lily
She put down her pen and leant back, closing her eyes. Opening them again, she decided it was time to give the HOM another try. She turned to dip her quill in the ink, and her mouth plummeted open in shock.
It had the same flowery pattern as her ribbon. She looked over at James, still meditating, and Sirius, still backflipping with Sophie. She picked up the inkpot and her things, tipped the ink over James' head, and stalked into the dormitory.
"Chill, Evans!" James called before wiping the multicoloured ink from his hair, and nodding wisely at his followers.
"Too much bad karma," he told them, and they generally nodded in agreement. He blinked in surprise as he realised that the little cluster he'd started with had grown rapidly.
That night, he was out with his paints.
It was now a whole floor.
000
Lily pushed open her trunk, screamed, and slammed it shut. Sophie skipped over.
"What's wrong? What's wrong? What's wrong? Tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me!"
"ALRIGHT!" Lily snapped. Sophie grinned.
"Look at my stuff!"
Sophie did so. Her eyes widened.
"Oooh… preeetty…"
"Glad you think so! Some of us have to wear this!"
Sophie frowned.
"How come? This is your stuff, right? Why's it so… disco?" she asked tentatively. Lily glared.
"One word: POTTER!"
000
James took a long, deep breath, and moved to the window. The scene outside was hazy due to the shimmering waves of incense deeply.
"So, you guys… chill?"
His band of followers nodded eagerly.
"No, man, chill. Like, chill," he said slowly.
They all nodded, but slower. He gave them a nod which took at least 2 minutes to complete.
"Chill…"
They all traipsed down to dinner, heads bowed and postures slouched. Some slouched so much they were practically lying down.
A small, bookish looking first year pulled a document out of her technicolour robes.
"Sir… these are for you," she said, her eyes wide in admiration. He nodded, slowly, and took them off her.
"Come, let us meditate. These trees have been removed from Mother Nature to serve us in our cause," he instructed, and they all sat down in a circle in the centre of the hallway, the papers in the centre.
People just generally stepped around, over, or even on them to get past.
This was the third day.
000
The hall was… different.
You could say this difference was the two feet between the Gryffindor tables on either side, as the other tables edged slowly away.
You could say this difference was the small patch of foliage creeping in due to tender hands in the far corners. The flowers just happened to be lilies.
You could say this difference was due to the fact the Gryffindor's bench was now almost two-thirds covered in peace signs.
You could say this difference was due to the fact the draperies hanging from the walls were slowly creeping black.
It depends on how you want to think about it.
Sirius somersaulted in, and made full use of the space between the Gryffindor table and its surrounding space by performing a particularly extravagant flip. The Gryffindors oohed, aahed, nodded heavily or glared depending on their personal tendencies.
He sat down, as much as a vibrating blur could sit down, and began to shovel food into the blur of a mouth. Remus was nowhere to be seen.
000
Black was everywhere. Black was good. Black was…
"Deep,"
Remus smiled, or at least he would have smiled if that wasn't too… happy.
He looked around again.
Black.
His small corner of the library was –
Black.
000
Lily scowled at the heads which turned at she walked into dinner with her patterned robes.
"You look… chilled, Evans," James mumbled as she passed. She shot him an icy glare. As she sat down she saw her leather watch strap had just turned bright yellow.
"I can't take this!" she screamed and flounced out again. James pulled out the wad of paper and passed it to the person next to him, who passed it next to the person next to him…
Pretty much straight away everyone on the Gryffindor was staring at a floral picture of Lily in a long, flowing dress imprinted with peace signs, trying to hide in the corner.
MAKE LOVE NOT WAR!
The number of James' followers tripled.
000
Lily slumped onto her bed. She couldn't do this any longer. She stormed out and bumped into Professor Dumbledore.
"Oh, hello, Miss Evans, how floral you look this evening. I noticed at dinner," he smiled politely.
"Sir, Professor, I want to request a special visit to Hogsmeade… I need some new robes," she begged, slightly tearfully. He smiled kindly.
"Sure, I'll send an owl to Gladrag's. You may want to purchase some socks while you're there… Miss Evans, do you have the money for this?"
Lily blushed. "Yes, I did some work during the summer. It's OK, I can manage," she mumbled, embarrassed. Dumbledore smiled again.
"Very well. I'll see you again soon, Miss Evans," he walked away.
Lily beamed and skipped along. This was going to be fun. She loved clothes shopping!
000
Lily sighed and caressed the hem of her beautifully black robe.
Hang on, that sounded a bit too emo, get a grip!
She shook herself, and shrugged her cloak about her shoulders. As she entered the Common Room, she saw a peculiar notice tacked up to the wall. Curious, she approached it.
THAT CREEP!
She stormed out and ran down the hallway. James was still in breakfast, despite many teacher's attempts to get him to leave. In the end they had just given up. Lily stamped in.
"POTTER! WHY DO THESE LEAFLETS HAVE ME ALL OVER THE COVER?" she screamed. He opened an eye peacefully.
"I love your robes, Evans… so… harmonious…"
Lily blinked.
Please, no…
She slowly looked down, screeched and ran out of the hall in tears.
000
James relaxed in a chair, enjoying a rare moment of privacy. As he closed his eyes he felt his fingers tingle and wriggled them happily. Frowning, he realized his whole body was vibrating.
A loud crash made him open up his eyes. Looking next to him, where Sirius had been moments before he found there was now a giant hole in the floor. He gazed through it to see Sirius surrounded by rubble, debris and terrified first-years in the middle of a History of Magic lesson.
Professor Binns hadn't noticed anything and kept droning on.
James put two and two together to get… twenty two.
Sirius had been vibrating so hard he had drilled a hole through the floor.
A/N – wow that's probably the longest chapter I've written ever! Thank you all so much my reviewers and you all rock. More dedications VERY soon!