Yeah...so I guess I might have lied about the whole "much shorter time" thing, but...I made this chapter really long (and hopefully eventful and exciting), and I promise you guys will never have to wait this long again. And the next chapter's almost finished, so it'll REALLY be up soon.
A MONTH. Sorry!
But you're probably not even intersted in this, you just want to read (I hope you still want to read). So...enjoy!
Chapter Seventeen—I'm Swearing Vendetta, Wanna Come With?
Sirius decided that it might have even been worth the long wait for this kiss to have it feel the way it did. Maybe he should just never pull away. Maybe--
Wait a second. Is she kissing me back?
He grinned, and reluctantly removed his lips from hers in order to get a good look at her face, wondering if he would see an expression of happiness or disgust.
Without taking his hands off of her face, he pulled away just an inch, staring deeply into her shining eyes...
"Hi, Agie," he breathed.
She looked up at him.
"Hey, Sirius." She smiled.
Remus sat in the library with Amber, as they attempted to do their Herbology essay. He looked up at her "So, do you want to go into Hogsmeade next weekend or do you—"
"Remus," Amber said, a weary tone to her voice. "I really don't want to talk about what we're going to do next weekend. I want to finish my essay!"
He sighed, looking at her. Was something wrong? She didn't normally act like this.
"Amber…" he sighed. "Is something wrong?"
"What's wrong is that this bloody essay is still only half-finished!" Amber growled, glaring at the essay. "Remus, you know what it's like to be smart…meanwhile, I study my arse off all bloody day…but am I as smart as Lily? Am I a Herbology whiz, like Alice? Can I hex someone like Adriyana can? No!"
Remus sighed. One of the things that bothered Amber most was that she studied the hardest of the four girls, but they were all still smarter than her. She was the one who spent every class taking notes, but still got an "Average" on almost every test. He saw the way she smiled maliciously when she did better than Adriyana on a Potions exam...
"Just calm down, Amber. You don't have to be better than your friends, you just have to be good…and I think you're better than good."
"What does that count for in real life, though, Remus!" She glared at him, and he just stared back, confused. "Nothing! What really counts is doing well on essays like this one!" She jabbed the essay in front of her with her finger.
"Why are you freaking out like this? Is it so inconceivable that we talk and write the essay at the same time?" he said.
Amber scoffed. "Isn't that what Black says to you all the time when you're reading? You don't let anyone talk to you when you read!"
"There's a difference! Reading is meant to be done alone; it demands your whole attention! Why are we writing the bloody essay together if we're not going to talk while we write?!"
Amber jumped up, picking up her books. "Fine, Remus! Have it your way!" He watched her gather her things, not trying to stop her. He concluded that he didn't even want to be with her right now if this was how she was going to act. "Bye!" she yelled angrily, storming off.
Remus just stared after her, confused and still a bit angry. "WHAT was that all about?" he muttered to himself.
He kept staring, until he felt something heating up in his back pocket. He reached inside, pulling out the piece of paper.
Dear Diary,
I just totally tore Remus apart. Ever since we've started….well…you know…THAT...um, and that started around Christmas…it's been pulling us apart rather than bringing us closer. It's weird really, there are times when I want to hug him and punch him at the same time…it's pretty often, really, and I know I have no reasoning behind it, but I just can't stop!
What's happening to me? I've never wanted to be alone before when I could be with him…what's going on?!
--Amber
Bad Things I Can Do To Jeremy Howes:
James stared at the parchment in front of him angrily, as if daring a brilliant prank idea to appear on it. He was rather reluctant to admit it, but brainstorming wasn't nearly as fun or effective without the other Marauders, especially Sirius.
He glared at the sun, shining brightly outside the dormitory window. Stupid happy glowing ball, no reason to be so happy…
"How can I make Jeremy cry?" James wondered aloud. Still, nothing came to him.
The door to the dormitory opened, and James saw a very confused looking Remus in the doorway.
"Moony? What's wrong?" James asked.
"Nothing…good news," Remus said, though he was still frowning. "Adriyana remembers Padfoot."
"Really? That's good…something's still bothering you, though…"
"It's nothing, Prongs, really…What're you writing?"
James held up his list. "Swearing vendetta. Wanna help me out?"
Remus smiled and nodded. "Yeah…I can ask Padfoot to help too." He held up the paper. "And Wormtail is downstairs, we should get him."
"Don't bother Padfoot now…he probably won't like it." Remus nodded and rolled his eyes. "Let's go get Wormtail…"
"Agie?"
"Oh, Sirius…" she breathed. "I bet you hate me right now, but I swear I would have never chose—"
"Hate you? Why would I--oh, Agie…Merlin, you—" He broke off and then nearly jumped on her, wrapping his arms around her so tightly she nearly suffocated.
Finally, he loosened his grip, and Adriyana looked up at him urgently. "Sirius! I'm really sorry it took me so long, I—"
He effectively silenced her with another kiss. Lily, who was still standing next to them, just sighed exasperatedly and walked away, rifling through her bag for something.
Just as the kiss started to get deeper, Adriyana pushed him away, smiling. "Sirius…we're in the middle of the hallway…"
He smiled at her. "Say that first part again."
"Sirius?"
His smile grew wider. "Now, say the whole thing."
"Sirius, we're in the middle of the hallway?" she said, raising an eyebrow.
"Now…say it backwards!"
She rolled her eyes. "Sorry," he said, putting his arm around her waist as they began to walk down the hallway together, partly in silence. "Merlin, it's good to have you back…I was starting to think it would never happen."
"Sirius." She smiled at him and put her hand on his cheek. "It's going to take a lot more than a brick to the head for me to give up on you."
Well, how about finding out that I slept with the school slut? Sirius thought, swallowing hard, but shaking the thought out of his head quickly.
By now they had reached the common room again, which was nearly deserted, save for a few first years who scuttled away quickly when they saw Sirius and Adriyana in the doorway.
He looked back at her, banishing every bad thought from his mind as he wrapped his arms around her, breathed in her fruity scent, and whispered. "I really missed you. You have no idea."
She smiled. "I missed you too…I just….forgot."
"Come here," he said laughing and pulling her face closer to his. Only then did all of his worries leave him, and his head was blissfully empty of all but one thing, playing over and over like a mantra:
I've got my Agie back…
"Oh, this is no use without Padfoot!" Remus wailed, as the other three Marauders stared at the still empty list. "We need one of his brilliant plans this time…this prank has to go down in the record books."
"Prongs, you say that about EVERY prank," Remus said, rolling his eyes.
"I know, but I mean it this time!"
"what'd the bloke even DO?" Peter asked, looking curiously at James.
James' face just turned really red, and he gripped the quill he was holding so hard that it snapped.
Remus and Peter stared at each other. "Lily," they both said at the same time, nodding.
James' face just turned redder.
"Fine, then…if we've got no choice…let's go get Padfoot," Remus said with a sigh, summoning the map.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," Remus said, tapping the map. "Or…at least someone is," he added, upon seeing the dot he was looking for in the common room, VERY close to another dot.
Peter looked at the map and snorted. "Don't worry, he'll be up in a second."
"What? How do you—" Remus asked, but stopped when he saw where Peter's pudgy finger was pointing. Remus' eyes widened.
Sirius and Adriyana were right by the entrance to the portrait hole…And the dot labelled "Minerva McGonagall" was about to enter the common room. An ominous air descended on the room as they watched the dot get closer and closer to their friend.
McGonagall's dot, upon entering the room, froze. "Ouch," James whispered, as a rather loud scream was heard downstairs (whether it was Adriyana or McGonagall screaming, none of them knew…whoever it was had a rather impressive set of vocal chords). They watched as Adriyana and Sirius' dots scattered away, Adriyana's running quickly up the girls' stairs and Sirius up theirs, his footsteps getting louder and louder.
The door to their dormitory opened with a bang, and Sirius marched in, somehow managing to look angry, startled, overjoyed…and rather dishevelled…at the same time.
"Oi! Padfoot! Help us?" James asked, pointing at the sheet.
Sirius grinned and sat down with them. "Who's going down this time, mates?"
James showed him the list.
Sirius looked briefly confused, but recovered quickly. "All right, but I'm a little distracted today, just to warn you…let's see what we can do."
James couldn't help but feel a surge of jealousy towards Adriyana, though he hated himself for it. He knew it wasn't her fault that Sirius had missed a prank meeting…even if it was this important. Sirius deserved to be happy, and if Adriyana made him feel that way…
Still, it was really unsettling to see Padfoot so hung up on a girl. Especially one so close to Lily.
But when Sirius suggested that instead of pranking Jeremy, they conduct an all out sabotage, something bad enough to make Lily never want to see his ugly face again, James decided to just brush it off, for now at least.
How could it even be possible?
Lily just didn't get it. Last year, she loathed James, and this year… he'd just completely humiliated her in front of her crush…well, her other crush…and she was still thinking about giving him a chance. She couldn't believe it!
Maybe he did deserve a chance, though…
Oh, Lily, don't even THINK about it! James will lead to nothing but trouble and heartbreak for you…
How do you know that?
Trust me, I'm you.
"Arrgh!" Lily groaned, pulling her pillow over her head.
She felt something grow hot in the pocket of her cloak, which was incidentally where she slipped her piece of paper. She pulled it out, seeing the brown writing on it.
"Amber! Remus is finally using the paper!" Lily informed her…Amber, who was sitting on her bed, reading a book and looking glum, thought Remus didn't like his gift because he never used it.
Amber just grumbled darkly from across the room. Lily thought she'd said, "I'll paper you!" But that couldn't really be considered a legitimate threat…at all. Lily looked back down at the paper.
Lily, Prongs wants to know what you find least attractive in a guy…can you help him out?
Is that some of his business? Lily responded, feeling anger surge up in her, for some reason…
Come on, Lils, we all need to know.
Okay…so either all four marauders now had a thing for her (which would be rather interesting, actually…) or they needed prank advice. Did they think she was stupid? Since when did she help them with that kind of thing?
Lily tapped the paper harder than she meant to. I'd have to go with…Black hair and glasses. Glad I could help!
Without another glance, she tossed it to her side, flopping back down on her bed. Unfortunately, she only got a moment of peace before she heard a shrill scream from downstairs and her head jerked back up. "What was that?"
Amber just shrugged, still ignoring her. Lily knew a second later, though, when she heard heavy footsteps trudging up the stairs. Those were Adriyana's feet…despite her verging-on-short size; the girl had rather big feet.
Adriyana came into the room, and Lily burst out laughing. Adriyana looked depressed, but her lips were red and swollen and her hair was sticking up messily at odd angles, reminding Lily of a certain someone she REALLY shouldn't be thinking about.
She pushed past Lily into the bathroom, muttering something under hear breath. Lily caught, "McGonagall…reconciliation snogging…Sirius… backwards," but that was basically all she heard, and not a lot of it made sense.
Great…Now that Lily's best means of emotional support (Adriyana) was now completely mental, nothing in her life made sense.
The Hogwarts clock tower chimed three in the morning.
Usually, due to Silencing Charms set in the walls of the common rooms, and the deep sleep one usually falls into at three in the morning, nobody was ever around to hear it.
But that morning, a certain two black-haired sixth year Gryffindors were.
"OW! That was my foot!"
"Shhh!"
"Foot-trodder."
"Padfoot, shut up!" James whispered.
Sirius lowered his voice to a whisper. "How do we not fit under this thing anymore?" he said, flapping the cloak draped around them for emphasis. "I think SOMEONE needs to lay off the Treacle Tart," he whispered, poking James' stomach.
James jumped on Sirius' foot again. "OW! Prick…"
"Sorry, accident," James whispered.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Let's just finish this and go back to sleep. In case you haven't noticed, it's three am. I didn't even know there WAS a three am until now…"
"Just pay attention! Do you want more detention?"
"Hey! That rhymed!"
James smacked Sirius, then looked down at the map in his hands. First, get in the Ravenclaw common room. He thought, glancing at the map again…they were close, now.
James accidentally trod on Sirius' foot again. "okay, that time it really WAS an accident!" he said, looking up at Sirius' face.
He shrugged. "Well, we barely fit under here anymore, and there's not even a chance all four of us could fit, so I guess I'll believe you. But…if it happens again, I'm going to tie you up and leave you here"
"You couldn't catch me!…Hey, that's it!" James said, pointing towards a large statue of a woman with a large bird on her shoulder. "Remus said it was guarded by a statue of Rowena Ravenclaw."
Sirius let out a low whistle. "What is it?" James asked.
"Check out that statue…Rowena Ravenclaw was hot, mate." Sirius said. James glared at him. "Fine, I know…attention at all times."
James (who, because he had incredible planning/eavesdropping skills, had secured the password to the Ravenclaw common room) whispered, "Jiggery pokery!" and the statue slid to the side.
"What an odd password," Sirius mused. "Good thing their statue doesn't blather on like the Fat Lady…she's like a bloody inquisiti—mgpph!"
James covered Sirius' mouth with his hand in order to properly shut him up.
James looked around the Ravenclaw common room, which was rather gigantic and…book-filled. And boring. He stared at the room, wondering how Lily could like someone so bland…
"So I can't ogle the statue, but you're allowed to ogle the bookshelves?" Sirius asked, poking him again.
James shook his head, remembering why they were even there in the first place. Back to business. "Padfoot, do you reckon the boys' stairs are on the same side in here?"
"Only one way to find out!" Sirius said brightly, heading over towards the stairs. When he didn't slide back down, James followed, in what he hoped was a stealthy and catlike manner.
Sirius headed up to the sixth years' dorm, James behind him. Both of them ducked back under the Invisibility Cloak, and Sirius slowly pushed open the door.
James was right when he had said there were A LOT of Ravenclaws. There had to be at least twenty-five boys in this room alone. They scoped out the beds until they came upon one with the unmistakable shaggy blonde hair of Jeremy Howes.
Pulling off the cloak and casting Silencing Charms on themselves, James gave Sirius the order to, "mess with everything he could reach," and got to work himself.
An hour later, they could find basically nothing left to do.
Everlasting Itching powder in the underwear drawer? Check (Sirius cringed as he watched James pour in copious amounts of the stuff).
That Hair-Removal Potion of Peter's (he used it on his back, or something…not that they asked) in the shampoo? Check.
That potion they'd made in third year that turned seemingly innocent sentences rude, disgusting and/or just…weird poured in the water jug by Jeremy's bed? Check.
Trousers all enlarged by about five sizes? Yeah.
Howes, you're going to get it for trying to take Lily, James thought, as he and Sirius got ready to run back to Gryffindor Tower.
But not before James threw all of Jeremy's shoes out the window, into the glistening black lake below, a wicked smile on his face, not a thought in his mind over whether or not they'd gone too far.
"It's really good to have all of you back, Agie!" Lily said enthusiastically at breakfast the next day. "I really missed the part of you that got her head stuck in her shirt every morning and fell asleep in classes."
Adriyana rolled her eyes, but she was obviously happy at all the attention she was getting, especially from Sirius, who had his arm wrapped around her waist as they sat and ate.
He did seem distracted, though…in fact, Lily noticed, all four of the Marauders' (who had asked the girls to eat with them today, though Amber was regarding Remus with indifference and Lily was (pretending to) ignore James' pleas for attention) minds seemed to be elsewhere.
Every once in a while, a Ravenclaw boy (Lily wondered how many of them there were, it seemed like an endless line of them) would come up and glare at either James or Sirius.
"All right," Adriyana said. "What did you guys do?"
"Us?" said Sirius, grinning innocently at her. "Nothing!"
Suddenly, James burst into uncontrollable laughter as angry footsteps were heard on the stone floor of the Great Hall. Lily craned her neck to see what he was laughing about, but couldn't see anything.
As the rest of the Gryffindor table caught sight of what was coming towards them, they either smiled and gave The Marauders a thumbs up, or just a confused glance. Since when did they torture anyone besides Slytherins? And what had this one ever done?
Sirius was pretending to study the inside of the jug of pumpkin juice very intently when Jeremy finally arrived.
"POTTER!" Lily screamed, feeling anger flare up in her as she gave Jeremy a quick once-over. He looked up at her, and it was clear that he hadn't expected to see her there, because he immediately blushed and turned away. Lily kept staring at her crush (the blonde one…although she got the feeling that now, she didn't like James so much anymore. Maybe Jeremy was her only crush, now) with a sympathetic expression. What had happened to his hair? Random pieces seemed to be missing from it, but why would James do that? It wasn't anything a simple Hair-Regrowth charm wouldn't fix.
And why was he scratching his leg so viciously? Poor thing.
"Wow…are you okay?" Lily asked Jeremy.
He finally looked back at her. "Sure am, ugly!" he said, before clasping his hand over his mouth, shaking his head back and forth. "I didn't mean…that you're ugly…actually, I find you hideous…I mean vile…I mean…DAMMIT!"
So that's what James was getting at, was it? Make her think Jeremy was disgusted by her, so she'd go crying back to his arms?
Bloody prat.
Lily stood up, picking up Jeremy's hand. She felt him jump slightly, and heard an angry growl from where James was sitting.
"Come with me, I'll help you out." She smiled at him. "I'm pretty good at Charms, I bet I could fix…" she trailed off, waving her hand at Jeremy's hair.
He smiled at her, though he seemed like he was afraid to talk. She didn't blame him.
Lily pulled him away, shaking her hips as she walked, daring James to follow her.
When he didn't, part of her couldn't help but feel disappointed.
Once she and Jeremy were out of the Great Hall and walking towards the hospital wing, she considered many things. She thought about telling him how sweet and brave she thought he was for not blowing up in James' face. She considered apologising for James. Hell, she even considered bloody kissing him.
But she couldn't gather the courage or stamina to feel anything but depressed.
She had been wrong. James Potter hadn't changed, and he never would. At least not for her.
Get over him, Lils. You've got a gorgeous guy with a HUGE crush on you hanging on your arm…and all you can think about is James, who you don't like anymore?
You don't still like him…right?
Right??
She looked down at her feet, and couldn't help noticing Jeremy's, too.
"What happened to your shoes?"
A/N—I tried to make this one longer and more interesting…did I? I had a hard time writing Adriyana and Sirius' reconciliation, I tried not to make it too sappy, but still worth the wait. Hope you all liked it!
And I know James' prank isn't very clever, but it's not supposed to be. It's just…he's found someone new to take out all his Lily-related aggression on, and he's…kind of…too busy being angry, and upset, to be clever. Does that make sense?
Okay, I'm deciding where the story should go from here; their sixth year's almost done! Aren't you excited for the seventh! I am, LOTS of fun stuff planned….
Anyway, my point is…there's a couple ways I could go on these next few chapters, so please let me know if there's a specific character or genre or anything you'd like me to focus on!
Um…and you should go read the new, alternate chapter two (I hope I'm allowed to put in alternate chapters) when you have a chance, because absolutely everything is different (literally, it's a whooooole new chapter), I needed to take some things out so later chapters didn't get repetitive, and…well, mostly I didn't really like my old writing. So…yeah. You'll see what I mean.
Also, check out my LJ if you have the time (the link's set on my profile page). There's doodles of some of the characters and some scenes I decided not to put in the story. YOu an friend me, and I accept anonomous comments, so come...and look at it. Yeah.